Highway to Home, page 7
An hour later, I parked the bike inside the clubhouse and kicked the stand down. The party was just getting started, and members from both Richmond and Petersburg chapters were there too, but I didn't see Ajax. When Marie climbed off my bike, she looked at the row of other bikes parked alongside mine and all the men wearing Berzerker patches with their ole ladies, along with a few clubwhores too.
When I climbed off the bike and took the duffle bag off the fender, I could sense Marie's nervousness. I tilted her chin and looked into her pretty dark eyes. "All these people here are family Marie. Stryker and Izzy, Bear and Holly, they're here too."
She flashed a smile. "It's my very first club party, and I'm just letting it all soak in."
I planted a kiss on her lips, then took her hand and walked toward the bar to see Izzy and Blondie doing shots of tequila together while drunk and stoned Berzerkers cheered them on. I pulled Marie's gift out from the duffle bag when her back was turned away from me. Stryker blew a piercing whistle to shut everyone up, and it was so quiet in the clubhouse you could hear a mouse pissing on cotton.
I called out her name, and when Marie turned around, her jaw dropped open in surprise, seeing me holding a denim vest with "Proper of Rubik" patches sewn on the back.
I cleared my throat, feeling like a punk teenager asking a girl out on a date. "Marie, will you be my old lady?"
She started to cry, but she was also smiling. "Yes, Rubik. I would be very proud to wear your property patch!"
That night, Marie took her very first shot of tequila, and she downed it like a badass biker chick, making me a proud Berzerker to call her my old lady.
****
I spent my days with my Berzerker brothers working and living the life of a dangerous outlaw.
I broke bones and busted up faces of those that owed the club money or tried to take what belonged to us. Every few weeks, we'd set up gambling matches in the fight pit downstairs in Durango's basement. Bear was our champion, winning every fight we put him in and making our club a whole lot of money. I heard Ajax was getting along well with Diezel's Richmond chapter and his Sgt. At Arms, Mace made Ajax one of his enforcers, which added extra security for the club.
As months went by, the nightmares of Sadie's and Kage's death seemed to disappear. And in its place, I carried those long-forgotten memories of my sister, the good ones of us growing up together, and how she wouldn't take any shit from Kage or me when she became his ole lady.
Marie stayed home with Hope, keeping the house clean and having dinner on the table for all of us. She finally got her driver's license, which gave her the control and independence she always yearned for. One day I surprised her with a brand new Chevy Monte Carlo SS in black with red pinstriping. She was so happy with the new car that she didn't let me sleep and bounced on my cock all night.
Hope grew like a weed, and we all spoiled her rotten. She had her Mom, her Pops, Aunt Izzy, and Uncle Stryker wrapped around her little finger. I loved every single day with my little princess, as I watched her grow or make new sounds and watching her eyes light up and squeal when she discovered something for the very first time in the world that surrounded her. As Hope's parents, we promised her she would never go hungry or be alone and that she will always be loved by her Mom and Pops.
The Berzerkers MC, Marie, Hope, Stryker, and Izzy were my family.
I finally found my way back home. And my home was with Marie and Hope.
THE END
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my beta reading darlings, Jeanette George, JoJo Ellen, Michele Roberts VonCannon, and Danielle Lynn Reads, for being so patient with me to finally getting this book written!
Thank you, Julie Lafrance and Rowan St. George, for helping me envision Marie and Rubik's story when I got stuck at a dead-end and didn't know where it should go.
Thank you, Mikki Thomas, for being my kick-ass PA for the past 3 years and my partner in crime.
LINNY LAWLESS
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Linny Lawless, Highway to Home
