Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 46500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 233(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 233(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Still quietly laughing, I leaned back in my chair and looked up at her. “What’s in the box?”
“Come outside with me?” she asked instead.
Nodding, I grabbed my beer off the table, slapped my hand to Joey’s back, and followed her outside the clubhouse. A fire was going, but everyone had already migrated back indoors for the night.
We stopped by the burn pit, and Jessie opened the lid, allowing me to see the leather-bound journals inside. I flicked my eyes up to hers.
“After I was rescued from Charles,” she whispered, “I wrote in these journals for days—couple of years at least.” She swallowed thickly. “I used to hold on to these, wishing that one day, I would remember how to be the girl I’d been.”
I stayed silent, letting her talk. A tear slid down her cheek. “But I’ll never be that girl again, Ink. That time in my life changed me. Charles destroyed me.” She sniffled, another tear rolling down her pretty face as she looked up at me. “But you, Ink? You saved me. You helped me realize that I don’t need to be her again.” She shook her head. “There’s no way in hell I could ever revert back to that free-spirited girl that lived to party and have fun. Charles tainted that part of my soul. I knew there was bad in the world; Joey is living proof of that, but he never allowed it to touch me. I thought I was invincible.”
She drew in a deep breath. “So, with your help, I learned how to be my own person again, to pick up the pieces of myself in the midst of the destruction and form a new me.” She lifted the box a little. “And I want to put the old me to rest.”
I gripped the back of her neck and lowered my lips to hers, kissing her. “Then we’ll put the old you to rest, my girl.” I brushed my nose with hers. “And I’ll help you learn to love the new you more and more every single day.”
Together, we threw the old Jessie into the fire and watched her burn, finally setting her free so the new Jessie could fully embrace life once again.
Epilogue
“Happy birthday, brother,” River greeted when he walked inside the clubhouse. We hugged, clapping each other on the back. Adelaide hugged me next with one arm, their newest addition to the family on her hip.
“Congratulations, again, on the baby,” I told her, pressing a kiss to her cheek. She’d once been like one of us when she was with Joey, and every single one of us would always see Adelaide as family.
Getting married to another club president would never change that.
“You let them throw you a party for your thirtieth?” Alejandro asked as he stepped into the clubhouse.
I shook my head, lifting my beer to my lips for a swallow. “Nope. Joey pulled rank.”
Alejandro’s lips quirked at the corners in amusement. “Figured. Though, the way he tells it, he’s led everyone to believe you wanted this.”
I rolled my eyes. I’d wanted nothing more than a simple day of peace at home with my wife in our new house, but Joey refused to let my thirtieth go down like that.
Joey walked up, and I took that opportunity to slip off to get a fresh beer. Jessie wasn’t here yet. Instead of trying to spend the day with me, she’d gone off somewhere with Elaina, claiming she’d forgotten it was my birthday.
I’d put her over my knee for that little lie, but I hadn’t stopped her from going. She was still glowing all this time later, and I didn’t want to do anything that would ever stop that light from shining in her pretty, dark eyes.
I popped the top off my beer and settled myself in at the table Whiler was at. He had his tongue down some girl’s throat, but when I sat down, he ordered her up and grinned at me. “Happy birthday, brother.”
I grunted in response. I was already getting tired of being congratulated on being another fucking year older.
“Where’s your wife?” he asked me, leaning back in his chair, grabbing his beer off the table.
I waved my hand in the general direction that town was in. “Went somewhere with Elaina. Claimed she forgot it was my birthday.”
Whiler barked out a laugh. “Bet you called bullshit on that one. She never forgets your birthday. Even if you two had once again broken shit off because she was being a righteous bitch—excuse me for saying so.” I grinned because she had a habit of doing that. Even now, she still did, but I was pretty sure she mostly did it to receive punishment. My girl truly was a little brat at heart. “She always got you something, Ink.”
I nodded. “I spanked her pretty ass red for lying to me, too, but I let her go.” I shrugged. “I didn’t want this shit to be a big ordeal anyway, but fucking Joey wouldn’t let it go.”