Authors: Jamie Begley
“Goodbye, brother. I pray you find peace. I already have.”
Lucky walked out of the office, coming to a stop at seeing all the brothers waiting outside the door. They were there to support him, just as they always had and always would.
*
*
*
Willa had lunch waiting for them when they arrived home. The men ate while sitting around and talking when Shade went to the counter, taking a cupcake.
Lucky was eating his own meal as he looked up to see Shade take a bite. An expression of complete ecstasy came over his face as he took another bite.
He turned to Willa who was sitting next to Lucky with Lily and John sitting on her other side. “What flavor are these?”
Willa broke off her conversation with Lily to answer his question. “Oh, those are chocolate bourbon. The recipe was giving me trouble. I thought they would be a big seller during the Derby festival. I think I’ve finally got it right.”
“You sure as fuck have. Willa, I love my wife, but woman, if I had never met Lily, that asshole husband of yours wouldn’t have caught you. I would have put a ring on your finger after the first bite.”
Willa blushed, smiling in pride at her accomplishment.
“Willa, I’m going to need that recipe.” Lily laughed, not at all upset by Shade’s comment.
Lucky couldn’t say the same. He saw red.
Why did the brothers all think Willa would have succumbed to them over him?
“Willa wouldn’t have given you the fucking time of day.”
Shade finished eating his cupcake. “It wouldn’t even have been a competition.”
The last word wasn’t out of his mouth before Lucky was out of his chair and lunging toward Shade who dodged his first blow. Lucky, unable to stop his momentum, fell against the counter, sending a Crockpot full of macaroni and cheese crashing to the floor. This time, as Lucky twisted, going after Shade again, he managed to send Shade backward against the counter, nearly toppling the cupcake tray.
“Watch the fucking food!” Rider said, jumping up from his chair to break the men apart with Train’s help.
“Lucky, there are children in the room!” Willa yelled at him angrily.
Lucky glanced at Beth’s boys and Shade’s son who were too busy eating the vanilla cupcakes that Willa had made to notice what the adults were doing.
Lucky shoved Rider off him, retaking his seat. Guiltily, he let Shade clean up the mess. Damn bastard deserved it for aggravating him.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” Willa snapped.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized to the women.
“I don’t know what you became so jealous for.” Willa placed her hand over his.
“I don’t, either,” Lucky said, picking up his fork.
“Willa, after dinner, I brought those papers for you to sign,” Diamond said, handing Knox a cupcake before taking one for herself. The brother took it then reached for another before retaking his chair.
“You promised me no more changes to your will for at least a year.” Lucky frowned. He had hoped telling her that she would save money would be an added incentive.
“Oh, it’s not a will.”
The room went quiet as the members eavesdropped on their conversation.
“I signed over my house to Ginny.”
“You gave your house to Ginny?” Lucky was surprised Willa hadn’t mentioned that she was thinking of doing it. She had told him that she was keeping it for their future children. “Why?”
“Because she can’t afford an apartment and pay for college, too. Bliss is going to be her roommate. It will help her afford the bills.”
“She’s going to share the house with Ginny?”
“Yes, that way, Ginny can afford it until she gets her degree, and Bliss won’t be lonely,” Willa explained, waiting for his reaction.
“I thought you wanted to keep your home for our children?”
“They’ll have a home. The home you’re building is where they’ll grow up. You can only have one home.”
Lucky couldn’t resist placing a kiss on his wife’s lips.
“There can only be one home—the one we’ll make,” Lucky agreed.
“Ginny deserves it. She finally opened up to me what her issues were with the West’s. I was worried about Cal’s sister Darcy living with them, so she told me to keep me from being worried about her. It gave me another reason to love you.” She looked up at the men in the room. “All of you.”
“We’re glad you think that since you’re our newest member.” Viper grinned. “You’re going through the initiation tonight.”
When Willa went white, Lucky almost laughed, knowing she was thinking about how he had told her the votes were given.
“Siren, I told you that votes could also be given by markers, and I called all mine in to make you a member.”
Willa still didn’t seem to be jumping with joy. “Exactly what’s the initiation?”
Lucky waited for Viper to answer, having already noticed that Shade was boxing up the last of the cupcakes before they could be eaten.
“You have to make another batch of those cupcakes,” Viper stated, wincing when Winter hit his arm.
“And a batch of peanut butter candy,” Rider added quickly.
“And a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies,” Lucky joked.
“I thought you wanted me to stop making them until you lost some weight?” Willa teased.
Lucky bent down to whisper in her ear, “How do you feel about bandits?”
Epilogue 2
“Dad, Becky said I’m going to Hell.”
Willa gasped, looking up from playing with the one-month-old infant in her arms when her son repeated her daughter’s angry statement. Then she and Lucky both stared up from where they sat on a blanket in the front yard, watching their children as they played outside.
“Why did you tell your brother he’s going to Hell?”
Willa threw Lucky a chastising look at the amusement she heard in his voice.
“He said dammit.” Becky’s voice rose as she told on Kale.
Kale turned a bright red. “Uncle Rider says it all the time.”
“Just because Rider says it, that doesn’t mean you can.” She was going to let Rider have it the next time he came over to investigate what she was cooking, which was daily. “I’ve told you that before.”
Becky and Kale were as different as night and day. Becky was older than Kale with an angelic personality. Her son, on the other hand, had a bit of a hellion inside of him. He was definitely his father’s son. He was constantly in trouble, and despite his five years, he was already begging for a miniature bike. Every time Rider showed him his motorcycle collection, the little boy would spend the next three days asking for one. The boy was definitely stubborn and had a temper when his older brother and sister pushed him. She didn’t know where that came from because Lucky rarely lost his temper.
“Why did you say it?”
Kale remained silent, but Becky spoke up, answering her father’s question.
“He said it after he asked Mama for a dog and she told him no.”
“Kale.” Willa had noticed her son becoming angrily silent and walking away after she had told him he couldn’t have a puppy like the one Razer had given his children.
“Go play,” Lucky ordered. “Kale, we will discuss how to control your temper and your language tonight.”
“Yes, sir.” Both children ran off to play with their older brother.
Lucky waited until they were out of earshot before chuckling.
“It’s not funny,” Willa snapped. “He needs to control his temper.”
“Siren, he can’t help it. He takes after his mother.” Lucky leaned toward her, giving her a kiss that melted her indignation. When he straightened, she could tell he wanted to get something off his mind. Unfortunately, she knew what it was. They’d had the same conversation many times before.
“He wants a dog. All the kids do.”
“I know, but I can’t,” she said, her expression filled with pain. The passing years hadn’t taken away the pain or the guilt of losing Ria.
“She was trained to be a protector from the time she was a pup. She wanted to save your life. She would have been proud. If you hadn’t survived, our children would have never been born.”
Willa wiped the tear sliding down her cheek away, cuddling her son closer to her chest.
“I gave her away.” Willa sobbed, revealing her secret anguish. “I was so hurt I couldn’t look at her and not think about you. I didn’t care if she cost twenty thousand dollars. I thought, if she wasn’t there, I wouldn’t think about you so much.”
“I know it wasn’t about the money,” Lucky spoke soothingly. “You’re the most generous woman I know. The whole town depends on your foundations from the schools to the women’s abuse shelter. You turned around; you were coming back for her. You weren’t able to leave her. You’re not capable of giving up someone you love.” Lucky nuzzled her neck as he reached out to stroke his baby’s soft cheek.
Willa regained her composure, not wanting the children to see her cry.
She gave a hiccupping laugh. “I don’t know about that. I didn’t like you very much when Jenna was your girlfriend.”
Lucky straightened up, staring into her eyes. “Jenna was never my girlfriend. I’ve only had three girlfriends my whole life. One was Ava, whom I dated in high school and thought I was going to marry. Beth was the second, and you were my third and still are the only one I ever loved.”
“Your fingers are crossed.” Willa looked down at his hands. “I’m not the only one you loved.”
Lucky stared at her seriously, his eyes hurt. “I can prove it.”
He shifted, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his wallet. Willa watched curiously as he opened it and pulled out a thin strip of paper before he showed it to her.
Willa’s mouth dropped open in surprise. She had wondered on and off for years what had happened to the pictures from the photo booth.
“You’ve had them?”
“Yes, I took them because I didn’t want you to see them.” Lucky’s voice was filled with emotion.
She stared at the pictures, barely glancing at herself. Instead, she was focused on the raw emotion on Lucky’s face that she had been too shy to recognize when they had been in the photo booth.
His face was filled with hunger, which was what she had remembered from that night, but one captured the love that he couldn’t hide for a split second.
“Lucky…”
“You have been and always will be my only love,” Lucky choked out, sliding the pictures back inside his wallet.
“I want those.”
“Nope, they’re mine, just like you are.” He grinned, leaning forward to brush back her hair then placing a possessive kiss behind her ear on the micro tattoo of a swan.
Willa gazed up at his perfect face that grew more handsome each year they were married. Her husband would always be beautiful, both inside and out.
“Tonight at dinner, we’ll tell the children they can have a puppy,” Willa relented then quickly added, “a normal dog from the pound.”
“All right, but I’m still going to get her trained by Colt.”
Willa liked the thought of the children having a canine protector watching over them. It would be painful at first, but it was time to let the children have one to bond with and grow alongside them.
“Here, let me hold him for a while.”
Willa handed Lucky his child.
“He’s as heavy as a couple of bricks already,” Lucky boasted proudly, gazing down at his son like he had all his children, filled with love.
This child, she could tell, already held a special place in his heart. They had named him Hunter. Lucky swore his name would make him a mighty hunter for the Lord, but Willa knew exactly who their son was named after.
“My lucky number seven.”
Books By Jamie Begley:
The Last Riders Series:
Razer’s Ride
Viper’s Run
Knox’s Stand
Shade’s Fall
Cash’s Fight
Shade
Lucky’s Choice
Biker Bitches Series:
Sex Piston
Fat Louise
The VIP Room Series:
Teased
Tainted
King
Predators MC Series:
Riot
Stand Off
The Dark Souls Series:
Soul Of A Man
Soul Of A Woman