Chapter 25
DILLON
Boone peeled out of the driveway fifteen minutes ago, muttering something about a problem in town and how we’ll talk when he gets back. I don’t question him. Curiosity is my default setting, but the tension in his voice tells me this isn’t the time to ask questions.
My gut churns. It’s impossible not to worry. We’ve been waiting for trouble, and then he suddenly takes off like that. Still, I stay at my desk with three monitors glowing, two keyboards going, and a half-eaten cookie sitting on a napkin beside me.
I’m elbows-deep in a data scrape when the doorbell rings. Once. Twice. A third time, like whoever’s out there has zero patience.
Since Boone told me to keep Roxie inside and out of sight, I get up, shaking my head at her when she moves to do the same. I jog downstairs, groaning when the bell rings for a fourth time. “Who the hell?”
I open the door and nearly laugh out loud at who I find standing on the other side, shivering her ass off in her hooker heels and a fashionable coat that doesn’t stand a chance against a Montana winter.
It’s Snow White. If Snow White were a vindictive, narcissistic, soul-sucking nightmare. Tessa. Boone’s ex-wife.
“Dillon,” she says, her voice sugary in an artificial-sweetener way. “You look older.”
“Time does tend to move forward after ten years. You should try it sometime, the whole moving forward thing.”
Her smile tightens. “Where’s Boone?”
It’s more a demand than a question, and she tries to brush past me without waiting for an invitation. I step in front of her, blocking her path. I don’t care if she freezes her fake-ass cheeks off out here. “Nope. We’re not doing that. You can’t just waltz into this house like you own it.”
She lifts a brow. “I owned half of everything he had, actually.”
“Yeah, but then you divorced him, took your payout, and vanished to chase whatever plastic surgeon you were sleeping with. Let’s not play pretend, shall we?”
She crosses her arms. “I know he’s home. There’s nowhere else to go in this godforsaken town. Get out of my way, Dillon. I need to talk to him.”
“He’s not here.”
She stares up at me, obviously trying to figure out if I’m lying.
“I hear he’s doing well,” she says after a beat, lowering her voice like she’s offering condolences at a funeral. “Very well, actually. In fact, from what I’ve heard, you’ve all been exceptionally successful with your little computer business.”
And there is her motive for being here.
Her eyes sweep the interior over my shoulder, calculating. Taking mental inventory. Assessing assets the same way some people appraise jewelry at a pawn shop.
I don’t know where Boone is at this exact second, but I suddenly want to call and warn him to drive in circles until she’s gone.
Before I can discreetly slide my phone out of my pocket to fire off a text, footsteps sound on the stairs, and then Roxie comes into view. She’s still wearing one of Boone’s shirts, her hair in a loose side braid, but she stops halfway down the steps when she sees the woman in front of me.
Tessa’s smile evaporates. Her gaze flicks over Roxie like she’s lint, but her saccharine tone returns. “Oh. I didn’t realize you were… entertaining.”
Even across the distance between us, I feel Roxie tense, and my patience officially taps out. I step forward, crowding Tessa back out of the front doorway. “You need to leave. Now.”
She blinks at me like I’ve spoken in binary, but then she scoffs and snaps, “I’m not going anywhere until I speak to Boone. He and I have history. That matters to some people, Dillon. You can’t possibly think—”
“I don’t need to think,” I cut in. “I know that he finally figured out he deserves better than someone who loved his money more than she loved him.”
Her nostrils flare, and I’m absurdly delighted that I’ve gotten under her skin. Roxie comes down the last of the stairs, her footsteps quiet but steady. Brave. Strong.
Tessa’s lips curl into a sneer. “So, this is my replacement? Cute. I guess Boone downgraded.”
Roxie flinches, and I swear to God, I see red. I take another step forward, my voice lower now and sharp as a blade. “Say something like that again. I dare you.”
Tessa scoffs again. “You can’t throw me out. Boone and I—”
“Are done. Over. Fossilized. And if you think you can saunter back into his life because you heard he made a few good business moves, then let me be crystal clear about this.”
I swing the door wide and step back, my eyes never leaving hers. “Get the fuck out of town and never come back.”
She stares at me, clearly shocked, but then she switches tactics, narrowing her eyes at Roxie like she’s found a weak spot. “I’ll be back. This isn’t finished.”
“Oh, it definitely is,” I mutter, completely ignoring the menace in her tone.
She huffs, tightens her ridiculously tiny coat around her, and stomps down the front stairs, her heels sinking into the snow. I slam the door shut, lock it, and blow out a long breath. Roxie stands a few feet away, her arms wrapped around herself and her face ashen.
“Are you okay?” I ask, walking over and wrapping my hands around her hips. “Ignore her. She’s an asshole.”
Roxie nods, but her eyes are too shiny. “That was Boone’s ex?”
“Yeah, but trust me, she’s even worse on the inside.”
Roxie lets out a shaky laugh, and I slide an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into me, protective to the point of feeling feral. “Don’t worry. We won’t let her anywhere near you. Or Boone. Or this family.”
I don’t say it out loud, but even as I hold her, I know it in my bones that this isn’t the last we’ll see of Tessa. She isn’t going to go quietly into the night.
Sighing as I guide Roxie into the kitchen, I don’t let go of her until she stops shaking. Even then, I keep one hand on the small of her back, partly because she needs the reassurance and partly because I do.
Tessa showing up like a bad virus isn’t just inconvenient. It’s a threat, and I’m not above admitting I feel protective enough to bite because of it.
I put the kettle on, grab Roxie’s favorite mug, and drop in the herbal tea she likes. I set it in front of her at the island, then hop up on the counter across from her.
No laptop, no multitasking, no jokes. Just me watching her wrap both hands around the warm mug even before it’s steeped enough. She glances up at me. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t expect…”
“Tessa?” I snort after she trails off. “No one expects Tessa. She’s like a migraine with eyelashes, shows up uninvited and ruins your whole day.”
She lets out a quiet laugh, but she also stares into her tea like she’s trying to read omens in leaves that aren’t even there. “She’s beautiful, and confident, and she was married to him. I’m sure she thinks she can just walk back in and—”
“No,” I cut in, sharper than I mean to. She looks up, and I soften my voice. “Tessa being here changes nothing, Rox. Boone hasn’t loved her in a very, very long time.”
She doesn’t argue, but she doesn’t look convinced either, so I lean back against the counter and let out a slow, long breath. “Look, while it’s just the two of us, I’ll level with you in a way Chance won’t and Boone can’t. Boone isn’t objective when it comes to what really happened back then.”
“And you are?”
I shrug. “I was there through it all. I saw it go down.”
“So, what happened?” I look right into her eyes. “Boone has always been a good guy. Stupidly honorable. Loyal to the bone. Strong as hell. The kind of man who’d jump in a river to save someone’s dog even if he couldn’t swim.”
She smiles softly. “I can picture that.”
“Yeah. Well. That was him long before the UFC trophies or the notoriety. But the fame?” I shake my head. “It messed with him. For a little while. He was young, thought he was invincible, and he was suddenly wanted by everyone who was interested in cock. And Tessa…”
I make a face. “Tessa is that girl. The one all the fighters talked about and the media drooled over. Every one of her Instagram posts got a million likes. But she only wanted Boone. After he started winning, of course. After the sponsorships started coming. After the paydays became something worth talking about.”
Roxie’s hands tighten on the mug. “She loved the spotlight.”
“She loved being in the spotlight with Boone. Big difference.” I slide off the counter, moving to stand between her knees. “She was all promises of wild nights, anything-goes sex, party after party. She made him feel like a god for about five minutes.”
Roxie swallows hard. “Then what happened?”
“Then,” I say softly, “Boone realized the sparkle was fake and that she didn’t give a damn about him. Not the real him, anyway. Not the man who loved quietly and wanted a home. A family. Stability. She wanted the celebrity. The image. Not Boone Callaghan.”
Her eyes lift to mine. “Has he ever looked back?”
“Not once.” I brush my thumb over her cheek. “Not since the day the papers were signed. Hell, even before that, he was way over it. He just wanted her gone. Gave her a lot more than she was entitled to just to speed things along.”
She breathes out slowly. “She tried to make me feel so small.”
“She tries to make everyone feel small,” I say. “It’s her superpower, but it doesn’t work on us. And next time, you’ll be prepared, and it won’t work on you either.”
Her eyes soften. “Dillon?”
“Yeah?”
Her lower lip trembles a little. “I don’t ever want to come between you guys. I don’t ever want to be the reason something breaks.”
“Roxie, you’re the reason everything finally fits.”
I cup her face and kiss her. Not rushed or hungry, but deep and sure and slow, the way I’ve watched Chance do it when he needs her to believe something.
Her hands ball into fists in my shirt. She tugs me closer, and something in my chest flips upside down and sets up permanent residence there. When I pull back, I rest my forehead against hers, breathing hard.
“I love you,” I say.
Her eyes widen, but I keep going, because stopping isn’t an option anymore.
“I didn’t say it before because I didn’t want you thinking it was just because of the baby or just because Boone said it.
It’s not. It’s because I love you. I love everything about you.
Your bravery, your softness, your fire, the way you look at us like we’re worth loving. ”
A tear slides down her cheek and I catch it with my thumb. “I love you, Roxie. Tessa showing up doesn’t change a damn thing. She’s Boone’s past. You’re his future. Our future.”
Her breathing stutters, but then she whispers, “I love you, too.”
As soon as she says it, it feels like the world finally clicks into place. I pull her up into my arms, holding her for the longest time before I decide we’re calling it a day.
“Come on,” I murmur against her hair. “Let’s go watch cheesy rom coms with some hot cocoa in front of the fire.”
“That sounds good.”
She burrows into me on the couch, and we spend the rest of the afternoon right there.
When Boone and Chance finally come home, I see in the tightness etched into their features but neither of them says a word about it. Roxie and I don’t tell them about Tessa either.
They just come to join us on the couch with the pizza they brought back from town, and we eat while watching movies that Chance hates but tolerates because it means getting to spend time with Roxie.
After dinner, snow starts drifting down in lazy white curtains, and we take her upstairs. She rubs her eyes, trying not to yawn, but she’s exhausted. The pregnancy has been kicking her ass a little harder this week, and she practically melts into Boone when he helps her onto the bed.
He sits down beside her first, brushing her hair back with his big hand. He kisses her, slow and lingering, like he’s memorizing the feel of her lips, then he whispers something against her forehead I don’t catch. But I can see in his eyes it’s soft and fierce.
Chance leans down next, cupping the back of her neck like he always does. His kiss is gentler, more careful, the protective kind that makes her exhale into him.
Then it’s my turn. I smooth the blanket up over her belly, bend down, and kiss her temple. When she turns her face toward me, I kiss her mouth, letting her feel everything I didn’t say out loud until earlier.
“Goodnight, gorgeous,” I murmur. “Get some rest, okay? Our babies need it.”
“Aye-aye, Captain,” she teases, even giving me a mock salute, but her eyelids flutter shut before any of us even reach the door.
We pull it mostly closed, leaving just a crack so we can hear her if she needs anything.
Downstairs, Chance cracks open a beer and hands us one each. We all sit in the living room with the glow of the fireplace bouncing off the first real snowstorm of the season. The wind picks up, whistling through the eaves.
November in the Montana mountains. I take a long pull from my bottle, bracing myself for what I have to say now that it’s just us.
“We’ve got a problem, boys.”
Boone’s gaze sharpens on mine.
“Tessa showed up today,” I say.
Chance straightens immediately, groaning as he rubs a palm over his face. “Here?”
“Tried to walk right into the damn house like she owned the place.”
Boone’s jaw tightens. “What did she want?”
“The same thing she always wants,” I murmur. “Anything she thinks she can get her hands on. But she’s also heard that you’re doing well. Naturally, that means she suddenly remembers you exist and now she wants you. Or your money.”
Boone’s hand curls around his bottle before he sets it down so slowly it’s like he’s afraid it’ll shatter if he isn’t careful. “Fuck. That woman…” He shakes his head. “I’ll handle it.”
Chance mutters, “Did she go near Roxie?”
“Unfortunately,” I say. “She came downstairs before I could get rid of Tessa, and obviously Tessa tried to be cute, but Roxie handled it fine. She was a little shaken, but she’s okay now.”
“That’s all that matters,” Boone says quietly.
I watch the snow hammer the windows, thick flakes piling up fast on the porch rail. “We can’t let her get anywhere near our girl again, but now that she’s shown her face, she’s not gonna disappear without trying something.”
Boone scrubs a hand over his jaw, then looks at both of us, his eyes clearer now. “I’m done letting her take anything from me. I was done years ago, and she sure as hell doesn’t get to touch what we’re building with Roxie.”
Chance lifts his bottle. “Then it’s settled. But you need to do it fast, brother. Dillon’s right. Tessa is for sure going to try something, and she knows us. She knows we’ll close ranks to keep her out, which means she’ll move fast.”
Boone straightens to his full height and downs the rest of his beer. “Don’t worry, okay? I know what she put me through before, but I won’t fall for it again.”