big, strong, and intimidating. And I was hard. They toughened me up to the point I wasn’t afraid of anything, anybody. Some of the shit I had to do for them…” He flared his nostrils and shook his head. I rubbed his cheek. “But they left ma and Jonny alone, at least.”
“Oh babe. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t wanna look back. Wanna move forward. Just wanted you to have it all but didn’t wanna taint our wedding day by it. The night I picked Ella up and knew you were in the hospital, baby? Felt sick. Sick you were getting dragged into shit. I didn’t want to be worse than Lick Hanson, doin’ the same to you by bein’ with you.”
“I’m more convinced than ever that you deserve happiness, babe, and I’m going to make sure you get it,” I vowed.
“You’re mine now. I don’t deserve you, but I tied you to me and I am never letting you loose. Hope you never regret that. Only ever wanna see love in your eyes. Hated the times I made you cry so fuckin’ much.”
“I won’t regret it,” I vowed. “I know it.”
He put his lips to mine and let out a slow breath.
“When are you guys having the meeting with the Freebooters?” I wondered what the state of things would be when we got home.
“Soon after we get back. They’re asking for me to be there and won’t schedule it unless your father guarantees I’m coming.”
My eyes went big and I gasped. “No.”
“Yeah.”
Dread snaked its way through my veins. “Don’t go.”
“Got to.”
“No. Maybe they’ll hurt you. Revenge for all you did to end their reign of terror. They can’t hurt you. I won’t let them.” My heart was racing.
“My badass polka dot biker babe,” he hooked a hand behind my neck and pulled my face down to his. “No one’s gonna hurt me. We’ll be ready. Your pops has lotsa backup for us, including the Black Reapers and they’re bigger than the Freebooters. We’ll be good. And I’ll be packin’. First sign of any problems I won’t hesitate to pull a trigger.”
“I just got you. We’ve been together a few weeks. I can’t lose you.”
“You won’t.”
I was having trouble breathing. I was shaking.
“Jojo, you won’t lose me.”
“They took Luke. They killed Jet and Kailey. They almost got Rider. Christian, his heart stopped twice…”
“Jojo, I promise you; I’ll be good.”
This was our last night on the road before we’d get to Sturgis and meet up with a bunch from the club. We’d had an incredible trip. Tomorrow we were catching up for the last day of the rally and I was doing a signing event for the calendar booth and signing autographs with all the other girls plus accepting the check for our Biker Big Bros Charity. Then we’d go home and within a couple weeks we’d be ready to begin the move into the new clubhouse and I would be busy helping with that while also starting back at school. And house-hunting. It was about to be bonkers. But none of that mattered if he was in danger. I was frightened out of my mind.
It had been an amazing honeymoon. We had driven down some amazing roads, including a good stretch of Route 66. We’d seen fun and silly landmarks. We’d eaten at some amazing restaurants. Some nights we stayed in shitty motels because that’s what was around when we got tired, and a few times we stayed in swanky places. We laughed. We made love. We fucked. I bought silly shit and some cool shit and mailed it home. And I woke up daily in the strong arms of my beautiful husband who I knew loved me. I fought hard to get his attention, fought harder to convince him that he deserved to be happy. And the minute he decided he was ready to claim me, I became treasured, protected, and worshipped by him. I was excited about our life together. I was excited about going home and picking a house. Being at club parties on his lap by the fire. Riding on the back of his bike with the whole club. Riding on my own bike with him beside me, too. I was totally ready to give him babies if that was what was meant to happen. Time would tell. He told me he liked the idea of us having babies while we’re young because we’d have freedom again in eighteen or twenty years when we were still young enough to