He begins coming down the three stairs that lead out of his house and the door immediately opens behind him, and out comes a dark haired woman, with a little boy and a blonde haired girl . . . but she couldn’t be a girl, god. She’s practically a teenager.
Her green eyes widen as her sights land on me, and she looks over to the dark-haired woman beside her. I watch as her mouth opens, like she’s asking a question and then the woman nods. Peyton runs down the stairwell, but she’s quickly grabbed by the back of her hair by her father and she screams out in agony.
Ricochet loses his shit first, wasting no time crossing the distance between them. He grabs the back of his gun and slams it against Eric’s head and Eric releases Peyton for a split second, giving her the opportunity to run directly toward me.
She collides into my body and looks up at me with tear-filled eyes. “I thought you were dead. I thought they . . . everyone said you were dead.”
“No, baby, I’m here. I’m here and I’m never letting you go ever again,” I tell her, holding her close to my body tears begin to flow out of my eyes too. I’ve dreamed of this moment for longer than I could remember, and it’s finally here. I finally have my daughter in my arms again.
“Reno, Devi, take them and get them out of here. Anyone else who wants to leave this cult, get in the van now. I’m sure this will be your only opportunity to leave safely,” Boss shouts to the group of people.
No one moves at first, but I make my way into the SUV and Tara comes down with her little boy and quickly gets settled. We all look out through the windows and we see women who appear to be in their twenties, a couple in their thirties, and some girls who might be fifteen or sixteen. The SUV is packed quickly to the point where the younger girls are sitting on the floor. “Let’s get going and get you all out of here, okay?” Devi turns back from the passenger seat and looks at the group of people.
Everyone nods in silence, wanting nothing more than to leave this forsaken place.
Epilogue
Ricochet
6 months later . . .
How the fuck is this my life? I ask myself that question every day. I’m in it with Vanna and I’m damn sure she’s the best thing that ever happened to me. Or at least I was until I had the opportunity to meet her daughter, Peyton. I know I’m not her biological father, but I fuckin’ wish I was. Havin’ a kid in my life has completely changed my perspective. So much so that I’ve talked to Frank about renting the three-bedroom apartment on top of Frank’s garage. He said the older woman who’s been rentin’ it the last fifteen years wants to move to North Carolina, and it’s perfect for us. Not only is there a bedroom for Peyton, but there’s another room . . . and havin’ Peyton in my life makes me wanna shove a kid inside Vanna. I want another kid, and I want one ‘cause havin’ my heart swell this big has been phenomenal.
“You know there’s a problem with the application you filled out,” Frank tells me as I’m sparring with one of his new guys. It’s someone who isn’t sure if he wanted to join the gym with a membership. I highly recommend paying the fifty bucks a month for unlimited matches and three personal training sessions. It’s a no brainer.
I hold a fist up to pause the match and look over to Frank. “What do you mean there’s a problem?”
Frank shakes his head and looks down at the floor. “It’s best you come with me, Ricochet. I think I need to tell you this in private.” Frank motions with me to follow him and I excuse myself to go handle this.
I walk across the gym and follow Frank. He opens the door and I go in right behind him and look to the left where he has the chairs in front of his desk, but instead of empty chairs, I see a familiar older woman with the biggest smile on her face. “The moment I saw you in here and asked Frank who was buying, he said a guy from the MC up the street, and I knew it must’ve been you, sweetheart. Goodness, I’m so happy you’re gonna rent it. It’s beautiful and living there has made me happy for so many years,” Mamie says, rising from her chair she grabs my hand and gives me an encouraging squeeze.
“I don’t understand, what’s goin’ on here?” I look between the two older folks, and Mamie cackles lightly.
“Ricochet, you’re getting the apartment, but I want to leave all the furniture I bought here as a gift. I’m moving in with my daughter in North Carolina and I have no need for it. It’d just be sitting in storage, costing this old lady money, and I’d rather it be appreciated. Most of it I bought late last year, and Frank renovated the apartment two years ago for me. But, I have a question for you.”
She has to be kidding me. Who in their right mind would leave an entire apartment full of furniture? Furniture that was just purchased last year at that.
“I . . . I don’t know what to say, Mamie.” I have a hell of a time finding the words, but I suppose there’s only one thing I can say. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“Well, there’s a catch.” Mamie smirks.
“Whatever you want.” I’m bein’ honest as hell, whatever she needs, I’ll do it.
“Frank here told me those two southern belles are from your club, the redhead and the blonde, yeah?”
“Yeah, that’s Faith and Iris.”
“I have a proposition for you, or rather for your club. These two ladies have come into my diner many, many times. We’ve gotten into a few conversations, and I know enough about the ladies to know they like to cook, and while I still intend on owning Mamie’s, I’m looking for two full-time managers to run the diner. I’d like to extend positions to Iris and Faith, but, I haven’t seen them in a few days and I leave in a week.”
“I can get you in contact with them so you can talk to them about it,” I tell her with a smile, knowin’ she’s always been a great lady, but damn I didn’t know she was this phenomenal.
“Perfect, and there’s one more thing I need you to do, Ricochet. You don’t let a sweet girl like Venom go, you hear me? She’s meant for you. And if you ask me, I think you’re meant to be that little girl of her’s daddy.” Mamie opens her arms and gives me a strong hug, makin’ me realize just how lucky I have it.
I love Vanna, and I sure as hell love Peyton. They’re my family, and I’m the luckiest bastard in the entire world.
Dear Readers,
I hope you thoroughly enjoyed Venom and Ricochet’s book. Omen’s book is coming next, and it’ll pick up right after Venom left with Peyton and the SUV filled with cult refugees. After that Nikki’s book will be releasing, so make sure you pre-order the books below.
Let me know if you’d like me to write a short novella about Venom and Ricochet, I loved these characters so much that I might try to touch base on them again.
Much love,
Liz
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