CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Kye
ITRIED TO SEE THE HOUSE THROUGH FALLON’S EYES. TRIED TO pull the pieces together like she might. I couldn’t help shifting in my seat, wondering if she would think me an obsessed fool. But if she did, she wouldn’t be wrong.
Fallon pushed open her door and slid out of the truck, moving toward the towering creation.
It had magic and whimsy—something rare and extraordinary, just like the girl who’d dreamed it up.
She was full of the same magic. As she took in the three-story structure, complete with three rounded towers and countless balconies, her jaw dropped.
“Kyler … how is my house real?”
I held tightly to that name—the way her mouth curved around it and made it sound like something uniquely hers. In so many ways, it was.
“Because I built it.” My voice was rusty like I hadn’t spoken all day.
Fallon didn’t look at me when she spoke her next question. “Why?”
Here was the moment of truth. I could give it to her as it was, or I could bend it, hiding what lay in every board and nail.
I didn’t want her to know. Didn’t want her to hold all those cards for many different reasons.
But I didn’t want lies between us either.
Not when I was about to ask her for the ultimate sacrifice.
I followed her line of sight, trying to discern which detail she was picking out.
“When I lost you, lost what we were, I needed something to hold on to. I thought if I built the house, if I lived in it, I could still have you with me—the you that you were to me back then. But when they finished it a few years ago, it didn’t feel right … living here without you.”
I turned then, only to see tears glistening in Fallon’s eyes. “Kyler.”
For so long, I’d wanted her to think I’d moved on. That she mattered to me in the most vital way but that I didn’t ache for the version of us we’d almost been. That we were friends, siblings, and nothing more. But it was a lie.
I called the rest of the Colson crew “brother” or “sister,” but never Fal. Because she was as far from a sister to me as you could get. My mouth rejected the word, right along with the rest of me.
“Was going to give it to you, but then you’d have known,” I rasped.
Those beautiful dark blue eyes cut to me. “Known what?”
“Everything I’ve buried deep for fourteen years.”
A tear tracked down her cheek. “It doesn’t have to be that way.”
“It does. You know it. I know it. I’m not built for it—for what you deserve. There are too many demons around every corner.”
“Bullshit,” she spat.
“Please.” I wasn’t above begging because if she pushed the right lever, everything would come crashing down. “I can’t fight you and fight for my sisters. I can’t be worried about wrecking your life when I need to be focused on giving them what they deserve and helping them heal.”
Fallon’s hands fisted at her sides, delicate fingers far more powerful than they looked. She stared at me for a long moment as she let every word land and realized the truth in them. “Okay.”
It wasn’t fair. What I was asking of us was the farthest thing from it. But I would do it for my sisters.
“Thank you,” I said. What I didn’t say was that I’d give it to her when this was done. When it was time to end our game of make-believe, I’d leave Fallon in the house of her dreams. She—her imagination—had built it, after all.
She nodded. There was a sadness to it that nearly broke me, but my sparrow was strong, and I watched as she summoned that strength and steeled her spine, looking for the good like she always did. “It’s beautiful. More than I could’ve dreamed.”
That was something. It wasn’t nearly enough, but it was something. “Want to see the inside?”
The wind caught Fallon’s white-blond hair as she turned, and the smile on her face nearly brought me to my knees like it always did. Even more now because I’d put it there. “I want to see everything,” she said.
I could give her that, too. “Come on.”
I didn’t dare touch her. Not now—not after letting so many truths slip free. Not when it would be so easy for us to lose ourselves in what could’ve been. I kept my distance as I led her up a stone walkway surrounded by landscaping just starting to go bare as winter approached.
Lifting my keys, I unlocked the front door and stepped inside to the alarm beep echoing in the empty house. I plugged in a code and moved to the temperature control, dialing up the heat.
“Kye?”
Kyler was gone now. Good. We were putting the walls back in place like we needed to. “Yeah?”
“You don’t have any furniture.”
I chuckled, and that felt good, too—more of the normal returning. “Never did get around to that. Think we could talk Ellie into helping us out?”
Trace’s girlfriend—Linc’s sister—had worked as an interior designer in New York for years and had a gift. The fact that she reveled in rainbows and whimsy made her the perfect person for this job in particular.
Fallon grinned as she moved deeper into the entryway. “She would love to get her hands on this place. I know it.”
“You never talked much about what you saw for the inside, so I went on instinct there. I wanted open spaces. Lots of light.”
Fallon moved past a massive staircase that curled off into opposite sides of the house. “It’s perfect.” Her throat worked as she swallowed. “There’s even a pond.”
I followed her into the open living, dining, and family space, taking in the wall of windows framed with wood to add character.
The way the house was positioned made it feel like we hovered over the pond, the structure spilling onto a patio that dipped right in.
There was even a little dock you could sit on.
“Told the realtor the property had to have one, and a site where I could build right on top of it. Told the architect and builder it had to feel like we were floating.”
Fallon walked farther into the space as if the water pulled her. “It feels like the magical land I always wanted it to be. You know, I always dreamed of it being full of kids who needed a safe place to land. And now, it will be.”
Fuck. She was too good. Too pure of heart. This world was too dark for her to even be a part of. But she never let it stop her. She just kept shining that light, taking on people’s pain.
Fallon turned back to look at me, acres of blond hair cascading around her. “Can I see everything else?”
She looked so perfect framed by the beams of light streaming in through the windows as the sun set. Like a goddamned angel who’d fallen to Earth. “Yeah, you can see everything.”
I took her through the house room by room. I showed her the basement, complete with a screening room, a gym, and something I knew could be a playroom. Then we went upstairs into a room off the side of the house that could be an indoor greenhouse of sorts.
“Rho will have a field day with this,” Fallon mumbled as her boots clicked across the brick floor. “We need to let her pick plants for it.”
My mouth curved. “I think she’ll be up to the challenge.”
Fal chuckled. “Especially if you don’t give her a budget.”
“She’s gonna gut me.”
“Oh, I have no doubt.” Fallon wandered through a door deeper in the conservatory. “What in—oh, my God. This is gorgeous. A library.”
The walls were a deep teal similar to the exterior paint, and the built-in bookshelves were so dark they were almost black. The shelves were empty, but it would be fun as hell to fill them.
“We need books,” she mumbled. “I think Mom still has my epic Nancy Drew collection from childhood. I feel like Clem might like those. She’s a reader.”
An invisible vise tightened around my chest, holding me in place, when all I wanted to do was reach out and learn more about my sister. Who was she? What made her light up? “Maybe we can take her to the bookstore and fill this place.”
Fal’s deep blue eyes sparked with light at that. “And to the secondhand store. They have tons of books there you can buy for like a nickel. And they’re all well-loved and have character.”
“Will you tell me more about them? My sisters?” I asked quietly.
A little of Fallon’s light dimmed, turning soft as if she understood my longing. “I can tell Gracie has quite the imagination. She’s quiet, but there’s always something going on behind it.”
I’d never met the little girl, but I’d seen her a handful of times at Keely’s birthday parties and school performances.
“Hayden … she’s the fiercest defender,” Fal began. “But I won’t lie. It’ll be a battle to win her trust.”
“That means she’s smart. World-wise.” But I hated the reasons she’d had to become that way.
“And with time, she’ll get her chance to be a kid,” Fallon said softly.
My back teeth ground together. “She will.”
“Come on. Let’s pick bedrooms for them.” Fallon shot me a smile as she headed for the stairs. We walked from room to room, trying to place my sisters in spaces that would speak to them.
Fallon stood in the hallway, her fingers drumming against those perfect, pink lips.
“They’ll want to be as close as possible.
” She spun in a circle, studying the layout as if she were doing an equation in the air.
“I think we should put Clem and Gracie here. The two rooms share a Jack-and-Jill bathroom. And Hayden can be across the hall. She’ll have her own bathroom but will still be close if they need her. ”
I nodded, trying to picture it all. “I want Ellie to really make their rooms come to life. Maybe you can ask them what some of their favorite things are.”
“Of course. I’ll get a list and give it to Ellie.” Fallon pulled her phone from her pocket, making a note.
I shoved my hands into the pockets of my leather jacket, too scared they’d give me away. “You want to see the primary suite?”
Fallon looked up at me, that phantom energy crackling between us. “Sure.”
I started toward the opposite side of the house and led because I wasn’t sure I could look at Fal when she saw the space.
Those gorgeous sunset rays beamed into the large room, casting it in pinks and golds.
The whole far wall was windows, and it looked out over the pond and to the Monarch Mountains and Castle Rock in the distance.
The view was enough to demand silence. Reverence. I could imagine a bed in this room, facing the windows that would make it feel like you were sleeping in the clouds.
“Kye?” Fallon asked, her voice quiet.
“Yeah?”
“Respectfully. Get the fuck out.”
It was the last thing I’d expected her to say, and it had me barking out a laugh as I turned to look at her. Fallon’s whole face was alight with shock, awe, and pure pleasure.
“This is a room fit for a princess,” she mumbled as she turned in circles.
“No,” I countered. “It’s fit for a queen.”
That stilled her. The spinning stopped, and her gaze cut to me. I saw infinite questions in her eyes.
I moved then, slowly crossing the space. The setting sun danced across Fallon’s face as she tracked every move I made. I stopped just shy of her, the scents of jasmine and coconut wrapping around me like a familiar embrace.
My fingers wrapped around the tiny piece of metal in my pocket as I met her hypnotic gaze. “You’re the last person I should be asking to do this with me.”
Fallon’s breath hitched, halting on a jerky inhale.
“It’s not fair. And it’s so damn far from what you deserve,” I continued.
Those blue depths sparked, and I saw a hint of temper there. “Shouldn’t I be the one to decide what I deserve?”
I stared at her for a long moment, trying to find the words. “You’re my person. The spark in the shadows. You carried me through when I didn’t think I’d survive. So, I’m never going to stop demanding that this world give you everything.”
Fallon’s delicate throat worked as she swallowed. “Kye …”
“This might not be a real marriage, and I might not be able to give you what you deserve, but I can give you this.”
I pulled the ring from my pocket, and Fallon sucked in an audible breath. The sunset rays made the rose gold glow in the fading light and brought the black diamond to life in a way I’d never seen.
“I’ve never …” Fallon struggled for words as she lifted her hand. “It’s perfect. Raw and real and stunning beyond measure.” Her gaze lifted to mine. “It’s you.”
Taking Fallon’s hand, I slid the ring onto her finger. “I will honor you every day of this marriage. And every day after it’s done. And no matter what comes, my battered and blackened heart will always be yours.”