Last Ride (Wind Dragons MC #5.5)(29)

“Faye, I know,” he says gently, kissing the top of my head. “We’re family. No, family is too tame a word for what we are.”

“We’re Wind Dragons,” I say, smiling. “Did Dex tell you about Eric?”

Dex got Eric the help he needed. He is now seeing doctors and being treated for a mental breakdown—resulting from the loss of his mom—and needs to go on meds, as well as having therapy sessions with a shrink. I don’t know what will happen from here, but I’m hoping that Eric either sorts his shit out, or never comes back. Harsh, but I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life.

“That he’s getting help,” Vinnie says, nodding. “In some medical facility. Yeah, we all heard. At least you don’t have to worry about him anymore; he won’t be coming back. I don’t think they’ll let him out of there. Dex told them that he was self-harming and that’s why he was so banged up, because he kept hitting his head on walls and shit.”

My eyes widen, and I feel impressed. Dex never told me that part. “Dex can be a sneaky bastard when he wants to be.”

“Bet he learned from the best.”

I laugh at that. “He was devious before he met me, okay?”

“Not as,” he replies, then places his arm around my shoulders. “Now what has you feeling so sentimental today?”

“I don’t know,” I admit, shrugging. “It feels like the end of an era. Everyone is settled down, and we have no more enemies out to get us. We just get to enjoy now, you know? Live peacefully. Our version of peaceful anyway.”

“Yeah, Ronan and Ranger are the only bachelors, aren’t they?”

“They’ll both find women eventually.”

“Apparently with you trying to set them up on blind dates,” he says, barking out a laugh. “You don’t even have any other female friends.”

“Do too.”

“No you don’t. You probably only just met them. Fuckin’ found them on the street or in a café or something.”

“This isn’t an episode of Friends,” I mutter, making him laugh harder. “I have a life outside of these walls, you know.”

“Really? Because last month you asked me to come and talk with you while you got your nails done, because you had no one else to go with.”

“That happened, like, one time. All the girls were busy!”

He laughs loudly. “You’re f*ckin’ something else.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“I meant it as one.”

“How cute are we right now?” I say, stopping at the kitchen. “I have to start cooking for tonight’s dinner.”

“Do you want any help?” he asks, surprising me. “By the way, have you looked in the freezer recently?”

“No. Why?” I ask, walking over to the freezer and opening the door. Inside are two tubs of my favorite ice cream. “You got me ice cream!”

“You’re a hard woman to say no to, Faye Black,” he says, smiling and continuing down the hallway. I take out one tub and hug it against my chest, grinning.

I always get my way.

Dex walks into the kitchen, spots me hugging my ice cream with a huge smile on my face, and shakes his head, his own lips kicking up at the corners.

“All of them f*ckin’ spoil you,” he says, but I can tell by his tone that he loves it.

He loves that they love me.

We could change the Wind Dragons motto: Love the woman, love the club.





EPILOGUE




Faye

NEVER did I ever think Dex would want to step down as the WDMC president, but after my kidnapping, he made his mind up, and I support him in that.

“I can’t do it,” he told me, pushing my hair back behind my ear. “That feeling in my stomach when you were gone, when I didn’t know if I’d see you again, and then having to lead the men while feeling that? I can’t do it. I need to concentrate on us. I’ve done what I can for the club, but now it’s time for me to step down.” He paused, then grinned and made a joke. “Are you still going to be hot for me if I’m not the leader?”

I rolled my eyes, knowing his alpha tendencies. The man will always be a leader in his own right. The truth is, I don’t care where Dex ends up or where he wants to go or who he wants to be. I’ll always follow. People should follow their hearts, and he is mine.

We’re still going to be in the club, of course—they’re our family, and we belong here—but Arrow is going to step up and lead us, while Dex is going to take on more of an advisory role. My man—retiring before the gray hair and beer belly set in. Well, hopefully that never happens. The gray hair I can deal with—Dex is going to be a silver fox—but I don’t think he’ll ever allow himself to get a beer belly at any age. I run my hand down his stomach, just for reassurance.

“What are you doing?” he asks me, amusement flashing in his blue depths.

“Just checking something,” I say, grinning up at him. He didn’t tell me about his plans until a few weeks after the kidnapping. He said he’d decided while I was gone, and the decision stuck. The kids and I need to be his first priority, and he said I’d put myself in enough danger over the years. To be fair though, danger usually finds me, not the other way around.