Page 60 of Pike
“Bullshit,” he called again with a laugh-snort. “I saw you at the cabin, Pike. Your heart was breaking listening to her cry and apologize for being a burden. Do us all a favor and claim your woman.” He patted me on the back and walked back to Faith, whispering in her ear and making her blush. And smile.
I want that.
It wasn’t something I’d given much thought to, a woman for the long run. A kid. A family. I figured I’d have a woman warm my bed when I wanted it but never doing the whole husband and dad thing.
Until now.
Untilthem.
I scanned the party again until I found Chloe sitting at a table with Peyton and Harper. She wore a small, almost wistful smile but her eyes told me she wasn’t reallythere. Instantly I knew where she was, back in that fucking cabin. I got two fresh beers from the bar and crossed the space until only the table stood between us. “Hey.”
Her smile went all the way up to her eyes when our gazes connected. “Hey. How are you feeling?”
I shrugged and took a seat, nodding my thanks when the women gave us privacy. “My ribs aren’t broken, just bruised as fuck so… not bad?”
She nodded, blowing out a heavy breath as if she’d been holding it in. “I was so scared, I thought they were going to kill you.”
“Yeah, me too.” I rounded the table and popped the cap on the second beer, setting it in front of her before I took the seat right beside her. “We need to talk.” My tone was serious, and she didn’t miss it.
With a nod and a hard swallow, she nodded. “Okay.”
I had no fucking clue what I wanted to say to her but then the words tumbled out. “What you did was crazy as fuck. It was reckless.” I took one hand and gripped it a little too tight. “It was also the most selfless fucking thing anyone has ever done for me.” I blinked, staring off into the distance to get my shit under control. “I’ve been running from my emotions probably since the day we met. This thing between us, it shouldn’t have happened. That’s what I told myself at first.”
Tears pooled in her eyes, and she nodded, but she said nothing.
“I told myself it was just lust. Crazy, hot as fuck, out of this world lust. I told myself it was just the heightened emotions of Ash’s death and being on the run. But every fucking word I said to myself was a lie.”
Something flashed in her eyes and that gave me the courage I needed to keep talking.
“I don’t know what kind of cosmic joke the universe was playing when it put us together but goddammit I love you, Chloe. I can’t pinpoint when it happened, but I know that feeling in my gut when I think about being without you is love. I know that warmth I get when I even fucking think about earning oneof your gorgeous smiles. I know that you make me feel good and that makingyoufeel good makesmefeel good, which is something I never gave a fuck about. Until you.” I inhaled deeply and let it out slowly, putting my beer down to take her other hand. “You make everything better just by being there, Chloe. You and Gemma.”
She stared at me as if she didn’t understand the words, a look of pure shock on her face.
Then, she blinked.
Once. Twice.
And two tears slid down her cheeks in a straight line. “Say it again.”
I smiled, sliding closer until her hands rested on my chest. “I love you, Chloe.”
She shook her head and wiped away her tears, but I caught the way those full lips curved into a smile. “I love you, Pike. So, so much.” She pulled our hands from my chest and brought them to her mouth, kissing my knuckles like she thought I was something precious. “You brought me back to life when I was doing nothing but surviving. You made me feel things when I thought I’d never feel anything but fear.”
“Fear. Anger. Frustration.”
She nodded. “Sadness. Guilt. Lust. All of the emotions,” she added with a watery laugh. “You made me feel again and more than that, you showed me my own strength. You gave me the courage to be strong, and I will love you forever for that act alone. But you healed me. You showed me that men could be good, that bikers could be good.” She pressed her lips tomy knuckles again. “Your gentle strength, the parts of me you helped me reclaim, I’m not sure how I can ever repay that.”
I swallowed around the big ass lump of emotions that had lodged in my throat. Who the fuck knew a woman could make a man feel shit so deeply? “I don’t need you to repay me. Watching you become the woman you should’ve always been, is enough for me. I just have one request.”
She licked her lips, a slow smile trying to break free. “What’s your request?”
“That you love me forever.”
“Yeah,” she sighed heavily. Her smile grew even bigger as one hand went to my face where her fingertips danced along the days of growth on my jaw. “I can definitely do that.”
Epilogue
Chloe
