Epilogue

EPILOGUE

STELLA

I t didn’t take long for me to learn that staying in a motorcycle club compound kept things interesting. At first, I had assumed that it was because things were weird with my dad’s mission. My entire life had been kind of up in the air, and then I only had a few days with Connor before he left. A whirlwind romance and a pregnancy in the middle of a life-and-death situation were bound to keep a girl on her toes.

But even with all of that resolved—and Dad moving to Riverstone—I never knew what I would stumble across when I wandered into the clubhouse.

One time, I found a group of the guys playing poker, which shouldn’t have been odd at all. Except Ace was blindfolded, and one of the prospects was signaling his hand to him by tapping on his shoulder a certain number of times for each card. Even with that handicap, he’d still managed to clean everyone out.

The best was when I got to experience my first patch-in party after the guys gave Matteo his cut in a private ceremony. That was about a month ago, but I was still having a hard time remembering to call him by his road name, Ink.

But nothing I had experienced so far prepared me for the sight of a soot-covered Blaze storming into the clubhouse with an equally filthy woman in his arms.

Connor was just as surprised as me. “What the fuck?”

“Gonna need to schedule a construction crew to head out to the warehouse on the south side of town,” he muttered without missing a step as he headed toward the stairs. “The sprinkler system I had us put in did its job, but the place is gonna need a fuck of a lot of work.”

The woman writhed in his hold, but it didn’t do her any good. “I’m?—”

“I already told you, not another word,” Blaze growled before looking at Connor. “Tell Ace I’m good for the cost, whatever it is. Don’t want this run through insurance.”

Although the situation and his request were incredibly odd, my old man didn’t ask any questions. At least not yet. “Will do, man.”

Not another word was said as we all watched Blaze stomp out of the recreational area. Once they were out of earshot, Echo mumbled, “What in the literal fuck?”

My eyes were wide as I sputtered, “You can say that again.”

Echo slapped Connor on the back, chuckling to himself. “Guess you’re lucky you fell for an almost spy and not a wannabe arsonist.”

Although it was sort of accurate, I wasn’t thrilled with his description of me. And since I felt as though I was about twenty months pregnant and ready to give birth to an elephant instead of a human baby, I was extra cranky. “Is your back okay?”

“Huh?”

“When you jump to conclusions that fast, you’re bound to get hurt,” I pointed out.

He shrugged. “I just called it like I saw it.”

My eyes narrowing, I snapped, “Just you wait.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, his brows drawing together.

“You basically just put it out into the universe that the woman who knocks you on your butt is going to wreak all kinds of havoc while she leads you on a merry chase.”

“Nah, I’m not going to have any problems with my woman when I find her.” Echo smirked. “She’s gonna be perfect.”

Connor glared at him. “You sayin’ mine isn’t?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely not,” he denied. “I don’t have a damn death wish, Prez.”

I planted my fists on my hips. “He’s not the one you need to worry about. I am.”

“Absolutely,” he agreed…a little too quickly for my liking.

“You’re lucky I’m about ready to pop.” I pointed at my rounded belly. “Or else I’d be forced to kick your butt.”

He held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “I hear you loud and clear, little ninja.”

Although I hadn’t sparred with any of the guys—except for that one maneuver I’d done in bed with Connor before we knew I was pregnant—my dad had bragged enough about all of my karate awards—the world championship in sparring had particularly made the guys a little wary—that everyone was aware that I could handle myself. It had gotten to the point where hearing him share those stories was a little embarrassing, but I was glad for it in this instance.

Beaming a smile at Connor, I tapped a blank spot on my property patch. “I think we need to add that to my vest. Little ninja…it can be my old lady road name.”

“That is not a thing,” Echo muttered.

Ignoring him, I continued, “It could be a push present.”

Since the guys had no clue what I was talking about, I explained the concept to them. I didn’t actually think Connor would do it, but the first time I put my vest on after giving birth to Cadell, there was a “little ninja” patch added to it. And a week later, Connor one-upped my request—he had Onyx tattoo the nickname over his heart.