EPILOGUE
TAKING A DEEP BREATH, I climb the steps to the station, my badge clasped in my sweaty hand.
Machete grabbed it and my gun from the desert that night, said he was keeping them company until I decided what I was going to do. But Mac told me he was fucking a chick wearing the badge and my gun on his hip one night. Wouldn’t surprise me, so I made sure to sanitize both. That man is an animal, God knows what he did with them.
Entering the station, I keep my eyes focused on my target, the chief’s office. I don’t say hi to anyone, and I don’t swipe a donut off the counter because it might make me second-guess what I’m doing here. I know what I’m doing and can’t back out. This has to be done.
I head straight to the chief’s office, scents of rose perfume strong, and toss the badge and my gun on her desk.
“What is this?” Chief Lopez asks, raising a brow at me. Her hair is in a perfect bun, her makeup flawless and light. She sighs, sitting back in her leather high-back chair with a resting bitch face.
“I quit. I’m not meant to be a cop,” I shake my head, my lips twisted.
“Alessandra, don’t do this. Your father—”
“I’m not my father, not even close. He was a good man and wanted me to do good things, but that just it. I’m not a good person, and I don’t belong here. I’ve purposely broken rules, and you’ve looked the other way because let’s be honest, you had respect for my father, not me,” I cut the shit, and this catches her attention quickly.
She drops her bitch face and sighs heavily. The exhale of breath telling me everything she isn’t saying. That I’m making a mistake, that any route I might be perusing is wrong.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Her eyes cut to mine, they’re so cold and unfriendly it makes me wonder how she ever gets laid.
A motorcycle just outside the window revs its engine, catching her attention. It’s my ride, Felix. I can’t help the way I light up seeing him, and Chief Lopez notices. She scoffs clicking her tongue with heavy judgment.
“You’re making a mistake. This is crazy,” she sneers, crossing her arms. Maybe, but I can’t honor the code of blue, but I respect it.
“Maybe, but being normal is boring.” I smile, lift my chin and start backing toward the door. I’ve said what I needed.
“I’ll see you on the other side of the bars?” she asks arrogantly. Tapping my fingers on the doorframe I smile wolfishly.
“Good luck catching me,” I wink, taking a step out of her office. Shit, I almost forgot. “Oh, and Raven told me to tell you she won’t be returning to work either,” I inform casually.
She scoffs, shaking her head like she’s not surprised.
Heading outside, the summer sun hits my face just right. A weight I never knew lifted from my shoulders. I feel lighter, happier, and free. Walking out of the station without my badge my black wings were finally able to release themselves in full form. No more façade of something I was never meant to be. I tried to be a good person, live like a normal female, but I never felt like I fit. Let’s face it, I’ve been through a lot of shit, and it got to me no matter how much effort my dad put into me forgetting it. It was always there, waiting to be released.
Felix is on his motorcycle smoking a cigarette when I approach, and God, I just want to pull his hair and fuck him on the back of it. Zeek and the rest of the men straddling their bikes right beside him. It’s a circle of metal, leather, and trouble. Rugged men and angry stares looking about. Not too long ago I’d be nervous walking up to them, but now I feel safer.
“How’d it go?” Felix asks.
“They may hate us together, but they can’t stop us,” I shrug.
“That’s a good motto!” Machete points at me, his red hair shining amongst the sun.
The way Felix’s lips pull into a smirk has me holding my breath, and my heart beats a little faster.
He bends over pulling something from his saddlebag.
“I figured since you traded your badge in, it was time to properly make you my ol’ lady,” he states, holding up a cut that shows the club’s colors and me as his ol’ lady.
I cup my mouth, my eyes wide. I know what this means to him, to any woman of the club. The men go wild catcalling and clapping, making me feel welcomed more than I ever did joining the department.
“Taking this you fully accept my fucked-upness,” he laughs.
“That’s no shit!” Mac laughs, sitting in front of us smoking a cigarette.
Grasping the warm leather in my hands, I smell it, my eyes closed. The tones of a free life, and chaos wafting around me.
“You giving this to me, you have to promise to see me as me and not a cop,” I whisper. “All of you?” My eyes look around at the men and I get solid nods from them all.
“I never saw you as one anyway, otherwise I wouldn’t have fallen for you,” Felix says seriously. We’ll agree to disagree on that one.
Opening my eyes, I slide my arms into the cut, and instantly feel like I found my place, that spot I’ve been looking for my whole life. My mom is welcomed at the club, even if she thinks Mac is my dad every other day. I’m welcomed in the club, and though Jillian was sent off to a safe-house, I get to talk to her on a burner phone on occasion. Carola is with her, and Zeek comes and goes protecting his club, and his woman.
I’m an outlaw, I just never knew it.
“Through the good and the bad, I’ll ride or die, baby.” I raise a brow, my lips pursed.
“That’s my girl,” Felix winks, smacking my ass before pulling me closer and laying his lips on mine. I cup his cheeks, his beard soft beneath my fingers.
Pulling always, I throw my leg over the seat and hold on to my man as he revs the motor. Citizens stare at us. Some whispering to their friends, others walking as fast as they can in the other direction.
“Let’s ride!” he hollers, flicking his cigarette to the side.