52. Rook
THE BEGINNING
The darkness of the house had all my senses on alert.
The repairs to Darkmoor manor had been finished for a couple of months. Summer and I had moved in it together, with Callie arriving a few weeks after.
And yet, something was different about my arrival tonight.
Inhaling a deep breath, I took in everything around me. The smell of new: fresh paint, plywood, and flooring, mixed with old: books, the shabby but comfortable sofa, familiar rugs that reminded both Summer and I of home. Anything I could salvage after they’d destroyed her—our—home.
I clenched the barrel of my gun tight, still pissed about that, as I moved from the main entrance of the house to the kitchen.
There were no noises coming from within—Summer leaping into my arms to welcome me home, a bright smile on her face. Callie cursing at someone on her phone. No soft glow of fire coming from the study, or pots banging as my chef argued with Summer over what to eat for dinner.
As I crept silently around the main kitchen island, the old ache in my chest returned, burning once again. Fear. Anger. Need to hurt. I hadn’t realized until this second how the tightness inside me had been replaced by something new and beautiful.
My work was still dangerous. However, not only did I have the satisfaction of seeing Saul’s face eaten by an alligator, but I also had new life breathed into me.
Living with Summer and even Callie—it was everything I”d been craving.
Dare I fucking say it—I was happy?
There. I said it.
Believe it or not, I was actually happy. Shocking.
A noise from the study made my senses heighten. I moved towards it, ready to pull the trigger at any sign of danger.
A choked off laugh made me still in confusion, then a sharp whisper, “Callie! Hush!”
Relaxing a little, I stepped into the darkness of the study, then froze at the lone person standing before me.
“Hello, Rook.” Copper red hair glinted in the moonlight streaming through the window.
I aimed my gun, my heart pounding, my words an angry growl, “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Suddenly, light flooded the room, and Summer and Callie’s face popped up from behind the sofa. “Surprise! Happy Birthday!”
My jaw went slack.
It was my birthday?
“Rook?” Summer’s voice, changed suddenly from glee to concern.
“Told you he wouldn’t like it.” Callie smacked Summer in the arm, but she ignored her, instead coming to stand in front of me.
“Baby,” her sweet voice hit me, “put the gun down.”
“What did he do to you?” I snarled, one hand coming out to drag her behind me. If he touched her, I was going to kill him—consequences to Tatiana be damned.
The man before me just stared at me coolly, though there was a twinge at the corner of his lips—he was amused.
“Rook, he didn’t do anything. I invited him here.” Summer’s arms wrapped around my waist, and she lay her head on my back. “I asked him to come—for your birthday.”
Her touch softened something inside me. Hesitatingly, I lowered the gun, only then noticing Tatiana standing next to Knight—the man from my past, the one who’d betrayed me, resulting in my Nana’s death.
Something filled me, something in my chest that flowed up into my throat, choking off my breath. I could only stare at him—a mixture of emotions.
He’d been my best friend.
The only one, in that school of self-entitled pricks.
And now, having Summer in my life, I realized?—
I actually had missed him. Or, our friendship, at least.
And yet, he’d betrayed me, in a way that was unforgivable….
….unless… was it as unforgivable as I’d always thought?
Hadn’t I done some terrible things in my own life?
Plus, we were only teenagers—so young.
Still babies.
Should Knight have to suffer his whole life for his act?
I now knew that he’d done it to protect Tatiana—the love of his life.
Wouldn’t I do the same to protect Summer?
“Rook?”
I now realized that Summer was, once again, standing in front of me.
“Are you okay?”
I finally looked away from Knight, to Summer, immediately drowning in her eyes. The pain in my chest and throat constricted, then flowed out, draining from me, as her warmth infused me.
Her.
It would always be Summer.
The calm in my storm.
“You did this for me?” I asked her.
“No,” she snarked, suddenly smiling when she saw I’d relaxed. “I did it for the cake. The fact that it”s your birthday is just a bonus,” she teased, swatting me playfully. “Plus, I thought it might stop your broodiness if you could bury the hatchet.”
“Literally,” Callie pulled an axe from behind her with a mischievous grin.
“Callie!” Summer said.
“Let’s—take that from you,” Hawke took a hold of the handle.
“But!” she protested, “I’ve been waiting all week to use this.”
“Maybe next time.” He pressed his lips into a firm line, but I could tell he was trying not to smile.
She shot him an exasperated look but he just crooked an eyebrow at her, and she —reluctantly—let him take it from her.
I took a moment to take in my surroundings—Knight, Tatiana, Amara, Callie, Hawke, and Summer were all standing in the study. There was a large ‘Happy Birthday’ banner over the fireplace, with streamers and balloons, cake and all kinds of decorations.
“Christ,” I rubbed my hand over my face. I’d come in ready to shoot people and they were trying to surprise me.
“Um, why so serious? You guys are too weird,” Callie broke the tension in the room, “I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m starving.” She grabbed a plate and began to pile it with pizza and other food. “Want some?” She shoved the end of the triangle towards Hawke. Before it could reach his mouth, he’d grabbed her wrist, halting her.
He said something too quiet for me to hear, and her eyes widened.
Then, staring into her eyes, he took a bite, and I saw her throat bob.
Music filled the air—Amara threw her arm around Callie’s shoulder, and began to dance.
The mood in the room lightened—though I was ignoring the elephant.
“Did you forget it was your birthday?” Summer asked.
“How did you know?” I was amazed—I’d never told her the date.
“I have my ways,” she threw me a smirk as she took my hand, leading me towards Knight. “And put that away, please.”
I hadn’t even realized I was still holding my gun.
“Rook, this is Knight. Knight, this is Rook. And also, Tatiana.” Summer said sarcastically. “They’re new friends I made.”
“Hi, Rook. It’s good to see you again.” Without preamble, Tatiana hugged me, and I folded into it. Holding her tight. I’d missed her, too.
Fuck me. What had Summer done to me? I was hugging people? Missing them?
As Tatiana pulled back, I didn’t miss Summer’s satisfied grin. Then she leaned into my side as I faced Knight.
“I see you got what you needed,” he said, referring to Saul. He’d been the one to give me the information that led me back here, in exchange for leaving him and Tatiana alone in Vegas.
“I did.”
“And I’m not talking about your revenge.”
I blinked at him in surprise and that smile, that damn smile he always had, crooked upwards.
“Fuck me,” I groaned, rubbing my hand over my face. He was talking about Summer. Bastard could read me like a book.
“You would know what that’s like,” I finally said, and he shrugged.
“It only gets better from here.”
We grinned at each other stupidly before it melted off his face and he turned serious.
“Really, though,” he said. “I’m here because I wanted to make amends. It was wrong of me for what I did to you.”
I blinked in shock. Had Knight apologized?
“This must be why I saw pigs flying earlier.”
He chuckled, and Tatiana wrapped an arm around him, her face shining with happiness. “He’s learned a thing or two about making up for all the shitty things he did.”
“I did.” He said in all seriousness. Fuck me, pigs really were flying. “And,” he continued, pulling something out from behind him, “I brought a gift.”
I took the small, wrapped package, tied with a red ribbon. Tatiana must’ve wrapped it—red ribbons were her signature thing—the reminder made a trickle of sentimental warmth flow through me. “Thank you.”
“It’s…” Knight struggled to find the right word, “they’re some videos I managed to find, in some of my old stuff. From times we hung out. It has Nana in them.”
I blinked, feeling a burn at the back of my eyes. “Thank you,” I mumbled, touched.
“And,” he continued, “if I can do anything to make up for what I did to you, then tell me.”
It took me a moment to get over my shock, but Summer’s hand in mine was grounding.
“I think you’ve already done that,” I finally answered.
In the past couple months, Knight had done everything he’d promised, and that had helped me cinch Maxon’s trust. If not for that, I doubted Maxon would’ve let me walk away from that day in the swamps.
I held out my hand, a gesture of truce.
He stilled. Then, meeting my gaze, an unspoken comment passing between us, he shook my hand and nodded. Suddenly, I felt a flooding of release hit me.
Godfuckingdamn. Summer was right.
It felt good to let things go. To trust people again.
Suddenly, lights dimmed, the music grew louder, and Amara and Callie’s laughter filled the air. They were dancing in the middle of the room. Someone had bought a disco ball, and its lights were bouncing around the room.
Hawke wasn’t dancing with them, but brooding in the shadows with a frown on his face. His stare was burning a hole in Callie’s backside.
“We’ll talk later,” Tatiana said to me, squeezing my wrist before she and Knight joined the others on the dance floor.
Summer put a drink in my hand, smiling softly when I noticed she’d given me some of Douglass’ whiskey. “You happy?” she asked.
I took a sip, the smell in my nose reminding me of other times, good times, with Douglass. I nodded, “Yes.” It was true.
“Good.”
The girls made space for Knight and Tatiana, who were staring at each other intently, in love, oblivious to the world around them, and I could only stare in surprise at the sight before me.
So, it was true.
Tatiana had really forgiven Knight, and they were truly happy together.
Callie left the group and went to Hawke. She gave him a teasing smile and tugged on him, inviting him to join the group dancing.
“They remind me of us,” Summer gestured towards Tatiana and Knight. “They’re…” she struggled to find the right words, “meant to be together.”
Growling, I grabbed Summer’s side and pulled her into my embrace. “You mean that?” I asked her. “You believe we’re meant to be together.”
“Yes,” she answered, staring straight into my eyes, her expression serious.
“You tricked me,” I said into her ear, my fingers threading in her hair, “Went behind my back, somehow got their information. Invited them here without my permission.”
“I don’t need your permission,” she sassed back. “It’s my house. I can invite who I want to visit.”
Fisting her hair, I pulled her head back to bare her neck to me. I pressed a kiss at the base of her jaw, and murmured in her ear. “You have exactly one minute.”
“One…minute?”
“Yes,” I said, my voice low and threatening. “You were naughty tonight, and deserve your punishment.”
Her eyes widened, “But here? Now?”
“Everyone in this room deserves to know how naughty you’ve been…” I gave her a stark look. She knew I didn’t give a shit about who was around.
“But Callie?—”
“Fifty seconds…”
She yelped, then jerked from my embrace, and ran from the room.