Epilogue
Callan
A FEW WEEKS LATER
Rachel looked up when I stepped out of the chapel, her dark eyes homing in on my tired face.
I’d gotten in around three that morning and had only managed maybe two hours of sleep before her damn brother was rousing me out of bed to look over shit for the next run with Genesis, since I was in charge of the runs until she was good to ride again.
Genesis was out of the hospital and on the road to recovery.
A lot of blood loss and two surgeries later, she was expected to make a full recovery.
She had some physical therapy ahead of her for her knee and learning how to function while missing three of her fingers, but she was going to be alright.
Even now, she was mostly back to normal.
Carter just didn’t want her riding until the doctor gave her a clean bill of health.
And when she demanded a vote, she was outvoted.
All of us voted on her getting a clean bill of health first. I was sure she wanted some sense of normalcy after what’d happened to her, but we couldn’t put her at risk. She wasn’t ready to ride yet.
Lily, Rachel’s niece, began banging two blocks together.
Rachel flinched, her eyes snapping down to the little girl before her shoulders relaxed.
PTSD would haunt Rachel forever. I knew that, and I fucking hated it.
Hated that I hadn’t been there to save her from this.
Hated that I hadn’t protected her well enough.
Which was why I was basically her damn shadow when I was home and not on a run.
“You didn’t get much sleep,” Rachel finally said, her brows pulling low over her eyes as she regarded me.
I shrugged. “I’m good, kitten.” Strolling past her, I headed to the bar, where a fresh pot of coffee was waiting. “You want to go on a ride with me later?” I asked as I poured some coffee into a mug she had waiting on me.
Fuck, she took such good care of me. It was always in the little things she did—like brewing a fresh pot of coffee and setting a mug out for me—that showed how much she loved me. How much she wanted me. I couldn’t get enough of it.
She took the block from Lily when she began to chew on it.
“After you’ve had a nap, sure. You were gone for three days—most of those spent riding.
You need some rest.” She sighed when Lily began chewing on another block.
“Lily, can you not?” she asked in exasperation, taking that block from her too and telling her no. I chuckled.
Rachel would’ve been a damn good mom. Every goddamn day, guilt clouded my senses. If I had been at home, hadn’t let Carter convince me to go on that damn ride, maybe we would be celebrating a milestone in her pregnancy today. Maybe we’d be getting prepared to learn the gender of our baby.
Now, none of that would be ours. We wouldn’t have those kinds of moments.
All because I’d failed to protect her. Failed to stand my ground and be here as her man.
I’d let the club come first but no more.
Fuck the vow I’d made when I’d accepted the patch.
My vow to Rachel was infinitely more important.
We were working through our feelings on never having children of our own and losing the one we’d had slowly.
Rachel had even started therapy to try to sort through her PTSD and make it manageable.
I’d gone with her to her first couple of appointments, but after that, she’d been comfortable going on her own.
Now, all I did was drop her off and pick her up since I wasn’t yet comfortable with her going anywhere by herself.
She hadn’t even been a brat about it—yet. Which meant she still had a ways ahead of her to overcome what’d happened that day in the woods.
Brittany stepped into the clubhouse, smiling at Rachel. “Thank you for watching her.”
Rachel shrugged. “It’s no big deal.” Standing, she headed over toward the hall, looking at me over her shoulder. “You coming to bed?”
Like fuck would I turn down some time with her.
Without a word, I followed her, my coffee still cradled in my other hand.
When we entered our apartment—what had been just my room before she came back home and was now covered in everything her—I set my coffee down on the nightstand and began peeling off my clothes.
She curled up on the mattress beneath the blankets, watching me strip down to my boxers.
As soon as I was next to her, she curled against my side, resting her head on my shoulder and throwing her leg over my thighs.
I gripped her smooth thigh and wrapped my other arm around her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
As she pressed even more against me, something inside me settled, just as it always did when I got to hold her like this.
“Will you marry me?” I blurted before I could stop myself.
I’d bought a ring while I was gone, and I was desperate to put it on her finger.
We didn’t have to rush into marriage since she was already my old lady.
I knew she had plans to eventually go back to school and finish her degree.
I knew we had a lot to work through personally.
But I just needed to know she wanted me for the long haul, that she wanted me enough to legally tie her life to mine.
She lifted her head, bracing herself on her elbow as she looked down at me. “That came out of nowhere,” she mused, seemingly amused.
I chuckled and slid my arm behind my head, my other hand caressing up and down her spine. “Not really. I’ve craved you for fucking years, kitten. And the moment you came home and opened that bratty ass mouth of yours, you’ve been mine. I just want to make it legal.”
She arched her brow at me. “I’m not a fucking brat, Callan.”
I smirked. “Sure you’re not,” I teased. She narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re constantly giving your brother hell and doing everything you can to wear on his nerves. And you love to pop off at me with those sarcastic ass comments.”
“Sarcastic ass comments,” she mouthed, mocking me.
I smacked her thigh, making her squeak. “See? Fucking brat,” I growled before wrapping my hand around the back of her neck.
I pulled her lips down to mine, stealing a kiss.
She laughed into the kiss. “So, what do you say, kitten? Be my wife?” I asked, gazing up at her pretty face once I’d released her.
She sighed, scrunching up her nose. “What if I don’t agree?”
I snorted. “Kitten, I’ll tattoo my fucking name on your neck to claim you if you keep being a brat,” I warned her, arching a single brow at her. I wasn’t playing games.
She rolled her eyes. “You should know you don’t have to ask me to marry you, Callan.
I assumed that would be happening. You know, with you cutting off body parts, risking prison time to bring them here across state lines, and then presenting them to me as a fucking gift.
” She pecked my lips, a small smile tilting her lips. “Yes, Callan, I’ll marry you.”
I breathed a sigh of relief before rolling her to her back.
My body settled between her thighs, and she moaned when I thrust my hardening cock against her core.
Reaching over, I opened the nightstand drawer and pulled out the ring box.
Rachel’s eyes widened in surprise when I flipped it open, her lips softly parting in surprise and awe.
The ring was made from a deer antler with a blue gemstone—her favorite color—set in the middle. I’d seen the lady sitting outside of a gas station selling them, her husband and brother there for protection since the rings she made were pretty fucking expensive.
I got a wedding set to match for when we got married because I knew Rachel would secretly get attached to this ring and wouldn’t ever want to take it off. She was sentimental like that. I loved it.
I pulled the ring out of the box and then slid it onto her delicate finger, loving the way it looked. Her breath shuddered out of her lungs when I brought that hand to my lips, pressing a kiss to her ring.
“I love you,” I rasped. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed.
“You’re my entire goddamn world. And I know I fucked up in the past. I didn’t protect you.
” She frowned at me, opening her mouth to say something, but I shook my head at her.
She closed her sweet mouth again, letting me continue.
“But I’m not making those mistakes again, kitten.
Never again. And when we’re healed and we’re ready to create our own family, I would love to adopt. I still want it all with you.”
A tear ran down her cheek, and her chin wobbled for a moment. “I don’t blame you for any of that, Callan,” she croaked, sadness thick in her voice.
I sighed. “I know you don’t, kitten, but I do. And that’s my own burden to carry and my own mess to work through. I just need you to know I fucking love you, and I’ll do anything in this goddamn world for you.”
She smiled then, her eyes brightening in a way they rarely did these days. “I love you, too, Callan. So damn much.” Wrapping her arms around my neck, her ring pressing into my skin, she pulled me down so we were pressed together. “Now fuck me so hard, I scream loud enough to piss off my brother.”
I chuckled and nuzzled my face into the curve of her neck before flicking my tongue out over the sensitive skin there.
She gasped, her tits pressing against my bare chest when she arched her back, seeking more.
“Such a brat, kitten,” I rasped. And then, before she could say another word, I sank my teeth into her skin the slightest bit before flicking my tongue over the abused flesh.
Her fucking moan was music to my ears.