Chapter 40
forty
ISABELLE
“I said, I’m fine. This is all unnecessary,” I protested for the tenth time. My mother was fussing around the hospital bed in the private ward that they’d stuck me in. My father was conspicuously MIA.
“I don’t think you could leave even if you wanted to,” Rosie muttered, peering outside the sliding door at the crowd in the hallway. I was glad that it was her and my mom here, and not my father. I’d had more than enough of him lately.
Maddox had brought me straight to the hospital, apparently on Cole’s instructions, and I was to remain here until he came for me.
I’d only heard the abbreviated version of what had happened after we’d left the shipyard last night.
Cole had been locked up in an FBI interrogation room since last night, giving his statement and answering their endless questions.
The FBI. What was my life right now? I’d longed for some excitement in my humdrum, predictable life, and I’d sure gotten it.
There was a commotion in the hall, and Rosie stepped back into the room and quickly slid the door closed.
“Cole’s coming,” she announced, looking worriedly at my mother. My mom drew herself up to her entire height, placed a hand on her sternum, trying to compose herself, and nodded.
A knock sounded at the door, and it opened.
Cole had clearly not been home to change.
He was covered in dried dirt, and had smears of blood on his skin.
He looked rough as hell. A demon escaped from the underworld.
A gasp escaped my mom as I immediately climbed out of the raised bed and threw myself into his arms. He embraced me tightly as I clung to him. Tears dripped down my cheeks.
“Hey, didn’t you get the update that everything was ok?” His gravelly voice was the best thing I’d ever heard. It meant he was real and here, finally.
“I did, but I didn’t believe it until now,” I breathed against his chest.
My mother cleared her throat, uncomfortable with the display of affection.
“So, we, uh, finally meet, Mr. Bailey,” she said awkwardly.
“Call me Cole, Mrs. Lancaster. You’re going to be seeing a lot of me,” Cole said, not looking at my mother when he spoke, still focusing solely on me.
“I understand you’ve had a spot of legal trouble—” my mom started.
“Which is all resolved. I am entirely out of the woods, legally speaking, and don’t plan on going back into them.
From now on, all the Harbor Hounds’ involvement with illegal activities will cease.
From now on, we’re a social club that provides protection services, security details, and runs bars and the best damn auto shops in the state. ”
He stepped back from me and looked at my mom. She seemed to shrink under his unyielding attention.
Cole fixed my mother with a curious look. “You can tell your rich friends to come and talk to your son-in-law in person if they’ve got a problem with that.”
“Oh, my!” my mother gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth. She looked shocked but not upset, strangely. “I-I don’t know what to say—”
“You don’t have to say anything,” Cole started, and then paused when my mother’s hand landed on his arm.
“No, I do. Isabelle tells me that you were the only one looking out for her, and that you stopped Grant when he…” she trailed off, her face paling.
“That’s right, I did, and I will be looking out for her, always. You don’t need to worry about that anymore.” He looked at me. “From now on, she has me. Rest assured.”
My mom laid her fingertips against her mouth and looked at Cole with dewy eyes. I didn’t know whether she judged him worthy, and I no longer cared.
In my eyes, there was no substitute.
He turned to me, looking me up and down. “You all better, Goldilocks? I’m taking you home.”
“Yes, please,” I simply said.
“Um, I should mention that your father is taking some time away from the house, so he won’t be home.”
“I’m not taking her to your home, I’m taking her to mine. She can give you the address if she wants.”
“Did dad move out?” I asked my mom.
She nodded slowly. Rosie wrapped an arm around my mom. She looked so slight there, for a moment, without my dad’s overbearing presence bullying her into silence.
“I-I asked him to,” she said, raising her chin.
“She told him to,” Rosie corrected, with something approaching pride.
I smiled. The first genuine smile I’d given my mom in a long, long time.
“I’m glad. Maybe we’ll come over for dinner then, in that case, sometime soon.”
“Finn came over last night for dinner. He’s going to help out the gardener and help me look after the place. It’s so big, and there’s only so much I can do.”
“House like that needs a handyman around,” Cole said with a satisfied nod. He met Rosie’s eyes, something I knew was hard for him.
She surprised both of us by stepping forward and stopping him when he went to turn away.
“I wanted to say thank you, for all you’ve done for Finn. He didn’t have Beatie, but he had a father figure, in you. All of this that you’ve done, the police, and the FBI… you did all of this,” she sounded incredulous.
Cole nodded. “For every man who is a Hound and wants to go back to his family at night, and every wife waiting for them. For Finn and for Issy, to give them the lives they deserve.”
Rosie nodded. She didn’t smile. There was too much painful history for that. But she looked at peace with it.
Cole took a deep breath, and turned to me.
He took off his jacket and draped it over my hospital pajamas.
Then he took my hand and we walked out into the hallway.
The walls were lined with Hounds. All wearing their cuts, all standing tall, they smiled as they watched us walk by, then fell into line after us.
“I’m pretty sure half of these guys think I wrote that article,” I worried.
“They don’t. Kiki got caught gloating about how she ran you off by sending the article in to the newspaper.”
I stopped in my tracks and stared at him. “Seriously? How’d she even know, or care about my work for the newspaper? How did she even come up with writing an exposé and framing me for it? Is she secretly some kind of Machiavellian mastermind?”
“Just a very driven, shit-stirrer who can’t take rejection. It’s not that hard to find you online, and work out the paper stuff. She’s no genius, and from now on, she is barred from The Clutch. You won’t have to see her again.”
“Well, today just keeps getting better and better.” I became aware of the bikers following us out the building. “Um, are they coming with us?” I asked Cole as we made it down to his bike, parked at the curb.
“They are seeing us home,” he told me, and pulled a helmet onto my head, carefully doing up the chinstrap.
So, if I’d ever wondered if being driven home by a thirty-bike escort was as fabulous as it sounded, I could now be confident that it was.
They cleared the way for us all the way to Cole’s cabin, stopping to wait as we pulled onto the small forest road that would take us there.
Cole waved them off as he guided the bike over the small road.
We pulled up outside the cabin, and he shut the bike off. The sudden silence seemed deafening.
“Were you serious back there? No more dodgy deals and shipyards? No more guns and nearly getting killed?” It was almost too much to hope for.
Cole nodded. “It’s the condition of keeping the Hounds out of the sting. No more illegal shit. A favor, considering that we facilitated the takedown of one of the biggest arms dealers on the East Coast.”
“So, what will we do now?” I wondered.
“You will finish school, and I’ll work on making sure the Hounds know what work is legit and what’s off-limits. At the same time, you work on your story.”
“My story?” I wondered.
Cole nodded. “Our story, to be exact. Haven’t you seen the news? People want to know exactly what happened here. About the Iron Vultures and Grant Elwick. All of it. It’s your story, Isabelle. Only you can write it.”
“So, you’re just casually handing me my boyfriend back in one piece and my big break, all in the same day?” I demanded.
Cole laughed. “Well, I take offense to the term boyfriend, but yes. You’ll have your big break, if I have to personally dismantle every single gunrunning operation in this state.”
“If you’re not my boyfriend… then what are you?” I wondered, instantly nervous.
“Let’s settle for fiancé, for now. I’ll manage to leave it at that, for a few weeks at least.”
“Fiancé? Are you asking me to marry you?”
Cole shook his head. “No. I don’t ask for permission to carry out destiny.
You’re my wife. We just aren’t married yet.
I think some part of me knew that the second you walked into The Clutch.
It doesn’t matter if I’m too damn old for you, or you’re too damn good for me.
Sometimes, destiny cuts guys like me a break. ”
“It cut me a break too,” I whispered, then leaned in and kissed him. “You’re more than I was ever allowed to dream of,” I murmured.
His eyes softened, and he shook his head slightly. “Damn, Issy. You’re a writer, alright. I can’t wait to read every single thing of yours.”
A surge of excitement shot through me. “You really think I can do it? Write what happened here?”
“Why not? You’ve got the talent, and I’ve got all the info no one else does.”
I pushed against his back, getting off the bike a little clumsily. He clung onto me to keep me from falling.
“Let’s get inside then! I can’t wait to start.”
Cole laughed, then climbed off and bent down to pick me up, tossing me over his shoulder. I let out a startled cry.
“You will have time to do all of that,” he murmured, heading toward the door. “After.”
“After?” I repeated as he carried me into the house, and up the stairs.
“Hmm, after.”