And I loved her so much I found myself wanting more in life. I wanted more than the crime lord existence I’d surrounded myself with.
A wedding. A wife. A family.
I wanted that, but only with Poppy.
She fluttered her eyes open and my heart slammed into my throat as she stared at me. This sleepy expression covered her face and I smiled slowly.
So beautiful. So innocent.
She’d given herself to me, given me her heart, and I’d never betray that. I’d never ruin that.
I was a hardened biker, a killer, a bad guy, but with her, I’d won the fucking lottery and I was not going to take that for granted. I was not going to ever let her go.
I said nothing as I cupped her cheek and smoothed my thumb along her skin. She was warm and soft. Her soft moan was sweet and turned me on.
“Poppy,” I whispered. “I love you, Poppy.” I pulled back to look at her face, to look at her expression. She didn’t look shocked, didn’t look like I’d just said something out of left field.
No, she smiled.
“I love you too.”
And just like that, I’d found that cliché missing puzzle piece to fit right into the fucked-up existence of my life. And damn, was it fucking incredible.
Epilogue
Poppy
Six months later
I was carrying a bag of groceries when I walked into the clubhouse. Instantly, I heard shouting, glasses and bottles breaking, and the scent of weed and alcohol filling the air. There was a fight that broke out to my left, two prospects going at it, patches surrounding them as they chanted their names, as they roared out for more blood.
But I wasn’t even fazed. This was the life I’d decided to live now, and strangely enough, it was almost welcoming. Because I knew these men would protect me with their lives. I knew even for as rough around the edges and dangerous as they were, and for how other people might perceive them as evil, they actually had love in their hearts.
Butcher was proof of that, even if he only showed it to me.
And I knew the other members of The Devil’s Right Hand MC were the same way whether they had that stone-cold exterior or not.
They wanted love but just hadn’t found it yet.
I headed into the kitchen, dropped off the bag of groceries for tonight’s family dinner, and then went back to the room I shared with Butcher. Over the last six months, things had been going pretty good. Things had been moving slow as we got to know each other.
I’d been coming to understand the MC dynamics, each member’s personality. And I was just enjoying being alive and not living in the shit world I’d been in my entire life.
I was young, didn’t want to rush anything, but the truth was I looked into Butcher’s face and all I saw was my future.
All I saw was what I wanted in life, and that was to be with him.
I wanted to talk about us, together, with nothing standing in our way. But I was a little nervous. We didn’t exactly go that route, hadn’t hedged on the future of what us looked like. And part of me knew it was because Butcher was taking his time with me and didn’t want me to feel rushed.
And that made me love him even more.
Because he was trying. Because he wanted things to move at my pace.
But I had never actually seen that for myself… to love someone. Then I met Butcher, and when I looked at him, all I felt was consumed. All I felt was like the world was finally right, that my life was exactly where it was supposed to be.
I headed into our bedroom and heard the shower running. After shutting the door and setting my purse on the bed, I smiled to myself as I went into the bathroom.
I could see his massive outline through the shower curtain, could smell the Irish Spring soap he used. I grabbed the edge of the curtain and quietly pulled it aside, looking into the shower and really getting a good view of Butcher. He was big and massive, muscular and powerful. His legs were like tree trunks, strong and sturdy, thick. And his ass… God, I’d never really been one to appreciate that part of the male form before, but looking at Butcher threw that right out the window.
I was silent as I undressed, as I pulled the curtain aside and stepped into the shower. He was washing the soap from his hair, bubbles sliding down his body to pool at his feet right before washing down the drain.
I stood there a moment just appreciating the view, just watching the way his muscles flexed and bunched from any little movement. I was wet, my nipples hard, everything in me strung tight as desire raced through me.