squeal. Drake laughs and climbs to his feet as Roland lays next to me breathlessly.
“Dad we won! Can we have ice cream after we eat?” he asks excitedly.
“You know it. Go ask Viking if the food is about ready,” Roland tells him.
Drake nods and takes off running through the yard. Roland rolls over onto his side and props himself up on his elbow to look down at me. He reaches over and pulls a piece of grass from my hair.
“Thank you,” he says with sincerity in his eyes.
“For what?”
“Stayin’ after you showed up. For escapin’ from that bastard. For livin’. For bein’ here now.” He shrugs his shoulders. “Just… thank you for my son.”
As tears well up in my eyes he reaches over and pulls me against him. A few tears fall before he pulls back, leans down, and kisses me. His lips are warm and soft. As quickly as the kiss started it’s over, he pulls back and rests his forehead against mine.
“I’m just glad you’re back. I was lost for so long Mols. I didn’t know what the fuck to do or where to turn. I tried to find you a few times, but there was nothin’. It fuckin’ kills me that you were so close and there was nothin’ I could have done.”
I reach up and brush his hair out of his eyes and smile while saying, “Thank you for being you. Thank you for accepting me back into your life. Thank you for understanding the reason I had to go. I know it can’t be easy to forgive me for keeping him from you.”
“Shh. You’re here now. He’s here now. I was pissed at you at first, but God I can’t picture not havin’ the two of you.”
With another kiss to my lips Roland climbs to his feet and drags me up with him. He tosses his arm over my shoulder and leads me back toward the house. All of the guys are gathered around the grill and the girls are on the back porch talking and laughing. Roland stops walking. I take the chance to glance up at him. The look of pure happiness is all I can see.
They were right, all of them. This is what a family looks like. They come together in the best of times and fight together through the worst. And the most amazing things about it all is that they do it all together.
“They love you,” I say still looking up at him. He glares down at me and nods.
“They’ve been everything to me for a long time. They are closer to me than brothers.”
“They’re good people.”
I nod my head because the more I watch them all together, the more I can see it.
“You remember we do illegal shit, yeah?” he asks with a chuckle.
“I know, but they’re good to you and that’s what matters the most.”
With a smile he leans down and kisses me once more.
Chapter 20
Reaper
“Come on Reaper. You don’t have to do this,” the prick screams as I hold his cracked out girlfriend by the hair in front of him.
“Why the fuck not? You won’t tell me what I want to hear. I think it’s only fair,” I say laughing in his face.
I drag the girl around so that her back slams into my chest which knocks the air from her lungs. She huffs but doesn’t try to fight me.
“She doesn’t know shit Reaper,” he yells out.
I’m really getting tired of hearing him repeat the same shit. I should shoot her in the head and just get it all over with. Mason chuckles next to me with a cigarette hanging from his lips. Ink just shakes his head as he’s clearly annoyed with this bullshit too.
“Well, the problem with all of this is that you do know. I know you know. I don’t know why we have to play these little games. Just tell me where the fuck Tom is. That’s all I need to know. You and your slut here can walk free if you’ll just tell me,” I inform him.
His eyes move to meet hers before snapping back to mine. A pained look crosses his face and I know what the answer is going to be. I’m not sad that I’m going to have to kill these two assholes. It aggravates me that I have to waste more time trying to find that bastard Tom. He’s out there somewhere and I know he’s close by. I can feel it in my bones.