“That’s right, buddy, that’s what we’re hoping.”
“Hoping?” My brow arched. “That girl’s mad for you, brother. You don’t have a thing to worry about.”
“Jud’s spot on,” Logan said, slouched back in the chair. “Eden is amazing. You two might be opposites, but you’re perfect for each other.”
Gage squeezed his dad’s hand tight, belief stretched across his face.
“Dad, see, you don’t got nothin’ to worry about. She loves us.” His little voice twisted in emphasis.
Adoration came riding out with Trent’s. “I know it, buddy. Sometimes it’s just hard for me to realize it.”
“Realize it, already, sheesh.”
On a chuckle, Trent blew some of the tension from between his lips, and he glanced between me and Logan. “I want to do it on the last day of school this Friday. As soon as school lets out. Figure one ending can be our new beginning. Was hoping to set up a surprise. Have everyone we care about there to witness it.”
“I’m there,” I promised.
“Like you could keep me away,” Logan added.
Trent grinned down at his kid. Joy lit against the darkest places in his being.
I felt it spark, too.
Satisfied in the truth that my older brother was happy.
That this family was finally safe.
That we’d truly left the crimes and misdeeds and corruption in the past.
My attention drifted out the bank of windows that sectioned off my office from the rest of the shop, landing on the sedan sitting on the car lift on the opposite side.
Something shifted through me.
The draw.
The attraction.
The fire.
The force of that woman hit me like an avalanche.
A rumble knocking me from my feet.
Black-fuckin’-magic.
Needed to ignore it.
But then I figured it was some kinda cosmic shit when my phone beeped in my pocket at the exact same time, and it was a text from Darius with Salem’s phone number.
A grin slid to my mouth.
And I was pretty sure that grin made me a damned fool.
SIX
SALEM
“What are you giggling about over there, Juni Bee?” Drying my hands, I leaned against the kitchen archway and looked at my daughter who was propped on her knees in front of the living room window, her hands plastered to the glass.
She giggled more and pressed her face to the pane.
Amusement rippled through me as I moved that way so I could peer out into the night at what she was staring at across the street.
Or rather, who.
Little Gage was in the exact same position, blowing his lips against the glass and making his cheeks puff out.
The lights were on in both the rooms, and the two of them were lit up in their own personal fishbowls.
Juni howled with laughter. “Mommy, look! My new best friend is the funniest in the whole world, and did you knows he even likes the stars, too?” Her voice lifted in excitement. “He said he’s gots the whole solar system hanging in his room.”
She looked back at me with her blue eyes wide with delight. “Even Mars!”
“Even Mars? No way.”
“Yes, ways!”
Soft laughter slipped from my mouth, and I moved to stand behind her, brushing my fingers through the long tresses of her black hair that was still damp from her bath. Gage waved like mad when he saw me.
Another laugh slipped free, and I waved back.
A grunt sounded from behind us. I glanced back to find Darius standing at the end of the hall. “What’s going on in here?”
“Apparently, our Juni here found a new way to tell her best friend goodnight.”
“Like this, Uncle D!” She leaned up higher and copied the blowing that Gage had been doing, but she didn’t get her mouth fully on the glass, so she just ended up spluttering air and slobbering all over the window.
It only made her laugh harder.
Darius grunted again. “Still think you and Juni should take my room. More privacy that way.”
I smiled back at him. “She clearly doesn’t mind.”
“Nope, not at all. Not one little bits.”
His head shook, all that overprotectiveness pouring out. A frown took to my brow, my heart hurting that he felt this way. Fear and sorrow the thief of his joy. The thief of belief.
“They’re harmless, Darius.” My voice was a whispered plea.
He moved to the front door. He paused with his hand on the knob, contemplating before he swiveled to look at me. “Thought we didn’t trust anyone?”
Sadness bound my spirit. “Maybe it’s time we did.”
Dread tightened his expression. “Trying so hard to give you a life, Salem. A real life. One where none of us have to be afraid.”
A wistful smile pulled to my mouth. “Is it wrong it’s finally starting to feel that way?”
His lips thinned as he contemplated. “No,” he finally said.
Juni grabbed her favorite doll and pressed it to the window, the same as Gage was pressing a teddy bear to his. Darius watched her, his love pouring out. He returned his gaze to me. “I’m going to Carly’s. Just…be careful, okay?”
“I am.”
I’d been careful for years. I’d basically perfected it.
Darius slipped out the door and into the night, and I leaned down and kissed my daughter on the top of the head. “Come on, Juni Bee, you need to finish getting ready for bed.”
“Oh, man, do I have to? Looks it right there. Gage still wants to play, and Molly is finallys getting to say hi to him.” She held her doll out to me like she was a person.
Light laughter tumbled from my mouth, though I kept my voice firm. “Tell her to tell him goodnight.”
She poked out her bottom lip. She turned her sad face to Gage. He pouted right back.
The two of them were wrapped up in their own little language, so sweet, especially when he drew a little heart on the window.
It panged in mine.
Juni giggled and blushed and brought her shoulders up to her cheeks. “I loves him the mostest, Mommy!”
“It looks like he loves you, too.”
I sent a wave to the little boy then shut the curtains. Cutting off her view was the only thing that finally coaxed Juni to her feet.
We moved into the short hall where the second bathroom was across from Mimi’s room. We could hear her snoring from behind her door.
Juni scrunched up her nose and held her laughter, her words a secreted whisper, “Mimi is a snorin’ up a morin’。”
“A morin’， huh?” I quirked a brow.
Juniper nodded with a blink. “The worst kind.”
I touched her chin. Affection pulsed at my chest.
Powerful.
Unending.
A gift that’d made it out of the ash.
My one purpose.
“It’s time for you to get to snorin’，” I told her.
“Oh, fine, okay,” she grumbled.
She went to the sink and brushed her teeth, and then she was running back for the living room. “Story times!”
She dove onto the makeshift bed we’d made on the floor, and I climbed down beside her as she grabbed the book we’d been reading together, the first in The Boxcar Children. Sitting on the mat, I pulled her onto my lap where she sat facing out. Her little heartbeats thumped against my chest as I went to the page we had marked.