I wouldn’t.
Not so long as I have Styx and Ryder by my side.
Mom and Ricky are okay for now, but they won’t be that way forever. And it’ll hurt. When the worst happens, it will hurt more than anything. But I no longer fear the future. Because love will be my life raft. Styx and Ryder will be my anchors.
And I know whatever storms blow our way…
We’ll weather them together.
Styx
One year later…
“Will you stop fucking around? Everything is perfect,” Kat breathes, frustration evident in her voice.
“I know. I just—”
“He’s right, brother.” Ryder’s deep voice rumbles from somewhere around the corner before he appears with another crate of beers in his hands.
He places them on the bar and shoves them my way.
“I thought we were ready?” I quip.
“You’ve also got a fuck load of bikers coming in. You need all the beer and whiskey you can get tonight.”
“You mean we?” I remind him.
About six months ago, the owner of Envy decided he’d had enough and wanted to sell up. As much as I never wanted this place to turn into my life, hearing the news that it could all come to an end, especially after I’d been a manager for months, was a little disappointing.
But one thing led to another—not that I was aware of—and a few weeks later, a new owner had taken over.
And that owner just so happened to be a whole bunch of dirty, tatted bikers in the form of the Red Ridge Sinners.
The Sinners own a number of businesses throughout the town, but other than their own clubhouse, this is their first bar. And who did they want to run it?
Me.
It made me all kinds of warm and fuzzy inside to know they—more specifically Diesel—wanted to welcome me into the family like that after so many years of feeling like an outsider.
“Yeah, yeah,” Ryder mutters.
The second Envy’s new ownership was announced, Ryder quickly volunteered to work for me when a number of my old staff decided it was also the time for new starts and left me in the lurch. A few of the other guys, and a couple of the old ladies have agreed to pick up some shifts too while I get back on my feet.
There are some people in this town who are skeptical of the bikers who run the place with an iron fist, but I have every intention of this not becoming a biker bar that is going to turn people away and be a better version of the club they all know and love.
“You love being my little bitch,” I deadpan.
“About that,” Kat pipes up, making me groan.
“Are you still on about that?” I ask, pinning her with a dark stare.
A year on, and our girl is just as beautiful and breathtaking as she’s always been. Hell, even more so now she’s officially ours.
It took a while for D not to get this murderous twitch in his left eye every time he looked at us together, but we got there in the end.
Now we’re mostly just one big happy family.
It’s not really official, but Kat now lives with us, freeing her old house up for Cassie who is still loving the single life and working her way not only around the club but also the town—much to Zach’s irritation. And Evelyn, while still declining, is living her best life in the care home D found for her. Every time we visit, she has the widest smile on her face. Knowing that her kids have found love, that Kat is being looked after, and without the pressure of running a house and all the bullshit that comes with that, she looks happier than I think I’ve seen her in years.