Epilogue
One Month Later
Isla: Thanks for helping us unpack!
I’m sorry. I had Gino’s delivered, doesn’t that count?
Isla: It’s just funny that Mads can get half the hockey team here helping us, yet the one who set this whole thing up is MIA.
Me: Is Cole there?
Isla: Yes.
Me: Then Mads didn’t get them there. Coach did.
Isla: Where are you again?
Me: Told you, out of town errand. Back tomorrow.
Isla: I’m apparently busy tomorrow…
Me: Oh yeah? Big birthday plans?
Isla: The guys and Mads are all planning it out now, and I have zero input apparently.
Me: Because they know your input includes zero fun.
Isla: My quiet days are over, aren’t they?
Me: Fraid so. What about Tisch? She getting any say?
Isla: Tisch isn’t here. She asked me to text her when the guys leave.
Me: This is ridiculous.
Isla: What’s ridiculous is she’s half expecting them to spray-paint her bedroom wall, while Grey and Jackson are in there building her bed and hanging up drapes.
Me: Just keep Hunter clear of that room. Or just check his pockets.
Me: DON’T check his pocket.
I know Isla enough that you couldn’t triple dare nor pay her to body search anyone. But knowing Hunter’s got a habit of going commando under his sweats on occasion. I’m not taking any chances.
I hear the chain-link fence unlock and slide open, so I slip my phone in my back pocket.
I lean against my rental, arms crossed, breathing in the cold air as I watch the guard escort him out.
Five and a half years of Isla waiting. Five missed birthdays. Countless holidays. Bolted chair visits. It ends today.
My arms fall to my sides, and I push off the SUV as Henry squints and walks toward me.
He comes up a few inches shorter than me. “You get taller in the last six weeks?”
I chuckle and open the passenger door for him. “Yeah.”
His eyes narrow slightly. “She’s not in there, is she?”
I shake my head. “It’s just us, sir. Isla’s settling into her new place this weekend. She doesn’t know yet.”
He nods and sets his bag on the seat. Then looks back at me with a grin. His salt-and-pepper beard longer than the last time I saw him. “Timing’s pretty perfect.”
I know he’s referring to it being Isla’s birthday tomorrow, and I hold back on telling him it would have been perfect if Mercer had been able to get him out before Christmas.
But apparently the guy isn’t a “miracle worker,” and I should consider four weeks a freaking miracle based on the charges Henry admitted to six months ago that extended his sentence.
I hop into the driver’s seat. “You got any hotel preferences? Our flight isn’t until tomorrow morning.”
He swings his head. “I look like a guy with hotel preferences?”
“Right now? No. But you look like a guy who might know a good restaurant. Probably a nearby bar with great scotch?”
He smirks and points toward the road. “Head south on the parkway. Take the third exit.”
I grin back and hit the gas, getting him as far away from here as possible.
We get on the parkway and I see him relax into the seat. “Thank you, Kane. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. I’ll pay you back for the legal fees. I know Mercer didn’t come cheap.”
I keep my eyes on the road. “Didn’t cost me a dime, Henry. I could’ve guessed from your daughter you don’t take charity.”
“Then how’s he getting paid?”
“With the money you left Isla.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Took a page out of your book. Sent Mercer to Aunt Ruby’s demanding full accounting of the trust. Every withdrawal, every receipt, every damn dollar they touched.”
He scoffs. “They’re not going to buy that again.”
“Mercer’s team is reviewing them as we speak. The difference is your letter was fake. Mine was real. Told him to take twenty percent of whatever he recovers back as payment. The rest goes to Isla’s housing this semester—or however else she wants to use it.”
He frowns. “Twenty percent, eh? That enough?”
“It is if he wants to be my lawyer when I start lookin’ at contracts in a few months.”
“Ahh, you’d make a great businessman.” He chuckles. “Your dad would’a been proud of that one.”
I nod toward the windshield. “Thanks.”
I don’t know if I was necessarily business-minded when I hired Mercer to dig into Isla’s trust. I was more concerned with finding a way to get Henry released and Isla’s housing paid without either of them feeling they owe it to anyone.
And what better birthday gift than giving her everything that was taken from her… with something that’s always belonged to her.
Okay. I could think of a few things too. But given our first fights were after I bought out her tutoring hours and then a day later furnished her bedroom, I’m going to play it safe on this one.
“They’re not in any trouble, are they? Ruby and Joe? Other than coughing up the difference?” he asks. “I’m pissed too, but they did take care of her for five years.”
I sigh. “No. How they get the money they owe her might set them back a bit, but I doubt anyone in this vehicle cares.”
He scoffs. “You making it a habit of doing shit behind my daughter’s back?”
I shrug, considering my words carefully. “I like giving her reasons to yell at me. It’s adorable.”
He nods. “So long as you got a system to work it out.”
I can’t help my laugh. “That we do, sir. We most certainly do.”
He grumbles and looks out the window.
My phone starts vibrating in the cupholder and I glance down.
Mom.
My smile doesn’t falter. Because I know I’m not answering it. Or the next one.
I’ve only had two sessions with Dr. Bennet so far. And it was enough to understand that her calling me only comes with negativity if I answer it. I can still take her call, but I don’t have to take her B.S.
It took him a few different ways of explaining that one to me. But apparently, just seeing her name would trigger my insecurities. And by the time I answer, I’ve already opened the door for her to walk in and destroy me.
Knowing the problem and fighting it are still worlds apart. But I’m closing that fucking distance with everything I’ve got.
Surprisingly—and also not—these last few hours with Henry have been pretty easy. The guy’s got a great sense of humor, and I see where Isla gets her wit.
On the way to the hotel, we grabbed him a few new suits at the department store, a winter coat, suitcase, shaving cream, and anything else he’ll need while he’s in Montana.
Only problem now—is where he’s going to stay in Northwind until Mercer’s able to recover his assets.
One Week Later
“You have to do everything Shadow asks, that’s the ritual,” Isla insists when we’re finally back in my bedroom after winning the first game back from break.
“This is playing dirty, Sunshine. And I don’t tend to react well to players who play dirty.”
She holds out her hand, unfazed. And fuck, am I obsessed with the confidence.
I glance at it. “No.”
Her jaw drops. “You never say no.”
“There’s a first time for everything.”
She stands back and nods, assessing me, then hums and gets on my bed.
I follow her. “What?”
She puts a forefinger on her chin. “I wonder what that does to the ritual. Couldn’t it…taint it somehow? Maybe break the streak that’s been working one hundred percent of the time because…Kane19 always delivered?” She perks a brow. “Until now.”
“Goddammit,” I mutter, turning toward my dresser and digging out the teal vibrator. Smirking when I play back Shadow’s message from before tonight’s game.
Shadow: I want it back.
I hold it up, resenting how heavy it feels in my hand. “This what you want back?”
She releases the lip pulled between her teeth. “You know it is.”
I meet her at the bed. “Why?”
“You promised you’d show me how to use it.”
I climb over her on the bed. We’re in the same position as when I found her with it the first time. She’s in my jersey and bottomless. I’m shirtless and in sweats that are apparently…staying on tonight.
Certainly aren’t staying clean, that’s for damn sure.
I bend down to kiss her. “You ready to use your words? I can be pretty merciless without them.”
She writhes. “Yes.”
“You sure? There’s still quite a lot of people downstairs. What if they hear you?”
“I can be quiet.”
I smirk. “You willing to take that risk?”
She smiles at my warning. “My dad left with Coach Nolan thirty minutes ago. The risk left with them.”
I chuckle. “Fair enough.”
But fuck if I don’t love what that means. The girl who used to do everything she could to stay in the shadows is not only letting herself be heard. She feels safe enough to do it with me.