Across the Vanishing Sky (Starlight Grove, #1)(45)

Dex’s throat worked as he swallowed. “No one but my brothers.”

The pain of that slid through me like another wave of glass shards. “Not going to let someone lie about you right to my face.” One corner of my mouth kicked up in the barest of smiles. “Even if you are the worst, Buttercup.”





19





DEX





Brae was trying to make light of the situation now—all she’d given me in that mere handful of seconds, everything she’d offered with her fire and fury.

“You’re trying to drag down a good man who offered to help me when your selfish, lazy ass couldn’t be bothered?”

Her words echoed in my head. No, they branded themselves there.

“Don’t you dare try to pull him down in the mud just because that’s where you live.”

And Miller did live there. In the mud—in worse than that. But Brae wouldn’t let him get that mud on me. More than that, she fought for me. Stood up for me when only my brothers and Waylon, in his own way, had ever done that before.

“Hellion,” I rasped.

Brae flicked her wavy, blond hair over one shoulder, but I didn’t miss the slight tremble in her hand. It belied what still lived underneath: the trauma she’d just lived through. But you’d never know it by her voice. “He needed to be put in his place.”

I opened my mouth to thank her, to say something—anything—that would show her just how much what she’d done meant to me, but an alarm cut through the air.

Brae fumbled with the cell phone in her hand. “I’m gonna be late getting Owen. I’m never late. I need to find my bag and my—”

I moved in, resting my hands on her shoulders. “Breathe, Hellion. I’ll get you to pickup. Just breathe.”

It was the least I could do. And the last thing I’d be able to do right now was leave her. The tremble I felt beneath my hands only solidified that fact. Everything stirring deep should’ve had me running for the hills, but it didn’t. And that was the most dangerous thing of all.

“You’ve got this,” I said, my voice dipping low. “One thing at a time. Where’s Owen?”

“Camp,” Brae rasped.

“The adventure camp run through the county?” Maverick asked.

She nodded, pink hitting her cheeks, clearly embarrassed at having all of us witnessing her meltdown. But Maverick—in true Mav form—appeared unaffected by it all. And I could’ve hugged him for that. He simply pulled out his phone and pressed it to his ear. “Kol.”

A pause, and then Maverick’s face screwed up.

“No, I didn’t get another flat tire four-wheeling.”

Another silence.

“Will you shut up for two seconds? Dex’s friend, Brae, has a kid in the same camp as Skylar. Name’s Owen. Will you guys chill with him until she gets there? She’s running a few minutes late.”

Quiet again, this time for longer, but I could hear the buzz of a stream of words on the other line.

Finally, Maverick cut him off. “I’ll explain later. Thanks, man.” And then he hung up without a goodbye, his gaze finding Brae. “Our brother has a little girl in the camp. They’ll hang with your dude until you get there.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, her gaze dipping. I hated losing that golden amber, even for a second.

Wylder shifted. “I know you have the weekend off, but if you need more time, just let me know. We can cover you.”

Brae struggled to swallow as she forced herself to look up at Wylder. “I already cost you hours of business.”

One corner of Wylder’s mouth kicked up. “We’ll open back up in a few, and we’ll be flooded because people will want to know why the cops were here. We’ll make double what we normally do.”

A pit settled in my stomach at the thought of Brae being at the center of the town gossip. God, I knew what that was like, and it was the last thing I wanted for her.

Aidan shot Brae a grin as he strode up. “I’m gonna tell them the FBI called in a tip that we had a sleeper spy in our midst, and I bravely took him down in a citizen’s arrest.” He glanced at me. “You can back me on that, right? Tell me the FBI lingo.”

My lips twitched, grateful for the humor I could always count on him to bring. “I got you.”

Cora moved in, rolling her eyes at Aidan and then sending Brae a conspiratorial smile. “I’m going to tell everyone Aidan accidentally slept with a mobster’s wife, and they took out a hit on him. More believable.”

“I’m going pure aliens,” Maverick said, his eyes finding mine. “The truth is out there.”

The tiniest laugh bubbled out of Brae. It wasn’t a sound I expected to hear given the circumstances, but my hellion was full of surprises. “Thank you. All of you.”

Fiona handed Brae a tote bag with a tiny Bigfoot stitched in the corner. “Go get your boy and text me if you need anything, honey.”

Aidan’s blue-green eyes twinkled. “I’d be happy to stay over tonight if you want some company and—”

Wylder slapped him upside the head. “Get back to work.”

I glared at the too-flirty-for-his-own-good waiter. If anyone was staying over, it would be me.