Epilogue
Harley
Two Weeks Later
Breakfast always was my favorite part of the day. Now that I make it for two, it’s even better.
As I set a plate of waffles down in front of him, Edge grins at me with that shit-eating grin I love so much.
“Where’s the whipped cream, wench? And the strawberries and syrup?”
I roll my eyes. “Coming right up, sir.”
I turn before I can read his snarky response. After I retrieve the tub of whipped cream, the strawberries I cut up, and the bottle of syrup, I sink down into my chair beside him.
Edge raises a brow as he spoons far too much whipped topping onto his waffles. Gag me. I can’t stand the stuff. Then again, I’m the one who likes to eat peanut butter and jelly on mine, so I guess I shouldn’t say anything.
“You making coffee this morning?”
“I know you can smell it brewing,” I grumble. I can’t hold my mock annoyed look though, and I end up laughing.
Edge laughs too, his shoulders shaking gently. He turns to me and says, “How can you eat that with peanut butter and jelly? That’s disgusting.”
“Not as gross as whipped cream and coffee. I’m going to take that tub away from you so you can’t mix it in there. I’ve seen you do it.”
“We’re out of cream. What’s a guy supposed to do?” he says with a laugh.
“Drink it black like a real man.”
He just laughs again at that.
I take a bite of my waffle and sigh with happiness.
I love this. All of it. This is everything I waited so long for.
I don’t take any of our moments for granted.
Not one. I suppose there’s probably time to forget how much I love having breakfast with Edge at my side, love our private jokes and the kisses he steals throughout the day.
Okay, maybe I’ll get tired of the first two, but never the last. I think that I could grow to be an old woman and I still would never get tired of Edge’s dirty, heated words, the things he does to my body, everything he’s taught me.
He’s sweet too, tempering all that heat with a measure of gentleness that I crave just as much as the dark pleasure he brings me.
“I can’t believe my dad did it,” I say cautiously. “Joined ranks with that club.”
Edge pops a strawberry into his mouth, whole, and chews hard. “I can’t believe Wraith actually agreed to get hitched to one of Viking’s daughters.”
“I’m glad you got us back. I mean, sitting there in a tiny little room all crammed up together with bags over our heads wasn’t any fun, but god… I can’t believe my dad did it.”
“The thing I’ve learned about your father,” Edge says carefully, his copper gaze locking with mine. “Is that he doesn’t do anything without a reason.”
“Oh, I can think of a few things.”
Edge tenses, and I quickly change the subject.
It’s been almost two weeks since Leah and Christine and I were rescued.
I couldn’t believe what happened in those few short hours we were held captive.
I can’t even begin to imagine how it’s going to change Steel Riders.
I don’t know if my dad can trust a band of men we know nothing about.
That he knows nothing about. I guess time will tell, as they’re going to be a part of us in more ways than one.
While the guys are planning on taking Wraith and the other two men who will be marrying Viking’s daughters out for a combined last night of freedom, apparently us old ladies are getting together and throwing a shower for Wraith’s soon to be bride, Leena.
Her two older sisters staunchly refused to participate.
I can’t see the men having easy marriages.
Marriages. Not just old ladies, they’re actually signing up for the real deal.
I guess one can always hope that later, when things are better, maybe divorce will be acceptable.
“Stop. I can see those wheels working up there.”
I snap out of my thoughts when I see Edge’s lips moving. He smiles softly at me, a smile that he’s always saved just for me.
He’s still smiling when his head turns to the side and a line forms across his brow. I pause too, my waffle suspended in midair.
He doesn’t look concerned though. There are no protective instincts jumping in motion, no vein throbbing at his neck or pulse point pounding at his neck. I sit and study him, confused for a minute, until I feel the vibrations.
Bikes.
Lots of them, because it seems like the house is going to shake down around us. The glass in the kitchen window is even rattling.
“What the hell?” My waffle falls back to my plate. Edge and I both stand at the same time.
He wraps an arm around my waist, tugging me against his side automatically, and we both walk to the front door together.
At first, there isn’t anything, but we wait, and after a few minutes, the first bike rolls into view. I know that bike. A big chrome and black beast. A bike that I’ve ridden on hundreds of times over the course of my life.
My father’s bike.
The rest of the Riders pull up beside him, one bike after another, until the entire driveway and front yard and even the road is filled up with black leather and shining chrome, and rough, wild looking men.
“What the heck,” I breathe.
Edge takes my hand, threading our fingers together into the same unbreakable knots that our hearts have always been bound up in. We step through the new door together onto the tiny porch.
My heart stops as I watch my dad walk up the driveway, his big black boots eating up the length of it, sending puffs of dust into the air because the gravel is so dry.
I clench Edge’s hand tightly, and he squeezes back. Even though neither of us have any idea what is going on, he stands calmly, breathing evenly, the giant of a man he truly is.
“Edge,” my dad says, as he stops right in front of the steps. He nods at me and I offer a small smile in return.
Except for a few quick words after we were released the night after we’d been taken by the Devil’s Slaves, I haven’t really talked to my dad. His face is neutral though, composed, all the anger long bled out of it. I suck in a shuddery breath and wait.
I can’t hear what Edge says beside me, but it’s a single word, a deep rumble from his chest, and I assume it’s my father’s name.
“Came here today,” my dad says after a pause, “to ask you to come back. We took a vote on it. Everyone voted in favor. The Riders ain’t a club without you.”
Edge looks down at me at the same time my head snaps up in shock. I watch his lips move. “You already have a VP, Steel. Don’t need any more chefs sticking their thumbs into the broth.”
“Don’t even know that the means, you dumb fuck,” my dad says, but I can tell from the shadow of a smile tugging at his lips and the light in his eyes, that it’s a sort of compliment type deal. Friendly banter between men who used to be friends.
I watch Edge’s face change as he mulls it over. “It means that you don’t need another VP.”
“Snake was just keeping the position warm. He never wanted it permanently.”
“I didn’t leave because I don’t love the MC,” Edge admits. He blinks down at me. “I left because you couldn’t accept this. What’s gonna make you start now?”
We both know what this is. Everyone knows what this is.
My dad shakes his head, but there isn’t anything mean clouding or shadowing his face. He almost looks… sorry. Happy. I don’t know. It’s hard to read all the emotion he has shining in his eyes.
“I’m not gonna say I’m sorry for what happened,” my dad starts.
“Because Harley will always be my little girl. I’m always gonna love her and worry about her and want to keep her safe, but I will say that I’m sorry I let it cloud my judgment when it came to club business.
And… our business. As brothers. You started this whole sorry mess with me a decade ago.
I don’t want to keep at it without you. You belong with us.
Harley belongs with us. We’re a family. Can’t have you going rogue on us now. ”
Edge hesitates. I brace for whatever comes next.
My dad stands there, a proud man who isn’t used to having to eat crow, but is doing it all the same, just for us, and even though it’s not the most flowery apology in the world, I get it.
I get it because I’m his daughter and I really will always be his little girl.
He’s the man who raised me and I’ll always love him.
Always. I get that he’s rough and wild and hard around the edges. I get that, and I love him for it.
Edge still doesn’t say anything, and then there’s a movement near the back of the crowd and Wraith wedges his way through the sea of bodies and bikes. He weaves his way to the front of the yard, to stand just behind Steel.
In his hands is an object I know well. I know how buttery soft it is. The dark, smoky scent that clings to it. The way it feels heavy in my hands, when I’ve had to get it down from the peg on the wall, or hang it up.
Edge’s vest.
“Come on now,” Wraith urges. “Kiss and make up.”
I feel the ripple of laughter shift through the crowd as Wraith holds the jacket out, waiting.
“Doesn’t he ever shut up?” My dad mutters.
Edge squeezes my hand. “Just wait.” There’s humor dancing in his eyes. “He’s about to become a married man. Maybe that will tame him. “
“Nothing’s gonna tame me,” Wraith says, puffing his chest out like a damn cave man. I’m surprised he doesn’t beat on it too.
Edge winks at me. His eyes sparkle with all the love in the world, all that love, for me, for his brothers, for the club that is his life. It’s where he always belonged. Always. I know he wasn’t whole without it.
My heart swells with love and pride and tears prick the backs of my eyes, as he leaves me to accept that jacket.
A cheer goes through the crowd when his hand closes over it, and he shrugs it on over his black t-shirt.
Even though I can’t hear it, I can sense it, the way the men’s mouths move, but also the wild current of energy that shimmers in the air.
Then, my dad closes in. He and Edge eye each other up for a minute before they give each other one of those manly back-pounding, handshake deals.
Edge looks back towards the porch right after, to me, and all that love and happiness on his face chokes me up so bad I can barely hold the tears back. I swallow hard past the stinging lump lodged in my throat.
“We got enough burgers to feed everyone?” Edge calls to me.
We don’t, but I nod anyway. It’s easy enough to make a trip to the store and I can’t remember the last time everyone was gathered together like this for something that didn’t involve problems with the club or the threat of war with an enemy of the club.
“Well then,” Edge says with a grin that splits his beautiful face in half. “I guess everyone’s staying.”
Another cheer goes through the crowd. The air shimmers with it, and as the men move off to get themselves situated around the place, Edge comes to stand beside me.
“Thank you,” I mouth to my dad, just before he turns. His smile is soft and tender, a private smile just for me, as he walks off to join the others.
“We don’t have any burgers, do we?” Edge asks. He takes both of my hands in his.
“No,” I admit. “But I’ll go get some. If you can get the grill fired up.”
He pauses, just for a second, before he pulls me against his chest and places a scalding kiss to my lips. He kisses me breathless and pulls away, bracing me on my unsteady, wobbly legs. I press a finger to my tingling lips.
“What was that for?” I breathe.
“That?” Edge laughs so hard his shoulders shake. And then his beautiful hands move. I finally got it out of him that he’d taken ASL lessons, once a week, night classes, in Jacksonville.
That was because I love you more than anything in this life.
I couldn’t ask for a better answer.
THE END