He rakes a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair, taming it from the crazy wind whistling between us. “You needed to go,” he says. “You needed time alone to come to your senses. I knew you’d come back.”
“The same way you knew I was at the airport?”
“Yeah.” His quicksilver smile melts me more than the blazing afternoon sun. “You were hurting and feeling guilty about everything. Even though you killed Conrad, I still knew you were still planning on leaving.” His smile deepens. “But you always come back, princess, don’t you?”
I flick my hair into the wind and try to be nonchalant about this.
But what’s the point? They know what kinda life I lived before them. They saw the stripped walls of my house. They met Otis. They saw me murder a man and hyperventilate about it afterward.
If they can bear witness to all of those horrible things, they can witness something more positive—me finally agreeing with them.
“Yeah, it’s true. Guess I can’t stay away.”
Skipper cracks a squinted smile.
The sun is beating down hot. We should get out of here, but I’m enjoying being out in the middle of the desert confessing my love. It’s like the movies.
“Otis.” The smile disappears from Vex’s chiseled face. “Where is he?”
“Sadie’s taking care of him. Actually, she’s the one you donuts should be thanking. If it wasn’t for her, I’d still be sulking at home.” I take a step closer. “While we’re on the topic of Otis, how would you two like to be a part of his life? Carter gets to be his biological father, but you can never have too many…non-blood-related ones.”
The men turn to each other with waggled eyebrows.
“Vex will be in charge of discipline,” says Skipper. “I’ll be the fun one.”
Carter looks more Egyptian Mummy than he does biker.
But despite the shocking appearance, I still jump into his arms the second he invites me into them.
“Oh my god. I can’t even begin to tell you how sorry?—”
“Ah. I’ll hear nothing of the sort.” He sets me down on the chair beside him and runs a bruised finger over my lip before eventually deciding to bring me in for a kiss.
I sigh into his touch and let his warmth wrap around me like a blanket.
Everything’s okay.
Everything will always be okay.
“Otis—?”
“Is back at my place with Sadie.”
“I’m surprised you’re still living in a place…like?—”
“Like what?” I challenge Carter. “Like a junkyard? The plan was to move out of state, remember? Not everyone receives a million dollars and throws it away on real estate, you know?” I flash him a wink. “The place needs some serious TLC. Maybe I’ll finally get around it now since all of this has been put to bed.”
“You should ask Skipper for a helping hand.” Carter slaps his shoulder. “Did you know he built his own boat?”
Vex joins us. They all sit in a weird semi-circle around me, each with a lingering smile on their face.
“We have one thing left to do,” Carter says.
“Oh yeah?” I tip my chin. “What’s that?”
Vex says, “As a woman, if you wanna be part of the club, there are rules for you to abide by.”
This is when they tell me they need my help melting dead bodies.
