Page 138 of Sinful
She runs to me and I catch her, hold her so tight she gasps.
"It's over," I say into her hair.
"You're alive. You came back."
"I promised."
She pulls back, looks at me, really looks at me.
She sees the blood, the exhaustion, the weight of what I did.
"Are you okay?"
"No. But I will be."
"Did you?—"
"Yeah. Sebastián's dead. Los Coyotes are done. It's fucking over, baby."
She starts crying—relief and grief and exhaustion all mixed together.
I hold her while she breaks apart.
While the compound around us deals with theaftermath—wounded being treated, Miller's body being taken to the morgue, men calling families.
But right here, right now, I've got Helle in my arms.
Later, after I've showered and changed and tried to wash away all the blood on my body, we sit on the cabin porch.
The sun is setting. Same as yesterday. Same as it will tomorrow.
But everything's different now.
"I killed people today," I say quietly. "Alotof people."
"I know."
"I shot men who were begging. Who had surrendered. Who weren't even fighting anymore."
She takes my hand. "I know."
"I don't know if I can live with that. Don't know if I can be the person you deserve after?—"
"Hey." She makes me look at her. "You did what you had to do. To protect your club. To end a threat. To make it safe for us to build a life."
"That doesn't make it right."
"No. But it makes it necessary." Her voice is gentle but firm. "And you're not alone in carrying it. We'll carry it together."
"I love you," I say, because it's the only thing I'm sure of right now.
"I love you too. And we're going to be okay. Both of us. Together."
We sit there as darkness falls, holding hands, watching stars appear.
Miller is dead.
Thirty-three Los Coyotes members are dead.
