Then she did what Chop was too much of a coward to do all those years before, and she ended it all.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Thia

BEAR LIMPED OVER his mother’s dead body and grabbed my face roughly in his hands. “Hey, Beautiful.” He turned my chin from side to side and looked me over like he was inspecting me for physical damage.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me,” I reassured him. “Just scrapes and bruises.”

“Scrapes and bruises would be too much, but I call bullshit. Your cheeks are swollen and you just winced like I slapped you. What the fuck happened?” His nostrils flared.

I ignored his question, my teeth not seeming all that important. “Looks like I got off better than you,” I said, pointing to the bloody hole in his thigh.

“Just scrapes and bruises,” he said, repeating my lie. I rolled my eyes. “Now fucking tell me what happened to your mouth.”

“I lost a couple of teeth. Just in the back,” I added, like it would make Bear’s eyes turn any less murderous. I instantly regretted telling him.

“Who?” he demanded. “Who the fuck did Gus leave you with?” Bear asked, like he needed to know whose name he could add to his list of people to kill. “How the fuck you even get out?”

Both questions had the same answer. “Jake.” Bear’s eyes went wide. “But it’s okay,” I said, grabbing on to his arm. “He rescued me.” I left off the part about him being one of the people to pull those teeth.

“Fuck,” Bear said, pressing his forehead to mine, grabbing onto the back of my neck. “That could have gone either way.”

“But it didn’t,” I reassured him. “I’m fine. I swear.”

“I’m sorry, baby. I am so fucking sorry,” Bear said, pressing a kiss to my lips. He was covered in blood and from what I’d just witnessed I knew most of that blood wasn’t his.

“Bear,” I said, placing my hands over his. “You need to believe me when I tell you that I’m okay. Not just physically, but with all of this.” I looked around the clubhouse. “You’re alive. I’m alive. That’s all you need to know.”

Bear threaded his fingers up through my hair. “Why did you come here? You shouldn’t of.”

I shook my head. “You see, that’s where you’re wrong. I made you a promise that I wouldn’t give up on you, and…”

“And?” he pressed.

“And so I didn’t,” I said, adding, “and believe it or not, there is no place else I’d rather be.” Bear laughed and so did I because although it sounded ridiculous, it was true. Bear tugged on my hair. I stood on my tippy toes and pressed a kiss against the corner of his mouth. His lips didn’t move and neither did mine. We stood there for a minute. Just feeling our connection, breathing each other in, reminding ourselves that we were together now.

Alive.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Bear

“BEAR, COME LOOK at this,” King said, putting an end to our moment. Without letting go of Ti’s hand, I walked over to the balcony, dragging her with me, and looked down to what King was pointing at below. I was stunned at the sight before me. Surrounding the pool were Bastards. My former brothers, at least twenty of them, and they were all on their knees with their hands behind their heads while Munch, Wolf, Stone, and several older men I didn’t recognize stood around them, guns at the ready.

Well, there was one guy I recognized in the group. It seemed I hadn’t imagined seeing him earlier. “Ted?” I asked.

“Howdy, there!” Ted called up cheerily, covered in his own fair amount of blood splatter. Thor, who had been a prospect when I left, who was now wearing a member’s patch on his cut, made a move to stand but Ted kicked him in the back of the knees and forced him back down to the ground, never breaking a smile.

I turned to Ti. “Was this you?” I asked, waving at all the unfamiliar men.

She shrugged with a little half smile. “I figured that if you were going to go to war, you should have an army.” She leaned in, her breath tickling my ear. “So I called in an army.”

Before that night I’d already known I was in love with Ti, what I didn’t know was that I could love her more than I already did, but right there, standing in a pool of my parents blood, mixed with some of my own, I fell for her so hard my chest ached with all the love I had for her.

Ted saluted me. “Had more fun tonight than I have in years,” he called up again, tucking one of his semi-automatics into the front pocket of his overalls so he could adjust his trucker’s hat. “Was like rounding up pigs at the fair.”

“What are you going to do with them?” King asked, nodding down to the men on their knees and I knew right away what he was really asking.

I shrugged. “I’m gonna talk to them first.”

And then we’ll discuss mass murder.

* * *

Thia

“THEY NEED YOU,” I said, pulling away from Bear. I was relieved he was okay, but I wasn’t ready to let him go just yet. I knew I had to though, because the men below needed him as much as I did.

He kissed me on the top of my head. “Don’t go too far, baby.”

King tapped Bear on the shoulder in one of those manly, reassuring, this-is-not-a-hug gestures and joined me by the top of the stairs.

Bear turned to his brothers, both current and former. From where we stood at the top of the steps I could see both Bear high up on his perch like an eagle stalking its prey, and the men below, all in different varying stages of dishevelment, all probably wondering what fate was in store for them.

I was wondering that too.

Bear looked down at Chop’s lifeless body like it was offending him by even bleeding.

Bear tugged off Chop’s cut and tore off the patch that read PRESIDENT. He spit on Chop’s body, then, holding on to the railing, he used the boot on his good leg to kick it off the second floor and into the crowd, who gasped and shuffled around on their knees to avoid being hit by the lifeless body of their fallen leader.

“Listen up, motherfuckers!” Bear shouted, his voice booming across the courtyard like he was speaking into a microphone. He looked as if he was about to spit fire as he limped from side to side, pacing the second floor balcony. The single handcuff that used to be connected to Chop dangled from his wrist, clanking against the rusted metal of the railing as he slid his hand over the top.

Bear stopped and leaned over, glaring at the men who from the looks on their faces, had already come to the realization that there was a good chance they were already dead.

“This,” Bear said, waving his arms around, gesturing to the walls of the building and then to the men themselves. “This was supposed to be brotherhood. Somewhere under Chop’s rule, you monkeys turned this club into a fucking gang, and a fucking bad one at that. This is not supposed to be a dictatorship. You aren’t motherfucking thugs. This wasn’t supposed to be a fucking war zone.” He grew more confident as the words came. Clearer. Stronger. “What this was supposed to be was a business.” Bear looked back to me. “A family.” He turned back around, the dried blood on his back covering his tattoos in a sheen of red.

He shook his head. Pausing. Thinking. “We’ve all been so caught up in who is doing us wrong that we haven’t been able to look past the barrel of our own guns long enough to see who is doing us right.” He looked back over to me again and the exchange between us was nothing short of electric.