Master (Chaos Bleeds Book 8) (33 page)

“Are you okay?” he asked, moving up toward her.

She opened her eyes, and he saw the tears shining inside them. Sally blinked several time, and wiped underneath her nose. “I’m not okay.”

“Tell me what to do.”

“There’s nothing you can do. I just need, I just need to feel the cold, and hopefully, everything will be better.”

She was massaging her knee, and he frowned. “What’s going on?”

“My leg, it’s burning, like it was—”

“When you were at the hospital, just before they took it?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

Kneeling down before her, Steven threw his cigarette to the ground, grinding it under his foot, and started to massage her leg. The moment he touched it, she cried out as if she was in actual physical pain.

“It’s not there, Sally.” He knocked on the prosthetic.

“Nothing is there.”

Lifting up her pant leg so that her prosthetic and her real leg were showing, he made her see that she wasn’t in pain. The pain was not there.

She started to take deep, controlled breaths like he’d seen her take in the hospital.

“Thank you.”

“It’s fine. How often do you get it?”

“Not often. Usually when I get distracted, and I forget. It’s phantom limb or something. The doctor said that it’s my memory believing the limb is still alive, and feeling. It’s trying to cut the feelings off.”

She rested her hand on his shoulder, gripping his jacket as he rubbed her leg.

“I get it.” He’d talked to the doctor extensively about her leg.

“I never thanked you for all the time you spent in the hospital.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“It meant a lot, and even though I was a bitch, I appreciated you spending time with me.”

“You had a good reason to be a bitch.”

She snorted. “Not really. I shouldn’t have been mean to you, and I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He kept on rubbing her knee, and stared up into her eyes. The fear that had once haunted her eyes in past years had gone. “What’s with the doofus?”

“Drew?”

“You know it’s him.”

Sally smiled, even though she had pain. “I tried to tell you many times before. Drew is a friend. We share a common problem.”

“He looks more than fine to me.”

“He’s in pain. His injury causes him problems, and when it seizes up, he struggles to walk. Drew’s nice, and if you stopped being an asshole, you’d see that.”

“It’s hard not to be,” he said.

“Why?”

“He gets to have a reason to be close to you.”

“What?”

“You know what, Sally. I’m fifteen years older than you, but it doesn’t stop the jealousy.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. Don’t worry about it. I’ll try.” Steven knew that he had to stop being a miserable bastard otherwise he’d lose time to be with her. “Come on, I’ll go and make it up to your friend.”

Sally stared at his hand, and she took it. It was the start of a future, one that Steven hoped that he came out the victor.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Spider was acting weird, and Paris was finding his behavior a little scary. He was withdrawing from her, no, he wasn’t. The man had her so confused. When she thought he was hiding something, he’d wrap his arms around her, and she truly believed she was imagining it. There was nothing wrong between them.

“Here, more tinsel,” Lexie said.

“We’re already decorated the main room.”

“I know, and now we have some more.”

Paris chuckled. “You really do love Christmas.” This was her second Christmas with Chaos Bleeds, and she had already gotten her shopping done. It was Christmas Eve, and everyone was at the clubhouse, enjoying food, music, and laughter. Celia was dancing with Simon and Elizabeth on the dance floor. Her sister was so much better since being around the clubhouse. She was loved and cared for by them all.

Sasha took the tinsel from her hand, and climbed onto a chair.

“You shouldn’t be doing that,” Pussy said, coming to hold his wife by her waist.

“Shut up.”

“Hold on!” Lexie held up her hand. “Why shouldn’t she be doing that?”

Lexie’s raised voice had caught everyone’s attention, and seeing the warning in Sasha’s hand, Paris was struggling to hold in the laughter.

“We’re having a baby!” Pussy yelled the words, and the whole room erupted in a series of congratulations.

Paris hugged Pussy, and then Sasha.

“Congratulations to you both.” She stepped out of the way to watch the happy couple who had only grown from strength to strength.

Rubbing her arms, she felt Spider come up behind her, and she melted against him. “Merry Christmas, Paris,” he said.

“Merry Christmas, Spider.”

He kissed her neck, and she felt so happy, so loved. “I’m really happy for them.”

“Me too.” She turned around, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Maybe one day that will be us?”

“Maybe one day that will be.”

“Paris, honey, will you go into the kitchen and grab the champagne?” Lexie asked.

“Sure.”

She pulled away from Spider and made her way into the kitchen, looking for the bottle of bubbly. Going to the fridge she saw it was full with champagne. Grabbing out two bottles as she knew everyone would want a drink, she turned around to pause. Simon was standing by the door staring at her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“It’s a nice day, don’t you think?”

“Yeah,” she said, drawing out the word.

“Well, I thought it would be nice to say hello.”

“What’s going on?” she asked, moving toward him.

“No, stop, stay there.”

“Simon, what’s going on?”

“I can’t stand for you to come closer. You’re too beautiful.”

She frowned now. Simon had only ever said that to Tabitha, and she doubted he was meaning it.

“I was thinking you could date me instead of Spider.”

Paris smiled. “That is really sweet, but I’m in love with Spider.”

“And I love Tabitha. Shoot, that was a bad improv.”

“Improv? You mean improvisation?”

“Yep, learned about it at school, and I promised that I could do this, that I could keep you talking, and you wouldn’t have a clue what was going on.”

Staring at the door, she had seen he was guarding it. “Simon, what’s going on?” she asked.

“Nothing.”

“That’s not nothing. You’re hiding something.”

“She’s on to me,” Simon said, yelling.

“This is silly,” she said, stepping closer.

Simon disappeared, yelling as he did. “She’s coming. I can’t hold her back.”

Opening the door, Paris came to a stop as the entire main room was dark, with the only light coming from candles. Wow, there were so many that the moment she left they must have started lighting them.

“What’s going on?” she asked. As she stepped out of the kitchen, the doors closed with a bang, making her jump.

There was a small walkway, and she followed the tinsel. Chaos Bleeds stood on either side, and she looked at each of them as she passed, a little creeped out.

There, near the Christmas tree, down on one knee was Spider. He held a velvet box in his hands, and she paused.

“Paris,” he said.

“Spider.” She walked up to him, and as she did, her heart raced. “What is this?”

“I want you to be my wife, and this is me trying to make it the best moment in the world, only Pussy ruined it with his news. Not cool, man, this is my moment, and I told you to wait.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t help it.”

Spider shook his head, turning back to her. “Paris, I’m in love with you. From the first moment I saw you stripping I knew I had to have you—”

“Keep it PG. I have kids here,” Devil said.

Paris laughed, thinking about his words. Yes, they didn’t exactly meet in the most conventional of places, but she still loved it.

“I had to have you, and then I lost you.” Her throat thickened as she saw his anguish. “I was never going to stop until I had you back, until you were safe. I’ll never fail you again. I will protect you. You’re my other half, and even though men probably say the same old shit in these kinds of speeches, please know that this is spoken from the heart. I love you. You own me, Paris. I want to be the man you deserve. You want me to get you pregnant, well, I want you to make an honest man out of me, and marry me.”

Tears filled her eyes, and she didn’t stop them from spilling over.

“What do you say?” he asked.

She couldn’t speak. Her throat was thick, so she nodded.

“I can’t hear you.”

“Yes, totally yes. It’s about time you asked me. What took you so damn long?”

He stood up, and she threw herself into his arms, holding him tightly.

He pulled her away, long enough to put the engagement ring on her finger. She couldn’t stop smiling as she took in the ring.

“You really mean this?” she asked.

“I was going to do it tomorrow, during presents. I had it all planned with everyone staring.”

“Then he changed it to tonight with candles,” Lexie said.

“He’s been changing his mind for week,” Sasha said.

“So, I figured I’d share our news, and that way, you’ll get to bask in your own happiness as well.”

“I love it, I really do.”

He tilted her head back and kissed her.

“I can’t believe you did this,” she said.

“I’ll do anything for you, Paris. Anything.”

“You wouldn’t even die. You kept on fighting.” It was the first mention of Andrew for her in a long time. Whenever he did invade her thoughts, she always made sure to tell Spider about it. They never had any secrets from one another, and she hoped they never did. They had even talked about Andrew and Russell, Spider explaining to her his fear, and what it was like waking up in the hospital. Their memories, for Paris, had brought them closer together.

“Well, I had to protect the woman I loved, and the only way to do that was to be a stubborn asshole.”

“You’re the best stubborn asshole I ever know, and I love you for it.”

“You better. I’m about to marry you because of it.”

“Can I have everyone’s attention?” Devil said.

Paris turned in Spider’s arms. He held her tightly and kissed her neck.

“When I first started Chaos Bleeds, I didn’t know the first thing about heading a club, or leading it. I’d left Fort Wills, without much to my name. I traveled, and I knew what I didn’t want in my life. Along the way, I found you guys. Not all of you were in your best shape, but with the club you’ve found your reason to keep on living. We’ve been a club for over twenty years. Riding beside you has been one of my greatest pleasures.”

“And mine,” Pussy said.

All the men raised their hands in agreement, including Spider.

“Settling down in Piston County was a risk. None of you anticipated us staying here long, and then Lexie, you—fuck, babe, you took me and turned me into a fucking pussy. You had Simon, and then I just couldn’t be without you.” Lexie moved to his side, hugging him tight.

“We have faced many enemies, and not all of us have survived. Ashley, she didn’t wear our jacket, but we all know she was one of us.”

Paris saw Mia crying as she held her baby. Spider had told her the past of Chaos Bleeds. Simon was Lexie’s sister’s baby. Mia had been best friends with Ashley who ended up getting killed. So much death, and yet here they all were.

“I want to say it hasn’t been an easy twenty years, but you know what, I wouldn’t do anything different. We have what I thought a club never should be. We’re a family, to the core of us. To family.”

They all raised their glasses in the toast.

It was a fucked up family, but it was their family. Andrew had tried to come between them, but he had failed. They were stronger, and his memory would fade, until there was nothing left.

Epilogue One

The Skulls

One year later

Stink sat in the school’s football yard, holding his baby boy, Philip. Sandy had gone to get them both some drinks as they waited for the ceremony to begin. Sally was graduating from high school and was moving away to college. Whizz and Lacey were freaking out about that, but they had also been the ones to encourage her to go.

It had been just three years since Sally had lost her leg, and Andrew’s attack on the club. They had found a great deal of peace in recent years, and Stink loved it. There had been no more drama, no more past enemy waiting to take them all down, just living. With everything that had been happening in the club, he was more than happy for the break. He didn’t want to worry about attacks, or his woman and kid getting hurt.

Philip clapped his hands together and started to blow raspberries. Stink chuckled, wiping away the spittle.

“He’s always doing that,” Sandy said, handing him a drink, and taking their son from him.

She had become a wonderful mother. In the early days of her pregnancy she had panicked about being awful, and Stink spent a great deal of time convincing her she’d be amazing.

Of course, he was right, and they now had a little family of their own.

“I bet she’s nervous.” He looked toward the school thinking about Sally.

“She has Drew to help her up, and she’s earned this. Anyone tries to ruin it for her, will face the wrath of the club,” Sandy said.

They were all here. Some of the families were keeping a wide berth of them, and he didn’t give a fuck. Sally was one of them, and no one was going to let her graduate without being here.

Stink watched as Millie arrived. She was by herself, wearing a pink summer dress. Baker was instantly there, and even though they weren’t together, Millie had accepted his friendship.

“Do you think she’ll ever trust him?”

“Only if he shows signs of getting over his wife. He doesn’t even work in the bakery we have set up,” Sandy said.

The Skulls now owned a gym, a bakery, and a beauty salon in town.

Sandy took a seat next to him, just as Steven joined them. Whizz and Lacey were in front with Daisy. The whole of The Skulls were there to watch as Sally walked out. She smiled over toward them, and Steven whistled, making her blush.

Drew was there, helping her. The principal got up, and started to talk.

“How are things with you and Sally?” Stink asked, whispering.

“We’re doing good.”

“How are you going to handle her going away to college?” Stink was curious. Steven had confided in him about his feelings for Sally.

“I’ll do whatever makes her happy, Stink. You don’t have to worry.”

When it was Sally’s turn to get her graduation certificate, she nearly stumbled on stage. The whole of The Skulls got out of their seat ready to help her. Drew took her on stage, where she made a quick joke, and accepted her certificate.

“One day Philip will be up there,” Sandy said.

Stink kissed his wife’s lips.

They had a future. Their life was filled with one more day, and Stink was going to love, support, and grasp this chance with every fiber of his being.