Page 112 of Canvas

ROCK

EPILOGUE

Six Months Later

“Rock, when are they going to be here?” Summer calls from the bedroom.

Why she’s there, I have no clue.

Everything she’s going to need, she was born with.

“An hour, now get your sweet ass in here so I can prepare you.”

I hear her murmur, “Still so bossy.”

Immediately, that day in her coffee shop flashes in my mind as a grin spreads across my face.

God, was that only six months ago?

I’m not sure if that was the day I fell in love with her, the day I found her on her hands and knees crawled inside a broken refrigerator. That was the first time she called me bossy. She was stubborn and sexy, I had wanted to put her over my lap, and kiss her so fucking bad, it hurt. She already owned me by that point. Hell, she probably had a firm grip on my nuts the minute I first saw her, even before the guys had put me in a situation where I had to claim her.

Thank God for them, if they hadn’t, I might still be watching her through the window. They knew, and they did what had to be done to kick me in my ass and make me go and get her.

Thank God! If they hadn’t, she’d probably be back in that hell she escaped from. And I would not have had any idea what was happening with her.

My heart twists just thinking of a life without Summer, not ever knowing her, touching her, and having her by my side every day.

There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t remember how I found her when Steve took her. The rage and fury is just as fresh as it was then.

I wanted to make him pay for what he’d done, and his pig father, and her fucking pimp father too. Especially him. I asked her again about pressing charges and having the whole fucking place shut down. She just wanted to be done, she wanted it all to be over. She knew her life would be a three ring circus for years if she pursued it. All she wanted was to be free.

I couldn’t blame her for that.

Me and the guys had talked about us going in and taking them all out. We all knew that if I said ‘Let’s do it,’ it would have been on, no questions asked, no hesitation. I know we’re all still thinking about it.

I don’t think the whole thing will ever be over.

The Program knows it too. They cautioned us about any retaliation, by either physical means or formally. They fucking told us basically that The Club’s power goes beyond what we could imagine and there are people in very high places that would stop it immediately any way they had to.

As much as I hated it, I was not going to let anything happen to Summer, even if that meant standing down.

The world’s a shitty fucking place, don’t ever fool yourself.

So I brought her home. Yeah, I brought her here, it wasn’t easy at first, it took her six weeks to heal from the beating Steve gave her, and I was beside her every minute. I would not let her leave after that, wouldn’t let her out of my sight, night or day. After she healed, if she went to work, I was there too. If I wasn’t, one of the guys were. Snake spent the most time with her after me. It was all their idea, and had insisted on watching out for her just as much as I was. She fought, cursed, screamed, cried, but finally, she admitted how much she really needed it.

She also started therapy. Reliving all those old nightmares has been extremely hard for her, but exorcising them has helped completely remove the grip her past had over her. So far, no one has contacted her from The Club. When the messenger arrived with the packet from The Program, it had been Summer Hollingsworth, millionaire’s daughter, single heir to Hollingsworth Holdings, net worth one hundred and fifty million dollars, that we’d been hired to find, retrieve, and return to her family.

Ain’t that a kick in the ass?

Hah! We found her alright, and retrieved her, and damn sure returned her to the only family she’s ever had, and ever will.

“Are you ready for me, Rock?” comes Summer’s soft voice from the door behind me.

My entire body hums as heat fills me.

This day has been coming from the first time I saw her.

“Yes, princess,” I turn from my supplies in my studio. I look at her. She still takes my goddamn breath away. She’s standing in the doorway in only a silk robe, untied, gaping open, held in place with just the tips of her breasts. “I’ve been ready for you my whole life, Summer.” She smiles that radiant fucking smile at me. “Come here, it’s time for me to immortalize you.”

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