Pagan (The Henchmen MC 8)

"Gramps..."

"I would prefer you don't take this and run and never see me again, as I would like to rebuild a relationship here, but that ring does not come with conditions. You're free to leave here and never look back if that is what you choose."

It wasn't what I ended up choosing.

Because my grandfather was either a different man than he had once been, or I had only ever seen him through tainted glasses before. I wanted to get to know him again. I wanted him in my life. I wanted, incredibly, for him to meet Kennedy.

Quite frankly, as much as a large part of me was objecting to the very notion, he was right.

It took one moment.

One look.

And the choice had already been made.

I saw possibilities.

And maybe a part of me didn't feel worthy of them.

But she thought I was.

And those possibilities were mine.

I wasn't letting them go.

So I pocketed that ring, knowing that one day, I would give it to her.

Because, by some fucked up twist of fate, I loved the woman.EPILOGUEKennedy - 1 dayI didn't know he came home until I woke up the next morning with his warm body curled against mine, his face in my neck, and, well, his hand at my boob. Like usual.

And there were a long couple of minutes that I could just be still with him, enjoy having him nearby, take comfort in his strength.

Then I remembered we had some things to discuss.

Namely, what the big secret was that everyone else seemed to be in on except me.

I wasn't naive; everyone had secrets. Everyone was entitled to keep some things close to their chests. That being said, if literally everyone around me knew something, it didn't sit right with me that I didn't.

"Nope," I said when I felt his thumb move out to start working my nipple into a hardened point.

"Nope?" he asked, sounding a mix of amused and confused.

"We need to talk," I declared, rolling to my mother side to face him, almost reconsidering my stance on the talk-then-maybe-sex thing at seeing his cock already hard and straining and promising fulfillment to the need growing in my belly.

I wouldn't be distracted by his dick, damnit!

So long as I looked away from it, that is.

"Those are never good fucking words," he said, but his lips were quirked up, his eyes expectant.

'Talks' didn't exactly fill Pagan with dread. I had a feeling this was likely because literally nothing in the world seemed to manage to bring about that reaction in him.

"What does everyone else know that I don't know?"

His brows moved closer together as he folded up to a sitting position. "What everyone else knows that you don't know," he repeated.

"Yesterday at work, Benny and I were invaded by the girls club."

"What? And you're not a fucking black belt in karate yet? They're fucking slipping."

I smiled at that because it was genuinely funny. "It's Krav Maga and LINE, and I am apparently being dragged up to Hailstorm to learn it."

"Hold on," he said, closing his eyes. "Just let me picture you throwing down with one of the girls for a second."

He was really making it hard to be stern with him, damnit.

"Why did Ethan's name make everyone clam up?"

There. I said it. It was out there.

Pagan's eyes opened slowly, his smile slipping, his entire face losing its usual carefree amusement. No, in fact, he looked deadly serious right then. It was in the tightness in his jaw, the depth in his eyes.

When he exhaled hard and sat back against the headboard, his wide palm moving down his scruffy face, I felt something inside my belly harden, like I was internally preparing myself for some really bad news.

Rightfully so as it turned out.

"Ethan Criss is dead, Kennedy," he said, cutting right to the chase as was his nature.

I should have been shocked.

That was the normal, human response to that kind of news.

What did it say about me then that all I felt was... relief?

Whether I wanted to admit it or not, his name had been a dark cloud over my head since the incident at my salon. Even after knowing the building was mine free and clear, that he couldn't just drop in and ruin my life by raising the rent or telling me to get out once my lease was up. There was still a worry that maybe, at any point in time, he might find me alone somewhere without cameras and finish what he started, even after a beating and threat from Pagan.

Knowing there wasn't even a possibility of that anymore, yeah, I thought there was an understandable amount of relief felt.

It was almost an embarrassingly long minute before the true weight of what he was saying fell down on my shoulders.

Because Pagan had come back from seeing Ethan with busted hands and knuckles.