“You married her? Fuck. I thought you just went and saw her that night in Vegas, I had no idea. You never said you guys got married.”
“I did more than that. Apparently, I knocked her up that night too. Fuck, Pres, she’s been raising our child all alone, and I’ve been spending the last few years of my life beating the shit out of people. I was half-wishing I was dead, and she was over there raising our child while working in a fucking strip club!” He nearly yells the last part, his words filled with regret.
“Stop that shit right fucking now. You hear me? This isn’t all on you, Savage. She showed up here a few times, and I told her to leave. God, I was so stupid.”
“I told you I didn’t want to see her. I remember that much, even though I was drowning in a bottle most of the time. ”
“She tried so many times, but the last time she showed up and you knew about it, you fucking lost it. Hell, I thought you were dead, you drank yourself so deep. So the next time she came by and asked to see you, I let her have it. I didn’t want her coming around anymore. You weren’t getting any better, and I thought one of those times she showed up, you wouldn’t make it out alive. Then, after a while, you got better. Putting you in the ring did more good than I could have hoped for. You still seem to fight it, but I haven’t been woken up with you screaming from nightmares in a long time. I thought about telling you how she came by that last time, and how I turned her away, but I was scared what that might do to you. All that progress, just to have it flushed away. Figured it was best to leave it alone.”
“I just feel like if I would’ve known, maybe I could—”
“Stop,” Lucias says, cutting him off. “You’ve been living in the past too damn long, and look where it’s got you. Right now, you can choose to step out of it and into your future with her. Or you can drag both of you back through the pain of ‘what if’ and ‘might have been.’”
My eyes start to water at Lucias’s words. He couldn’t be more right. We can keep bringing up who did what and rake over what was lost, or we can let it go. All of it. Move on from here.
I pull the shirt over my head and open the bathroom door, making both men turn to look at me. I just run towards Abe, and he catches me in the air while I wrap myself around him.
“We have to, Abe. We have to let it all go.” He holds me tightly as I whisper in his ear.
“It’s gone, baby. I can let anything go if you’ll stay with me.”
“Forever.”
I look over and see Lucias smiling at us.
“Hey, Julie. Nice to see you again, and even nicer to see your ass.”
It’s then I remember I have nothing on under my shirt, which has risen up with me wrapped around Abe. Instantly he lets me loose, but grabs me into his lap as he sits down on the bed.
“President or not, you look at her ass again we’ll have problems.”
Lucias sighs, ignoring Abe’s threat, and leans back against the wall.
“And that brings us back to the Five Aces. They say she’s theirs.”
Abe’s arms tighten around me at his words.
“Are we really having this conversation?” he asks, placing a kiss on my neck.
“Normally I wouldn’t, but they offered me such an easy deal that I thought you might like to hear it.”
“Which is?”
“Apparently, Burnout has it bad for her, and he wants to fight for her next week in the Bottoms. They want to make a whole event out of it.”
“What?” I shout, trying to pull myself from Abe to stand up, but he holds me tightly, and I can feel his body shaking with laughter. I look over and see Lucias laughing too. How can he think this is funny? What is this, the Middle Ages? They want to fight for me? “Why are you laughing about this?”
“Because it’s fucking ridiculous, that’s why. That little piss ant couldn’t take Savage out if we tied his arms behind his back. Which makes me think they might be up to something.”
“Like what?” Abe asks, getting serious.
“They still have a hard-on for Casper after she popped the VP, so maybe they have something planned. We just need to make sure we do this nice and clean, and make sure the prospects are checking everyone at the door. No guns or weapons. Period.”
“Sounds good to me. Good luck letting Casper know she can’t carry.”
“Yeah, I’ll have Vincent tell her,” Lucias says, half-smiling. “I’ll leave you two alone now. Oh, and Julie, it’s great to have you back.”
“It’s great to be back.”
“You give her the rundown of how this place works. Things are a little different than they were before,” he says, making his way to the door.
“To be honest, I don’t know how long I’m staying,” Abe says, making us both turn to look at him, but his eyes are just on me. “I have a family now. They’ll always come first.”
“Abe, no,” I say, not wanting him to leave his club. These are his brothers. He’s been with them before there was even an ‘us’. They may not have been in a motorcycle club together, but they were a team. Before they just wore their fatigues, now they wear their cuts.
I start to protest, but Lucias beats me to it. “We’re all family, Savage. She’s yours, which makes her one of ours. We don’t have to choose one over another. We’re all one big family. We’d never do that to each other.” Lucias takes a second to look him in the eyes, and Abe nods, acknowledging what he’s said. Lucias continues. “Also, don’t worry about anyone coming for Julie or her family. Vincent gave me some good old-fashioned blackmail to use against the Five Aces. Never thought I’d say it’s nice to know a fed.”