Originals Ride: Hellions Motorcycle Club (Hellions Ride Book 8) (12 page)

Bracing my weight on my forearm, I tenderly rub the soft skin of her scalp where her hair once was. Then I close my eyes, and my tears fall down her face, mixing with her own as I remember the times I would brush her hair from her eyes.

I kiss her forehead then under each eye, tasting the salt of her tears. Then I kiss her nose and each cheek before I once again press my lips to hers.

She holds me to her, and I feel the strain as she tries to grip me more firmly.

“Love me, Blaine,” she whispers against my lips.

“For all my days, Claudia, and beyond,” I tell her before I slowly, softly, and with every bit of my soul make love to my wife for the last time.

It Takes a Club

Laying my wife to rest is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.

I think back to the day I killed the men of Fury MC. Is this my karma? Is this my punishment?

The loss of the love I’ll never share again kills me little bit by little bit.

Yet, for our daughter, I have to hold strong.

Delilah is the best part of Claudia and me. She is a physical piece of our love coming together. She is what I can hold on to when I need to remember what I had.

People say I should move on. Even before my wife died, the barflies were ready to pounce. There is no moving on for me, though. Claudia stood by me when a million other women would have left. I will not tarnish her memory by putting anyone else in her place. She is my heart, my soul, and will always be my wife.

“She loved you,” Mary Alice whispers, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Blaine”—she pauses—“she
loves
you.”

I turn to my wife’s best friend and see the tears in her eyes as she hands me an envelope.

“Take a moment for yourself. I’ll be in the kitchen, setting out food and making sure Doll’s hanging in there.”

Sitting on the edge of my bed, the bed I made love to my wife in so many times before and never will again, I trace the edge of the envelope. In her script is my name on the outside with the simple note,
For when the time comes that I am here no more.

Blowing out a breath, I open the last gift from my wife.

Inhaling, I smell the faint scent of her perfume. Then I unfold the paper and treasure the curves of every letter.

My vision blurs as the tears once again fill my eyes.

Squeezing them shut, I pinch the bridge of my nose and hold them back as I read:

Blaine,

My badass bear, we go back so far I don’t remember a time in my life without you in it.

Every tear I’ve cried in the last few months has been for the things I will miss with you and Delilah.

Our ride has been paved in rough patches, ups, downs, good times, and sometimes painful times. Do not cry for me, Blaine. Do not cry for a loss, because the love we share crosses all time, all distance, and it’s a kind few get to experience.

Being sick hasn’t been easy for you, me, or our little girl. You have been my rock and my soft place to fall all in one when it got bad.

As my body changed, as my hair fell out, as I slept more than I could stay awake, you have been there to tell me you find me beautiful, and your love for me never once wavered. As I write this, I know the time is coming when I will be here no more. Knowing you will be reading this once I’m gone, I need you to know, Blaine, I love you, and it hasn’t wavered once since our first kiss. You have given me life, love, and happiness.

Our Doll, a gift so precious I still can’t believe she’s ours. I wish I could hold your hand as she grows the way you held mine when she was born.

Baby, you have a tough road ahead of you, but there isn’t anyone stronger in this whole world than you. I need you to hold our little girl tight … but when the time comes, I trust you’ll know I need you to let her go.

My dream for Delilah is to have a love like ours. When the man comes along who is strong enough to stand before you and claim her, you’ll know it’s my blessing you are giving with your own. As much as your instincts will scream to keep her close, she’s a wild one, our baby girl, and you’ll need to let her run at times.

Raising kids is never easy. Raising a girl into a woman as a man isn’t going to be any easier. I need you to remember something, Blaine.

It takes a club.

No matter what this life throws at you until I see you again, my love, remember it takes a club. The Hellions have your back. They have our daughter’s back. Let them hold you up when you feel down.

You are a good man, Blaine Reklinger, and even though at times it may feel like it, you are not alone. You have the Hellions, and baby, you have my heart.

My dream for the club is to be a family. It’s not always blood that connects you; it’s bond, it’s life, it’s love, and it’s loss. Grow the Hellions beyond Haywood’s Landing.

In this crazy chaos, find a way to give people a safe place to become good men like you. Control what you can and leave the rest to the club to keep everyone in the right place.

My love, my dream for you is to let go of the things that hold you back. The past is in the past, baby, and sometimes, as much as it hurts, we have to let go.

Leaving you behind hurts my mind, my heart, and deep into my soul. You are the half that makes me whole. I have to say good-bye, but only in space and time, because I’m always in your heart, Blaine.

Please don’t let this time apart harden you. Be open to whatever life throws you. Do not become bitter; do not become harsh. Be the Blaine I fell in love with and the man you are today so that our daughter can still experience what makes you, you and what made us, us.

I will see you again one day, my love. Until then, kiss our daughter’s head and tell her I’m in her heart. Love without hesitation, laugh without reserve, and baby, live without a single regret.

All my love for always and into eternity,

Your wife, Claudia Reklinger

I hear the sounds of my house filling with people. The sounds of mourning, or as Dia chose for us to call it, her celebration of life. I can’t celebrate her loss as much as she wants me to. I can’t avoid dwelling on the fact that, three days ago, she took her last breath, and from that moment on, I have not been able to look forward to the end of a day anymore. There is nothing to look forward to for me beyond our daughter.

For fifteen years, I have lain in bed beside her except the time I was locked up. I haven’t slept since she’s passed on.

How can I?

My first thought,
It takes a club.

Hearing the rumble of more bikes pulling in somehow soothes the ache that is deep inside me. Dia is right:
It takes a club
.

Three Years Later…

Crash

For the first time in a long time, things are solid. Business is good, the club is good, and life is damn good.

Honestly, I never would have thought Marie and I would have made it this far. Yet, we’re still together, and our little girl Dina is off to college. The empty nest has only made my wife want to do more things with me, like car shows. We now live in a nice beach house; that was her dream.

With as much shit as she has put up with over the years, I’ll give her a mansion in Malibu if that’s what she wants, even if it kills me to make the payment. In the end, she doesn’t want any of that, though; she simply wants me and the life we have together.

Today, we’re on our way to a Mustang show for her. I’m a Chevy bowtie man, but she’s a “wild horses have to run” kind of woman. Secretly, I think she loves her Mustangs just to challenge me. Some couples have competing football teams; we like different brands for our rides. It keeps it fresh.

Dina usually would go with us, but being in Charlotte, she has college life and better things to do.

Roundman, being the good friend he is, made sure we expanded the club to that area, starting a Catawba Hellions’ charter. The guys there keep an eye on Dina and her best friend Maggie for us.

Family. We have all come from different walks and different backgrounds, but we managed to become the support system each of us has needed.

Roundman, Danza, Frisco, and I started something years ago for protection that has grown into a foundation for future generations to never be alone. Since Roundman and I separated the businesses, I have moved more to restoration projects, leaving the bikes and general car maintenance to him and the Hellions.

I think back to that day with Clive so long ago. If Blaine hadn’t taken the lead that day, I can’t say I would be here today. I don’t know that I would have been able to think clear-headed enough to grab the weapons and fire to save myself and Clive.