“It’s me,” I whisper. My fingers reach out to trace the small figure with pink hair. And then I see another. And another. Standing, kneeling, dancing, but all spread between the art that you see at first.
Logan built his whole mural around me. I see more and more as I step back, until it feels impossible that I missed it the first time. I can’t stop the smile from spreading across my face as I look at him. “But we’re leaving! How – when did you do this?”
“Last night.” Wrapping his arm around my shoulders, he tugs me into him, resting his chin on my head. “You like it?”
“I love it,” I say softly. I’m sad that we’ll be leaving it behind.
Logan reads my mind. “I have many, many plans for all the art I want to create around you, Sienna. And I kind of like the idea that we’re leaving a little piece of our story behind in Herrith.”
I… kind of agree with him.
39
JAX
As I exit the bathroom, I run straight into a pissed-off wildcat.
“Careful, asswipe,” Jessalyn snaps as she bounces off me. But her words lack their usual fire, and I catch tears before her head drops.
“Hey – woah.” I steady her. “You okay?”
She sniffs. “Fine. What do you care?”
“You’re shortcake’s best friend,” I say softly. “Of course I care.”
I won’t forget that Jessalyn gave up her entire life to follow Sienna out here. My eyes dart to the living room door, and I catch a glimpse of a pissed-off looking Emmett. Our eyes meet, and he turns his back to me.
“You want me to talk to him?” I offer.
She looks at me askance. “Why would you do that?”
I shrug. “You want him to come back with us, yeah? Maybe he just needs someone to talk it through with. We have each other. You have Sienna. Emmett… he doesn’t have anyone.”
And that’s the thing. We’ve been here a while, and I’ve never seen a friend, a family member. The only people we’ve seen here are the handful of regulars that come into the bar, and Emmett even keeps his distance from them.
Jessalyn hesitates, but her shoulders slump. “That… yes. Please. If you don’t mind.”
I think that’s the most polite thing she’s ever said to me. Nodding, I pat her shoulder. “Sienna’s downstairs,” I call, before I jog down the hall and push the door wider.
I clear my throat as I step into the room. “Hey.”
Emmett turns, rolling his eyes. “You here to try and sell Navarre to me too?”
“Not really.” Throwing myself into a chair, I look up at him. “Figured you might want someone to talk it through with, though.”
He runs his hand through his hair, the curls bouncing as he sits opposite me. “She’s asking me to give up everything,” he says quietly. “My whole life, to move somewhere where it sounds like betas aren’t all that well thought of. I moved here to get away from people, and I’d be walking right back into everything I wanted to leave behind.”
Curious, I sit forward. “What made you move up here? You’re not from here originally?”
He swallows. “No. Moved up a few years back. There was… an accident. My family, my partner, they were traveling for a wedding. I was working, supposed to travel down the next day. But the plane went down. Engine failure.”
His face is pale, and my heart constricts in my chest. Fucking hell. I can’t even imagine it.
“You lost everyone,” I say quietly, and he nods.
“Few cousins left on the other side of the country, but we’re not close. Everyone who mattered was on the plane. My parents, my sister, my brother, his wife and kids. And Liv—,” his breath catches, and he looks down at his hands.
“When something like that happens,” he says softly, “You become a commodity. Almost like public property. Everyone wants to talk to you, to say they’re sorry. Empty fucking platitudes. I lasted a month before I got in the truck and just started driving. Found this place, tracked the owner down and bought it outright. It was quiet, peaceful. Exactly what I wanted.”
