Epilogue
Sammy
One Month Later
“To the left,” I say, narrowing my eyes.
Cameron carefully rebalances on the ladder and moves the picture to the left slightly.
“More.”
He moves it another inch, then pauses, and in that time, I change my mind. The balance is off if the picture hangs there. It needs to be...
“No. To the right.”
Cameron pauses and I can see by the stiffening in his shoulders that he thinks I’m fucking with him.
And honestly... that’s fair.
Because I kind of am.
“Cameron!” I say, letting my impatience bleed into my voice. “To the right!”
He tosses a look over his shoulder at me, his brown eyes flashing in either amusement or annoyance, and I flash him my best possible grin.
“Please?”
“‘To the left, to the right, no back to the left.’ Sammy. We’ve been playing this game for at least fifteen minutes. Which is it?”
The laughter bursts out of me and I don’t try to stop it, because we have been playing this game for fifteen minutes, and I’m still not tired of it.
Cameron is doing everything I ask, and I know he’ll never stop.
He might get annoyed and make fun of me, and he might try to burn me up with his eyes, but if I ask him to move the picture again, he’ll do it.
And he’ll do it again tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that.
And if I change my mind next week, he’ll help me move it again, the same way he’s been doing for the last month while we finally, finally decorate this house.
The rooms that were once bare are now full of furniture and blankets.
Pillows on the couch. Shoes under the table.
Cam’s artwork on the walls and my birds in their cages throughout each room.
The three of us laughing and eating wherever we want. Staying up all night watching movies and learning how to make the best popcorn around. Finally getting to know one another, after a lifetime of thinking we could never fit together.
The truth is, we fit together like puzzle pieces from the same puzzle.
Because we might not be blood–not all of us–but that doesn’t matter. We’re the family who chose each other. The people the world wanted to put together so badly that it nearly broke everything making it happen.
I’m about to open my mouth to tell Cam to move the paining again when a set of arms slips around my shoulders, the hands linking under my chin.
My grin becomes even bigger and I lean back into Bear’s chest, warmer and safer than I’ve been since the last time one of my men touched me.
“I think it looks good where it is,” he murmurs into my hair.
I cock my head and pretend to consider it, but I already know he’s right. Cameron’s putting it up, and that means it would be perfect no matter where it landed.
“I suppose you’re right,” I sigh. “Cam, we can leave it there.”
“Thank fuck,” he mutters, adjusting his stance to make sure the painting is straight.
I look from him to the window, taking in the beautiful afternoon and perfect sky... and then have an idea.
“Actually, are you guys busy?” I ask quietly.
Bear’s arms tighten around me and Cam turns to look down at me, his expression untrusting.
“Why?”
The suspicion is thick in his voice, and this makes me laugh.
“Don’t look at me like I’m about to suggest a crime, Cameron Hawke. I have a plan.”
“Your plans usually sound a lot like crimes,” he says flatly.
“Not this one. I was just thinking. There’s this meadow on the mountain and we’ve never taken Bear there. The clouds are actually pretty perfect today, and...”
I trail off, watching Cam’s face and waiting for him to understand what I’m saying.
Understand that I’m suggesting that we let Bear in on one of our biggest secrets. Take him to our favorite spot.
Make him officially part of our family.
Cam’s brow creases in confusion, then reluctance, but when his eyes rise to meet Bear’s, I see his face clear, and a smile start to grow on his face. When his eyes come back to me, the smile becomes conspiratorial.
There he is. My partner in crime. My favorite criminal, and the man who will always take my hand when I need an ally. Even if it means sharing a secret we’ve never told anyone else.
Though I guess if we’re going to tell anyone, it should be the men who’s become our other ally.
After all, if we’re going to commit any crimes, it’s a good idea to have the man who used to be sheriff on our side. These days he’s Gunner’s right-hand man, but that doesn’t make him any less powerful. In fact, it gives him more standing.
And he’d use every inch of that standing to protect Cam and me, if we needed him to.
The man in question spins me now and looks closely at my face, confused. “Clouds?” he asks, highly doubtful. “The meadow? Are you insane? We can see the clouds from here.”
Cam and I exchange another smile.
“We can see them better up higher,” I say simply. “And there’s something we want to show you.”
He divides a look between us, obviously trying to decide whether he trusts us or if we’re playing some sort of trick on him.
But eventually, he remembers that we don’t do that to him anymore. There are no more pranks. No more distrust, and no more dislike.
Only love.
His face clears and a smile ghosts onto his lips.
“Sure,” he says. “I stopped saying no to you two a long time ago, and I’m not going to start now.”
He reaches down and takes my hand, and moments later Cameron has my other hand and we’re walking through the house, now crowded with furniture and art and love, and heading for the door, the truck, and the entire mountain, the world opening up before us in a way I never thought possible.
And I laugh to myself that I once spent my time trying to leave this world–trying to leave this town–thinking that I had to go into that world to find out who I was or where I belonged.
When it turns out that who I am is Sammy Hawke.
And where I belong is right here, with the men who hold my heart.
The End