Page 81 of Bullet

“I’ll answer your questions,” I promise. “But can I have a minute? My family is here.”

I guess he does have something of a heart after all, because Officer Daniels nods. The growl of the bikes pulling up shakes the warehouse, literally vibrating the stacked pallets around us.

Bullet is the first one who charges in. The bikes are still out there rumbling away, so he either left it running, or he was in the lead.

I should be professional, especially with people watching, but the police are going to know everything eventually. At the very least, it’s going to come out that I have connections to the club through Bullet and as their new lawyer, and that’s why Harold made me a target.

Honestly, nothing could keep me from running to Bullet and launching myself at him. He opens his huge arms and catches me. I actually knock him back a step with my momentum, but crashing against him and feeling his arms close around me is the best thing I have ever felt.

I bury my hands in his hair, tugging his face down for a brutal kiss. I’m the one who’s brutal. He’s gentle, his worry and pain poured into the kiss with equal amounts of relief.

“Bullet,” I whimper against his lips. “You’re here.”

“Hart is too far from Seattle,” he says, every word heavy and costly. “It fucking killed me that I couldn’t get here myself. We had to call them. There was no other option.”

They’d given Harold an out once, but he came back, proving that he would never truly stay gone. He was a threat who had to be eliminated and the only way to do that was to have him arrested and to face justice for what he and Donny have done, or to kill him.

I know Bullet wouldn’t have hesitated to tear Harold apart with his bare hands to get to me and save me. I don’t know that he wouldn’t have had to pay the price for it. If he’d lost his headand gone to jail for me, I never would have forgiven myself. Our lives would have been torn apart. Yes, it would have been in the name of self-defense, but with Bullet’s history as a soldier and with his connections to the club, would the prosecution have been as eager to condemn him and make an example of him as they were when he was facing charges for assault against Donny?

His arms tighten around me in response to the terrible shudder that launches itself up my spine and lands in the base of my neck. I pull back, staring into his beautiful face. I can’t believe there was ever a time when I thought this man was anything less than the whole world.

He brushes tears off my cheeks that I don’t even realize I’ve cried. “I won’t tell you what to do, Lynette. I know you’re independent and strong, but I want you with me. I want you in Hart. I want you by my side. I want to make a life with you. None of that is dependent on you moving, but it’s killing me that I was so far away.” He dips his head and speaks in a fierce whisper, just for me. “I would have put a bullet in his head and burned this place down after ripping each of those fuckers apart just for daring to lay a hand on you.”

I grasp his face, sinking my fingers into his beard, smoothing my fingers over his cheekbones just to assure myself that he’s real. He’s here. He’s with me.

“I know.” I fall into the deep pits of his dark eyes. “I know. No matter what, I’ll forever be glad that you didn’t have to do that.” I hug him fiercely, my breath skating over the shell of his ear as I whisper words like his, just for him. “I don’t want you to kill for me. I want you to live for me. With me. Together.”

He nods fiercely, holding me tight as I drink in his scent, his goodness, and marvel at the wonder of him. I’d give up anything and everything for this man.

I realize, as I start coming back to myself, that the other members of the club are here. Tyrant and Raiden are over talking to Officer Daniels and his partner. A few hang back at the entrance. Crow and Reaper are at Tyrant and Raiden’s backs.

I know there’s so much that has to be done, tonight and in the months to come, but I’m immediately comforted by the presence of these huge, rough bikers. I wasn’t messing around when I said that my family was here.

I turn back to Bullet, losing myself in his eyes again. “We’ll be okay.”

It’s not a question. It’s a statement. The only option I’m ever going to allow.

His hand tightens at the small of my back and my arms twist around his neck again, hugging him fiercely. He needs that as much as I do. My strong warrior with his soldiering hands and his soft, poet heart. I so solidly refused to accept that I could ever be anything less than an independent woman, but I’ve met my match at last. He’d never ask me to give up myself to be with him. He wants me exactly as I am, for who I am. I’ll never have to surrender my drive, my power, my spine of steel, or my unbowed spirit. Those are the things he loves about me, not things he wishes he could break and change.

The only thing I had to change was my heart, and I’ll never regret opening it up and putting it in his strong, capable hands.

Epilogue

Bullet

Eight Months Later

Iknow how it happened, because I was there for every minute of it, but sometimes I still can’t believe that the most beautiful woman in the world fell in love withme.

I’m wheeling the grill down the driveway, thinking about how gorgeous Lynette looks in the vintage green sixties dress Willa gave her just for today. The women are inside, still doing each other’s hair and makeup. We have a good while before we have to leave, but there’s the grill to load, the food to get out of the fridge and into the truck, and Willa probably has ten thousand other things on her mind. I’d be surprised if she slept last night. She was here at five this morning, even though the grand opening of her new antique store doesn’t open until noon.

The club is kicking it off with a huge barbeque, free for anyone who wants to show up. Since school just got out for the summer, I’m thinking the whole town is going to come out.

Atlas got here half an hour ago and he’s been helpful, loading buns and cases of soda into the truck with me.

He bursts out of the front door, golden hair streaming in the morning sun like a Greek god blessed by the light.

His pale face and blank expression chill me instantly.

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