Page 67 of My End
The Iron Fiends had never done anything to get on the radar of the feds.
But the Banachis? That was a different world.
Pirate and Cue Ball came jogging out of the house.
“If you’d asked me a week ago if having Boone and Gibbs arrested would satisfy me,” Dice said, “I’d have said no. But I gotta admit, there’s something about doing it legally. Now we can just go home and… live.”
“Home sounds fucking good to me,” Yarder said.
The guys mounted up.
I turned to Tilly.
“Ready to go?”
She looked up at the house, the gates, the ghosts we were leaving behind. “Go home?” she echoed.
I nodded.
“I don’t know if I have one of those anymore,” she said quietly. “This was home for the past six months. But my apartment? Doesn’t feel like anything anymore.”
I leaned down and kissed her. “Then come home with me, Tilly. You helped end all this. And now we can all be free.”
She didn’t hesitate. “Then let’s go home, Stretch.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Tilly
I didn’t know how I was going to remember all of their names.
Eighteen adults. Two dogs. One kid.
I wasn’t sure my brain had the capacity for all of that. Honestly, I was just proud I’d remembered my own name after the week we’d had.
But they were all amazing. Loud, chaotic, protective, real.
I had thought Stretch and I would’ve had a quiet moment to sit down, just the two of us, and go over the who, what, when, and how of everything that had gone down with Boone and Gibbs. But instead, I’d gotten the full Iron Fiends version of a storytime, with overlapping, cussing-filled, hilarious recounts of absolute chaos that somehow ended with them on top.
It was messy. It was a lot. But somehow, it made perfect sense.
The club had been minding their own business. Living. Loving. Building. Then out of nowhere, they were pulled into some ugly political maneuver and a ladder-climbing scheme where taking them down would’ve earned Boone and Gibbs the next rung. But that didn’t happen. Not even close.
The Iron Fiends had come out swinging, and they didn’t just survive it.
They stomped on it.
It was all over now.
We were all gathered in the common room with couches pulled together, boots kicked off, drinks poured, and laughter echoing.Rockywas curled up on a blanket in front of the TV with a dog on either side of him as he snoozed away.
I had to smother a yawn behind my hand.
It was just past ten, and I was so ready to crawl into bed and not open my eyes for a solid eight hours. My limbs felt heavy in the best way, and I was exhausted but safe.
I had set my backpack down by the door when we’d arrived, along with the canvas Murphy had dropped off. The rush of greetings and introductions had swept me away, and I hadn’t thought twice about it.
Until Sloanecalled, her voice full of mischief. “What is this?”
