Epilogue Kaleb
Ithrow the stupid sling far away from me. Roxy keeps trying to get me to wear it, but it’s already been a week since the thing popped out, and I’m not going through the humiliation of wearing it down at the club.
It’s sweet that she cares.
Everything about her is sweet.
That’s why I’m standing in the meeting room, ready to do the thing I swore I’d never do.
Ash rests his chin on his palm, lounging in his chair as if he has all the time in the world. We both know that isn’t the case.
He watches me, waiting.
“Boss,” I rasp, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Yes, Kaleb,” he drawls, not taking his eyes off me.
I swallow. It’s not often I come to a loss for words. It’s not often I feel the need to speak at all.
When I brought this up to Kai and Roxy, Roxy told me not to do it. She promised me that she’s fine with how things are.
But I’m not.
“You’ve given us everything,” I murmur, holding his gaze. “Been a brother to me and Kai despite it all.”
Fuck, why is this so hard.
His blue eyes narrow on me.
“Are you breaking up with me?” he croons.
It’s a joke, but he’s not wrong.
I shrug.
“Kai... Roxy... All they know is pain and violence. All we know.”
The silence stretches thin. Noise travels from the club. The sounds of rowdy men and drinks clinking.
My family.
“If we survive this war, we need something different,” I continue. “Not forever. Just... We need to see what things can be like if we aren’t looking over our shoulders every second. Or shedding blood.”
“You love shedding blood,” he points out.
I have to fight my smirk.
Because fuck yeah, I love shedding blood.
And that’s the point.
“So you want a vacation? Want to go sip on pina coladas by a beach somewhere?” he taunts, eyes turning dark.
I don’t answer.
I’m not sure what it looks like for us. If we can even stand being somewhere far away from the violence and the games of the clubs. But I need to try.
For them.
Maybe I might hear Kai laugh again. Maybe I might see Roxy sleep a night through without waking in a cold sweat after dreaming about her dead brothers.
Maybe I’d be able to work through forgiving myself. Get the image of her with a knife pressed against her throat in front of my bleeding brother out of my mind.
Ash stands; his body is stiff.
He takes slow steps toward me.
I never expected this to be easy. He’s my brother in every sense of the word. His dad might have been the one who saw something deadly worth saving, but Ash is the reason we are still here. He’s always treated us like human beings, instead of the killing machines that everyone else does.
He always told jokes, knowing we wouldn’t laugh.
He always hugged us, knowing we wouldn’t hug back.
“You do realise we are in the biggest war in Devils’ history, right?” he growls.
I nod once.
“And you do realise, that once a Devil, always a Devil, has always been a rule?”
I nod again.
He stops in front of me.
“We will stay,” I murmur. “Until Zeke is dead.”
He huffs a laugh that holds no humour.
“No, you fucking won’t.”
My chest feels tight. I didn’t want it to go this way. Didn’t want to offend our president. Didn’t want to make this messy.
“Boss,” I grunt.
His lip curls.
“I’ve stood next to you two for as long as I can remember,” he growls. “Watched you give everything for the Devils. For me. For my Angel. So, respectfully, all three of you can fuck off.”
My eyes search him.
And then his face splits into a shit-eating grin.
“I’m so happy for you two,” he whispers. “Nothing makes me happier, apart from my angel, than seeing you two smitten with the girl. So, go. Drink your fucking pina coladas and send me a fucking postcard.”
The air feels too heavy to breathe in.
“I’ll call you,” he adds. “If things get too bad. But for now, I need you to go. Now.”
His forehead falls against mine and me eyes fall shut.
“Until next time.”