Cady’s eyes glistened, and she threw her arms around Roan. “I love you, Dad.”
“Love you, too. Know you’re going to do great things.”
As she pulled back, she held his eyes. “Thank you for always believing me. For spending a summer in New York, even though you hate big cities. For always having my back. For being my dad when you didn’t have to be.”
Tears pooled in my eyes, spilling down my cheeks.
Roan cleared his throat, his eyes glistening. “Greatest privilege of my life, you choosing me to be your dad.”
Oh, God. The gift of these two was more than I’d ever be able to repay.
“Open it,” Roan said softly.
Cady took a deep breath and tore into the envelope. She pulled out the paper and unfolded it. Her eyes scanned back and forth and then shot to us. “I’m in.”
Roan hooted, hauling her back into his arms. I burst into more tears. Roan pulled me in, too. “My girls.”
I just cried harder, which only made Cady laugh.
“You really got her going this time,” she said with a smile.
Roan hugged us both tightly and then brushed his lips against mine. “My Tender Heart.”
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“For what?”
“For giving us everything,” I said, the words barely audible.
“It’s you,” Roan uttered, his voice low. “You’re the light in the shadows. Always have been. Always will be.”
Want to find out who can give Lawson the happily ever after he deserves? Find out in Ashes of You, book five in The Lost & Found Series, available for purchase by TAPPING HERE or read on for a sneak peek!
Want more of Roan and Aspen? Get an exclusive bonus scene by TAPPING HERE.
PLEASE ENJOY THIS EXTENDED PREVIEW OF ASHES OF YOU
PROLOGUE
HALSTON
FIVE YEARS AGO
“Keep moving. Keep moving. Keep moving.”
I said the words over and over, even though they were barely audible anymore. They’d become my mantra. The steady beat forced me forward, even if the howling wind swallowed the words, and my lips barely moved.
My teeth chattered violently as I struggled to get my legs to continue their motion. The fresh cuts on my stomach stung as the wind whipped against the thin sheath I wore. I wanted to tear it from my body and rip away everything that he had tainted.
I squinted into the night, trying to see through the thick trees and falling snow to…anything.
A whimper escaped my lips as my bare foot hit an especially sharp rock. I’d thought my limbs had lost feeling in the freezing snow, but I was wrong.
I told myself that was good. It meant they weren’t frostbitten—yet.
I glanced over my shoulder at the night behind me. I didn’t hear him. Not anymore. At first, he’d screamed my name into the night, but then he’d gone quiet.
Quiet was always worse. I’d learned that on day four. But then twenty-nine days followed. Days where I was sure I’d die in that damp, dark cave. Days where I sometimes wished I had.
“Keep moving.”
I clenched my fists as my body trembled, pressing my fingernails into my palms and hoping the pain would spur me on. My nails were long now with nothing to cut them with. But I’d gotten used to pain, had a higher tolerance for it, and my nails cutting into my flesh did nothing.
My stomach cramped in a vicious twist. My joints felt stiff, like the Tin Man in that movie. What was it called?
A wave of dizziness swept over me, followed by a surge of heat. I suddenly felt like I was sweating, burning up from the inside out. The urge to pull the flimsy shift from my body was so strong.
Everything hurt, from the tips of my toes to the ends of my hair. My flesh felt as though it were cracking open.
I stumbled, falling to my knees. The chill of the snow was bliss on my overheated flesh. I let myself topple and roll to my back. Blessed snow. The cold seeped into my skin, soothing.
A voice lifted on the wind. I thought I heard my name.
Tears leaked from my eyes. It was him. He’d found me.
I needed to get up. Run. Fight.
But I couldn’t. Maybe I’d be lucky, and he’d finally kill me.
Movement swam above me—a figure.
“Halston?”
The voice was deep with grit, as though sandpaper coated it. But there was also something comforting about it; it had a gentleness. It wasn’t like the man’s.
“Holy hell,” another voice rumbled. “Is she wearing a nightgown? It’s nine degrees.”
“Call it in,” the voice above me snapped.
The figure swam above me again, his face coming in and going out of focus. In and out. But every time my vision cleared, beauty struck me: dark hair and thick scruff around an angular jaw. A nose that looked as if it had possibly been broken at one point. And his eyes…