Chapter 31
Wilder
The humidity clung to my skin the second I stepped off the plane.
It was a different kind of heat over here than in Texas, thick and slow moving. The kind that seeped through your clothes and down to your bones, making the fabric covering you cling to your body in an uncomfortable way.
Normally, it would have me wanting to crawl out of my skin, but today, I barely noticed it.
My head was too full of what I was going to say to Asher when I was finally face-to-face with him again.
Two days—that was how long it had taken me to get the ranch in order and square things away with Sully, all the while talking myself off every ledge I came across trying to justify why I should wait. Why I should be giving it time before I sprung a surprise visit on him without warning.
But time was the very thing that had been eating me alive since he’d left. I couldn’t focus, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t even stand to be in my own damn skin anymore.
So, I packed a bag as soon as I could and boarded a flight before I could talk myself out of it entirely.
The rideshare dropped me off in front of a small, cozy-looking house nestled just outside of the main streets of the city.
It was modest, surrounded by trimmed hedges and one of those novelty bass-shaped mailboxes with a gaping mouth and whose colors had long since faded under the Louisiana sun.
The porch steps had deep cracks in the concrete, small flecks of them crumbling under my boots as I walked up them.
I stared at the front door, and the gold plated house number attached to it, rubbing my sweaty hands at my sides.
What if he didn’t want to see me?
What if I’d already broken things between us beyond repair to be fixed?
I had to know, though. I had to be sure that I wasn’t leaving things on the table unsaid, turning over every stone before walking away and leaving it be.
My fingers hovered in the air for a long moment, trembling before they finally made contact with the wood.
Once. Twice. Three times.
Each knock echoed louder than the last.
No answer.
I shifted my weight along with the bag looped over my shoulder and tried to breathe through the thumping my heart was doing against the inside of my chest.
If he wasn’t home, I supposed I could sit out here and wait on the steps. Then again, if his brother came home first and found me, there was a good possibility I’d get the cops called on me to come drag me off their property and throw me in the slammer for a few nights.
Shit, his brother.
I wasn’t thinking about that when I’d gotten on that plane.
Maybe it was better if I called and asked Asher to meet me somewhere private.
Having this conversation with his brother within earshot wasn’t exactly going to help me plead my case.
I doubted I was going to win his approval after sending Asher home in the state he’d been in when we last spoke.
If he was as good of a brother as Asher preached he was, I’d sooner find a fist flying my way than a kind welcome inside.
Just as I was about to turn around and head back down the steps, the door suddenly cracked open.
And there he was.
Hair a little messy, face flushed like he’d just woken up from a nap or maybe been crying—God, that thought made my throat tighten—but he was still the most beautiful, gut-wrecking thing I’d ever laid my eyes on.
His expression flickered from surprise to disbelief so fast I barely caught the shift. “Wilder?”
I nodded slowly, jamming my hands deep into the pockets of my jeans to keep him from noticing them shaking. “Yeah. Hey.”
He blinked at me, still halfway behind the door. His grip on it was tight, his fingers turning a pale white while his eyes roamed over me slowly, his brow furrowing.
“What...” He started, blinking a few times. “Why are you here?”
“Can I come in?” I asked, quietly.
He hesitated. I saw the debate cross his face—the hurt, the defensive need to protect himself, everything I’d put there because of how I ended things.
All valid reasons for him to turn me away, shut the door and lock it behind him, giving me the answer I deserved instead of the one I was begging for him to give me.
I wouldn’t blame him for doing that. Never. I’d understand, even though it would kill me to get back on a plane, alone, and return to the ranch with no one else beside me.
Finally, after a few seconds that felt more like a lifetime, he stepped aside to let me in. I wanted to scoop him up right there and hug him tight but held back, giving him space as I walked through the doorway and into his home.
The inside was dim, cooler than I expected. A box fan hummed in the corner of the living room, circulating the humid air. The couch in the middle of it was scattered with blankets and a pillow, a tv show quietly droning on in the background.
It smelled like lemon cleaner and the faint, lingering scent of Asher.
Turning back to look at him, I caught Asher still standing by the door, his hand still wrapped around the knob, eyes swimming with uncertainty. Couldn’t say I blamed him. Me showing up here out of the blue after days of no contact, right on the heels of my rejection, had to be confusing.
I opened my mouth to say something but before I could get a word out, a voice echoed from somewhere deeper in the house.
“Asher? Who was at the door?”
“Fuck,” Asher muttered under his breath.
Heavy footsteps moved down the hallway closest to us, growing louder with each step until a man around my age rounded the corner. He had on a dark navy t-shirt with the Baton Rouge fire department insignia stamped on the right side of the chest, the hem tucked into a pair of dickies.
The moment his gaze landed on me, his expression hardened. “Oh, no. No, no, no. Absolutely not.”
Asher moved quickly, stepping fully into the space between us with his arms out like a human barricade. “Gage—”
“Out,” Gage snapped at me, pointing a finger toward the door. “Get out of my house.”
His tone wasn’t just protective—it was lethal. Like the very sight of me had lit a fuse to a bomb he’d been holding in since the day Asher came home to him shattered. In all honesty, it probably had.
“Gage,” Asher growled again, this time with more force. “Stop.”
“No. He doesn’t get to show up here like nothing happened. Not after what he did to you.” His eyes narrowed at me dangerously. “Did you know this is the first time he’s talked since I picked him up from the fucking airport?”
I flinched.
God, fuck, that was—
So much worse than I imagined.
I hadn’t let myself picture what Asher was like after I sent him away.
Hadn’t let myself linger on what that would’ve been like or the sound of the silence he must’ve sat in the entire trip back to his house.
But hearing from Gage about it, knowing I had shut him down so thoroughly he couldn’t even speak to the one person who always knew how to comfort him?
That was unforgivable.
“Oh my god.” Asher shoved at his brother’s chest. “Can you lay off?”
“No!”
“You remember I’m the emotional one, right?
I’m not a stunted idiot like Grey. Sue me for being in my feelings for a few days while I moped around and ate shitty food because I didn’t want to talk to you about it yet.
” Asher shoved him again, this time with enough force to knock him back a few steps.
“That wasn’t moping, Asher,” Gage argued back.
“Fine. Wallowing. Whatever.”
“I’m not here to cause trouble,” I said, swallowing hard. “I just... want to talk to him. But if he wants me to go, I will. I promise I will.”
Asher’s head whipped around to look at me again, a surprising fire burning in his eyes when he met my gaze. “You aren’t going anywhere.”
The corner of my lip twitched as I fought the urge to smile.
“Oh, yes he is,” Gage spat back. “He had his chance to talk to you. Actually, he had a million chances to talk and what he did was use them all to tell you that you weren’t good enough to stay!”
Asher turned back to his brother, a long, drawn out groan leaving him. “Can you stop being a mother hen for two seconds? Please?”
“He doesn’t deserve another shot, Asher,” Gage said.
“You’re right, I don’t,” I replied, quietly.
That got both of their attention. Asher looked back at me once more, a deep frown tugging at his mouth.
“I know I don’t deserve another chance,” I continued, taking a step forward, breathing out slowly to calm my nerves.
“I never will. That’s not why I’m here. I came to apologize and express what a giant idiot I’ve been this entire time.
You don’t need to accept my apology, Asher.
I wanted to give one to you, though, regardless of what happens afterward. ”
There was a long silence.
Gage’s eyes stayed locked on me, jaw ticking as he warred with the impulse to send me flying out the front door just on principle. But then, after what felt like hours, he exhaled hard through his nose and stepped back, reluctantly lowering his arm down to his side again.
“Five minutes. That’s all I’m giving you before I throw you out the door.” He didn’t say anything else, just turned and walked stiffly down the hallway. The sound of a door clicking shut followed behind him a few seconds later, the soft noise somehow louder than the yelling that had come before it.
I looked at Asher again. “I shouldn’t have sent you away. I never actually wanted to, I just...”
His jaw clenched. “But you did.”
“I know.” My voice caught, forcing me to swallow the lump forming. “I’m not here to make excuses for that. Or to tell you it didn’t matter. Or that Sully made me do it. It was all me. I was scared. What I feel for you is... a lot. More than anything I’ve ever felt for anyone before. I panicked.”
I took a step forward, waited for him to mirror me by taking one back.
When he didn’t, I continued. “Letting you go—that was a mistake. The biggest one I’ve ever made.”
Asher swallowed hard, his arms folding across his chest. “You didn’t even let me talk you out of it.”
“I know,” I said again, quieter this time. “I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you, Asher.”
His eyes glistened again, and this time a tear slipped free, trailing down his cheek before he could swipe it away.
I reached out to touch him, my fingers skimming along the soft curve of his cheek. “You’re it for me. Life never made sense until you came into it. I don’t want to wake up in a world without you in it, by my side. I can’t do it. I won’t.”
His voice, when it came again, was small and cracked and heartbreaking. “You really mean that?”
I nodded immediately. “Every damn word.”
Asher stared at me for a long moment, then he launched himself into my arms.
It wasn’t graceful or soft. It was desperate and tight and overwhelming, an entire package wrapped together in that all-encompassing way of his that never failed to amaze me.
He crashed into my chest, arms winding around my neck as he pulled me in like he was afraid I might vanish if he blinked hard enough.
“You’re never sending me away again,” he whispered. “Promise me.”
“I won’t,” I swore. “Ever. You’re mine.”
We stood there like that for a while, wrapped up in each other until Asher eventually shifted away slightly, just enough to give me room to press my lips along his forehead, his cheekbone, over to his nose.
His light laugh eased the lingering fear inside my chest, helped me breathe fully for the first time in days.
“So... Gage is probably pacing around his room like a feral cat.”
I huffed a soft laugh, resting my forehead against his. “Yeah, I’d believe that.”
He looked away for a second before he said, “I want to introduce you to him. Like, officially.”
That had me blinking in surprise. Not just because it meant he was letting me back in. He wasn’t simply forgiving me and moving on. He was claiming me, out loud, in front of one of the people who mattered most to him.
“You sure?” I asked, gently.
Asher nodded. “Yeah. I mean... he’ll grumble and glare and probably make a few more threats to get his ex-military fiancé to kick your ass, but if he sees that you’re serious—and if you’re willing to stand there and take it for a little while—he’ll come around. He always does.”
I didn’t hesitate. “Then let’s do it.”
A flicker of relief crossed his face. “I want him to know this isn’t a mistake. That we’re not a temporary thing. That I chose you and you chose me back.”
I leaned down and kissed his forehead, moving down to kiss both corners of his mouth. “I’ll show him I’m serious about you. I don’t care what I have to do if it means you coming back to Texas with me.”
“Okay,” he whispered with a smile, threading our fingers together tightly. “Let’s prove it.”