Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CLOVER
The bed is soft and hot. Too hot. The room smells like pine needles, coffee, and Irish Spring soap.
For three terrifying seconds, I don’t remember where I am. Unfamiliar male voices are arguing in the distance.
My other senses kick in, registering the wall of heat that’s pressed to my back. Solid, steady breaths regulating my own.
I’m not in Happiness anymore.
One crooked picture on the wall. Two locks on the door. Three sweaters folded on the chair.
Then the memories of the last couple of days rip away the peace I was attempting to find.
The stalker wall. The letters. The dress. The photo of Miriam’s body.
It had to be Miriam on the ground because a betrayal by her would be the final crack in my armor that sends me spiraling to a level I won’t recover from.
Then there was the text that all but proves it.
Mother’s waiting.
I sit up too fast, and the room spins.
She’s not my fucking mother.
I’m not back there.
I’m not at the compound.
“Easy.” Valen’s voice is rough and throaty. His hand rests on my shoulder, steadying me. “We’re safe, remember? You’re so strong, Clover.”
I nod, not trusting my voice yet.
The bed shifts as he sits up, and I glance over my shoulder. He’s shirtless, his hair’s a mess, and his eyes are red-rimmed as if he hasn’t slept. There’s also a letter in his hand, and my face heats.
“You stayed,” I say. The words scratch and claw at my throat.
“I told you I would.” He carefully sets the letter down on the nightstand, as if it’s made of glass. “How do you feel?”
How do I feel?
Exhausted. Terrified. Violated. Angry.
But also—oddly—hungry. The scent of bacon clicks in my brain, and now I know why. I’ve never been able to turn down bacon.
“I could eat,” I say, and his face breaks into the first real smile I’ve seen in days.
“That’s my girl.”
His girl. A full-body flush erases the chill that’s invaded my skin since we arrived at the compound. It’s what I’ve waited for, right? To be his girl?
Regardless of what people called me—desperate, lonely, messed up—there was never another option for me. I was always meant to be his, and he was meant to be mine. I feel the truth of it as vividly as my own heartbeat.
In the next room, the voices get louder.
Chief’s gravelly tone makes me smile, and what sounds like Chase’s laugh eases some of the tension in my shoulders.
Through all the chaos out there, someone’s cooking, and I can almost hear the sizzle of frying bacon as the smell drifts through the crack-open door.
“What time is it?” I ask through a yawn. I’m still exhausted. Mentally, physically, emotionally drained. Yet there’s an undercurrent of excitement I’ve never had before.
“Almost nine.” Valen runs a hand through his messy hair, and my gaze falls to the stacks of letters on his nightstand, each pile bound with elastic or ribbon. “I’ve been reading.”
His bloodshot eyes and dark circles now make sense. “All night?”
“Yeah.” He stares at something behind me, almost as if he’s ashamed. “Clover, I—”
This time, I’m the one to reach for his hand. “I’m glad you’re reading them. I want you to, truly. I want you to know all of it, if that’s what you want. It’s your history as much as mine.”
“You were fucking pissed in some of them.” That’s where the guilt in his eyes is coming from.
“Anger that stemmed from fear, Valen. Fear for you, for me, but mostly for us.”
He brings my hand to his lips and kisses my knuckles one by one.
“You were so brave to have hope when you had every reason not to. I’m not sure I would have been strong enough to hold on to it if I’d never gotten a response.
I was never even given the opportunity to acknowledge you.
That will be a regret, a painful one, that I’ll carry forever. ”
“I was naive and stupid.”
“You were faithful.” His gaze holds me hostage, blue eyes so intense that my chest splinters. “I haven’t had much faith in the life that I remember, Honeybee. But I’ll prove to you that yours wasn’t wasted.”
He closes his eyes to hide the dark shadow flickering there, but I saw it. I’ll always see it.
“Valen?”
He shakes his head, squeezing his eyes tighter.
“I read what you went through, Clover. The punishments. The dark room. How she used you to control me, and I read how hard you worked in therapy to undo all those years of manipulation.” His voice cracks, and when he opens his eyes, they’re devastating in their beautiful pain.
“And I keep asking myself—what if I can’t protect you now either?
What if I fail you again and this time, I remember it? ”
The rawness of his heartache undoes me. This is Valen Stone—the man who runs a security empire, who has never shown me anything but strength—and he’s terrified. Not of my stalker. Not of his mother. But of himself.
“You didn’t fail me then,” I say firmly. “You were a child. We both were. And you won’t fail me now. I—”
Before I can continue—before I can even process his fears—Chase’s voice booms through the cabin.
“Clover, if you don’t come get your breakfast, I’m feeding your bacon to Wrecks. He already ate the grease like a fucking animal.”
“Don’t you dare!” I’m out of bed with Valen’s laughter following me down the hallway when I pause, causing him to run into my back.
I’m barreling toward the life I want, and not once did a fear creep in.
“Are you okay?” Valen asks, placing one hand on my hip as if he thinks I need grounding.
“I—I just ran toward near-strangers—for bacon—without a single thought of how or if they’d hurt me. That’s…new.”
His hand squeezes my hip—a loving gesture I’ll never tire of. “That’s love, Clover. It’s family. Not the toxic kind from our past, but family the way I think it’s supposed to be. Loud. Messy. And more loyal than even that beast of a dog who ate Grant’s shoes this morning.”
Thump. Thump.
Thump. Thump.
I think my heart is expanding with each solid beat, creating space for these guys as if they were always supposed to be a part of me.
“Family,” I agree. “And do you know what my family in Happiness taught me?”
“What?” he asks, slowly nudging me toward the chaos, toward his family, toward love.
“That family will never allow you to fail. So, when you’re terrified that you won’t protect me, just remember, it doesn’t rest squarely on your shoulders anymore. We have an army.”
Emotion wells in his eyes as he ruminates on my words. They land exactly how I hoped they would—because we aren’t alone anymore. We have each other, and we have people who love us.
The kitchen is chaos in the best way when we enter.
Chief is at the stove, flipping pancakes.
Sterling leans against the counter, nursing a coffee and looking even worse than Valen.
Grant is at the table on his laptop, typing furiously, looking a little terrifying, if I’m honest. And Chase is indeed holding a piece of bacon over Wrecks’ head, making the dog dance on his hind legs.
“That’s so mean.” I laugh. “Give him the bacon.”
Chase meets my smile with one of his own, except I can see how devastating his could be. There’s more to this man than the playboy he projects to the world—it’s there in his posture, how he clocks each of his brothers without even turning his head.
“See? I knew this would get her attention.”
“Dogs need nutrition,” Sterling mutters. “Not processed meat.”
“Bacon is basically its own food group,” Chase says, which earns him a high five from Chief.
Grant peers up from his laptop, his expression softening when he sees me. “How are you feeling?”
“Okay.” I slide into a chair across from him. He radiates big brother energy that always draws me to him. “Better than yesterday, anyway.”
“Good, because we need to talk strategy, but first, you need to check in with your other family. Savvy is fucking annoying when she’s scared.”
Guilt makes my shoulders sink. “I hate that I’m putting them through this. They’ve been through so much already.”
“Did you walk away when Savvy was being tormented by her ex?” Sterling asks. “Did you walk away when Madison was being harassed by the paparazzi?”
I frown but don’t open my mouth.
“No, because that’s not what family does,” he answers for me. “They love you, and it wouldn’t be fair to cut them out of your life in your time of need.”
Grant slides a phone my way just as Chief places a plate of pancakes and bacon in front of me.
Another coil of fear that tethered me to the past unwinds somewhere deep in my soul. “You’re right. Okay, everyone, squeeze in for a selfie.”
I hold the phone expectantly, and after a lot of groaning, all six men cram their faces together to fit in the screen, and I take a ton of pictures.
When I finally lower the phone, I zoom in on the one I like best, and my chest cracks into a million joyful pieces. I look…happy.
Before I can talk myself out of it, I text it to Madi, Savvy, and Elle.
The replies come in record time.
Savvy: You look so happy.
Elle: I love your smile.
Madi: Why-choose research?
Valen groans loudly as he reads over my shoulder. “What’s wrong with your friends?”
Chase pushes forward to peer over my shoulder too and howls with laughter. “I like that one, but there’s not a chance in hell that I’m crossing swords with any of my brothers. Ever.” He shivers, and it pulls another laugh from me as I reply.
Me: I am happy. Scared. Worried. Anxious. But happy.
Me: And safe. Just look at my protection detail.
Savvy: They would make a handsome why-choose cover.
“Jesus Christ,” Grant mutters, then returns to typing on his laptop. I hadn’t realized he was reading the messages too. “I hate to cut you short, but we need to get organized. The longer we wait, the more time she has to plan.”
“But after you eat. And only if you’re ready,” Valen says with a slight growl to the words, his hand on my shoulder a steady reminder that I’m not alone anymore.