Page 37 of Shadow’s Protection (Hurricane Heat MC #1)

Violet

One year later…

The doorbell rings, and I pad through the house in my bare feet to answer it. I open the door to a huge bouquet of balloons and a teddy bear.

“ Ivy? ” I scream, knowing there is no one in the world who could be behind this wall of happiness except my sister.

“Violet.” Ivy hands the bouquet of balloons to my dad, who is standing behind her.

Ivy launches herself into my arms and squeezes tight. “Okay, I love you, congratulations, and all that shit. Now, where is my nephew?”

I motion behind me. “Shadow is feeding him. Go on in.”

I hug my parents hard and thank them for everything they are about to do. I start giving them instructions before we’re even in the house.

“Baby.” My mom strokes my hair and smiles. “It’s your wedding day, and you don’t exactly look like you’re ready. Let’s get you dressed. We’ll have plenty of time to go over the instructions before you leave. Now, where’s Johnny?”

My parents adore Shadow. Like, adore him as much as I do.

I never realized how much my father loves cars and talking mechanics with someone.

As a guy who never had any sons, he’s formed a really close bond with Shadow.

They don’t like to call him by his biker name, but it’s not that they disapprove.

Ivy loves it and won’t call him anything but Shadow. She’s even gotten into the hierarchy of the club.

She graduated college in May and has been renting a place in Tampa to be close to her nephew. Mom and Dad traveled down once a month while I was pregnant, but they are talking about moving to Florida to be closer now that little Johnny is here.

I’m just about to close the door when I see another car pull into the drive, and the occupants are out of the car before the dust has even settled.

I step out onto the gravel in my bare feet and open my arms. “Daphne. Gary.”

Shadow’s mom walks on low heels across the drive to meet me. As soon as we’re in hugging distance, we grab each other and hold on.

When I went into labor two weeks late, Daphne was the only one who could get here fast enough to drive me to the hospital.

Shadow was about an hour south of Tampa, working on something for the club, but his mom was able to make it in ten minutes.

Gary drove us to the hospital, while Daphne sat in the back seat, holding my hand and video calling my mom so she could see me before her first grandson arrived.

“Hi, gorgeous.” Daphne hugs me close. She is a stunning woman, in fantastic shape, and looks more like a Hollywood actress than the mother of a full-grown man.

Shadow stopped buying his mom groceries after we told them I was pregnant.

Instead, he and I go over every other week to have dinner with his mom and her husband, Gary. “Is your mom here yet?”

My mom and Daphne have become as close as sisters.

Since Daphne and Gary live just up the road on the same river as this house, I see them almost every day.

Daphne will stop by after work to check in on me, give me time to shower or nap while Shadow is off with the club.

She makes a special effort to include my mom in every visit.

It’s all weirdly working out way differently—and way better—than I’d ever imagined.

Daphne and Gary hustle off to find Mom and the baby, and I’m barely able to close the door before the first van, with the club members and their women, arrives.

“Party bus.” Jackie is the first off the van, and I shake my head. She looks lovely in her plain black dress, even though we told everyone to just wear jeans or casual clothes.

We got married last summer before little Johnny was born, in a courthouse ceremony with just our parents, Ivy, and Phantom.

This is a vow exchange, a small commitment ceremony that our friends insisted we have.

Since I was enormous and still miserable with morning sickness—which did not end just because I was happy, having great sex, and no longer in the first trimester—Shadow and I didn’t take a babymoon.

Now that little Johnny is three months old and I’ve pumped enough to feed him through the weekend, my parents and Ivy are going to stay here and care for the baby for two nights while Shadow and I go stay at a local resort for some pool time, massages, and uninterrupted sleep.

Well, our sleep will probably be pretty darned interrupted. Since I am clear to have sex again, I’m thrilled to have a couple of nursing-free hours to sleep with my husband—in every possible way.

The bikers file out of the van and take their places in the folding chairs that are set up in the sunroom. Stella comes over to me, her eyes wide. “What the hell, bitch. You’re not even close to ready.”

I smile, totally unworried. Stella picked out a dress and shoes, which are lying on my bed upstairs. I’m showered, so all I need to do is change my nursing bra to something more suited to the strapless design, and I’ll be good to go.

“I’m fine,” I tell her. But she grabs my hand and drags me through the house, calling Ivy’s name.

My little sister meets us as we’re headed up the stairs.

“Your sister needs hair and makeup. Let’s go.”

My sister follows Stella, and I just shrug, not really caring if I have hair and makeup.

Today is a party. A chance for everyone to get together, for the families of our blood and our hearts to come together.

To spend time with little Johnny. And to celebrate with us.

Whether I have lipstick on or baby spit-up on my shoulder, it’s going to be an amazing day.

An hour later, the prospect known as Jizzy—his real name is Dylan, and now I can never not think of him as Dylan—knocks on my bedroom door.

“Photographer’s here!” he yells. “You wanna let her in?”

I whirl on Stella. “Who hired a photographer?” I ask. “We agreed we were just going to let our families take pictures with their phones.”

“It’s your wedding present from the club bunnies,” Stella explains. “You should have pictures to capture the first day of the rest of your life.”

I smile, warmed by their generosity. “I think the first day of the rest of my life was the day I met all of you,” I say.

“That was a great day,” she says, giving me a hug. She opens the door and barks orders at the photographer, a cute young woman who takes her work very seriously. She poses me, my dress, and calls up the parents for some pre-ceremony pictures.

Finally, we’re ready.

I kiss Daphne and my mom, and I hug Ivy and Stella. Then they all head down the stairs while I take a moment in the room I share with Shadow. I look in the mirror.

So much has changed about my life. A year ago, I was terrified, alone, on the run from a man I didn’t even realize was stalking me.

I had high hopes for the future, but a detour on my path derailed every single plan I had.

I could not be more grateful for storms, for unexpected journeys, and for the destination I never even knew I wanted to reach.

As I walk down the stairs of the home I share with my husband and son, I feel every eye in the sunroom on me. Music is playing from a small portable speaker, and my dad is waiting at the foot of the stairs to walk me down the short aisle through the folding chairs that leads to Shadow.

Holding my dad’s arm, I hear the click of the photographer’s camera, and I smile without even having to try.

I’m so, so happy.

I have everything I could have ever wanted—and so much more.

I stop when I reach Shadow, who is standing with Johnny in his arms. Phantom, who arranged for the minister to come to the house for this ceremony, stands apart from the folding chairs, looking over at the bikers, the women, and the river.

I frown when I see the baby. “What happened to his tuxedo T-shirt?” I ask Shadow.

Shadow shakes his head. “Spit-up. A big one.” He leans close to me and whispers in my ear. “Don’t yell at me for this. The onesie is a gift from the club.”

Shadow holds our son to show me he’s wearing a white onesie with a motorcycle printed on the front. The text on it reads, I’m proof a bike isn’t the only thing my daddy rides.

I groan and cover my face with my hands, careful not to smear the makeup Ivy insisted on putting on me, but then I laugh. And I laugh so hard, tears leak out of my eyes, and a little milk seeps from my nipples. Perfect. Real. Honest. I couldn’t imagine it any other way.

I kiss my baby’s cheek, and he scratches at my face with a soft, chubby hand.

He’s so gentle and sweet, and he’s very much at ease with his father, our parents—everyone at this point.

I hope he always stays so mellow and happy.

Smiling is a new thing, but he does it often. And I feel like he’s doing it now.

Shadow juggles Johnny in one arm and takes my hand with the other. “You look beautiful, sweetheart,” he whispers, loud enough that I’m sure the minister hears him. “I can’t wait to smear that makeup and mess that hair.”

I laugh and rest my head on his shoulder. “Same,” I tell him. “Now, let’s get married and have a party.”

As the sun sets over the river, it casts a beautiful golden glow over the sunroom.

Shadow and I exchange simple vows, and my sister reads a poem she picked out just for the occasion.

As a librarian, I approve of the choice, but it’s Shadow who seems incredibly moved by her words.

I notice him wipe a tear from the corner of his eye when she finishes.

After we exchange I dos, my mother takes baby Johnny, and everyone snacks at the buffet we had catered. The van to take the bikers back heads out around seven. Mom, Dad, and Ivy have changed into pajamas and are playing with Johnny while Daphne and Gary remind them to call if they need backup.

Shadow lugs our overnight bags down the stairs and takes them out to the car. I kiss everybody goodbye and try not to cry saying goodbye to my baby for the first time since he was born.

“I’ll be thirty-five minutes away,” I tell Mom. “I can come home any time for any reason.”

“I know, honey. I raised two girls who turned out pretty amazing. I promise I’ll be smart enough to call if I think he needs his mama.” She kisses me goodbye and then gives Shadow a huge hug, patting him on his broad back.

We leave after a few more rounds of kisses to our son’s cheeks, and then I head for the new carport where my car is parked.

“Sweetheart, this way.” Shadow cocks his head toward the garage.

I follow him inside, where he’s got the GTO loaded up with our bags.

“No way,” I tell him. “We’re driving this?”

He pulls me close and leans me over the hood for a long, passionate kiss. “I thought if you had any second thoughts about leaving our son, we could shut the garage door, get dirty, and then go right back inside.”

I laugh, kissing him back. “If you want to scar me for life, then yes, please have sex with me on the hood of your classic car with my parents on the other side of this wall.”

But when he cups my ass and pulls me close, I half reconsider our plan.

“Do we still have condoms in the glove box?” I tease as we get in the car.

“Yeah, but I’m gonna toss ’em.” He fires up the ignition. “I wanna fill you with as many babies as you can handle.”

I hold up a finger. “Let’s get through a few more months with the one we have before we work on any more, okay?”

“I love you, Violet Butcher,” he says.

“I love you too, Johnny Butcher. So, so much.”

We met in a storm, when the world was dark and terrifying and I couldn’t find my way through.

Now, the future is spread out in front of us like an open road. No matter what lies ahead, I know I won’t ever be scared again.

I won’t be alone or lost.

Even if there is no sunshine, there will never be a darkness too great that I can’t find my way through.

Not as long as I have my Shadow.

Thank you for reading Shadow’s Protection and beginning the ride with Hurricane Heat MC. I hope you’re ready for more because Phantom’s story is about to make you swoon.

Or turn the page to read the first chapter…