I pull her back toward the bed, sitting down and bringing her with me until she's settled against my chest, both of us leaning against the headboard.
"Now," I say, wrapping my arms around her, "we stay right here. The brothers can handle things downstairs. You and I… We take this moment before everything gets complicated again."
She tilts her head back to look at me. "Are you sure? Shouldn't you be down there planning?"
"Judge knows what to do. They all do." I press a kiss to her temple. "Right now, the most important thing I can do is be here with you. Make sure you know you're not alone in this."
Ivy settles deeper into my embrace, her hand coming to rest over my heart. "I've never had this," she whispers. "Someone whojust... holds me. Who makes me feel safe without demanding anything in return."
"Get used to it," I murmur against her hair. "Because I plan on holding you as often as you'll let me."
We fall into silence, the morning light streaming through the window, the sounds of the clubhouse muted and distant. Outside this room, there's a war brewing. The Vipers will come back, probably with more numbers, more weapons, more determination.
But in here, there's just us.
"Phoenix?" Ivy's voice is soft.
"Yeah?"
"When this is over, when the war is done and the Vipers are dealt with, what do you want? For us, I mean."
I think about it for a moment. Think about all the things I've denied myself for years, all the normal life I convinced myself I couldn't have.
"I want mornings like this," I confess. "I want to wake up with you in my arms. I want to watch you become the teacher you dream of being. I want to come home after a long day and find you here, safe and happy. I want—" I pause, the vulnerability of it catching in my throat. "I want to build something with you. Something real and lasting that has nothing to do with war or violence or the past."
Her hand tightens over my heart. "That sounds perfect."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." She turns in my arms, straddling my lap so she can look me in the eyes. "I spent two years having my dreams beaten out of me. Having every hope crushed until I couldn't rememberwhat wanting something felt like. But you—" Her voice cracks slightly. "You make me want to dream again. Make me believe that maybe I can have a future that's more than just surviving."
I cup her face again, memorizing every detail. The green of her eyes, the freckles across her nose, the way her short auburn hair falls in choppy layers. She's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, and she's choosing me despite every reason not to.
"We'll have that future," I promise. "I'll fight every day to make sure you get everything you deserve. Peace. Safety. A life where you can just... be. Where you can teach kids about books and learning without looking over your shoulder. Where the worst thing you have to worry about is whether Diesel's pancakes are actually edible."
She laughs, and the sound fills the room, fills my chest, fills every dark corner I've been carrying around for three years.
"I love you," she says, catching me off guard. "I know it's too soon. I know we barely know each other. But I'm done pretending I don't feel what I feel. I love you, Eli Blake. And whatever comes next, I want to face it with you."
No one has said that to me in years. Not since my parents died. Not since I learned that loving someone means risking the pain of losing them. But looking at Ivy, brave, beautiful, broken but rebuilding, I realize I'm already too far gone to protect myself.
"I love you too," I say, and the admission is both terrifying and liberating. "From the moment you knocked on my door, I think part of me knew. Knew you were going to change everything. Knew I'd do whatever it took to keep you safe. Knew that I'd finally found something worth fighting for beyond just honor and principle."
"Thank you," she whispers.
"For what?"
"For being exactly who you are. For building a club based on protecting people instead of hurting them. For making me feel human again." She pulls back enough to look at me. "For loving me even though I come with complications and trauma attached to me."
"You're not a complication, Ivy. You're a gift. And I'll spend every day proving that to you if you let me."
"I'll let you," she says. "For as long as you want me."
"Forever, then." I pull her close again, tucking her against my chest. "Because that's how long I plan on keeping you."
We stay like that as the morning stretches on, wrapped in each other, the war waiting just outside the door but unable to touch us in this moment.
Downstairs, I can hear my brothers moving around, preparing defenses, planning strategies. Judge will handle it. He always does. Right now, my place is here, with the woman who walked into my life at four in the morning and changed everything.
