Rowdy (Marked Men #5)(97)

I agreed that we should go and asked Asa to let everyone know what was going on if they asked. I didn’t want to make an announcement because I knew if I did the entire bar would pack it in and head on over to the ER and today wasn’t a day for that. There was too many good-byes to say and too many firsts to enjoy.

I got Salem’s coat and told Jet what was going on. He gave me a tight one-arm hug that had more back pounding to it than actual embracing and told me my cowboy boots needed Texas dust back on them. I really was going to miss the tight-pants-wearing son of a bitch.

Once we were in the car Salem reached out and put her hand on my knee as we drove the dark Denver streets.

“No matter how the road winds and turns, as long as you are there at the end of it I’ll be happy, Rowdy.”

I felt her words spread and expand in my chest so there was no room for it to be empty, no room there to be afraid of what might or might not happen in the future. Any bad luck I might have had paled in comparison to the supreme good fortune that had given me this woman as my own. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye and told her the only thing I could:

“I’m a lucky man.”

Asa and Royal’s story to be continued . . .