It had been about a month since we took out the Sinners once and for all, and no retaliation or blowback had landed on the charters. Vilas was finally getting back to normal, and life seemed downright boring again.

I swigged from my nearly empty beer bottle after stretching out my back.

“Oil change?” Ryder asked as he walked up behind me.

“What in the fuck are you doing here, man?” I wiped the grease off my hand before shaking his.

“Holt found some of Abel’s old stuff and he thought Buck would like it. The old man is better at running shit back home than I am so I offered to bring it over myself.” Ryder took a seat in a folding chair and put his boots up on the back of my bike where it stood behind me.

“That’s good of you. What kind of stuff?” I started cleaning up the mess I had made from changing the oil in the Bronco.

“Old pictures, the blueprints for y’all’s barn, just shit like that. Took us a while, but we finally got around to cleaning out Abel’s office. I don’t think that man threw one damn thing away in his entire fucking life.”

“Sounds about right—Buck is the same fucking way. Might be a good thing though, but man, is it frustrating.” I tossed a beer over to him.

He gripped it for a second before setting the bottle down on the ground. “Got anything a little stronger than that?”

I shook my head. “To a bar?”

He got to his feet. “Sounds like a plan to me. It was a long ride.”

I didn’t know how Ryder did the seventeen-hour ride on his bike in one shot. Even though we were just about the same age, I didn’t have the vigor for that shit like he did.

I washed up quickly before leading Ryder into town. We parked our bikes in front of one of my favorite watering holes, and I was about to take my helmet off when a sight across the street stopped me dead.

“What is it, Ax?” Ryder lightly punched my shoulder.

I tossed my helmet at him and trotted across the street. Thankfully, Ryder just let me be. I had no idea if he stood and watched me or went into the bar; I didn’t care either way. I was bewitched by Cassidy standing on a platform with mirrors all around as a seamstress pinned the bottom of the wedding dress she was wearing.

I had never seen anything so breathtaking in my life.

Our last conversation played over and over like a soundtrack, making me want to keep my feet planted where they were, but there was no way I could listen to my better judgment. I had fought so hard to just walk away for so long, and in one moment, all the time and distance didn’t seem to matter. The walls I had built around my heart came crumbling down as I opened the door to the bridal shop.

“Excuse me?” A woman in a tight black dress and heels waddled toward me, trying to stop me from going over to where Cass was. “Sir, can I help you?”

“I just need to talk to my friend real quick. I’ll be out of your hair in a minute.” I winked at her. I knew my appearance was a little menacing, but most women couldn’t resist my bright teeth, perfectly charming smile, and dark eyes. I had no idea what the hell it was, but I wasn’t going to argue it.

“Cass.” I stood in the back of the room, staring at how perfectly the formfitting lace dress hugged her curves, how her long dark curls swept over her right shoulder, how the short train flowed behind her…how perfect she looked, even from behind.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Ax?” She was glaring at me through her reflection in the mirror, refusing to even turn around.

“I was just across the street and had to see you. You look stunning.” I took a few steps closer to her.

“Will you excuse us please?” she asked as she looked down at the seamstress, and the woman quickly retreated to a back room.

Cassidy huffed off the pedestal and marched over to me. “You have some fucking nerve, Ryan. You have got to be fucking kidding me.”

I could see she was shaking. I tried to put my hand on hers, but she ripped it away.

“You do not get to come in here and talk to me about anything. You have walked away twice. Fuck you for even coming in here. I’m getting my wedding dress fitted for Christ’s sake!”

She turned, trying to head for the door of the changing room.

“Wait!” I grabbed her arm before she could make it even a step away from me.

“Dammit! I told you to let me fucking leave, Ax. This is all too much. It’s over and done with—you made sure of that a month ago.” She tried to yank her arm back, but my grip tightened and I spun her to look into my pleading eyes.

“Maybe I’m foolish, but being in love is not a definite thing in this world. You have to choose to fall in love and make that person fall in love with you every day.” I spit out the words as quickly as I could. I hadn’t admitted that I loved her since we were kids, but it was something that had never truly left me. I had loved Cassidy Lewis since I was nineteen, and I was going to until my dying day. Standing there in the middle of a dress shop with her wearing white seemed so right. I knew she was supposed to be in that dress, being loved by me—not by the prick who had put that ring on her finger. It should have been me all along.

With a sigh, she leaned back on her heels. “What is this, Ryan?” I could tell she was trying to calm down and not be pissed. “This is all too little too late.” Her eyes dropped to my fingers wrapped around her forearm before she continued, “Ryan Axston, you had your chance ten years ago, and then again a month ago. Four weeks before my wedding day is not the fucking time to be professing your love for me. Do you know how fucked up this entire situation is?”

“Look, Cassidy, I know you feel it. I see it right now in how you’re looking at me. You cannot tell me you have ever looked at him like that or felt one-tenth of the feelings you are feeling right now. There’s passion here. I don’t make you feel the way I do because I’m amazing at saying things or an incredible guy—we both know I’m a complete fuck-up, but we’re supposed to be together, Cass. Let me prove it to you. Let me show you that I can make you feel this way every day. I’ll make you feel this way because every morning I’ll assume you forgot in your slumber. I will spend my day making sure you know you’re loved and that you matter to me, deeply and truly. I will not say these things so you fall more in love, I will say these things to make you fall in love for the first time every time. Cass, just let me prove it to you. Give me the chance I missed out on all those years ago. Leave whatever the fuck his name is and just be with me.”

Cassidy grabbed the sides of my cut, leaned up, and pressed her lips to mine. Without a second thought, I scooped her into my arms and retreated into the dressing room. I threw her against the wall and held her there.

“Is that a yes, Cass?”

I searched her watering eyes as she nodded. “Yes, Ryan. Fuck it. I might be crazy, but yes, I will be with you.”

I kissed down her neck and jaw as her fingertip fumbled with my belt. “Are you sure you’re all right with this?” I breathed into the nape of her neck.

“Ryan, this would be a great time for you to shut the fuck up and just do it because if you make me question this, I might change my mind.”

Without another word, I let my pants fall to the floor, pulled up her dress, and wrapped her legs around my waist. It had been ten years since I had felt so much desire to be with someone, ten years since I had lost my virginity to Cassidy in the back of that Bronco. I’d never thought a moment could top that, but there I was holding her trembling body in a dressing room, ripping the lace of a dress she’d never wear again, claiming her as mine, once and for all.

I bit down hard on her shoulder as I let myself fill her. She buried her mouth in my chest to muffle her moans as I pushed her harder and harder against the wall. I was a goner and within minutes, I was pulsing and coming deep inside her cunt as her walls collapsed around me.

“Ryan, I love you,” she as she panted. Then she kissed me deeply once again.

I set her down, making sure she was steady in her white heels. “I love you so much, Cassidy. I am so sorry it took me this long to finally admit it.”

She unzipped the dress, starting to change back into her t-shirt and jeans.

“I’m just glad I can still return the dress,” she teased, balling it up in the corner of the fitting room.