Since I've Been Lovin' You | Happy Lowman/OC (Book 2)

nine | Out

FOURTEEN MONTHS SINCE ARREST

Victoria could barely stand still long enough to finish doing her hair and makeup. The night before, she'd slept maybe a few hours or less, and there'd been an unstoppable smile pulling at the corners of her lips since she got out of bed. Happy would be here in just a few hours. He'd be out, with her, and she couldn't remember a time when she felt this excited. She stepped back to look through the bathroom doorway to the clock on top of the dresser in the bedroom. Three hours to be exact. Three hours was nothing after waiting fourteen months.

Ever since Piney and the prospects left a little over an hour ago with the flatbed, having picked up Happy's bike and cut from the house, she'd been flitting from one room to the other like a nervous hummingbird. She cleaned, straightened, showered, got ready, made sure all of Happy's belongings from the clubhouse were in the right places. She wanted him to come home and see that she'd done it, that she'd done all of this by herself. For them. There was a ball of pride in her chest, and she wanted it to be recognized by him.

Victoria and the rest would be waiting at the clubhouse for the Sons. A part of her was disappointed that she wouldn't get to see him the second he walked out of Stockton State Prison, that she wouldn't get to have him to herself, but this was the way of things. It was tradition for them to ride home as a club.

Finally after what felt like a lifetime, her phone buzzed, and Victoria jumped at the opportunity to answer, to do anything other than aimlessly kill time. It was Gemma on the other line, and she was pulling in to pick her up.

Thirty minutes later, Victoria was standing outside of Teller-Morrow with a sizable crowd waiting for the Sons imminent arrival. There was a hum of excitement in the air, vibrating on a frequency too low to hear, but it could be felt by everyone within her radius. Victoria felt like her chest might explode with the power of it, and she laced her fingers together, squeezing nervously at the reaper still adorning her right hand.

Everyone had showed up for the occasion. All the crow eaters, hang arounds, extended family, friends trustworthy enough to get an invitation. Brandy was here, too, but Victoria didn't give her a single second of her attention. Today was a good day, and she wouldn't let a crow from Tacoma bring her down. Not when she was so close to having what she'd wished for the last fourteen months within her grasp. Jacquelyn wouldn't be back in California until tomorrow morning for the wedding, so she was the only one missing.

Lyla sat with Tara just to Victoria's right at the picnic table. Tara held Thomas, and Abel had a coloring book opened up and was scribbling with a green crayon while Lyla attempted to shade inside the lines of a puppy carrying a basket of flowers in its mouth. They were sitting down, but Victoria couldn't. She was filled with too much nervous energy, and found herself slowly pacing a few step back and forth just to give her body something to do.

"You're wearing a hole in the cement," Tara said, and Victoria stopped and turned.

"I can't sit still, sorry."

Tara only smirked, shrugging. "I'm just giving you a hard time."

Victoria pulled out her cellphone to check the time. "It's almost ten-thirty. They should be here any minute."

Abel glanced up from his coloring book, and stood from the table, coming over to Victoria. He held his arms out and she lifted him up, resting him on her hip. "Daddy home?" he asked shyly, blue eyes shining. He looked so much like his father, it was unreal.

"Yep, and Grandpa Clay, and Uncle Bobby, and Juice, and Happy," Victoria named them off, and the little boy beamed.

"Don't forget Uncle Tig," Lyla threw in.