Crimson Steel

Chapter Twenty – Nine - Peace Feels Like This

The kitchen was already buzzing when Colt and Avery walked in.

It wasn’t quiet or tense like it used to be in the early days after her return. No one fell silent when they appeared. No more side glances. No more whispers. Just the comfortable hum of voices, laughter, clinking mugs, and the faint sizzle of bacon from somewhere behind the counter.

But the vibe shifted the moment they crossed the threshold.

Not with fear.

With ease.

Avery moved toward the coffeemaker like she’d always belonged there, barefoot but glowing in her soft robe, her hair still sleep-mussed from Colt’s bed. He followed behind her, shirtless, freshly showered, jeans riding low on his hips and his smile sitting lazy on his lips like he hadn’t ruled the club with fire just a week ago.

She reached for a mug. “Your usual?”

He leaned on the counter beside her, watching her like he hadn’t already had her twice in the last twelve hours. “With the splash of fake vanilla crap you keep pushing.”

She gasped dramatically. “You love that fake vanilla crap.”

“I love you, and you love the fake vanilla crap. That’s how this works.”

She handed him his mug and bumped her hip into his. “Marriage material, Mercer.”

“Don’t start rumors,” he warned, lips twitching. “You know this place will lose its mind if someone says I’m getting soft.”

“Soft?” She sipped her own cappuccino. “I seem to remember otherwise about—”

He cut her off with a warning look and a smirk, but the laughter between them was so light, so natural, that even Reyes—sitting off to the side with Cal and a few others—glanced over and shook his head with a grin.

“It’s disgusting how happy they are,” Frankie whispered to him.

Reyes chuckled. “Nah. It’s good for the club. People follow a man who’s solid. And she’s the reason he is.”

Across the kitchen, someone opened a window. Sunlight streamed in, and for a rare moment in this place built on ash and steel—

Peace lingered.

Colt wrapped an arm around Avery’s waist and tugged her close, kissing the top of her head in full view of everyone. She didn’t flinch. Didn’t duck.

She leaned in.

Because she wasn’t hiding anymore.

Not from him. Not from who she’d become. And not from the world that finally saw her as his—not a possession, but a partner.

As the last of his coffee disappeared, Colt pressed a kiss to Avery’s temple.

“Office,” he murmured.

She nodded, brushing his knuckles as he passed — a small, quiet touch that spoke more than words. He headed down the hall with that familiar confident stride, already pulling into club business mode, and Avery watched him for a beat, soft amusement tugging at her lips.

Then she turned and slid onto the couch beside Reyes.

He raised a brow but didn’t say anything, just sipped his coffee and kept scanning whatever paper reports were spread out across his knee.

Avery leaned close, voice light.

“You know you’re stuck with me now, right?”

“Figured that out when you survived your first full-blown VP rumor scandal and didn’t run,” Reyes deadpanned, eyes still on his notes.

“Please,” Avery scoffed. “That was practically mild compared to high school.”

Reyes cracked a grin and looked over at her. “You’re handling all this better than half the patched members. Makes me think Colt picked the right kind of dangerous.”

“It’s the heels,” Avery said, wiggling one dainty, expensive shoe. “They give me power.”

“And attitude.”

“You love it.”

Before Reyes could fire back, Frankie appeared with two mugs and a raised brow, dropping herself onto the armrest beside Avery.

“You two done flirting over your trauma bonding yet?” she teased.

“Jealous?” Avery asked sweetly.

Frankie smirked and handed her a mug. “Not at all. I just think it’s adorable how you’ve managed to melt the club’s two coldest bastards in under six months.”

“It’s a gift,” Avery said, sipping.

“It’s a curse,” Reyes muttered. “She’s going to start rearranging the clubhouse furniture next.”

“Don’t tempt me,” Avery said. “This place needs throw pillows.”

Frankie cackled. “God help us all.”

And just like that, laughter settled between them. Light. Easy. Real.

Avery leaned back against the cushions, warmth in her chest that had nothing to do with her drink.

She had her place now — beside Reyes, beside Frankie, behind Colt when he needed her, and ahead of him when he lost his way.

Not a girl on the outside anymore.

Not a lawyer with one foot out the door.

She was here.

And she was home.

The porch was warm under the late morning sun, a soft breeze brushing past as Avery leaned back in her chair, legs crossed, sunglasses perched on her nose, and coffee mug in hand.

Frankie was beside her, barefoot and grinning, tossing an almond into her mouth like she hadn’t just dropped a conversational bomb.

“So,” Frankie began casually, stretching out her legs, “now that you and the brooding leather king are officially all settled… what’s next on your list?”

Avery raised a brow. “My list?”

“Yeah, life goals. You’ve survived death threats, emotional meltdowns, jealousy-fueled rumors and… oh yeah — love. Time to make new plans.” Frankie smirked. “What’s it gonna be? Babies? Matching tattoos? Public s*x?”

Avery nearly choked on her sip. “Frankie!”

Frankie’s grin widened. “You were the one who climbed on top of him in a back road field. I’m just saying, the bar is set.”

Avery covered her face with one hand, her ears burning. “You’re evil.”

“No, I’m fun.” Frankie leaned in conspiratorially. “So? You got a baby fever checklist hidden in that Prada purse? Or maybe a laminated s*x position chart you’re working through?”

“Stop,” Avery groaned, turning pinker by the second.

“No way, this is too good. Look at you—high heels, lawyer brain, club queen—and you’re blushing like a virgin prom date. It’s adorable.”

Avery peeked at her through her fingers. “I can’t help it. You’re just so—casual about it all.”

Frankie laughed so loud a bird flew off the porch railing. “Sweetheart, this is a clubhouse. You can’t throw a rock without hitting someone who had s*x in a hallway last night.”

Avery shook her head, grinning now despite herself. “Okay, okay, I get it. I’m the uptight one.”

“No,” Frankie said more seriously now, her voice softer. “You’re just the one who hasn’t had space to enjoy things. To even think about what you want. Not really.”

That gave Avery pause.

Because Frankie wasn’t wrong.

She sipped her coffee slower this time. Let the question settle.

What did she want now?

What came after falling in love, choosing this life, and finally finding peace?

She didn’t know yet.

But for the first time in forever—

She was ready to figure it out.

Colt’s office door was cracked open — a rare thing in itself.

Inside, he sat at his desk, shirt sleeves rolled up, boots on the floor this time instead of propped on the edge like usual. His brow was furrowed as he reviewed something in a thick file, pen in hand, but the second Avery knocked lightly and stepped in, his eyes lifted.

Softened.

“You need something?” he asked, already putting the pen down.

“You,” she said simply, stepping in and closing the door behind her.

That got his attention. His posture shifted. Watchful now.

Avery crossed the room and sat down in the chair across from him. She didn’t fidget, didn’t cross her arms. She just looked at him, calm and clear-eyed.

“I had a chat with Frankie,” she started.

Colt’s mouth curved, just a little. “That’s always dangerous.”

“She made me think. About the future.”

He stilled again.

“What kind of future?”

“Ours.” She didn’t falter. “Do you have one in mind? For us? Not the club. Not the next threat. Us.”

The silence that followed wasn’t heavy — just honest.

Colt leaned forward, bracing his arms on the desk.

“You want to know if I’ve thought about it.”

“I want to know if you have a plan,” she said softly. “Because I’m in this. Not just here. Not just now. I want to know if you’ve pictured where this thing between us is going. If you’ve let yourself.”

Colt looked at her like she was a puzzle he wasn’t sure he deserved to solve.

Then he said, without blinking:

“Yeah. I’ve thought about it.”

Avery's breath hitched — not because she didn’t believe him, but because of how steady he was when he said it.

“I never let myself before,” he admitted, voice lower now. “But lately... when I see you with your coffee in the morning. Or teasing Reyes. Or brushing your damn perfume on my jacket when you hug me. Yeah, I think about it.”

She smiled faintly. “And?”

“And I want it all. I want to build something that lasts. You and me. I don’t care if we get married, or if we end up on some remote property with no neighbors and three damn dogs. I just want you where I can see you every day.”

Her voice was soft. “That sounds a lot like a plan.”

Colt reached across the desk and took her hand.

“It’s not all drawn out. But it’s real.”

Avery squeezed his hand gently. “That’s enough for me right now.”

And it was.

Because for the first time, they were talking about a life they got to shape together — not one they were just surviving.

Avery stood up slowly from the chair, still holding Colt’s hand in hers as she came around the desk.

She didn’t rush it. Didn’t try to fill the space with grand declarations or poetic lines.

Instead, she sat on the edge of the desk beside him, letting their joined hands rest on his thigh.

She looked at him—really looked.

At the weight behind his words.

At the shift in his shoulders, the tension that always lived there easing just slightly.

At the man who had become hers, without even realizing how much she’d changed him by loving him quietly and fiercely.

“Colt,” she said, voice gentle, “I don’t need a ring. Or a white dress. Or even a picture-perfect dream.”

His jaw tensed, like he was bracing.

She leaned in, touched his cheek with her free hand.

“I just need you. Where you are. Who you are. However this life looks.”

His eyes flickered — that brief, rare c***k in the armor.

“You really mean that?” he asked, a rasp in his voice now.

“You said it first,” she whispered with a soft smile. “You don’t care about the label, the checklist. You just want me where you can see me every day.”

She nodded.

“Well, that’s how I want you, too.”

She kissed him once—slow, firm, not demanding more. Just sealing the moment. Sealing the promise.

And when she pulled back, his hand hadn’t let go of hers. Not for a second.

“I’m not going anywhere, Mercer,” she added, teasing affection in her tone. “Whether you like it or not.”

He exhaled a laugh that sounded a lot like relief, and pulled her into his lap in one smooth motion, wrapping both arms around her like he couldn’t stand the distance between them for another second.

“Good,” he muttered against her neck. “Because I wouldn’t know how to breathe without you anymore.”

Curled into his lap, her arms around his neck, Avery let her lips ghost along Colt’s jaw, her voice a whisper that wrapped around his pulse.

“Do you have a list?”

Colt tilted his head slightly. “A list?”

“Mhm.” She trailed her fingers along the line of his collar. “You know… things you want us to do. Together. Before we get all boring and domesticated.”

His brow furrowed slightly. “You mean like… vacations? A house?”

She laughed quietly. “No, I mean the real list.”

She leaned in, lips brushing the shell of his ear.

“Like me riding you in that big president chair of yours.”

Colt stilled. Completely.

A beat of silence passed.

Then he pulled back enough to look her dead in the eyes. His voice was low. Rough.

“You been thinking about that?”

Avery shrugged, trying to look innocent and failing entirely. “Well, it’s a very powerful chair. Seems like it deserves to be properly broken in.”

Colt’s eyes darkened in an instant.

She smirked, brushing her nose against his.

“I just don’t want us to blink one day and realize we didn’t do all the wild things we could’ve done. We’re young. We’ve got time before we’re... two kids, one dog, arguing about who forgot to buy milk.”

Colt grinned—slow, wicked, hungry.

“So you want to be reckless while we still can?”

“Exactly,” she said. “I want to look back with no regrets. And if you’re going to keep that throne of yours, Mercer, you better be ready to let your queen break a few rules with you.”

Colt slid his hands down her back, gripping her hips.

“That’s the thing, baby… I’ve never made rules for you.”

Avery leaned in, brushing her lips over his once more, slow and deliberate.

“Then I guess I’ll start making a few of my own.”