Page 66 of Rox

“You literally strapped Mimic to the ring!” Duck slams his hands on the table as he stands up, making his chair fall backward. “Excuse me if I don’t fucking believe you!”

Before anyone can say anything, Duck turns and leaves the room. Holy hell, what did I just start? I’m looking around at everyone, and I’m not the only one in a state of shock.

“I—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

“—No, it’s okay, Roxanne. I’ll go talk to him. He’s our goofy guy, but he’s passionate. I’ll bring him back.”

We all continue to talk and eat. While everyone’s moved on, I can’t help but feel guilty about causing Duck to become upset. But about twenty minutes later, Duck comes back all smiles, andwhatever I was feeling is gone. The tension stayed for a short while as we navigated Duck and his very unlike him outbursts, but soon, he and Ashlynn were making it awkward for a whole mess of other reasons. Mainly when Duck asked about meatloaf. I was curious about it as a child and Willie and Ashlynn’s love of the comfort food. Now that I know the truth, I don’t think I will ever look at it the same way again.

“I want you to promise me something,” Max tells me as we drive home later that night.

“Anything,” I say, reaching across the cab and caressing his hair as he drives. I personally would have loved to be on the back of his bike tonight for a night like this, but he’s still worried about my injuries and insisted on the truck.

“Well, two things really. One, please never cook meatloaf again.” Max looks almost green with the request, and I can’t help the giggle that bursts from my lips as I promise. “And two, promise you will always look at me the same way your mom looks at your dad.” The softness and quake in his voice catches me off guard. My hand drops from his head so I can turn and watch his profile as he doesn’t break eye contact with the road.

“I promise to always look at you like you are my hero and my world. I can promise to love you like my mom loves my dad,” My heart is pounding in my chest with love for this man.

“I never had parents that were in love growing up. I didn’t think it was a thing until I came here. Seeing your parents together, seeing you and your siblings, and how much love is around here. How much respect there is in this family for those born and brought into it. I didn’t realize how much I wanted that. How much I needed that.” He clears his throat before looking at me momentarily and then cutting his gaze back to the road. “How quickly your mom accepted me, how my love for you was never in question. That is the one thing they neverquestioned about us being together. I have never had that blind faith put into me. From you or them.”

“Max, because you respected everything about me and my goals. You didn’t push Dad any more than was needed, and you made him see the light—for the love and betterment of mine and his relationship. Everything you did, every move you made, was out of love for me and this family. You respected and loved us, so we showed you the same back.” Emotions well up in my throat, making it hard to swallow as I speak. “Max Marsden, you are one of a kind. You are true to yourself no matter how many people you pretend to be. I love you, and I will love you until my last breath.” I reach over and take his hand in mine. “Now, please, pull the damn truck over so I can kiss you with all my soul.”

He doesn’t need to be told twice. He roughly pulls the truck over on the shoulder, ripping his seat belt off as fast as I do mine. In the blink of an eye, he’s pulling me into his lap. Our lips crash together with bruising force. This man makes me love him more every day. The honesty he has found in his heart brings me even closer.

I don’t know how long we sit here, but when he finally slows the kiss and looks deep into my eyes, I see everything I want in my future with him. I see the love and support of the perfect partner for me.

“If I could, if it were possible, I would love to marry you. Give you my last name. It’s all that I have to give besides my heart,” Max tells me as he pushes my mussed hair behind my ears.

“As far as I am concerned, you are my husband. As well as my present and my future. The rest is semantics, which we can figure out later. But it’s not that hard to legally change my name,” I wink at him. “I love you, Max Marsden. I would be honored to be your wife. In this life and the next.”

Epilogue

Roxie - Three Years Later

Life’s been amazing since that day three years ago.

We’re doing our annual flash sale, and just like the last two, I can’t help but think about the very first one we did. Everything has changed since then, and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. Sure, it was really hard to get past the fact that Duncan did what he did, but when I learned about how Max took care of it, it made sleeping at night a lot easier.

I’m thankful, though. It was a shock to my system to have to go through something so awful again, but I also knew I’d come out stronger, and that’s exactly what I did. My parents, my siblings, the guys in the club, and especially Max all made sure the events that happened because of Duncan wouldn’t take over.

And I’m not afraid to admit that I’d be lost without all of them. They all helped me get through what happened in ways I’ll never be able to repay.

I smile and shake my head at myself as I continue to finish up the old-school sparrow tattoo I’m working on.

“There you go. You’re all done.” I tell my tenth client of the day. I get them cleaned up and ready to head out so I can clean my station for the next person.

“You look like you’re enjoying this.”

I look up at Stanford and smile. “I am. This event means a lot, and I’m happy it’s continued despite the way it began.”

“Hey, it’d be a little hypocritical if I didn’t keep it going.”

“How do you mean?”

“We do this for women who suffer at the hands of men. I’m not going to stop helping because a man attacked a woman at the event. I’m going to keep going and show that we’re going to continue to help. I won’t let those who try to stop us win.”

I stand up and walk over to Stanford and give him a hug. “Thank you, Stanford. That means a lot.”

“You mean a lot to this shop, Roxie. This shop thrives because of you.”

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