I should be scared seeing him again.
I should want to turn around and run knowing he's here.
I don't.
And that makes me feel stronger than I ever thought I would be.
"Wake up, asshole." Twisted nudges Dylan's body and he groans as his eyes crack open. Well, one does.
"Well, look"-he coughs-"what the cat dragged in."
Anyone else would have been surprised that he's still able to maintain this cocky demeanor, despite being at a distinct disadvantage.
But I'm not anyone.
"I just wanted to see you one last time. I wanted you to know that you didn't break me. You always thought I was weak, but I'm not. I never was. I was just blinded and manipulated by someone who I thought loved me."
He wheezes and the V at the base of his neck pulls in and out as he struggles for breath. "You are weak. You always will be. Maybe for now you can hide behind the leather-bound idiot, but eventually that'll break down. You'll fail . . . it's what you're good at." He smiles at me, showing off yellowing teeth coated in blood.
It amazes me how someone who knows that they have little time left can be this much of a jerk.
"That's where you're wrong. The old me would have done that, but I've changed. The old me would still be hiding in her room because the very thought of you here would have scared her. But she's long gone. The new me fought just to get to come here and tell you that I survived. I'll continue to live. I'll be happy and I'll be free-without you. You may have taken five years from me, but today I take my life back."
I look over to Cutter, giving him a nod and letting him know I'm ready to leave.
I'm ready to forget about this entire nightmare.
It's time to leave the hurt and mayhem behind me.
It's time to be free.
Epilogue
Jaz
The steady hum of the tattoo gun fills the small room, and I flinch as the tattooist traces over the sensitive parts of my scar. There are times when the skin will tighten when I stretch, or Cutter will accidentally touch it, and I'll remember how it got there. Sometimes I'll even have flashbacks.
But when that happens, I breathe deep and look around me.
Because I'm not that girl anymore.
These past two months have been the hardest and the best of my life.
Moving past Dylan and everything that happened with him has been difficult. Dealing with the nightmares and the paranoia took a while, and there have been times when I thought I might not be able to do it. Having Cutter and the girls has been amazing. They've been my rock.
Getting this tattoo means so much to me. It's not only erasing the physical scar that Dylan gave me, but the mental one too. This is something that he would have never allowed me to do, something that he would have loathed. Every time I look at it, it'll be a reminder of the way I came out on top. The other parts of me have healed, too. The casts are off, and the bruises have faded.
Something cool swipes across my back. "All done."
I stand up slowly, my body aching from sitting in the same position for so long. The tattooist starts to tell me about aftercare, but I'm not really listening, Lucy's here with me, so hopefully she's paying attention. Not to mention almost everyone at the club has at least one tattoo. Anything I need to know, they'll have the answer.
Approaching the mirror, I'm almost scared to look. A hundred questions flow through me as I slowly turn around.
What if I don't like it?
What if you can still see the scar through it?
Glancing over my shoulder I gasp at what I see.
Property of Cutter.
The club's logo sits beneath the arched lettering, the colors so vibrant I can't see the scar anymore. Tears fill my eyes.
It's vanished.
The mark that he thought would always remind me of him, what he thought would haunt me forever, is gone.
"It looks great, Jaz." Lucy smiles at me.
"Thanks. And thank you for bringing me here." The boys have been out on a run the past couple days and they are getting back tonight. I wanted to surprise Cutter and Lucy managed to get me a last-minute appointment with the guy most of the brothers use.
"No problem, girl."
After I'm bandaged up, we walk out of the shop and head toward the clubhouse. A wave of uncertainty crashes over me. "He'll like it, right?"
Lucy grabs my shoulder, pulling me against her as we walk in tandem. "He'll love it."
"Okay." I take a breath excited for him to come home and see my surprise.
We head back and start working on a welcome home dinner for the boys. We're just about finished when we hear the telltale rumbling of approaching bikes.
A smile crosses my face as I turn toward the door, knowing that he's back. When the doors open and the guys start to file in, it's like everything blurs except for him. He smiles at me and my entire body warms under his gaze.