Epilogue
“Don’t do this.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face and dragged it through my beard, suppressing the sigh that so desperately wanted to break free, then let my stare drag to the woman sitting in the passenger seat beside me.
Despite every instinct telling me not to, I found myself taking her in, the way I had since we were teenagers.
Her midnight hair that she’d always kept at wildly different lengths and was currently barely touching the tops of her shoulders in her signature straight-yet-messy look.
Her dark, murderous eyes that had always softened for me and were hidden behind sunglasses.
Her pouty mouth that she’d been worrying for over a week now, when it wasn’t set in a scowl that rivaled her brother’s.
And—my heart wrenched painfully as I forced my stare back onto the county road we were idling on—her extremely swollen stomach that she was lovingly cradling. Protecting.
Swallowing around the knot of devastation and rage that had permanently lodged itself into my throat when I’d first realized Peyton—my Peyton—was pregnant, I forced out, “It’ll be okay.”
A very Briggs-like scoff burst from her as she twisted in her seat to look at me. “Please, Cameron, enlighten me. How have you deluded yourself into believing anything about this will be okay?”
“Because he’s your brother,” I reminded her. “He’ll understand.”
“In what world will Ash ever understand?” she argued. “I’m the first to admit I don’t know him half as well as you do, but even I know you’re about to walk me into my execution.”
My head snapped to the side again, my eyes narrowing on her in offense that felt dangerously close to barely-leashed fury.
“You’d say that after everything?” I challenged in a voice that betrayed every one of my feelings.
“I’ve protected you since we were kids, Peyton.
I would lay down my life for you. The last thing I’d do is walk you into your execution. ”
Just as she drew in a breath to snap back at me with, I was sure, one of the many arguments she’d repeatedly given over the past week, I added, “And don’t forget, Briggs did everything to keep you alive when y’all were kids.
He raised you. In what world—as you say—would someone like that then turn around and kill you? ”
Peyton’s full lips had pressed firmly together as I’d spoken, but after seconds passed with us staring each other down, she straightened in her seat with a defeated breath and whispered, “In a world where he finds out what I’ve done.”
My hand twitched with the urge to reach for her, to comfort her, but she’d always made it clear she hadn’t wanted my comfort, so I forced it to remain in place.
Before I could reassure her that it was going to be okay, she muttered, “And stop calling my brother by our last name. It’s weird.”
“Right,” I breathed, then reached for the handle of the door. “I’m gonna call him.”
Ignoring the sound of protest that rose in her throat, or the way the worry fueling it begged me to stay right there beside her, as I had for the past thirty minutes, I stepped out of the U-Haul truck and pulled my phone out of my pocket.
My own worry slowed my movements as I tapped on the screen and pulled up Briggs’ number, because I knew he was already going to be angry .
. . just with me. Because I’d been ignoring his calls and texts for more than a week now, all while praying he’d be somewhat pacified and stay put with my daily texts of “I have Peyton. She’s safe at the moment. Trust me.”
But I’d known if I’d let myself say anything else, I would’ve shared everything. I’d known if I would’ve answered any of his calls, I would’ve done the same. Because, even before Briggs had been my boss at Shadow Industries and the leader of our SEAL team, he’d been my best friend.
Since middle school, we’d been inseparable.
He’d confessed things to me about their home life that I still wasn’t sure even his wife knew—knowing he’d needed help in protecting his younger siblings, and probably in part because it’d been too much for any kid to keep bottled in.
In return, I’d never held anything back from him.
Well, except for the fact that, somewhere in that time, I’d fallen in love with his sister.
But that had never been something I’d felt the need to reveal because, again, she’d made it clear that love was one-sided.
However, this?
This wasn’t something I could keep from him . . . not any longer than I already had. And as worried as I was for how he was going to react, I knew it needed to be done. I knew, eventually, everything would be okay.
She was his sister.
She’s his sister, I mentally chanted as I finally tapped on his name and lifted the phone to my ear.
My eyelids slowly shut when the first ring cut off to an enraged, “Where are you?”
Clearing my throat, I answered, “Huntley.”
The responding silence spoke volumes.
When Briggs finally spoke, his tone was low and edged with a warning. “How long have you been in Huntley?”
“Long enough to get about a minute away from your house.” And for Peyton to use the bathroom . . . again. But Briggs didn’t need to know that.
“And why aren’t you here?” Without letting me respond, he furiously demanded, “Where have you been? It’s been a week and a half, Rush. You’ve ignored every call and text. Where’s Peyton? Was there a Davis there?”
I waited until I was sure he was done, then spoke calm and sure, already having rehearsed these exact words the entire long drive from New York back to Texas.
“I’ll explain everything when I see you.
Peyton’s with me, but I need your word before we see you that you’ll listen to everything, then give yourself whatever time you need before you react. ”
“Rush,” he began, my name showing his hesitation, worry, and suspicion, before he seethed, “I swear, if you and Peyton are the next two to say y’all eloped, I’m going to—”
“I’m not married to your sister,” I hurried to say over him, and tried to ignore the deep longing that wove through my chest at just the thought of marrying the girl sitting in the truck behind me.
But the heartbreak that always followed that was quick to overwhelm it, made even stronger after what I’d learned the past ten days. “I just need your word.”
An eternity of seconds ticked by in tense silence before he agreed, “You’ve been asking me to trust you. There’s no one else I trust more.” A heavy sigh sounded through the phone. “I’ll listen.”
My head bobbed, even though he couldn’t see me. “See you in a minute.”
Once I was back in the truck and had it in gear, Peyton breathed her earlier plea, “Don’t do this,” as if she hadn’t known this would be waiting for us at the end of our trip from the moment we’d started packing up her things and loading the U-Haul.
“It—”
“Don’t say it’ll be okay,” she cried out.
With a subtle nod, I said instead, “Then I’ll be by your side for every second. If anything happens—which it won’t—I’ll be in front of you. Understand?”
“Yeah,” she whispered after a moment.
In the too-short time it took to get to Briggs’ large, farmstyle house, I tried wrapping my brain around everything that had happened since I’d rushed off to New York in hopes of protecting his sister.
I’d gotten all the messages about Monroe, and it’d been agony not to be here, waiting for her and the baby to pull through. I’d read the updates about all the fake Davises, so I knew that had been taken care of, and that the team was holed up at the house, preparing for a retaliation.
But in the meantime, the one text I’d received from Peyton had led me into a trap—not that I’d expected it to be anything else. Not when the address I’d received had been for an abandoned-looking warehouse.
I’d just thought they had Peyton in there, or that I’d been too late.
I hadn’t expected to deal with the threats waiting for me there, only to find Peyton at her apartment and hugely pregnant.
A sight that had caught me so off guard—had shattered my soul so abruptly—that I’d nearly missed how she’d been screaming, “No!” I’d nearly missed the guy who’d come swinging at me like it was his first time ever wielding a knife.
Because, if Peyton was that pregnant, it meant she had to have already known she was pregnant when she’d begged me to dance with her at Briggs and Lainey’s wedding for just one dance that had turned into too many to count.
It meant she had to have already known she was pregnant when she’d dragged me away after the reception until we’d gotten lost somewhere on the beach, spending hours there talking about everything and nothing.
It meant she had to have already known she was pregnant when I’d walked her back to her hotel room, lost all self control, and kissed her for the first time in our lives.
A kiss we’d both gotten lost in for countless minutes, right there in the hall, pressed against her door, before she’d blurted out a quick good night and hurried into her room.
Only for her to hop on the first flight back to New York the next morning . . .
And all the while, she’d been in a years-long relationship that was as toxic as it was long-distance—as I’d found out ten days ago.
My brow furrowed as I took in all the cars in front of Briggs’ house. Some I knew. Others . . .
I bit back a curse when I saw North Carolina plates and brought the truck to a stop. But for nearly a minute after we’d parked, I just sat there, gripping the steering wheel.
It was one thing for Peyton to reveal everything to Briggs. Another to reveal it to our entire team, as Briggs would surely make her do. But for her to confess the things that threatened to destroy so much to the members of ARCK?
She might be right. I might be walking her into her execution.
But for as long as I’d known her, I’d always stood between her and danger. I’d do it with my dying breath, regardless of what she’d done.
With a heavy sigh, I turned off the truck and opened my door. “Let’s just get it over with.”
A sharp laugh punched from her, but it was filled with worry and fear.
Heading around the front of the truck, I opened her door and looked up at where she sat, cradling her swollen stomach. “You told me. You can tell him.”
Her jaw was locked tight when she focused on me, but her words shook when she spoke. “Because I’ve never been able to keep anything from you.”
At that, my chest pitched with doubt. “Peyton, you’ve kept plenty from me. Clearly.” Stepping back, I held out my hand to help her and tipped my head toward the house. “Come on.”
Another few seconds passed before she eventually climbed out of the truck, but when she finally started toward the house, all that Briggs strength and ferocity was pouring from her, drawing back her shoulders and lifting her chin as she strode with determination for the front door.
A front she maintained, even after I let us in and led her into the living room, overflowing with our team, Lainey, Chloe, and Wren . . . and more ARCK people than I’d ever seen.
Briggs stepped away from Lainey, his arm slipping away from where it’d been around his wife’s waist, and his expression falling as he took in his very pregnant sister.
But before he or Peyton could speak, before I could remind him of what he’d promised me, a short redheaded woman I’d never met before stepped forward with the ARCK twins and lifted a disdainful eyebrow as she looked Peyton over.
“So,” the redhead began, “are you going to tell everyone you’re carrying a Wrecker baby, or should I?”