54. Knox
FIFTY-FOUR
KNOX
I stare down the road, squinting into the late morning sun as Ava turns for the door and grabs the loaded shotgun just inside the screen. I can’t see the gate from here, but I hear it squeak as it opens, and my body goes rigid.
I hold my hand out for the gun, eyes fixed on the vehicle rolling down the dirt road.
“Wait,” Ava gasps. “Didn’t we?—”
“Lock the gate,” I finish for her. “Yeah. I did it myself.” I step to the edge of the porch. If this car got onto the property without ramming the gate down, they know the code, and as a white sedan slowly draws closer, I hold my breath.
I grip the shotgun tighter in my hand. No one gets out of the car for what feels like the longest moment of my entire life, and I step off the porch into the gravel.
“Knox—”
“Get Tony from the barn,” I say as the driver’s side door of the sedan opens. A tall, dark-haired man steps out. A familiar man.
I take a step toward him, and only as my knees nearly buckle do I realize my entire body is trembling with a toxic, nearly paralyzing sense of anticipation. I take another step, then another—each step less hesitant than the last as I stare at my brother’s features. His eyes glisten in the bright morning, and his tussled black hair catches in the breeze.
“Am I imagining this?” I murmur. My heart is thrumming, and my chest is so tight I almost can’t breathe.
“Hey, little brother,” Kellen says. It’s a voice I have missed for years and have longed to hear for days. It’s achingly familiar and soothing all at once. Kellen’s eyes gleam and his chin trembles, and all my apprehension melts away.
In two slow strides, Kellen pulls me into his arms.
“I’d hoped,” I choke out, but it’s all I can manage as my brother squeezes me tighter. “I’d hoped,” I repeat. I can’t form words—I can barely form a coherent thought in my astonishment and relief.
Remotely, I register a guy standing on the passenger side of the car, younger than my brother but as equally disheveled, and relief washes over me again, knowing Kellen hasn’t been alone through all this.
He squeezes me tighter and exhales a deep, soul-stirring breath. “I knew I’d find you.”