Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
“I CAN’T BELIEVE it was Devon,” Cassie said from near the fireplace. She’d been shivering nonstop by the time they made it back to the lodge. “I thought he was my friend.”
“He’s not your friend.” Kendra, who’d been trying to escape through the hidden passageways, laughed.
Jayce had hauled her out of there, Amy’s blood still soaking her shirt—and she was laughing?
“You’re a passing fantasy,” she spat. “Just like the rest.”
“The rest?” Joel arched his brows.
Color rushed to her cheeks, and she bit her lip.
Had she spoken out of turn? Did she think Devon would punish her for saying too much?
What was their wacky relationship anyway?
Was he controlling her in some way, or was she a willing participant?
She sat, literally encircled by the remainder of the group.
Stuck in the middle of the couch with Lyle on one side and Scott on the other.
Heath, Mia, and Penelope sat in a makeshift row of chairs behind her, Jayce in a chair stationed in front of her, and the rest flanked her on the sides.
The lady couldn’t get out if she wanted to.
Though lady didn’t seem appropriate for a killer.
She sat forward, looking past Joel’s shoulder.
“Where is he?” Panic filled her eyes. “Where’s Devon?”
Joel cleared his throat. “I’m sorry to say he didn’t make it.”
Kendra narrowed her eyes, but fear anchored there. “You’re lying.”
“I’m afraid I’m not.”
Tears filled Kendra’s eyes, and her jaw locked in place, then she lunged at him. “You killed my brother!”
Jayce held her by the waist as she flailed at Joel, trying to kick and scratch him.
“Whoa!” Heath said, trying to help Jayce restrain her.
She swung at him, her fist colliding with his right eye.
He stumbled back, covering it. “Crazy witch!”
Finally, Joel and Jayce managed to force her into a chair, her hands bungeed behind her back.
“You’re Devon’s sister?” Joel asked.
“For all intents. We grew up in the foster system together. I was little and got picked on, but then he came and protected me,” she said with a far-off look in her brown eyes.
“Until they made him go away like you just did.” She tried to lunge forward again, nearly tipping the chair, but Jayce steadied it.
“Who made him go away?” Joel asked.
“I’m not telling you anything else.” Tears rolled from her eyes. “I will pay you back for this! I will pay you all back.”
Two days later
Cassie cuddled into Joel on the couch in her cabin, a roaring fire in the hearth.
When the main roads finally got cleared, they’d head home and begin their life together again.
At least that’s what she’d prayed. Everything had been swirling around them a million miles an hour.
Helicopters had finally made it in to rescue them from the old lodge.
Kendra had been arrested as soon as they’d landed, and Devon’s body would be retrieved by local police as soon as it was safe to do so.
She shifted to face him.
“What’s up?” He smiled.
“How do you know something is up?”
“I know you.”
“I hope you do.”
He shifted. “What’s running around that beautiful head of yours?”
“With everything happening, we never got a chance to really talk.”
He smiled. “We have time now.”
“I just want you to know that I never stopped loving you.” She shifted to face him better.
“You don’t know what a relief that is.” He arched a brow. “But?”
“But I see now I should have come to you in the first place. We could have fought this together like we did everything else, but—” Her words evaporated as he cupped her face and moved in for a passionate, over-the-moon kiss.
He kissed her with all the feelings he had been trying to stuff down for a year, and they broke through like the dawn after a long darkness. “Cassie,” he breathed, resting his forehead against hers.
Tears continued to roll down her face, but a smile graced her lips.
“Is this okay?” he asked, tracing his lips across her soft, tender ones.
“It’s a yearlong dream come true. I love you with all my heart, but I understand if you need more time, or if you don’t—”
“How can I kiss you like that and you not know how much I still love you?”
“You do? Even after everything?”
“Would I be here cuddling you, kissing you, if I didn’t?”
“No. I just . . . I don’t know how you could love me after what I did.”
He caressed her face. “You did it to protect me. And, regardless, my love never faltered.”
She smiled up at him. “Neither did mine.”
“I can’t tell you how amazing that is to hear. I never thought . . . I mean, I feared . . .” He swallowed.
She caressed his scruffy cheek.
“I can say it again.” She whispered it in his ear, then kissed his cheek, then whispered in his other ear and kissed that cheek, and then pressed her lips fully to his.