Epilogue #3
Her face tightened. “That isn’t fair.”
“Look at me, Aura.” I held her gaze until she stopped preparing an argument.
“You need to talk to him. You need to let him talk to you without deciding where the conversation ends before it starts. He needs to do the same thing. If you keep turning every fear into a fight, you’ll end up like me and Charm. ”
The words hurt both of us.
Aura looked toward Easton. He hadn’t moved from the table, but his attention was fixed on her.
“I love him,” she whispered.
“Then protect what you have before pain teaches you how much love can survive and how much it can’t.”
Her eyes filled again. “I will.”
“Make sure he does too.”
“I’ll kick his ass.”
“That isn’t communication.”
“It’s part of our process.”
A laugh escaped me. “Work on the process.”
Aura hugged me again before stepping away. Easton met her halfway and took her hand.
He came to me without releasing it.
“You really used your goodbye to lecture my woman?” Easton asked.
“Somebody needed to.”
“I communicate.”
“You forbade her from being angry with you.”
“She forbade me first.”
“Don’t fuck it up.”
His humor faded. “I won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No.” Easton looked at Aura before returning his attention to me. “But I’ll fight for us without fighting against her.”
“That’s the difference.”
He pulled me into him with one arm locked around my neck and his other hand pressed between my shoulders.
“If you need us, we come,” he told me.
“I know.”
“It doesn’t matter what time it is.”
“I know.”
“It doesn’t matter what it’s for.”
“I fucking know.”
“Good.”
His hold tightened before he released me. Aura immediately returned to his side, and Easton wrapped one arm around her waist without either of them pretending they hadn’t heard the warning.
Bliss was already crying when she reached me. She pressed her face against my chest and made me promise to eat, sleep, attend physical therapy, and answer when any of them called.
“I’ll answer.”
“You’ll answer the first time?”
“Don’t push it.”
“Ryan.”
“I’ll answer before Briggs reports me missing.”
“That isn’t reassuring.”
“It’s what you’re getting.”
She laughed through her tears, and I rested my chin briefly against the top of her head.
“Take care of Cade.”
Bliss pulled back. “Always.”
“No, B. Listen to me.” I looked toward him before returning my attention to her. “He’ll carry every problem in the room and tell you he’s fine until it kills him. Don’t let him.”
Her tears spilled faster. “I won’t.”
“Make him talk to you.”
“I will.”
“Love him when he is impossible.”
“That part is easy.”
“I know.”
Her hands tightened around my jacket. “He loves you so much.”
“He saved me before either of us understood that was what he was doing.”
Bliss looked back at Cade. “You saved him too.”
I swallowed hard before lowering my mouth near her ear.
“Take care of Charm for me.”
Bliss’s breath caught.
“I will.”
“Don’t tell her I said that.”
She pulled back and searched my face. “I won’t.”
Briggs had remained in his chair through every goodbye. I looked at him next.
He stood slowly, his jaw already tight, and I knew he’d spent the entire night preparing for this moment.
Briggs followed me to Flint when I tried to disappear.
He took my punches, carried my rage, and held me on the lodge floor while I broke apart badly enough to make every guy in the room look away.
He knew what leaving cost because he was the only person I couldn’t hide it from.
I stopped in front of him and gripped the back of his neck.
“Milwaukee wants you,” I told him.
His eyes narrowed. “What?”
“They asked about you. More than once.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You had enough happening.”
“Ryan.”
“I told them you’re a pain in my ass, but you’re one of the best goalies I’ve ever seen.”
His mouth twitched. “Very generous.”
“They’re watching you, Briggs. Keep showing off and make sure they remember your name.”
He held my stare as the weight of it settled between us. Hockey still waited for him. For all the changes coming and every path none of us could predict, the Inferno had noticed him.
“If you choose Milwaukee,” I said, “you’ll have family there.”
Briggs’s eyes filled.
“If I get the offer, brother, we’ll be on the same team again.”
The words went directly through me.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” He nodded once. “If Milwaukee wants me, I’m coming.”
I couldn’t answer. Briggs pulled me into him before I had to.
His arms locked around my back while avoiding the brace, and mine closed around him just as hard.
I didn’t know whether I would’ve survived the past six weeks without him.
He took every version of my anger and refused to mistake any of it for a reason to leave.
He stood in front of El Cuchillo, absorbed everything that motherfucker threw, and kept reaching for Ryan beneath him.
“I don’t know how to thank you,” I said against his shoulder.
“You don’t have to.”
“You followed me when I told everyone to stay away.”
“You sounded like you needed someone.”
“I hit you.”
“You punch like a bitch.”
I laughed and tightened my hold around him. “You held me together when I didn’t want to survive it.”
Briggs’s breathing changed. “I will always follow you,” he said. “Even when you’re wrong. Even when you hate me for showing up. You’re my brother.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
He hugged me again before letting me go, but he kept one hand against the back of my neck.
“Milwaukee,” he said.
“Milwaukee.”
“Save me a stall.”
“I’ll make sure it’s far from mine.”
“You’ll miss me.”
“I already do.”
Briggs stepped away before either of us lost whatever control remained.
Cade waited near the door.
He wasn’t crying. Cade didn’t fall apart where anyone could see him, and neither did I unless Briggs trapped my arms and gave me no other choice. His eyes were red, though, and his throat worked around whatever he refused to say.
Looking at him returned me to New York.
We met as teenagers in a community hockey league, two pissed-off kids from different lives who somehow recognized the same kind of loneliness in each other.
Cade had equipment that fit and people expecting him to go home after practice.
I carried everything I owned and made sure no one knew I didn’t have a home waiting for me.
He never asked what I could offer before deciding I was his friend.
Years later, he told me to come to Kimball Falls with him so I wouldn’t be alone. Every life I built here began with Cade making room beside him and expecting nothing in return except that I show up.