The MC President's Forsaken Wife (Zara and Knox) novel Chapter 17

Chapter 17

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Chapter 17

Zara

For me, home isn’t soft. It’s loud, rough-edged, full of men who take up space without apology and speak without filtering anything. It’s also honest in a way that the Night Howlers never were for me, and as Mayhem and I walk into the Grinning Skulls clubhouse – the scent of whiskey, leather, and wood settling around me like something known – I feel the difference immediately.

“Well, well, well. Look who finally remembered where the hell she belongs.”

The voice comes from my left, deep and familiar, and I don’t even have to look to know who it

“Nice to see you too, Brick,” I call over to him, as Mayhem helps me out of my coat.

Brick Taylor pushes off the wall, all muscle and scars, the kind of man who looks like he was built for violence but never wastes it unless it matters. When he reaches me, he doesn’t hesitate: he pulls me into a rough hug that smells of cigarette smoke and his beloved

bourbon.

“About damn time,” he mutters against my hair. “We were starting to think you liked it over

there with those assholes.”

“I didn’t,” I say easily. “It was hell.”

“Yeah,” another voice cuts in, amused. “We knew you’d figure that out eventually.”

I turn, and see Hawk Mason leaning against the bar. He’s older than most of the Grinning Skulls members, with grey threading through his dark hair, his black eyes sharp in a way that misses nothing.

“Took you fucking long enough, though,” he says, coming over to hug me as well. “Here I thought you were the smart one in the Callahan clan.”

A glass of whiskey appears next to my hand before I even ask for one. It slides across the bar courtesy of Jade, her lustrous red hair pulled back in a high ponytail, her expression warm in a way that feels grounding.

“Thought you might need this,” she says.

“I definitely do. Thanks, Jade.”

I take a sip, the burn of it settling low and steady. For a moment, I just stand there, letting the

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noise wash over me, letting the presence of them – of all of them, of all these men who I’ve known my entire life – anchor something in me that’s been stretched too thin for too long. This is my family, in all the ways that matter.

“So… you’ve come home?”

My Dad’s voice comes from behind me, and when I turn, I find him watching me, his expression tight. For all his rough edges and all of the problems I’ve faced being Cobra Callahan’s daughter, there’s never been anything casual about the way he looks at me. Not when it matters.

“I have.”

“What did your husband say when you told him?”

I take another sip of whiskey. “He tried to blackmail me into staying.”

There’s a beat, then Brick snorts. “Yeah, of course he went to blackmail.”

“The man’s got one fuckin’ move and he plays it every time,” Mayhem adds.

My Dad doesn’t laugh with the others. His jaw tightens slightly, his gaze dropping for a second before lifting back to mine, and there’s something in it now that wasn’t there before… not anger, not exactly, but something heavier.

“You walked out?” he asks. “For real?”

I meet his eyes. “Yes.”

Something shifts in his expression then. “Good girl.”

“That’s it?” I ask lightly. “That’s all I get for blowing up my marriage and your deal with the

Howlers?”

He shrugs. “What, you want a fucking parade for doing the right thing?”

I watch him for a second longer, because there’s more there, something unspoken, something that’s been sitting between us longer than this moment.

“You didn’t like him,” I say.

My Dad exhales through his nose. “Never have, not even when he was your brother’s best friend back in high school.”

“Then why didn’t you say something?”

“Because you loved him,” he says, shrugging slightly, though there’s nothing casual about it.

Clam

And I figured, maybe Knox would get his head out of his ass, and you’d end up in a real marriage eventually.”

“You wanted me to be happy,” I say quietly.

“Yeah,” he replies. “Even if it was with him.”

“Dad. Thank you.”

“So,” he says gruffly, clearly embarrassed by the emotion. “Mayhem and Jade say that you’re living in a goddamn closet.”

I laugh. “It’s actually smaller than my closet back at Knox’s place.”

“Mayhem liberated a bunch of cash for you, some jewelry to pawn if you want. Is that enough to get you started?”

“It is. It’s actually more than enough.”

“And you’re sure that you want to be in a shoebox? You can come back home, you know. Live with me.”

“I know, Dad,” I say thickly, tears rising in my throat. “I appreciate that, but I really want to do this on my own.’

“OK. You need anything, you ask your brother, and you’ll get it. Clear, baby girl?”

“As crystal, Big Daddy.”

That earns me a quick grin, flashing across that impossibly hard face, just for a split second. My father is terrifying, and intimidating, and a full-on nightmare criminal… but he’s still my Dad. I know that I can ask him for anything, and he’ll make it happen somehow – even if it means risking prison, his Presidency, his life.

“Well,” Jade says, bumping my shoulder lightly as she passes with a tray of drinks. “I, for one, am fucking thrilled you’re back.”

“Me too,” I admit, looking around again. “I’ve missed this. Missed all of you.”

That’s when the door opens…. and he walks in.

He steps fully into the light, and even from thirty feet away, I can see the color of his eyes. They’re steel-grey and when they lift, when they meet mine…

… something inside of me bursts into flame before I can stop it.

My body’s reaction isn’t slow, it’s not gentle; instead, it’s something immediate and feral. It’s

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Chapter 17

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like instinct overriding thought before I even have time to understand what’s happening. Like something inside of me wakes up.

And just like that, everything changes.

And I forget how to breathe.

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