Page 31 of Fallen Dove (Fallen Lords MC 2nd Gen #1)

Mason

The room was dark except for the slice of afternoon light cutting through the blinds, striping across the tangled sheets and the curve of Adley’s hip.

We were both naked, sweaty, and wrung out in that perfect way only hours of sex could do. My chest still rose heavy from the last round, and my hand lazily rested on the soft slope of her stomach. We were silent, staring up at the ceiling, like two people waiting for the world outside to either notice or finally leave us the hell alone.

“There aren’t cameras in your room, right?”

she asked suddenly, her voice cutting through the quiet like a shot.

I barked out a laugh, loud, deep, and raw.

“Jesus Christ, Adley,”

I chuckled.

“I think your concern about the cameras should’ve happened about three weeks ago.”

She groaned and smacked her palm against her face.

“Yeah, you’re right,”

she muttered through her fingers.

“But if I’d thought about it then, I wouldn’t be lying in your bed right now.”

I rolled my head to the side and looked at her. Her hair was a mess, spread out across my pillow like a damn halo, and her lips were swollen from my mouth on them all afternoon. No way in hell I could regret a single second of this.

“True, babe,”

I said softly.

Her eyes flicked to mine, a little wide, like she hadn’t expected me to agree so easily. I smiled and tugged her closer by the waist, pressing my lips to her temple.

“You flew away from me fourteen years ago, little dove. Straight out of my reach. And now here you are… finally back home with me.”

Her breath hitched, and for a second, I thought I might’ve said too much. But then her mouth opened and words came tumbling out, quick and unplanned.

“I love you,”

she blurted. She froze, and her eyes bugged out. The silence that followed was heavy enough to press into my chest, but I didn’t make her wait.

“I love you too, Adley.”

The words rolled off my tongue like they’d been locked in me for years. Waiting for the right crack to escape.

Relief flashed across her face, followed by something brighter. Something that made my gut twist in the best damn way. I leaned in, kissed her slowly, sweetly, and deeply. I tasted every ounce of the truth we’d both just admitted.

When we finally broke apart, she settled back onto her back, and sighed like she’d just unloaded the weight of the world. I draped an arm over her middle and kept her anchored to me.

“Do you think Carnie would bring us dinner and not have it be awkward?”

she asked after a stretch of silence.

I laughed, and the sound bounced off the walls.

“I guess there’s only one way to find out. Text her.”

She groaned like I’d asked her to get up and run a marathon. “I will,”

she said, and dragged the word out like she was already regretting it.

A few seconds passed before she piped up again.

“I’m really surprised Slayer didn’t knock your lights out.”

I huffed.

“Yeah, me too.”

She turned her face toward me, with her brows raised.

“My father can fly off the handle at the drop of a hat. Thank God he actually listened.”

“Pretty sure Wrecker was the one who really defused that,”

I muttered.

She smiled small but knowing.

“Yeah. Probably.”

We let the silence stretch again, not uncomfortable, just thick with the things we didn’t need to say. Her breathing was soft beside me, and I thought maybe she’d drifted off, but then she piped up again.

“Hey,”

she said suddenly.

I turned my head to look at her.

“We’ve been talking this whole time, Adley. You don’t need to say ‘hey’ in the middle of it.”

She giggled and rolled onto her side to face me. Her hair spilled forward, and I tucked it behind her ear.

“Sorry, my brain just thought of something.”

“Oh, Christ,”

I teased, bracing for it.

“Why don’t you have a name?”

she asked.

I frowned.

“Did you just suddenly get amnesia?”

I pressed a hand to her forehead like I was checking for a fever.

She swatted my hand away, rolling her eyes.

“I mean, why don’t you have a road name like the rest of the guys? Is Junior really Junior?”

I laughed under my breath.

“That’s a good question.”

She gave me a sharp nod like she was proud of herself.

“Yeah, it is.”

I shrugged.

“I guess I never did anything to get a road name.”

Her jaw dropped.

“All of these years with the club, you never did anything that would get you a road name? I don’t even think you guys are trying anymore.”

That laugh of hers, God, it was light and bright and so damn hers.

“And I bet Junior is his name,”

she added.

“I’m going to have to take this up with the Girl Gang and we can figure out names for you two.”

“Make sure you figure out ones for all the new guys, too,”

I said.

“As of right now, none of them have road names.”

She shook her head like she was disappointed in us.

“And you guys call yourselves a motorcycle club.”

“I’ll bring it up to Wrecker the next time we have church,”

I said with a smirk.

She snorted.

“That probably won’t be for a month.”

I shrugged again, content with it.

“Things have been quiet for a long time, and I am more than okay with that. I take care of the Lords Social Club, and the OGs just get to enjoy all the years they fought for things to be peaceful.”

She curled into me then with her arm sliding across my chest, and her leg thrown over mine like she was claiming me even in her exhaustion.

“We didn’t really fight for fourteen years,”

she whispered.

“but I think we get to sink into the peace of finally being together, right?”

I pressed a kiss to the side of her head, and inhaled the scent of her hair.

“Damn straight, beautiful. We’ve got fourteen years to make up for.”

For a while, we were quiet, both of us drifting in and out of thought, our breaths syncing, our bodies tangled. Then, out of nowhere, she blurted, “Kneecap.”

I jolted, and blinked down at her. “What?”

I laughed, startled.

She grinned mischievously.

“I’m trying to think of road names for you guys.”

I laughed so hard my stomach hurt, my voice booming against the walls.

“You know the names need to make sense, right?”

She shrugged, still smirking.

“You guys all have kneecaps. Anyone can take that.”

I rolled her onto her back in one smooth move and loomed over her, bracing on my forearms. Her laughter faltered into a soft gasp as I lowered my head, our noses brushing.

“Adley,”

I whispered.

“What?”

she whispered back, as her lips trembled beneath mine.

“I fucking love you.”

A small smile spread across her lips.

“I love you, too, Kneecap.”

I groaned and dropped my forehead to hers. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me down into another kiss, sealing the words we’d finally said out loud. Words that had been fourteen years in the making.