Epilogue
Phillip
The bar smells great when Joanna and I step inside, both of us holding hands with my children. Sierra and Asher immediately spot the old arcade machines in the corner and pull away from us, sprinting over and being welcomed immediately into the group.
I look around and spot the source of the mouth-watering scent. A long table has been set up near the bar. Two older gentlemen wearing white uniforms from a local catering company are just finishing setting up a huge spread. My MC brothers are all gathered near the bar, watching the food be set while pouring fresh drinks.
Joanna gives me a smile as I take her hand and lead her to a nearby table, where Nash is sitting with his girl Lucy. I pull out a chair for Joanna, then take a seat.
“You look good,” Nash rumbles as he pours Joanna and I a beer from a large pitcher at the table. “You too, Joanna. You took good care of him, and none of us are ever going to forget the help you provided.”
“She’s got that healing touch,” I sing off-key, “that…sexual healing.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Phil, that’s my sister,” Nash snaps.
“Damn, that’s right,” I reply, my eyes widening while I really consider the extent of what that means, and how it effects our relationship. “So that makes us…like, brothers, doesn’t it?”
“We’re already brothers here, in the MC, knucklehead,” Nash snorts. “But yeah, I guess it’s going to be a bit different moving forward. I never thought I’d see you settle down, especially not with my long-lost sibling.”
“Hell, I never thought I’d live long enough to get a chance,” I tell him.
Joanna takes my hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze. “I’m hopeful that things are going to be settling down in the near future,” she tells everyone at the table.
“Me too,” another voice says as Malcolm sits down with his wife Naomi at the table next to ours. “We’ve had some issues the last couple of years, problems with other MC’s. I think we’re past the worst of it, though, now that shit has settled with the Irish.”
“You’ve done a hell of a job guiding us into calmer waters,” Nash remarks as he turns towards Malcolm. “Where we’re at now, we can go back to focusing on our legit businesses and having fun the way we used to.”
“This dinner, is this how you guys used to celebrate things?” Joanna asks.
“Well, we used to have slightly rowdier parties,” Malcolm replies with a faint blush coming to his cheeks. “Now that most of us are in relationships, I’m afraid there just aren’t as many women coming to see us as there used to be.”
When that comment earns him a smack in the arm from his wife, Malcolm leans down to focus on the plate of barbecue in front of him. Taking the hint, I jump in to try and change the subject. “Well, I’m glad to have finally met someone like Joanna,” I say. “I guess I didn’t know the appeal of having someone love you as a person, not just ‘love you’, you know, for a few minutes at a time.”
“It’s different, isn’t it?” Nash agrees.
I look around the crowded room, really taking it all in for the first time. This bar, my second home, used to be a smoke-hazed and booze-fueled twenty-four hours a day party. Now, it looks more like a church social. Well, if the church allowed kegs of beer, tube tops, and leather clothes.
“It really has all changed,” I confirm with what sounds like wonder in my voice. “I never really knew anything about family, other than being a brother to all you guys,” I add as I look up and see Silas, of all people, getting plates of food for my son and daughter. “But now that I’ve seen this…this community, this love, from all of the ladies you’ve found along with all the fun we’re having with the kids…”
“Is this what you were looking for all this time?” Joanna asks me softly as she leans in to speak only to me.
“I believe it was,” I smile down at her. “And to think that none of it would have been possible…not my kids, not what I’ve found with you…if I hadn’t been shot.”
“Don’t do it again!” Joanna warns me with a mock frown.
“Why not?” I quip with a smile. “Taking two bullets to meet you, and all the joy that it’s brought me has been the best thing I’ve ever had happen.”
“That’s always the way of it,” Malcolm agrees as he leans back over towards us. “There are trials in life, sure, but if you lean on your family and make it through…”
“When we make it through together, in the end, there is always a happy ending,” I finish his thought. “Together, with my brothers, and all the family we have found,” I add as I stand up and raise my beer to the room. “To the Dirty Aces!” I roar. “The greatest, most dysfunctional family a man could ever hope to have!”
The End
Afterword
Thank you so much for reading the Dirty Aces MC series! Fiasco will be the final story for now.
If you’re looking for more hot bikers, check our our Savage Kings MC series!
https://mybook.to/SavageKingsMCboxset
Also by Lane Hart
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New York Times bestselling author Lane Hart and husband D.B. West were both born and raised in North Carolina. They still live in the south with their two daughters and enjoy spending the summers on the beach and watching football in the fall.
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