19. Gwen #2
He must realize I’m watching him, because he abruptly pivots to catch my eyes.
Time stands still for a beat, and the chatter in the crowded room fades to a dull hum.
“You okay?” he mouths, and for a man who took off on me out of guilt that didn’t belong to him, he sure has a way of caring about me as if he didn’t kill me by leaving.
You came back for me.
Saved me.
You’re here now.
I let those reminders stick, replacing the pain trying to sneak up on me. The hurt his absence caused. I hope he doesn’t know why I was in Dubai in the first place—to try and get over losing my best guy friend.
“I’m okay,” I mouth back as Dallas paws my leg.
I break from Diana’s hug to crouch and pet her dog, scratching him behind the ears. “Have you been a good boy keeping your mom and Matteo safe?”
Dallas bops his nose against mine in a definitive yes but croons his displeasure as soon as I stand tall. He runs back to his dad, who’s holding his two-year-old at his hip while talking to Gray, who co-runs Falcon.
Gray’s my stepmum’s brother. A.k.a. my uncle. He was the one who opened the door for us, making him the first to scoop me into his arms for a hug. Juliette and her son were the next in line, narrowly beating Gray’s best friend, Jack, to get to me.
“I’d ask how you are, but . . .” Diana’s words trail off, and maybe she’s remembering when she was once taken? Her abduction ultimately brought her and Carter together, and Easton into my life by joining Falcon back then.
“I’m, um, hanging in there.” I remove my hair tie and slip it onto my wrist. Needing to keep my hands busy, I fuss with untangling my hair from the braid. “Zoey and Easton never had a Jesse-and-Ella moment,” I blurt out.
Diana blinks. So do I, but I also blush. Dammit. Did I really just admit that out loud?
Attempting to mask my discomfort, I take another look around the room. I don’t see Zoey, Julian, or Gideon in here, so I guess they decided this homecoming wasn’t for them. I’m sure Carter already gave them their room keys, and they’re busy settling in now.
Zoey gave Carter hell about joining us here back at the airport. She’s stubborn. But after a lot of insistence—ordering on Carter’s part—Zoey hesitantly surrendered.
“Do you mean they never turned their fake marriage into a real relationship?” Diana asks, her tone soft as she puts together what I meant.
If it was Griffin’s wife, Savanna would’ve understood it in 0.
1 seconds. She writes romance novels, and I’ve heard that’s a “top tier trope”—whatever that means.
I do a lot more coding than reading. Well, unless you count reading about coding as a thing.
Though, I have to admit, I did read Savanna’s books to support her, and let’s just say they’re quite spicy.
“Gwen?”
Thank you for interrupting my chaotic thoughts. Seriously, I need help. More sleep at the very least. “I have no idea why I told you that. It’s something Elaina said to me. But nope, they didn’t become a thing.”
“Of course they didn’t.” She removes her glasses and cleans them on her shirt before placing them at the bridge of her nose.
Speaking of Ella and Jesse . . . they head my way for their turn, stopping Diana from whatever else she planned to say about Zoey and Easton’s marriage cover story.
Diana falls back, giving them a chance to say their hellos.
Ella hugs me first, then Jesse pulls me in next. “I’m so fucking sorry,” he rasps in my ear. “We should’ve gotten there in time.”
“Don’t,” I beg as he lets me go. “All the apologies in the world don’t change the fact it wasn’t anyone’s fault but whoever took me.”
I’m not sure if anyone’s clued Jesse in on the real reason Easton and Zoey were on that island in the first place, but if not, now isn’t the time for me to bring it up.
The assassin who allegedly killed the love of Zoey’s life also placed Ella in danger before he died—talk of that murderer is a sore subject for Jesse.
“Daddy said a lot of bad words after those men took you,” Remi says while tugging my jeans. He’s already four, and where has the time gone?
“Oh he did, did he?” Ella folds her arms and peers at her husband.
Jesse shakes his head. “It was supposed to be our secret that you ever saw the CCTV footage or heard me swear.”
Of course Remi has CCTV in his vocabulary. Makes perfect sense.
He hoists him up to his side, and Remi clutches hold of his Henley.
“Momma says secrets are bad,” he drawls, his cute Southern accent cutting through.
“You tell him,” Ella teases, then scans the crowded room of operators and their families.
“It looks like you’ll need to be a teacher while you’re here.” I nod to the little ones running around.
Carter’s son, Matteo, is grabbing hold of Dallas’s tail and cracking up, and Dallas looks on the verge of getting the zoomies.
“I reckon I can do that.” Ella smiles, then takes Remi from Jesse and helps him to his feet. “But I’ll need your help. What do you say? Can you be my assistant teacher?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Remi salutes her.
“Nothing like his father, as you can tell.” Ella laughs. “But really, my husband is horrible at taking orders.” She winks at Jesse, and he reaches around and slaps her butt just as Mya joins us, ready for her turn with me.
If I’m being honest, she’s the one I’m most nervous to talk to.
We’re close—like really close, actually—but out of everyone here, she truly understands the hell I survived, and I’m really not up for revisiting that nightmare.
I’d rather pretend it wasn’t real. That I’m simply at a family reunion and someone is about to bust out Blanco Brown’s “The Git Up.”
“Mind if I steal her?” Mya asks.
Since she’s five and a half months pregnant, I do my best not to squash her stomach as we hug. “I’m so sorry you had to come out here, especially while pregnant.”
“Don’t worry about me. How are you?”
“I take it you heard about what almost happened to me on that island.” I untangle myself from our hug, and she glances at the wolf pack behind us, then angles her head to the guest bedroom.
I toss my jacket on an armchair and quietly follow her, but I feel eyes on my back. The kind of gaze that’s overprotective and loving. Probably Dad.
Resting my hand on the doorframe, I glance back to confirm I’m right. But I’m not. It’s Easton piercing me with a steely look. He’s no longer holding his niece, just . . . well, staring at me while Oliver and Griffin talk to him. Not listening at all.
The world goes quiet yet again, and this man and I might as well be the only two here.
I close my eyes, inhale, then force myself to go into the room.
Mya closes the door behind us and gestures to the guest bed. I walk over and have a seat, my restless hands toying with the charms on my bracelet.
“I just want you to know I’m here for you. If it’s too soon to talk, I understand. But I have your back.” She sits by me, setting a hand over her slight baby bump.
How do I explain to her that I’m okay without making her feel bad at the fact she wasn’t after what she went through? We all respond to trauma differently, I know that, but . . .
“I just want to focus on finding this woman before she can do damage with my rig.” That’s the only truth I know. “Diving into work is all I want to do.”
“Of course.” She rests her free hand on my forearm, and I let go of the bracelet. “And we’ll find her. We’ll put an end to this fast. It’s what we do.”
I nod, doing my best to keep it together so I don’t contradict what I just said and expose the storm of confusion swirling around inside me. “I’ll be okay, though, I promise. And Easton, well, he’s back where he belongs, so I have to believe he’ll be just fine, too.”
Only time will tell.
That evil woman’s timer on her mobile flashes through my mind, an unwelcome reminder. And why does it feel like I have a timer over my head?
Counting down until something bad happens.
For real this time.