Page 31 of Arch
The clubhouse noise fades, and it’s just us, his body warm against mine, his hands fisting my jacket like he’s anchoring himself to me.
I hold him tight, my heart full in a way I never thought possible, and when we pull back, his eyes are shining, that smirk softened into something new.
We’re still standing there, foreheads pressed together, when Clay’s voice breaks through.
“Well, damn, Arch,” Clay says, grinning wide, his arm around Dylan. “Welcome to the Happy Daddies Club, Arch my old buddy. Took you long enough.”
Jace laughs, Caleb tucked against his side.
“Yeah, you’re one of us now, brother,” Jace bellows. “No escaping it.”
Keegan laughs, pulling back just enough to look at them, his grin sharp and playful.
“So, what, if I step out of line, all three of you gonna spank me now?” Keegan asks, his cheeks blushing furiously.
The room erupts in laughter, Dylan and Caleb chuckling, Clay shaking his head.
I pull Keegan closer, my arm around his waist, and growl, “No way, boy. You’re mine, forever. No one else gets to touch you.”
Keegan laughs, leaning into me, and I feel the weight of the night lift, just a little.
Clay hands out whiskeys, and we raise our glasses, the five of us—Clay, Jace, Dylan, Caleb, and me with Keegan—standing together, battered but whole.
“To the Wolf Riders. To family,” I say, my voice steady, my eyes on Keegan. “To love.”
“To love,” Keegan echoes, his glass clinking mine, his eyes locked on me like I’m his world.
We drink, the whiskey burning, but it’s nothing compared to the fire in my chest.
The Vipers are gone, Jinx’s betrayal a wound we’ll heal from, but Keegan… he’s my future, my partner, my boy.
And as we stand there, surrounded by our brothers, I know we’re in this for the long haul, come what may.
But being a Wolf Rider, there’s always something else just around the corner…
Chapter 10
Keegan
The clubhouse is alive tonight, buzzing with the kind of energy that only comes after a hard-won fight…
The air’s thick with beer, smoke, and the low thrum of Metallica pouring from the jukebox, but it’s different from the first time I stepped through these doors.
That night, I was a stranger, a hothead looking for trouble, my boots barely touching the ground before Arch’s steel-gray eyes pinned me in place.
Now, I’m not just some drifter stirring shit.
I’m one ofthem—a Wolf Rider, or damn close to it—and the weight of that sits heavy in my chest, not like a chain but like a badge.
I lean against the bar, a beer in my hand, watching the chaos unfold.
Clay’s at the pool table, his arm slung around Dylan, who’s laughing loud enough to drown out the music.
Jace is nearby, Caleb tucked against his side, their quiet ease a mirror to what I’m starting to feel with Arch.
Tank’s holding court in a corner, his busted lip barely slowing his stories about the warehouse fight, and the other guys—Razor, the prospects, the whole crew—are scattered around, their voices a rough chorus of loyalty and grit.
The Wolf Rider emblem, that snarling wolf with crossed pistons, looms on the wall, and for the first time, it doesn’t feel like it’s judging me. It feels like it’s welcoming me home…
