Chapter 15 #2
I slow just enough to turn back toward them, letting the moment settle instead of brushing it off.
“Something changed,” Wade says.
And for a second, I consider giving them the easy version.
The one that keeps everything clean and contained, doesn’t involve Riley. Doesn’t involve the fact that the second that note showed up, this stopped being about land and money and old dirt and turned into something a hell of a lot more personal.
But that’s not how this works.
Not with them.
“Yeah,” I say. “It did.”
Luke folds his arms. “That about the land, or something else?”
I hold his gaze for a beat, then let it shift just slightly toward the direction of town.
Toward her.
That’s all it takes.
Wade exhales under his breath. “Knew it.”
Lane finally pushes off the wall fully, stepping closer. “She worth it?”
The question is simple and direct.
And not a single one of them doubts the answer before I give it.
“Yeah,” I say.
There’s no hesitation, no second thought, just the truth.
Luke huffs a quiet laugh, shaking his head. “That’s a problem.”
“It is,” I agree.
Because it changes how I move, how I think, and the risks I take or refuse.
Wade studies me again, sharper this time. “You’re not just protecting the land anymore.”
“No,” I say.
“And that means you don’t get to make the same calls you would’ve made a week ago.”
I know that.
That’s the part that’s been sitting in the back of my head since last night.
Every decision carries more weight now.
Every move has consequences that don’t just land on me.
“I’m aware,” I say.
“Are you?” Luke presses, not pushing, just making sure. “Because you go after Colt the wrong way, this escalates fast.”
“It’s already escalating,” I answer. “I’m not the one pushing it.”
“No,” Wade says. “But you might be the one that makes it worse.”
Silence settles again, heavier this time.
It isn’t disagreement, it’s the truth.
I nod once.
“I won’t let it get out of control,” I say.
Lane tilts his head slightly. “That’s not what we’re worried about.”
I look at him.
“What are you worried about?”
“That you will,” he says quietly. “And you won’t care.”
That hits harder than anything else they’ve said.
Because it’s not wrong.
Because if it comes down to it—
If it comes down to choosing between playing this smart and making sure she’s safe—
I already know which way I’m going.
Wade sees it in my face before I say a word.
“Yeah,” he mutters. “That’s what I thought.”
Luke lets out a breath. “Then we do this together.”
It isn’t a suggestion, it’s a line in the sand.
Lane nods once. “No solo moves.”
Wade steps in beside them. “No blind spots.”
I look at all three of them, taking it in for what it is.
It isn’t control or doubt, it’s backup.
“Fine,” I say. “Together.”
Because they’re right.
Because this isn’t something I get to carry alone anymore.
And because whether I like it or not…
What changed in me last night doesn’t just affect me.
It affects all of us.
Which means I don’t get to pretend it didn’t happen.
I turn back toward the land, toward everything that just got a hell of a lot more complicated.
“Then let’s get ahead of it,” I say.
And this time when we move…
We move as one.
Two weeks later, by the time the sun starts dropping, the house is finished, not halfway or almost, done.
The last of the crew pulls out just as the light turns that deep gold that hits the porch just right, stretching long shadows across the boards and making everything look calmer than it is.
Cleaner, at least on the surface.
Like none of what’s sitting under the ground out here exists.
I stand at the edge of the porch, hands braced on the railing, looking out over the land.
It should feel like something, like accomplishment or relief, because this was the goal.
Build something solid. Something mine. Something that didn’t come with history attached to it.
Instead, all I see is everything that came with it anyway.
Buried deep enough that someone thought it would stay that way.
Until we dug it up.
Footsteps sound behind me.
Heavy. Familiar.
Wade steps up on my left, Luke on my right, Brooks leaning against the post like he’s been there longer than any of us noticed.
No one says anything at first.
We just look at it.
The house, finished and real.
“You actually did it,” Luke says after a minute, low, almost like he’s not trying to break the moment.
“Yeah,” I answer.
Wade lets out a slow breath. “Hell of a place.”
It is.
Big enough to hold more than one life.
Built like I knew that from the start, even if I didn’t admit it.
Brooks glances at me sideways. “Doesn’t feel the same, does it?”
“No,” I say.
Because it doesn’t feel that way.
Because it’s not just a house anymore.
It’s tied to something now.
Something bigger than boards and nails and plans drawn out months ago.
Wade rests his forearms on the railing, looking out across the property. “Still worth it?”
I don’t answer right away.
My mind goes straight to Riley.
Then to Hadley.
Standing there, small and steady, trusting me without even knowing what she was trusting me with.
“Yeah,” I say finally.
It is.
Just not in the way I thought it would be.
Luke nods once, like that’s all he needed.
“Then we protect it,” he says.
Not just the house but all of it, the land, the people on it, and the things tied to it.
Lane pushes off the post. “You planning on moving in right away?”
I look back at the house.
At the open doorway.
At the empty space inside that doesn’t feel empty anymore.
“Yeah,” I say.
Because distance isn’t an option anymore, not from this and not from her.
Wade glances at me. “You sure that’s a good idea?”
“No,” I answer honestly.
Then I push off the railing and turn toward the door.
“But it’s the only one that makes sense.”
I step inside, the sound of my boots shifting from wood to the quiet echo of finished floors, and it hits me all at once.
This isn’t just something I built.
This is where everything’s about to collide.
Behind me, I hear the others follow.
No hesitation, no second guessing, just presence.
We’re in this now, all the way in.
And as I look out through the front windows, past the land that doesn’t feel as empty as it should…
I know one thing for sure.
Whoever started this…isn’t done.
And now neither am I.
I hear her truck before I see it.
Gravel crunching slow, controlled, not rushed, not hesitant either.
Riley doesn’t do anything halfway.
I step back out onto the porch, leaning a shoulder against the post as she pulls up, Hadley in the passenger seat, talking about something with her hands like none of this exists outside her world.
For a second, I let that settle.
That rhythm feels almost normal.
That’s what I’m protecting.
Riley cuts the engine and sits there for a beat longer than she needs to, hands still on the wheel, eyes forward like she’s bracing for something she already knows is coming.
Then she gets out.
No hesitation or second-guessing, just that same steady control she always carries like armor.
Hadley hops out a second later, already moving toward the porch.
“Is this it?” she asks, looking up at me like I’ve just built something magical instead of complicated.
“Yeah,” I say, crouching down so I’m eye level with her. “This is it.”
She looks past me into the house, eyes lighting up. “Can I see?”
I glance at Riley.
She nods once.
“Stay where I can see you,” she says.
“Okay!”
Hadley runs inside without another thought, her footsteps echoing across the floors like the place already belongs to her.
Riley watches her go, then looks at me.
“Looks finished,” she says.
“It is. Quinn and Summer ordered all the furnishings and put food in the house and snacks and everything. It was timed perfectly with the completion of the house.
She nods slowly, taking it in, her gaze moving across the porch, the land, the house, all of it like she’s measuring something she hasn’t decided on yet.
“You going to live here?” she asks.
“Yeah.”
Her eyes flick back to mine. “That soon?”
“Tonight.”
That lands.
I see it in the way her posture shifts just slightly, the way she recalculates without saying it out loud.
“Bold move,” she says.
“Necessary,” I answer.
She studies me for a second, then glances toward the land, like she can feel the same thing I do now.
The weight under it.
The fact that none of this is quiet anymore.
“You think this keeps us safer?” she asks.
“I think it keeps us in control,” I say.
She lets that sit between us.
Not agreeing.
I push off the post and step a little closer, lowering my voice.
“Stay here,” I say.
It isn’t soft or hesitant, it’s direct.
Her eyes snap to mine.
“For tonight,” I add, giving her the space she needs without backing off what I’m asking. “You and Hadley. Where I can see you. Where I know what’s coming in and out.”
She doesn’t answer right away.
Of course she doesn’t.
Riley doesn’t agree to anything without turning it over first, looking for cracks, finding the places where it could go wrong.
“I can handle myself,” she says finally.
“I know you can,” I answer. “That’s not the point.”
“Then what is?”
“The point is I can’t cover ground and watch your back at the same time if you’re not here,” I say. “And I’m not splitting that focus right now.”
Her jaw tightens just enough that I know I hit something real.
“You’re asking me to trust you again,” she says.
“Yeah,” I answer.
There’s no hesitation or apology, just the truth.
Silence stretches between us, not empty, just full of everything that hasn’t been said yet.
Everything that already has.
I don’t push it.
I don’t repeat myself.
I just stand there and let her decide.
Because this one matters.
Because if she says no, I’ll deal with it.
But if she says yes—
Everything shifts again.
She exhales slowly, her gaze dropping for a second before coming back up to meet mine.
There’s something different there now.
Something that settles instead of fights.
“Just tonight,” she says.
It isn’t a yes or a no but something in between that still feels like a step.
I nod once.
“Just tonight.”
But we both know it’s more than that.
We both feel it.
And as she walks past me into the house, following the sound of Hadley’s voice echoing down the hall…
I realize something I didn’t expect to hit this hard.
She didn’t walk away.
And for Riley…that might mean more than anything she could’ve said.