“Appreciate it,” I said before we went our separate ways to return to our pregnant women.

Once I started driving, I hit dial.

“Are you okay?” Mac asked, and I could feel the anxiety.

“I’m good, baby. I’m headin’ home to you.”

She released a large breath. The noise whooshed through the speakers, sounding better than any music in the world.

’Cause it meant she was alive and breathing.

When I’d told Mac about what Mayhem did, I’d thought she was upset.

She had been but not at me. She’d been thinking about her own escape.

Even after finding out about Martin, Mac had been shocked, sure. But not upset. Sure as fuck not scared of me.

She’d just needed time to gather her thoughts.

Which were that she didn’t care.

She knew better than most that some monsters deserved their own nightmare.

“I’ll probably be asleep when you get home,” Mac said, though there was no probably about it. “But I’ll go to sleep naked so you can wake me with your—”

“Hey, Mac,” Judge said.

That time when Mac sighed, it wasn’t with relief. It was with embarrassment and annoyance. “Hi, Judge.”

“You couldn’t have just kept your mouth shut for a minute?” I bit out.

“I don’t wanna hear that shit about you,” he shot back.

“Well, I don’t wanna hear you and O fuckin’ in the hallway by that hole in the wall you won’t let anyone patch.”

“It’s not a hole. It’s a memory.”

“I’m hanging up now,” Mac said.

“Love you.”

“Love you, too,” she whispered, no longer annoyed. “Stay safe.”

During one of our talks, Mac had shared that she’d said it to Eddie before he left for work every day. Not because she’d meant it but because he’d forced her to. Some power trip bullshit. She didn’t wanna let him own the words, so she was using them.

Giving them to me.

“Always, baby. Get some sleep… But do it naked.”

She hung up on me.

But not before I heard her husky laughter.

EPILOGUE

MAC

Ten Weeks Later

I knew they were close.

That they were family.

I just hadn’t expected the entire club to stream into the hospital room the day after I’d given birth, carrying flowers and coffee and more food than I needed—but definitely better than the trays the hospitals served.

But that was on me. I should’ve known it would happen.

The closer I’d gotten to my due date, the more excited everyone became. It was a good thing Ward and I had been able to rapid close on a larger house because we’d needed the space for all the stuff they kept buying.

Swedes and Lash had kids, but they’d been born before the club existed. Our little girl was the first baby born into Mayhem.