Chapter 48
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Creed
The countdown’s on.
I can feel the buzz in the air. Everyone’s waiting for it, that last moment of the year, when everything could change.
I don’t really care about the change part. What matters now is what we’ve got, and it’s more than I expected, more than I thought I deserved.
The bonfire’s crackling, trying to keep up with the energy around it. The town’s electric, and it might be cold, but the cider’s doing its job, making everything warm enough to ignore the chill.
Sloane’s looking at me, waiting for me to say something. I can tell she’s got a thought in her head, and I’m not sure what it is, but I pull her in close, wrapping my arm around her.
We’re here for a reason, and this moment means everything to me.
She looks up at me and smiles.
“Happy New Year,” she says.
I pull her even closer and kiss her, not caring if anyone’s watching. Hell, I don’t even care if the fireworks are going off in the background or the press are snapping their usual photographs.
It’s just us in this moment. And that’s all I need. Her lips against mine, warm and familiar, a little taste of everything we’ve built. It’s not some grand gesture.
It’s just… right.
“Ten!” Roman interjects, letting us know the countdown has begun.
He’s ready for this. I know he is. He’s always been prepared, always one step ahead, but I’ve watched him this year. I’ve seen him look at the future with a kind of wariness that I’ve never seen before. We all have. For once, he doesn’t seem as sure about everything.
But in this moment, he knows that no matter what’s next, we’re together. We’ve made it this far. That’s enough.
“Nine!” Sloane laughs, the warm sound wrapping around me.
Her chuckle always gets me. It’s full of life and full of something I didn’t realize I needed until I heard it.
We’ve both been through it, but we’ve found this. Us. And right now, with the crowd counting down and the air crisp around us, we’re at the top of a mountain, looking out at everything ahead.
No more running, no more hiding. We’re here. Together.
“Eight!” Ezra says, his dry tone slicing through the laughter and chatter.
It makes me laugh, too. He’s a little awkward, sometimes painfully so, but I can feel the shift in him. We all feel it.
I see him, standing there, maybe still carrying that weight of perfectionism he’s always had. But there’s a softness to him now, a kind of acceptance that wasn’t there before. He’s more real. We all are. Everything that’s happened has brought that out in all of us.
“Seven!” I shout just because I can, the sound of my own voice ringing in my ears.
For once, I’m not the guy who keeps to myself, the guy who controls everything in my life. And it feels… good. Really good.
“Six!”
“Five!”
“Four!”
“Three!”
These people, this town, these friends who’ve become family, this is what matters. This is where I belong.
I’m glad we will always have a bit of Coyote Glen with us.
“Two!”
“One!”
The last second of the year hits, and the fireworks burst overhead, filling the night sky with color.
The entire town comes alive, the sound of the explosions mingling with the roar of the crowd. It’s chaos, but it’s the kind I can handle. It’s the kind that makes me feel alive, that reminds me why I’ve fought so hard for this life.
And in the middle of it all, I feel Sloane’s lips on mine again, this time not just as a kiss but as something else. Something deeper.
She pulls away just enough to look me in the eyes, and I see the same thing in her gaze that I feel in my chest, a sense of ownership, of understanding. We’re here. Together.
I’m not letting go of this.
Sloane takes a step back, her eyes darting between Roman and Ezra, her breath still heavy from the kiss. She moves toward Roman first, and I watch as she pulls him into a kiss.
The sight of it stirs something in me. Roman’s not easy to get close to, but when he lets go, he’s all in.
And I can see that, in the way his hand moves to her neck, pulling her closer—there’s a kind of relief in it, a surrender he doesn’t often give. I don’t mind the way they fit together; I’m used to it by now. But watching them like this… it’s a reminder of everything we’ve fought through.
When she pulls away from Roman, there’s a quiet moment before she moves to Ezra. He’s watching her, his expression unreadable, but I know him. He’s as much a part of this as Roman and I, even if he doesn’t show it the way we do.
The kiss between them is slow, a tentative thing at first, but I can see him open up, letting her in just a little more. And that’s all it takes. One moment, one breath, and he’s right there with us.
She pulls away from him, her eyes soft as she looks at all three of us.
And I know. I know that we’ve made it. That this beautiful, chaotic thing we’ve built is real.
“We’ve made it,” she whispers, almost as if she’s talking to herself.
But I hear it loud and clear. It’s a promise.
I pull her back into my arms, my thumb grazing her cheek. “Yeah, we have.”
Roman steps forward, his arm sliding around her waist as he pulls her close. “No turning back now.”
Ezra is close behind, his hand finding the small of her back, grounding her between us. “You’re ours, Sloane. And we belong to you, too.”
In this moment, with the fireworks still lighting up the sky, I know what we have is enough.
We’re together. And that’s all I need to know.