Epilogue
A Few Months Later…
Seth
I startle awake as the blaring sound of my phone ringing penetrates the silence in my bedroom.
It’s the middle of the night. My phone going off at this hour can’t be anything good.
I know it’s got to be important for my phone to be going off right now; nobody is stupid enough to wake me up at this hour if it doesn’t require my immediate attention.
I don’t even bother to check the caller ID as I absentmindedly reach for my phone where it’s charging on my nightstand.
The moment it’s in my hand, I accept the call and bring the phone towards my ear.
“Hello.” I say groggily, not quite awake and firing on all cylinders yet.
“Seth.” Everett’s trembling voice greets me.
The second his voice registers over the line, I’m on full alert.
My half-asleep state wiped away in the blink of an eye.
There’s no good reason for Everett to be calling me this late at night; we haven’t spoken or seen each other since his return.
We’ve somehow, despite the odds, managed to avoid each other.
Forget the fact he’s contacting me out of the blue in the middle of the night; I already know this isn’t a social call because of the fact that his voice sounds weak, so much weaker than it should be.
Something isn’t right. I can feel it in my gut.
“What’s wrong?” I ask him, managing to keep my rising worry out of my voice. That doesn’t mean internally I’m not starting to freak the hell out. I can’t help it. This is Everett. The man I’ve never stopped loving despite everything.
As I wait for him to reply, I rise from my bed, pulling on whatever clothes are closest, not caring if they’re clean or match or anything else. I just need to be wearing something because I have a feeling I’ll be rushing out of here as soon as I know what’s going on.
“I thought I’d have more time, that I’d get to see you in person and explain everything,” his voice cuts off momentarily as he releases a painful grunt.
“But I’m not going to get that chance, and I need you to know.
I didn’t leave because I didn’t love you.
I didn’t have a choice; I had to keep you safe.
I wish I had more time so that I could explain everything.
” He stops again, but this time a choked sob escapes him.
As he’s been talking, I’ve been listening intently, but I’ve also been taking action too.
My secure system is fired up and tracking Everett’s call; it was easy enough to get his number off my caller ID.
I’ll have a location any second now, and then I’m out of here.
I don’t care what the hell I might be walking into, but I’m not leaving him out there somewhere to die.
I know that’s what he thinks is about to happen, why he’s making this call.
This is his final goodbye, and I fucking refuse to let that be the case.
Over my dead fucking body is that man going to die on me.
Despite everything that happened between us, I love that man with my entire being.
I never fucking stopped. I knew from a young age he was it for me; he was my other half.
It’s why I never sought to find anyone else to spend my life with when he left me.
I’d already found my great love; nobody else was ever going to come close.
No matter what everyone else might believe, I haven’t touched a single person sexually since Everett left.
I couldn’t do it. It felt like I was betraying him to even think about it.
It didn’t matter to me that he’d left me; he still held my heart. He always has, and he always will.
“Everett Riviera. You are not fucking dying on me. Do you fucking hear me? You don’t get to call me in the middle of the night, say all this, and fucking leave me again. It’s not fucking happening. I’m coming. Just fucking stay with me.”
“I want to, but Seth, you weren’t my first call. I rang it in. They should have sent backup out by now for an officer in trouble, but nothing. When I realized that, I knew I needed a chance to say goodbye to you. To hear your voice one last time.” He replies, and I can hear the tears in his voice.
My laptop flashes with his location, the abandoned farm on the outskirts of Devil’s Point. If I put my foot down, I can make it there in about ten minutes, maybe faster. Slamming down the lid to my laptop, I start running from my room towards the front of the house.
“I’m coming, Ev. I have your location. Just fucking keep breathing.”
Silence greets me, and I can feel my panic start to rise. No. No. No. He’s not gone, he’s not. I don’t care if he’s stopped responding; he’s just lost consciousness. I need to believe that so I can keep moving, so I don’t shatter into a million pieces. He can’t be dead. He just can’t.
As I reach the front of the house, I unlock the front door and pull it open.
Rushing through it as fast as my feet can carry me, not even bothering to lock it behind me.
I doubt anyone is fucking stupid enough to try and enter our home without our permission, and if they are that stupid, they deserve everything my family will do to them.
“Ev.” I say down the phone that I’m still holding to my ear.
There’s still no reply, and I do the only thing I can at this moment: I end the call as I rush towards my McLaren P1.
I need to get to Everett as fast as possible, and my baby is going to do just that.
As I unlock her, I hit the emergency program on my phone that will alert all my brothers.
As I slide inside the car, I hear all three of them sound off that they’re here over the phone.
I hit the speaker button on my phone and throw it onto the passenger seat.
“Something’s happened to Everett. I’m already heading towards him.
I need you at the abandoned farm, and come prepared for fucking war.
Someone’s head is going to roll for this.
He called in for help, and none came.” I explain as I shoot out of the driveway, going from zero to sixty in roughly two point seven seconds.
There was a reason I chose this car to use.
“We’ll be a few minutes behind you. Keep your head on a fucking swivel, Seth. You have no idea what you’re walking into.” Rex says seriously. Which is just to be expected from my oldest brother.
“I’d walk straight into hell for that man. Whoever is behind his injuries and leaving him out in the cold has no idea what’s coming for them.”
Silence greets me, and I figure they must have hung up after I finished speaking to get themselves ready to come after me.
I wasn’t joking when I said whoever is behind this has no idea what’s coming for them.
They’ve unleashed a side of me that very rarely comes out to play, one that people would expect from Rex over me.
There’s one thing people will come to realize, though: when it comes to Everett, there’s no such thing as going too far.
I’d do anything to keep him safe, to avenge him, to make those who’ve done this to him pay.
They have no idea what they’ve unleashed, but they’re about to.