Page 79 of Rebel

“He might, but if he knows what’s good for him, he’ll shut the fuck up. We have the tapes of him abducting you from the office,Hacker’s also got a bunch of sick shit from his laptop. If we hand that over then he’s going behind bars for a long time,” I said.

If I had my way, he’d be locked up and the key thrown away. Letting him off didn’t sit right with me, but maybe after Celt’s workover he’d see the error of his ways.

Storm added, “Whatever. We can always give him a dirt nap another day if we decide to go in that direction.”

I gave him the shut up look, because Lacey didn’t need to know that.

“Or we could just forget about him,” she shot back. Gesturing with one hand, her expression turned hopeful. “No one dislikes Edward more than me, and I kind of feel like he ended up with enough physical punishment for us to consider it even.”

“Fine,” Storm said. His voice was disgruntled enough to make it clear he didn’t approve of calling it even.

I tightened my hold around Lacey and told him, “You know this is our own fault for hooking up with decent women. They’re gonna keep us on the right side of the law and make moral upstanding men of us.”

Storm’s eyes narrowed on me. “Speak for your damn self. I’m so fucking filled with morality I can hardly walk.”

Lacey’s light amused voice spoke up. “Why don’t you two make yourself comfortable on the porch and I’ll make you a nice Irish coffee to take the chill off.”

Suddenly, Storm was over his bloodlust. “A shot of Irish whiskey would be nice about now. Celt’s gonna be sorry he missed it.”

“You should call him to come over. I’ll make enough for everyone.”

I glanced at her. “Are you sure you’re up to it, ladybug?”

She nodded, “Heck yeah, I can’t lay around in bed all the time. It’s been days and I feel like I need to do something productive.”

“There’s no need to rush back to work. Harvey’s wife is holding down the office for us and Richie is proving to be a quick learner.”

“I’m glad. It’s nice to have a few days to ourselves after what happened.” She pulled out from under my arm and said, “Stay outside with Storm and I’ll get started on those drinks.”

“If you’re sure,” I said reluctantly.

She headed for the kitchen, “I’m fine. Go, socialize with Storm and whoever else you two can dig up.”

It was the perfect day to be outside. There was a slight chill in the air and a cool breeze moving around the fall leaves. I grabbed the rocking chair beside Storm before glancing over at him. “You’re right. I am the luckiest bastard in the whole world. And so are you.”

Seeing the happiness in his expression was enough for me to let go of any ideas I was harboring about circling back around to Edward. I had a good life, as did the brothers in my club. I’d kill a man if I had to, but putting Storm and my club brothers in jeopardy just to get revenge didn’t sit right with me. I’d rather be vigilant, stand guard over my woman and make damn sure he never got another chance to grab her. Truth be told, I think after my club is finished dealing with him, he’ll lose interest in gettinghis hands on Lacey. Knowing he’d get beaten senseless for trying was huge disincentive. However, in the interest of doing what Lacey asked and keeping my club brother out of trouble, I was willing to let sleeping dogs lie.

I’d spent my life overthinking things, trying to find problems and solutions, worrying about what people thought of me, or whether I was good enough. The weeks I’d spent with Lacey had taught me to cherish the moment—seeing what her parents were going through had brought that home. You never knew what the future would bring, and you needed to enjoy every second of life. So right now, instead of fretting about that asshole Edwards, I was gonna enjoy looking forward to the life I was building with my woman, and nothing and no one was gonna get in the way. I thought that love was something that happened to others, but finding myself hook, line, and sinker, head over heels in love with Lacey, it was like a hole I didn’t know I had inside me had been filled. I was finally complete.

Epilogue

Lacey

Four Months Later

My parents invited everyone to our family’s lodge in the mountains. Even though it was winter, and all the leaves had fallen from the trees, it wasn’t too cold for the kids to play outside. I stood by the lodge with a huge cup of hot cocoa in my hand and gazed out at the multitude of friends and family roaming around our property. Most of the older folks, like my parents, aunts, and uncles, along with Rebel’s grandmother were bundled up in rockers, with warm drinks of their own just taking in the sights.

There was a fresh pine scent on the wind from the trees that covered our property.

Richie had been welcomed back into the family and had carved out his niche as the giver of rides in our three-wheeler. The kids kept fighting over whose turn it was to ride next. His shame-faced stepfather was nowhere to be found, and he most certainly wasn’t missed. Richie and Eric were doing their best to track down leads on his sister’s whereabouts—they still hadn’t found anything concrete, but no death certificates had turned up with her name or date of birth on them, so they were sure that she was still alive somewhere. I prayed that wherever Debbie was, she was safe and happy going into the holiday season.

My mom had even invited all of Rebel’s club brothers. About a dozen came out to meet our family and enjoy a weekend in the great outdoors. They’d planned on hunting excursions with myuncles and older cousins. This property was on prime hunting territory. It had been in our family for several generations and was currently locked in a trust. The trustees were my father and his siblings. It would pass on to me and my cousins at some point. We’d do our best to keep the property up and in use.

A pair of warm hands slipped around me and a big hand slid into my coat pocket. I knew what Rebel was after. It was the sonogram printout in my pocket. It turned out my implant hadn’t failed, but after talking to Rebel we decided that we wanted to try for a child, so I got my doctor to remove it. We must have hit the jackpot, because six weeks later I was pregnant, I’d just had my twelve week scan, and everything was looking good.

“You sure you want to announce it to everyone today, ladybug?” he said.

Glancing at him over my shoulder, I nodded. “Yeah, it’s the perfect time. Everyone is here, including your gran. No one else has news they want to announce, so we wouldn’t be stealing anyone’s moment. Now’s the time, babe.”

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