Epilogue
VIKING
ONE MONTH LATER
Leaning back in the chair, I look at the man across from me. He doesn’t seem the same. He’s weathered. His eyes appear tired. I want to ask him if he’s getting enough sleep. I doubt he is. He’s likely got a whole lot of shit on his plate that he’s been dealing with the past month.
“I trust you received the bikes back in pristine condition.”
“We did,” Bullet confirms.
Lorenzo clears his throat, shifting slightly in his chair.
“I can’t even begin to explain what has happened this past month, and it is not your business, as we’ve cut contractual ties with one another.
I do appreciate you still working the Gilded Room as security.
I trust you’ve been properly compensated? ”
“We have,” Bullet answers.
Lorenzo has been a boss for years. He knows how to run a crew, but he’s let his hope for a protégé cloud his judgment. And now he’s fucked. Lorenzo scrubs his palms down his face before he places them on the table and drops his chin.
I’ve never seen a man like him so defeated before.
It actually makes me feel really fucking bad for the guy.
Nobody wants to be disappointed in their own men like that.
Betrayed. That’s how he feels, betrayed, and I have to wonder if my father’s president felt that way when he did what he did and betrayed him.
“The girl, Lainey, she’s okay?” Lorenzo asks.
I think about not telling him anything about her. But then I decide that would make me just as much of an asshole as Paul, well, close enough anyway. So I answer him.
“She’s good. Really good.”
A smile twitches on Lorenzo’s lips, and just for a moment, that weathered gaze shifts to something a bit brighter, then it falls right back into place. He nods a couple of times, makes a noise in the back of his throat, then he speaks.
“I’m getting out of the business,” he announces.
“Out of what business?” Bullet pretty much demands, he’s so forceful with his words.
All eyes are on Lorenzo, but right now, he’s the only one I can see. I’m not sure where he’s going with this, but I hold my breath in anticipation of whatever the fuck he’s going to say. Because he called this meeting, and I know this is about more than just some bikes.
He sucks in a deep, ragged breath. It sounds like it’s filling his lungs to capacity before he lets it out with a few coughs as we all watch and wait in anticipation of what the fuck he’s going to say next.
“The drugs, the guns, transporting, and the girls. I don’t want to be part of it anymore. I made my money, and I had hoped to pass the torch, but I can’t be trusted to make those kinds of decisions within my group.”
“What happened during your investigation of your men?” Bullet asks before he comments on the out-of-the-business announcement.
Lorenzo slides his palm across the sides of his hair, smoothing down whatever he feels has come out of place, which is nothing.
This man is probably the most put-together guy his age I’ve ever seen in person.
He’s a bit broken right now, but he still has his shit somewhat together.
I have to give credit where credit is due when it comes to Lorenzo.
“What’s left of my crew is beyond skeleton. I’ve been able to find a placement for them elsewhere. They’re happy with a change in scenery. I’m liquidating everything.”
I want to ask what this has to do with us, and thankfully, I don’t have to because Bullet does before I get the chance. “This affects us how?”
I hear Ivy snort somewhere in the distance, and Piggy clears his throat as he shifts in the seat next to me. He’s still pissed the fuck off about what went down with Paul, and I don’t blame him. I am too, but I got everything I could have ever wanted… and more.
So much more.
The woman I love on the back of my bike and in my bed. Fuck me, it’s everything I could have ever wanted and more. And, honest to fuck, I would have never had it if it hadn’t been for Lorenzo and Paul.
So, really, I should be thanking him for everything that happened.
“I want you to have it all,” Lorenzo announces. “Nobody else is going to run it the way you will. I’ve seen the way you operate. I like it, and I trust it.”
Jesus fucking Christ. There has to be a catch.
A whole fucking catch. My lips twitch into a smirk because I cannot believe that this shit is real.
And judging by the way Lorenzo is smiling that crazy fucking grin of his, he is loving this part of the conversation. He’s no longer looking broken and sad.
He’s excited.
“How much?” Bullet asks.
Lorenzo lets out a whistle, then leans back a little more. “For my favorite bikers? Free. I want you to make it something bigger, better, and I want you to allow your families to thrive. I like what you have here. It’s all I was trying to do myself… family.”
He stands, slapping his hand on the table, then shakes his head once, his gaze connecting with Ivy. He then reaches into his pocket. I watch as he takes out a folded-up file folder, places it on the table, and slides it forward.
“This is everything that is owned by the Front Mob Family. Write it up, and I’ll sign it.”
Then he’s gone. We stare at the envelope, though I’m not quite sure what we’re expecting it to do.
It’s not a living, breathing thing. Bullet is the first one to move.
I watch as he snatches up the folder, then he begins to read each item line by line.
And holy fucking shit. He didn’t just leave us the contacts.
He is leaving us the guns, the drugs, the trucks—all of it.
“We’re going to need to up our prospect numbers,” Goose states. “We probably can’t do this all on our own, but holy fucking shit. We’re gonna make some serious fucking money. He handed us working businesses, ready to go, businesses that are already making bank.”
“On a silver goddamn platter,” I point out.
We all sit back in our seats, soaking in the moment. The moment where our worlds are flipped the fuck upside down… again. Except this time, I don’t think any of us are mad about it. In fact, I’m personally pleased as fucking punch.
LAINEY
FIVE YEARS LATER
Placing my hand on my belly, I look at the case. It’s empty. Another amazing day doing what I absolutely love—feeding people. Not just feeding them but making them smile and doing it in a way where I know they can’t wait to come back.
My lips curve up into a grin. I feel the fluttering in my belly and rub it gently. I was grateful five years ago when the girls tore up the sales contract and let me have my bakery back. They didn’t have to, but they did, because that’s what family does.
And they’re my family.
I walk over to the door and reach for the lock, getting ready to flip it into place. I pause when I see him standing in front of the door. I smile, and instead of locking it, I gently tug it open.
“Hey,” I call out.
Gunnar grunts but doesn’t speak before he passes through the door. Turning the sign over to closed, I flip the lock and take a step backward. Gunnar continues walking into the bakery before he disappears behind the counter and into the kitchen.
I follow behind him, one step and then another, until I’m in the kitchen with him. His back is to me, and I take a moment to really look at him. He’s wearing his normal jeans and his cut, but that’s not what I'm focused on.
It’s his hair.
It’s grown out to where it was before he shaved it. He’s even let me braid pieces of it so he looks like the Vikings on television. I love it, and I don’t think he could be sexier than he is right now. Though that could be my pregnancy hormones talking.
When he slowly turns around to face me, his blue eyes finding mine, I know it’s not just my hormones.
This man is hot.
Like hot hot.
“Gunnar,” I whisper.
He smirks, his eyes sparkling as he watches me. “Mrs. Lund.”
I close the distance between us, well, as much as I can with my belly sticking out as far as it is. I lift my arms and place my palms against his chest as I tilt my head back to look up into his eyes.
He reaches down, his fingers gripping my ass as he lowers his head so that his lips touch mine. “I love it when you call me Mrs. Lund,” I murmur against his mouth.
“Yeah,” he grunts. “I know you do.”
His fingers leave my ass and then shift between us, pulling my dress up before he grabs ahold of my panties and tugs them down. Then I feel his fingers between my legs. They glide through my folds before dipping inside me.
My head falls backward, my hips shift forward, and a whimper escapes my lips. I don’t know how it always feels this good. Every single time he touches me, it feels as amazing as it did the first time, and as exciting, too.
His tongue slips inside my mouth, swirling with my own, tasting me. I moan, and he swallows the sound, then his hand is gone and so is his mouth. Both of which I miss instantly.
“Turn around, Lainey.”
Well then.
That is something I can get behind… or in front of.
Spinning around, I tilt my hips as much as I can, his hand back between my legs, his fingers swirling around my clit. Playing me like only he can. Then I feel the head of his cock against my center. He sinks inside me, his other hand curling around my hip. He doesn’t move once he’s buried deep.
I place my palms against the wall, holding myself up in an attempt to be somewhat stable, although I’m not sure how long my knees are going to hold me here. They’re already threatening to turn into goo and send me down to the floor.
“Please,” I exhale.
His fingers grip me tighter, the pads digging into the flesh. He chuckles, leaning over me, and I feel his heat against my back. Then I feel his lips against my throat, his fingers still moving against my clit.
So damn good.
“Please what?” he demands.
“Please, Gunnar.”
He laughs again, his breath warm, his kiss soft. “Please what, Lainey?”
“Please fuck me. I need to feel you move.”
And he does. It’s not hard and fast, probably because I’m pregnant, but I’m okay with that. I’ll take slow and sexy with a side of sweet. It doesn’t take me long to climb higher and higher, to inch my way toward the edge, ready to fall over at any moment.
My head flies back, resting against his shoulder, as my hips jerk and buck. My eyes slide closed, and then it happens. I come. Gunnar doesn’t stop. He continues to move, his hips giving me the perfect rhythm. He knows what I need, what I like—what I want.
Then he stills deep inside, and I feel him come.
He collapses against my back, moving his arms so they’re wrapped around me. I feel his palm against my belly as he lets out an exhale. I almost ask him what’s got into him and why he needed me right this second, but I don’t, because I wanted it, too.
When he slips out of me, I turn around and watch him pull up his pants at the same time I smooth down my dress… sans panties. Lifting my gaze to meet his, I wait for him to say something, anything.
Gunnar smiles, his gaze searching mine. “I love you,” he rasps.
“What’s brought all this on?”
I’m not sure what I expect him to say, but I’m surprised at what he does actually say. “I was riding by and saw you in that window. Couldn’t fucking help myself. You looked like a goddamn wet dream.”
I laugh softly. “After over five years, you still can’t think that. Plus, I’m as big as a house.”
He snorts and moves toward me, and he cups my cheeks before he leans forward slightly. I feel his lips touch mine. He doesn’t deepen the kiss, but just feeling his lips on mine makes me want to do what we just did all over again.
“There hasn’t been a day that I haven’t wanted to fuck you, baby. I love every second I’m inside you. Every kiss. Every fucking touch. There is nobody else for me on this goddamn earth but you, Lainey,” he says against my lips before he shifts back slightly.
I don’t tell him that this moment, that every moment with him is a dream come true. I don’t have to. I’ve said it a million and one times already.
Smiling, I look up at him.
My dream.
My wild love.
My life.