Rake's Redemption (Wind Dragons MC #4)(80)

“It’s Anna” is all I say.

“Yeah,” he agrees, kissing the last tear away. “She deserves to be happy. She deserves the best. Never thought she’d find it in someone like Arrow, but I guess weirder things have happened.”

I elbow him playfully in the chest. “Stop it.”

He laughs and kisses my lips, then joins in with the cheers and shouts for Anna and Arrow. The couple comes up to us, and Anna and I hug tightly. “Congrats.”

“Thank you,” she replies, kissing my cheek.

“Brother,” Arrow says to Rake, slapping his shoulder.

Rake nods his head, the look in his eyes saying more than any words could. “You’re already my brother. I guess this just makes it official, huh?”

Arrow’s lip twitches. “Guess so.”

“Just hug already,” Anna says, bouncing on her toes. “And hurry because I want to hug my big brother.”

Arrow and Rake share the quickest hug I’ve ever seen, and then Anna is in his arms, and he’s hugging her like she’s his world.

“Will you walk me down the aisle?” I hear her ask.

“Fuck,” Rake replies, eloquent as ever. “Of course I will, Anna. I’d be proud to.”

I blink quickly, trying not to cry for a second time in the span of ten minutes.

Arrow leans down to me and kisses me on top of my head. My eyes widen at his rare show of affection. “You’re a good woman, Bails.”

“Th-thank you,” I stutter, smiling shyly at him. “I like you too, Arrow.”

He grins and ducks his head, going back to his woman and tugging her out of Rake’s arms.

“Time to celebrate privately,” he says to her, making her giggle. Rake’s expression turns from pure joy to wishing someone would shoot him in the head.

“Okay, enough of that,” he says dryly, taking my hand in his. “Bailey?”

“Yes, Rake,” I say, giving him my full attention.

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” I tell him, resting my cheek against his chest. And I’d never get tired of hearing that from him.

“I want to talk to you about something,” he says, sounding slightly nervous, which is very unlike Rake.

“What is it?”

“I want to officially adopt Angel,” he says, running his hand through my hair. “Would you be okay with that?”

I lift my head. “Really?”

He wants to adopt Cara? Officially? Just when I thought I couldn’t get any happier, he manages to surprise me. I’d love nothing more than for him to adopt Cara, and the fact that he wants it, that he thought of it, means the world to me and shows the level of dedication he has to our family.

“Yeah, really,” he says, lifting my chin in his hands. “I’ll talk with her about it, but I’d really love that.”

“Okay.” I breathe, my heart melting. I try not to cry, but instead I end up sniffling a little.

“Baby,” he says, and I can hear the smile in his voice.

“Yeah?”

“Stop being cute,” he says softly. “Open your eyes.”

I open them.

“I love your beautiful, big, brown eyes.”

“Okay,” I mumble.

His lip twitches. “Happy tears. I hope they’re all I see from now on.”

“Rake?”

“Yeah?”

“Stop being cute,” I tell him.

He laughs. I close my eyes again, and just feel him.

His warmth. His essence. It surrounds me.

Fuck.

Everything I’ve been through in life has led me to this moment.

And it’s all been worth it.

*

“Who got rid of Wade’s body?” Lana whispers, pushing her glasses up on her nose and glancing around. “I mean seriously, we never hear about who does all the real dirty criminal stuff like that.” She pauses. “I don’t think it’s Tracker.”

I shrug my shoulders. “Maybe they pay people to do it, or use their connections or something. Someone cleaned all the blood from the carpet too. It was like nothing ever happened. Maybe you should ask Faye, as she probably does know.”

“Staying out of this,” Faye says cheerfully, shoving popcorn into her mouth.

“Intriguing,” Lana says, leaning back on the couch. “Irish killed someone and he’s acting totally normal. Which isn’t normal, don’t you think?”

Faye makes a sound of amusement. “I once asked Irish how he got his scar. He said it was in a knife fight, so I joked that I’d hate to see the other guy. Do you know what he said?”

“What?” I dare to ask.

“He laughed and said, ‘Me either. Skeletons freak me out.’?”

“Jesus,” I whisper, not knowing what else to say.

Lana giggles. “Oh, come on, it’s pretty funny.”

I scrub my hand down my face. “This club turns even the most innocent, sweet women into bloodthirsty monsters.”

“Hey, I’m still sweet,” Lana objects.

“You write porn,” Faye throws in. “How sweet can you possibly be?”

“Romance,” Lana corrects, lifting up her chin. “It’s romance, not porn.”