6
ROMAN
I grinnedat the guard as he opened the gate for me.
I looked down at the concrete ground before directing my gaze ahead.
Fuck.
I was a free man.
I took a deep breath and crossed that invisible line where the gate was, separating this hellhole from the world.
Nothing happened, and I wasn’t a changed man. I didn’t expect it to, but fuck—I wasfree.
I stopped when I was about three feet away from the gate and looked back. I was not going back there ever fucking again. I vowed it on my mother’s grave.
I came out to the parking lot and stopped when two familiar figures stood by a black truck.
My lips curled up in a wide smile before letting out a deep laugh and making my way to them. Two large men engulfed me.
“Fuck,” I said between them. “It is so fucking good to see you both.”
Dominic patted my back, his smile matching mine. “Welcome home, brother.”
“Not home yet,” Micah said. “But you will be soon. We’re heading straight to the clubhouse. And tonight, we’re throwing a fucking celebration for my little brother’s homecoming.”
I nodded, blinking away the burn in my eyes. “That sounds fucking nice.”
“And perhaps you can find a warm body to keep you company,” Dominic added.
The glint in his eyes told exactly what he meant.
I laughed and shook my head.
A warm and willing body sounded nice, but there were other pressing things I wanted besides getting my dick wet.
And I needed Kai’s help.
I would love to see the fucking look in her eyes when she realized I was coming for her, but alas, we needed to do things discreetly.
I didn’t usually bother with women.
They didn’t have a place in our world—at least, not a significant place, but this bitch sent me to prison, and how would it look if I just let her go?
The fact that she was the bastard, Bennett Hudson’s daughter, was something else entirely.
“You look different,” Micah commented.
When I was taken into custody, I had been younger, cockier, and more optimistic about life.
The fact that I was clean-shaven then helped.
I palmed my beard as I smiled a little at him. I didn’t look how I did two years ago. If there was one thing to count on in prison, it was that the hellhole ages you, and I definitely felt older than my thirty-two years. I wondered just how much I had changed and whether those changes were good or not.
I shook away the thought when Micah spoke. “Come on. Let’s get you out of here.”
“Go to Hades first. I want a cold beer and cheeseburger,” I said.