But that ends today.
I can’t drive, so Fremont takes me into Houston. I wait until I know her appointments are done and then Fremont cracks the lock on the door and I slip inside.
“Good luck, brother,” he whispers.
I hold up a hand for a fist bump, the motion still sending shooting pain down my arm, but it’s better, it might never be perfect again and that’s okay. I’m walking away and that’s even better. “Thanks. I’ll call if I need a ride.”
“I hope you don’t.”
Fremont needs to see Dr. Howard for some upheaval he’s facing, but not the way that I need to see her.
I can hear her typing away on her computer. Probably finishing up some notes.
I really don’t want to surprise her, but I’m not sure there’s any other way to do it. Then it comes to me.
Macen: You interested in going to the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Austin in October?
I hear her phone buzz, but I don’t hear anything else. The typing stops and I hear that squeaky chair rocking back and forth.
Dharma: Only if you’re going to be there and you wear a Renault shirt.
I chuckle and I hear her gasp. I’ve given myself away. Shit. My happiness foils my position. Thankfully, it’s the last time I’ll ever be in hiding.
“Macen?” she calls out and the chair bangs into the wall.
I walk to the doorway, my gait still off from having a bullet sear through my thigh. I was hit in the shoulder, grazed across the upper arm, a deep clean shot through my right thigh, and one skimmed over the skin on my calf when I spun to get out of the line of fire.
I knew that it wasn’t going down right and I demanded to go first. I should’ve pulled us out, but I wanted to prove to myself that either Black Ice was on the up-and-up or determine their sinister motives once and for all.
Looking down the barrel of a smuggled AK-47 told me everything I needed.
I close my eyes and take a breath while hearing the door open, but before I open my eyes I feel soft finger tips on my face.
“It’s really you.”
And then I don’t want to open my eyes, I just want to feel more.
“Are you okay, Macen?” Her fingers trail down my neck and onto my chest, stopping like she doesn’t know where it’s safe to touch me.
“I will be now that I’m with you.”
“I prayed for this day every day. I missed you.”
“I never should’ve gone on that mission. You were right.”
She chuckles. “Every woman loves to hear that, but in this instance, I wish I wasn’t. You almost died.”
I open my eyes. “I died.”
“What?”
“I coded on the table, but they got me back.”
“Oh, my God.”
“I would’ve fought my way out of hell to get back to you, Dharma.” And I did.
“You’re here, and that’s all that matters.”
I slip my arms around her and pull her to me. She’s soft and warm and I’m going to giving myself to her for the rest of our lives.
“And I’m never leaving again.”
She presses her forehead into my chest. “Promise me.”
I slip a hand into my joggers—they’re easier to slip on and off with my arm. “This is the promise I’ll make you.” I lift her chin and press my lips to hers. Every moment of being with her floods back to me. I’m coated in her love. I back away and brush away a sparkling tear from her cheek. Happy tears as my mother always called them.
“Dharma, I love that you’re a Formula 1 fan. I love that you pound on your keyboard like a ninja when you’re typing. I love that you have eclectic books and you go out with your girlfriends, who would go to war for you. But most of all, I love you. I love you so much that I want to be your husband and I want you to be my wife.”
She steps back, her mouth open. “Really?”
I hold up the ring. Two carat princess cut in platinum. A friend helped me pick it out, but if she doesn’t like it, I’ll get her whatever she does.
But the gasp that comes out of her mouth tells me that Patton did me right.
“Dharma Rae Howard, will you marry me?”
She bites her bottom lip as her eyes fill again. “I love you more today than thirty days ago. I don’t want to be without you ever again, so yes. Yes, over and over and over!”
I lift her up and the pain fades quickly with her in my arms.
I’m done with the Red Star Rebel Squad. I’m ready for more with this woman.
My heart might still be rebel, but she’s the only one who owns it.
Epilogue
Dharma
I stare at the ceiling as Macen snores next to me. I look at my phone, thirty more seconds. Thirty more seconds until I know if our lives will change again.
Five months ago, we got married in Las Vegas, cheesy chapel, Elvis impersonator, and an officiant who said my name with the “h” pronounced. De-harm-ah. It made us laugh, so we were good with it. And surrounding us for the ceremony were all of his Rebels. We’ve been to all of their weddings, so they came to ours. The group is tight and that’s why I’m staring at a new house’s ceiling. One in Kildare, Nevada. After visiting his buddy, Landon, for the holidays, we fell in love with the town and moved after I finished up with two clients.
I opened a new practice and for the last two months I’ve been busier than ever.
We traveled to Seattle to see his sister, Maren, a few weeks ago. She screamed for a long time, not believing it was him, but finally she came around and I helped her work through some feelings while I was there. She was mad at him. I told her that I was mad at him for what he did. And he accepted the madness. And how he was with his nieces, my ovaries kicked into overtime. Maren and I are best friends now, and I texted her a picture of the shiny white stick four minutes ago.
All I got back was “EEEEEEP!”
I’m going to say that’s a good thing.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! My phone goes off and I turn it off. It’s time.
Macen rolls over. “Good morning, beautiful.”
I lean back and grab the paper towel that holds the answer to our future.
His eyes have closed again. He’s on the Kildare Fire Department and he’s off for the next three days, but working nights takes it out of him for the first day.
“Honey?” I kiss his lips and his arm wraps around me, dragging me onto his chest.
“I’m awake.”
“Your eyes are still closed.”
He chuckles. “They are?” He yawns. “Okay, I’m awake.”
“Then open your eyes…” I hold the piece of plastic above his face, not looking at it.
I’m not scared to look. I just want to see his face when he sees it and then I’ll know. Plus, I can feel the truth already. Tender breasts. Nausea in the mornings. And feeling like I’ve been run over by a Mack truck. It has to be positive.
Please be positive.
He blinks and his head tips a little. And then the smile starts. The one that stole my heart.
His gaze finds mine and for the first time I see a glassiness that I never thought I’d see. Happy tears, his mother told me all about them, when we saw her. She too had a hard time believing it was him, but it is.
He’s alive. And he’s mine.
“A baby?” he asks to make sure he understands what it is.
“Well, it’s not a thermometer…or at least it isn’t now that I’ve peed on it.”
He attacks me with a hug and rolls me under him. “Dharma…baby, I can’t wait to see your beautiful blue eyes on a little girl.”
“Or your hazel eyes on a little boy,” I add quickly.
“I can’t believe I have everything I want and more now.”
“Make love to me, honey.”
Our more, is going to be one more in a few months. A little havoc of the best kind.
And I can imagine our child will have a little rebel in them, too.
~THE END~
I r
eally hope you’ve enjoyed this Red Star Rebel story.
Next, find out how Patton comes back from the dead and finds a new life with someone from his past.
Look for his story here:
Find all of the Brynn Hale Books
The town of Kildare appears in these series:
Graffiti Street Bad Boys
Graffiti Street Guardians MC
WildStyle Brewers
Visit the Red Star Rebel Squad Series playlist here!
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About the Author
Brynn Hale is a Midwest girl who can spot--and swoon over--a hard-working guy a mile away. She believes in winks across a crowded room, guys who do the dishes, a blue-collar alpha will always win a heroine's heart, and a martini or craft beer is the perfect accompaniment to her stories.
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