Page 93 of Riot’s Revenge

Nobody answered and Spider actually had the audacity to look innocent. I knew for a fact he wasn’t innocent of anything.

Reaper shook his head and took a sip of his beer. “You know, most people are happy when good things happen.”

“I don’t trust any of you.”

The laughter that followed did absolutely nothing to reassure me. The amusement on everyone’s faces was beginning to make me nervous. I looked from Ghost to Spider, then to Reaper, searching for some clue about what was happening. Nobody looked remotely interested in helping me. If anything, they seemed to be enjoying my confusion.

“Riot.” The warning in my voice only made his mouth twitch.

Then he stepped away from me. The movement caught me off guard. For a second I thought he was about to say something, but he reached behind one of the benches and picked up something folded neatly across the wood.

My breath caught. I recognized it immediately.

A kutte.

The black leather looked brand new compared to the worn cuts surrounding us, the leather still stiff in places where it hadn’t yet been broken in.

Slowly, Riot unfolded it.

The chatter around us faded into silence.

My eyes dropped to the patch stitched beneath the Dead Knights logo.

Property of Dead Knights VP.

The words blurred almost immediately. I blinked hard and looked away before lifting my gaze back to Riot.

He was already watching me. The teasing was gone from his expression. So was the cocky grin.

For once there was nothing there but honesty. “You should’ve had this a long time ago.”

My throat tightened. “Riot . . .”

He glanced down at the kutte before looking back at me. “I kept waiting.”

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. “For things to settle. For the right moment.”

A few people chuckled quietly.

Riot ignored them. “Turns out there isn’t one.”

The laughter faded almost as quickly as it appeared. The yard had gone strangely quiet around us. I could still hear music drifting from the clubhouse and the occasional crackle of the barbecue, but it all seemed distant somehow.

The only thing that felt real was the man standing in front of me. The man who had turned my life upside down and had driven me completely insane.

The man I loved.

Riot took a step closer. Close enough that I could see the faint scar beneath his eye. “This isn’t about a patch,” he said quietly. His gaze held mine. “It never was. It’s about family and belonging.” Riot swallowed. Then he held the kutte out toward me. “Will you be my old lady, sweetheart?”

The question hit me so hard I forgot how to breathe. I was vaguely aware of Ghost standing nearby with an expression that looked suspiciously emotional. Reaper had his arms folded across his chest, watching quietly and some of the club girls were excitedly whispering. But they all felt far away.

The only thing that mattered was Riot. The man standing in front of me, offering me a place beside him. Not just in his life, but in his family and his future.

My eyes burned. There had never really been another answer, not after everything we’d survived together. A shaky laugh escaped me. “You’re an idiot.”

The grin I’d been waiting for finally appeared. “There she is.”

Laughter rippled through the crowd.