Chapter 58
brAEDYN
THREE DAYS LATER
“Delivery brigade!” Mav’s voice called through my cabin’s screen door. I’d left the front door open. No alarm set. No deadbolt latched. Just a warm afternoon breeze and freedom.
Yeti let out a happy bark as Owen scrambled to his feet from the other side of the coffee table we’d been using to play Monopoly Jr. The interruption was for the best because he was kicking our asses.
Dex’s lips twitched as he squeezed my shoulder. “Apologies in advance for what is about to descend on you.”
But I knew exactly what he was doing: giving me the family I’d never had, that Nova and I had always wanted. The kind that was there in good times and bad and showed up for you time and again.
Skylar raced inside, Yeti barking and leaping around her. “Let’s go play with Yeti!”
Owen glanced at me, looking for permission. “Can we, Mom?”
“Only because you didn’t call me bruh,” I shot back.
He laughed and then raced out the back doors with Yeti and Skylar. We could see them from where we were, and it was nice that I finally felt safe enough to allow it.
“Little Badass, I come bearing food,” Mav called, lifting two massive Tupperware containers.
Waylon ambled in behind him, carrying a large box and wearing his beloved Carhartt overalls. “Don’t let him fool you into thinking he made all that. I did.”
“Hey, I helped,” Wylder called as he moved in behind the group, holding up a bakery box. “And Orion sent chocolate fudge cake.”
God, they were all so wonderful. Caring in their own ways. “I think Orion has an obsession with chocolate.”
Wylder and Dex shared a look.
“What?” I pressed.
“It’s Ever’s favorite. Chocolate cake,” Dex explained.
That had a different sort of ache settling in my chest. “She’s got good taste.”
“She does,” Wylder said softly as he slid the cake onto the island.
“Where’s Kol?” Dex asked, glancing toward the screen door.
“Finishing up some stuff with the, uh, case,” Wylder explained. “He said there were still a few loose ends.”
Sometimes, it felt like the loose ends would never be tied. The state police had already found six bodies buried on Travis’s property, but they weren’t done searching. Radar and cadaver dogs were combing the surrounding forest, as well.
Dex’s profiler friend, Anson, had driven down to assist on one of the days.
He’d been the one to help us make sense of what we could.
That Travis had taken people whose cases would be in his direct jurisdiction or close enough that he would have a reason to insert himself into the investigation.
He got to see the pain he wrought up close and personal.
And he got off on it. That was his high, his release.
But it cost the people around him everything.
So far, three bodies had been positively identified, and two of them were the loved ones of Compass members: Jack’s wife, Cynthia, and Alma’s daughter, Maya. Their worlds were fracturing, but they would also have closure for the first time since their family members disappeared.
It wasn’t just them paying the price. It was those around Travis, too.
Roger had gone stonily silent, blaming himself for not seeing it in his best friend and partner.
And it hadn’t helped that the state police were still uncovering Sheriff Miller’s wrongdoings.
Every case he’d headed up had to be reexamined, and they were still working on closing down the illegal grow operation.
“Have you talked to Cora?” Wylder asked. His voice had gone quiet, and I knew his mind had gone exactly where mine had.
“Yesterday.”
A mixture of pain and worry swept across his face. “How was she?”
She was a wreck. I’d seen it the moment she made her way into my house. Eyes red from crying, dark circles underneath, hollow cheeks. Apologies for wrongs that weren’t hers to carry spilling from her lips. And guilt. So much damn guilt.
“I’ve been to that cabin more times than I can count. How did I not know? How did I not see?” That kind of weight could swallow a person whole, and I was beyond glad that Holly was keeping an eye on her. And I knew Aster would, too, now that she was on the road to a full recovery.
“It’s going to take time. For all of us.” Because we would all carry brands from this experience and the losses. But I also knew we would make it through—because we had each other.
“I think we need a break from the hard stuff,” Waylon muttered, sliding the massive box he carried onto the coffee table. “I made ya something.”
My smile came, if not easily, at least authentically, though not because there wasn’t still pain living inside me. Because Waylon was quite possibly the best and most adorable caretaker ever. “You’ve been feeding me for three days. I think that’s enough.”
“Nope. You needed this, too,” Waylon said easily.
I flipped open the lid of the box, and my breath caught. Nestled in paper shreds was the most stunning clock I’d ever seen. About two feet tall and nearly ten inches wide, Waylon had carved an intricate forest scene into the wood. There were tiny animals and birds, trees, and a picturesque creek.
“Waylon,” I whispered. “This is beautiful.”
“Just you wait.” Waylon leaned over and pressed something on the back of the clock. The cave carved into the top of the clock opened, and my very own Bigfoot popped out, a Bigfoot-call sound erupting with it.
A laugh bubbled out of me—the first since I’d been taken. The first since I’d learned Nova was gone.
“Oh, Jesus,” Dex muttered. “Is that sound going to go off every hour?”
Waylon huffed out a breath. “You never appreciated the call of the wild.”
I pushed to my feet, my ribs twinging, but I ignored the pain and wrapped Waylon in a hug. He returned it, but his grip was featherlight, trying not to hurt me.
“Thank you.” Unshed tears stung the backs of my eyes as I pulled back. “All of you.” I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “When I had nowhere, you gave me a place to belong.”
Maverick pointed a finger at me and waved a hand in front of his face. “Don’t you dare.”
Wylder slapped him on the back. “This is a good stretch for your emotionally stunted self.”
“Hey,” Mav shot back, affronted. “I am very in touch with my feelings. I sobbed like a baby when we watched The Notebook.”
I grinned. “The Notebook?”
“Don’t even think about it, Little Badass. I am not going through that pain again. That’s a one-and-done movie for me.”
Dex chuckled and slid an arm around my shoulders before pressing a kiss to my temple. “You’ve always belonged with us. Just took me a minute to find you.”
My eyes filled. “I love you.”
“I trust you,” Dex whispered back.
“Fuck, now I really am crying,” Mav muttered.
Dex’s hand lifted to the side of my neck, to that pulse point. “What would you think about hanging that clock elsewhere?”
I frowned up at him. “You can’t put my clock in the garage.”
“I was actually thinking about hanging it at the house I’m building at the ranch. Talked to the architect about adding on a few rooms. We could even build an agility course for Yeti.”
My breath caught. “You want us to move in with you?”
Dex brushed his lips across mine. “Nothing I want more.”
“Yes.” The word came so easily. No fear, no reticence. Only trust and peace—and hope for our future.
The ringing of a phone cut through my happy haze, and Dex scowled as he pulled his cell from his pocket. A giggle slipped free at the ease with which the cantankerousness returned. The scowl only intensified as he took in Kol’s name on the screen.
He hit a button that put the call on speaker. “You know, you’re really ruining my moment with Brae, Kol.”
“I found her.” Kol’s breaths were coming in short, staccato pants.
“What? Who?” Dex asked, his brows pulling together.
“I found Nova.”
Everything in me stilled.
“Her body?” I barely recognized my voice as I demanded to know, blood roaring in my ears.
“No.” Another harsh breath. “Her. She’s alive. Barely. Medics are on the way. Brae, she’s alive.”