Chapter Twenty

Lay low and stay the fuck away from Keenan Lourdes.

 

Avon’s advice echoed in Robyn’s head nearly every day for the next two weeks. And in some way, it seemed to be working. It was also accompanied by crippling anxiety waiting for yet another shoe to drop, but maybe that was just the side effect of knowing a bona fide murderer.

 

So, when Avon got word of his apartment application being approved, Robyn almost didn’t believe him. After the landslide of mishaps – the fake bomb threat, Lisa’s stalker, Morales’s death – it seemed almost impossible that something would go in their favor. That Keenan could permit something positive to happen to them.

 

Avon hung up the phone, and the two of them shared a long look. Matt danced in front of the television to one of his favorite pop songs.

 

“I can’t believe you got approved,” she said hesitantly, like maybe the very words would cause the news to reverse itself.

 

“Me neither.” He scratched the back of his neck, looking over at Matt. “Hell, I thought maybe I’d just live here for the rest of my life.”

 

She laughed, then cut it short. He’d be moving out. Avon would be leaving her, in a sense. Even though they were together… would still be together.

 

“You should move in with me,” Avon blurted.

 

She jerked her gaze up to his, relief flooding her. God, she’d wanted to hear those words more than she realized. She laughed, then found tears pressing at her eyes. These pregnancy hormones were crazy.

 

“Don’t cry, sweets,” Avon murmured, pulling her into his arms. She melted into him, burying her face in the familiar scent of leather and cedar. “I thought we could get a fresh start together. You know? Find a place and make it ours.”

 

“You aren’t just gonna move back to the clubhouse once you get custody?”

 

Avon cracked a grin, the type that made her heart hurt from loving him. “Not if my old lady’s with me.”

 

She laughed suddenly, which forced a few tears to tumble down her cheeks. “Am I your old lady?”

 

“Sure are.” He knocked his hips against hers. There was something so sweet in the move that it forced more tears to come out.

 

Matt came over, curiosity written on his face. “Robyn, are you okay?”

 

His concern made more tears flow, and faster. She tried to smile to reassure him, even when her face wasn’t doing a good job of it.

 

“I’m fine, Matt. I just got some good news. We got some good news.”

 

Avon bent down to meet Matt at eye level. “Guess what, buddy? We’re gonna get a new place to live. All three of us. Together.”

 

Matt sent a small smile to both of them, slinging his arm around Avon’s shoulder. “I like living here.”

 

“In this apartment, or with us?”

 

“With you guys,” he said softly.

 

Avon nodded, looking up at Robyn with a twinkle in his eye. “So? Let’s do it. What do you think?”

 

She couldn’t answer, not with the tight throat and all the tears. She sniffed, wiping her face, feeling both ridiculous and somehow calmed, like she’d avoided the surprise ending she’d been waiting for – Avon to find an apartment and leave her behind.

 

“Of course. Yes. Let’s do it.” She waved her hand at the apartment, as though dismissing it. She’d spent a lot of good years in this apartment, but she was ready for the next chapter. With Avon.

 

Avon wrapped her in a hug, the hard planes of his chest a relief against the emotions. “So I take it you really like the idea?”

 

She laughed into his chest. “Yeah. I really do.”

 

Once the good news came, so did the planning. Robyn and Avon launched into full-scale dreaming and list-making. Matt helped where he could with packing, and within the next month, they had almost everything ready to be moved.

 

Even throughout the hubbub and happiness, Keenan lurked at the back of Robyn’s mind. She was hesitant to believe he was truly gone, that he could really recede to the sidelines. But yet almost two months had gone by. There were no more threats. There had been no mishaps. Everything seemed… stable.

 

Normal, even.

 

On the first night in their new apartment, Robyn spent some time walking in the empty rooms. To get a feel for the new space, all its angles and areas. The living room overlooked a sizeable manmade pond lined with willows. The building itself was new, and their apartment still smelled like paint. It had all the markers of stability and happiness. This would be their new space. Their new home.

 

Avon came up behind her as she looked out the back window at the pond. He wrapped his arms around her. “Whatcha thinking about?”

 

She tilted her head to look up at him as he covered her growing belly with his hands. She was almost seven months along now. “Our new home. I love this place. I think it’s gonna be great here.”

 

“Mm-hmm.” He nipped her ear as he started swaying slowly. “I knew you’d like it.”

 

“Oh yeah?” She covered his hands with her own. “Well, I guess it’s not hard to like this backyard we’ve got now.”

 

“Yeah. It’d be a nice spot for the wedding, don’t you think?”

 

Robyn blinked a few times, his words making strange circles inside her. Had he really said…? She squinted up at him, trying to tamp down the excitement. Especially if that had just been a joke.

 

“What?”

 

“You heard me.” He had a sly smile on his face.

 

Her mouth parted. “Avon. Do you really want to get married?”

 

He shrugged, squinting out at the day. “Not gonna act like I haven’t thought about it a time or two.”

 

She laughed, swatting his chest. “And here you’re supposed to be this big bad biker.”

 

“Big bad bikers get married.”

 

“Yeah, well, I guess I’ll just have to wait for the real proposal,” she teased, nestling back into his embrace. “Because even old ladies need a proper proposal.”

 

“Hm.” He tightened his grip on her. “You’re right.”

 

After a moment of silence, she burst out laughing. “You’re too much. First, you knock me up, then you move in, and now you want to get married. We did everything ass-backward.”

 

“What’s the fun in following the way everyone else does stuff?” Avon squeezed her hips and dislodged, heading for the front door where he’d been carrying stuff up from the car. “We need to blaze our own trail, sweets.”

 

Robyn smiled to herself as she continued organizing the boxes that Avon delivered. This sort of task would normally stress her out, but having Avon to help made it feel more fun than anything. Truth be told, he was the first man she’d ever embarked on a shared living journey with. She’d never imagined it would feel so natural.

 

Especially with a biker.

 

But those were the parts of her life that were quickly becoming commonplace. Four months ago, she wouldn’t have been able to fathom a future with Avon at the center. Now, she was hard-pressed to imagine life without him. Didn’t want to imagine life without him now, not even a little bit.

 

It was lunchtime by the time Avon had unloaded the car, and then the moving van came, driven by Avon’s club brothers. It was her first time meeting his brothers, and a knot of anxiety had been with her ever since Avon said they’d be showing up.

 

First came the grunts. Avon and his two brothers carried her huge leather couch up the staircase. It thudded to the ground just inside the apartment, and she turned, instinctively clutching her stomach.

 

“Well,” she said, “that’s one way to announce your arrival.”

 

Avon wiped his brow as his brothers came inside. “Robyn, I’d like you to meet the brothers. Viper, Knobby, this is Robyn.”

 

Robyn held her belly in one hand while she shook hands with both men. They looked both precisely as expected and somehow entirely different – they weren’t at all the caricatures of outlaws that she still had in her mind, but one look at them told her they were definitely bikers. Leather kuttes. Hard features. A swagger that promised experience.

 

“Pleasure to meet you.” Viper gave a little bow.

 

Knobby extended his hand, showcasing knobby knuckles. Maybe that’s where his name had come from.

 

“Lovely to meet you both. And thanks for your help.” She absentmindedly rubbed her belly. “Couldn’t have done this without you.”

 

Avon pressed his palm against the wall as he wiped his upper lip with the collar of his shirt. “Viper’s been acting president since I stepped away. Think he’s just gonna have to be the real president soon.”

 

Robyn sent him a sharp look, unsure if he was joking or not. They’d talked plenty about him leaving the MC, but bringing it up like this, in front of his brothers, was unexpected.

 

“You’d have to convince us to vote you out,” Viper said.

 

“I can do some convincing.” Avon sent a mysterious look her way. He clapped his brothers on the shoulders. “Let’s go get the bed.”

 

Time dissolved under the heavy weight of unpacking and unloading. The club brothers eventually went back to the clubhouse, and slowly pieces of furniture were relocated to their new spots. By the time Avon ordered a pizza for dinner, it felt like a year had gone by in the span of a day.

 

“I think it’ll be an early bedtime tonight,” Robyn said.

 

“Not too early.” Avon threw her a warning look. He pointed a screwdriver at her as he cleaned up his toolbox from the dining room table. “We have things we need to do.”

 

Robyn bit back a grin, looking over at Matt then back at Avon. “Things?”

 

“Mm-hmm.” He winked at her, and then the doorbell rang.

 

Matt screeched with joy, prancing over to the door. He was more and more like a regular kid with every passing day. Not at all the sullen, glassy-eyed boy she’d found that fateful afternoon on the kitchen floor.

 

As Avon brought the pizza inside, the three of them gathered around the dining room table. But all she could look at was Avon as he opened the pizza box. All she could see was what a good father he would be – already was, to Matt – and the ways in which he was the most incredible partner she’d never even planned on.

 

A partner who wanted to make himself her husband.

 

She snagged a piece of pizza and ate it with a smile.