I held up a hand, stopping him.“I was young and dumb, Mason.Thank God you had some sense and knew taking me up on my offer wasn’t the best choice.”
Mom’s hand came to rest on my arm, soft, grounding.
“So I went to Chicago with my tail between my legs.I went to college, got my degree, tried to build a life.And I stayed there.”
Dad opened his mouth again, but I didn’t let him get the words out.I pointed a finger at him.“And Mason was not the only reason why I went to Chicago and stayed.I’d planned all along to go to school there.I just…stayed because I needed to grow up.”
I turned back to Mason, and my voice softened.“And I did.”
Mason’s chest rose and fell, his eyes locked on me like I was the only person in the room.He dragged a hand down his face, then let out a sigh that sounded like it carried the weight of fourteen years.
“I didn’t push you away because I didn’t want you, Adley,” he said, voice cracking on my name.“God, I wanted you more than anything.But you were too good for me.Hell,” he gave a humorless chuckle, shaking his head, “you’re still too good for me.”
“That’s the first right thing you’ve said this whole time,” Dad growled, the words sharp enough to cut.
It was too much to ask him to stay silent.
I squared my shoulders.“I am thirty-one years old, Dad.I do not need yours or anyone else in this room’s permission to date Mason.Hell, this whole conversation shouldn’t even be happening.Every single one of you met your ol’ ladies and were done in a matter of weeks.Mason and I waited fourteen whole years.”I swept my gaze around the room, making sure each set of eyes understood me.“You have zero reasons why Mason and I can’t be together.”
I moved toward Mason, and when I reached him, he didn’t hesitate.His big hand slid into mine, threading his fingers through mine openly for everyone to see.
His thumb stroked over my knuckles, and when he spoke again, his voice was steady but thick, each word deliberate.“The reason I told you no back then was because I didn’t think I was enough.I was a prospect, a nobody trying to earn my patch, and you-” his eyes burned into mine- “you were everything.Smart.Beautiful.You deserved a man who could give you the world, not some kid who didn’t even own his own bike yet.”
My throat tightened, but I held his gaze.
“I thought if I pushed you away, you’d go find someone worthy of you.Someone who could give you more than I ever could.”His voice dropped lower, rougher.“But you were gone fourteen years, Adley.Fourteen years where I told myself you were better off without me.”He squeezed my hand.“And you never found someone who compared.Because there isn’t anyone else.It’s always been you.Just you.”
The room was silent except for the thud of my heart.
I swallowed hard.“And you’ve always been it for me, Mason.No one else came close.”
His jaw worked, emotion raw in his eyes as he lifted our joined hands to press my knuckles to his lips.“Then I’m done pushing you away.Done hiding.You’re mine, Adley.And if I have to fight every man in this room to keep you, I will.”
The silence that followed was sharp and heavy.I didn’t dare look at Dad yet.I just clung to Mason’s hand and prayed this was the start of something that could finally be ours.
I kept my voice steady and my hand in Mason’s.I’d meant to be clear, no interruptions, no side chatter, but it felt like the room was leaning in hungry for the rest of the story.I had one on my lips and a lifetime in my chest, and if I was going to say it, I wanted it to land without someone else twisting it.
Wrecker pushed through the cluster of cousins and ol’ ladies like a calm wind and came up to Slayer.He set a hand on my dad’s shoulder, close and brotherly, the kind of touch that said he wasn’t going to let this turn into a bloodbath on his watch.
“Slay,” Wrecker said, low, and the room instinctively quieted around him.He kept his voice soft but steady, the kind of voice that carried the authority of someone who’d been around longer than most of us had been alive.“This isn’t a club matter.”
Slayer’s shoulders twitched.His face was still a red map of betrayal and protection and something I couldn’t read.He looked like a man who’d been punched and wanted to punch back.
“If it were a club matter,” Wrecker continued, “you two would have the club’s blessing.”He didn’t wait for Slayer to say anything.“Fourteen years, brother.He didn’t steal her away in the middle of the night.He waited fourteen years.Would you have waited fourteen years for Wendy?”
The question landed like a small bomb.It made everyone look at my mother, suddenly aware that this whole argument hadn’t been hypothetical to her.
Mom’s eyes were glistening.She wiped a thumb under one and smiled at Slayer, the way she had when they were younger and the world was only a two-person universe for them.
“I wouldn’t have liked it,” Slayer said, the steel in his voice softening around the edges, “but I would have waited an eternity for you.”
Mom laughed, a tiny sound, and then a tear rolled down her cheek.“I love you, Slayer,” she whispered.“And if Adley being with Mason makes her happy, then that is the only thing I want.”
It was like someone opened a vent and let out a collective breath across the room.
“Now that that is settled, can we freaking eat?”one of the cousins, Ender, I think, muttered, and it was almost funny the way everyone snapped toward the kitchen like a pack of wolves who’d been patiently held back.The relief in the absurdity made a few people snort-laugh.
Thorn, polishing a glass with theatrical care, came around the bar and grinned at us.“I wonder what it says about me that I had zero clue you two were together,” he said, half-joking like he always did.
