Page 159 of Hostile Saint

It was the bars on the window that had pushed Lacey over the edge. Not knowing Doc had taken memories from her, yet having more memories about me on her own, she didn’t know I was still alive. She thought I had died in the woods and refused to live without me.

My girl fucking loves me as much as I love her…

Not wanting to argue in front of Lace—since she was finally talking more, Elle let us have McDonald’s for an early lunch. Lynx and I had explained that Lacey needed to experience sauces for nuggets. Elle forced a smile and tried to muffle her comment about ‘cancer in a cup of crap’.

Was it divine intervention? Who knows, but my Pretty Girl picked honey, too.

I smacked Lynx’s shoulder from the back seat. “I told you it’s the best.”

Licking her lips, Lacey agreed, “So sweet like—”

Bashfully, she went quiet, so I kissed her cheek. “Like sugar kisses.”

Elle shook her head in amazement, so I asked her, “What?”

Her eyes widened. “Didn’t Lynx tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“Sugar kisses. That’s what he says to me. I never let him have sugar in his second cup of coffee in the morning,” she winked at him, “so he asks for a kiss. A sugar kiss.”

With a chicken nugget in my weakening grasp, I sat back against my seat. “His coffee tastes like crap. No sugar at all.”

The big man shrugged from behind his steering wheel. “It felt wrong to have sugar without her.”

I smiled at Lacey. “I know what ya mean, Prez.”

As we got close to the clubhouse, I had to break the news to Lacey that she now had another identity. I simply had no choice. Her safety was on the line. Everyone she was about to meet, except for officers, couldn’t know her true identity.

“W-What is my name now?”

“Jamie Lace Bryant.” As her bottom lip began to tremble, my hands clasped her perfect face. “When I say the name Jamie, I’m thinkin’ about all the beautiful memories I’m going to have with her. I’m thinkin’ about her touch, her smile, her incredible eyes….” I kissed her lips. “I’m thinking of you, baby. And all your beautiful smiles that I can’t wait to see as we find our way to a destiny we so deserve.”

I think that is the moment it truly dawned on her that we were free.

“Tate… no one is going to hurt us again, truly?”

My throat tightened as my thumb wiped her fallen tear. “Nah, Pretty Girl. We’re safe now.”

Sweet arms flew around my neck.

Holding tight, she asked, “Why does that scare me when it shouldn’t?”

I inhaled her scent… holding her like I’d never let go. “Because you’ve never known it before.”

The Barn, as Lynx called the clubhouse, was like a building I’d never seen. I had nothing to compare it to, but Elle said it reminded her of the Alamo. When Lacey and I told her we still didn’t know what she meant, she promised to take us to San Antonio someday.

The rustic, light beige building looked nothing like Eagle’s castle, but it was so inviting to this boy who couldn’t wait to live there. It had a few neighbors in the distance, but mostly sat hidden within Austin’s ‘hill country'. A large gate rolled open and we were greeted by a slew of waiting bikers.

As Lynx waved to them through the windshield, he pointed to different places. “I’ll take you on a tour of the shop and gym when you’re ready. Let’s get you settled first.” After parking the SUV, where his bike could properly be unloaded, he turned in his seat. “Pretty Girl, my family—your new family—look rough and tough, but they are big babies. Feel me?”

Lacey’s shoulders lifted as she took a big breath, preparing herself to meet more people than she’d ever known her whole life. “Do I have to talk to them?”

“Nope. You no longer have to do anything you don’t want to.”

After another deep breath, Lacey took hold of my hand.

She was ready.