Page 53 of Vendetta
“Good,” Vendetta said, jaw tight.“Then let’s rebuild this MC.”
Ripper clapped him on the back.“Cottonmouths, reborn,” he said with a grin.
And from the corners of the room, an older Cottonmouth spoke, low but certain.“Never thought I’d be proud to wear this patch again.”
A new era for the Cottonmouths of Oak Grove began.
* * *
Dylan
Dylan stood on the front porch of the Hound clubhouse sometime after midnight.Her arms were crossed over her chest as she waited each painful minute for the outcome.Margot stood nearby, feeling obliged to protect her if she was going to insist on waiting on the porch.Jade waited just inside the door, pretending she wasn’t watching out the window.Ryder had gone quiet an hour ago, and Dylan hoped that wasn’t a bad sign.
Deva walked back out with a fresh glass of water, moving like the entire affair was over and her side had won.Dylan wished she had that kind of confidence tonight instead of standing there saying every prayer she ever knew that Vendetta and everyone else came back in one piece.
The roar of bikes signaled their return before she saw them.And then in the darkness, headlights broke through the trees.One after another, the Hounds rolled in, all bruised, bloodied, but victorious.Frantically, she watched for him to roll in with them.Her breath caught when she finally spotted him.
Josh.
He pulled off his helmet and parked his bike, and her world narrowed.Everything else fell away.Josh was alive.He’d come back for her.
Josh moved straight toward her with no hesitation.She launched off the porch steps and into his arms before he could say a word.He caught her with a grunt and held on like she was the only thing anchoring him to the earth.
“You’re back,” she whispered against his neck, feeling the tears falling but not caring.
“I told you I would be.”
She pulled back just enough to look at him.“Are you okay?”
His dark-eyed gaze searched hers.“I am now.”
She looked him over for wounds, noting the fresh scrape across his temple, the dried blood on the knuckles of his hands.“You don’t look okay.”
“I’m not gonna lie,” Josh said, brushing a thumb across her cheek.“It got ugly.But we won, Dylan.Eli’s gone.The Cottonmouths aren’t his anymore.”
She wasn’t sure she’d heard right.Dead?How much did she want to know?She asked, carefully, “Gone?”
“Eli’s not gonna hurt you again,” he said gently.“Or anyone else.It’s over.”
She let out a shaky breath and leaned her forehead against his.“Thank God.”
Dylan wasn’t happy that Eli was dead.She hated that it had come to that, hated that blood had to be spilled for her to finally be free.But the truth settled over her, a heavy, quiet relief.She didn’t have to be afraid anymore.No more running.
And no more girls would be passed around like property.No more secret shipments, or silenced cries in the dark.The pipeline Eli helped build had been severed.Shut down.Maybe now, someone else would be free too.
For the first time in days, Dylan could breathe.And she was breathing him in.
“Don’t breathe too easy just yet, sweetheart.”
Her brows knit.“Why?”
“Eli’s gone,” Josh said, voice low and steady, “but Sinister Skin’s still out there.And they’ve got long memories.If they think you’re a liability, they’ll come looking.”
Her heart stumbled in her chest.“So what now?”
“Now,” he said, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close, “you let me worry about that.You’re not running anymore, Dylan.You’re coming home with me.”
“Home?”She honestly didn’t care where.She just heard the words “with me.”
