But we’re not… like that. Not officially. Not in any way that should make him the person I reach for when my world is fallingapart. And yet, when I was crouched behind that tree, shaking and barefoot and convinced I might die out there, I didn’t even think.
I just needed him. Not Bella or Bri. Him. Because he’s the one I knew would keep all my shattered pieces from completely falling apart. He’s the one whose voice I needed in my ear, steady and calm and sure, telling me I wasn’t alone and that he was coming and that I just had to hold on. He’s the one I trusted to find me in the dark.
My throat tightens and I swallow hard, eyes stinging again even though I’m so tired of crying. That has to mean something, right?
I thought tonight was going to be the start of my happily ever after. Instead, it feels like the start of something else entirely. Something I didn’t plan. Something I wasn’t ready for. Something that scares me almost as much as what happened in that car, because I don’t know how to protect my heart from this part. From the way Rev looked at me tonight, like he would tear the world apart if it meant keeping me safe. From the way he wouldn’t let go of me, not even when we got here, not even when Bella and Bri were right there, like he needed to make sure I was real and breathing and still his responsibility. I don’t know what this is. I just know that when everything went wrong, he was the one I called. And I don’t think that was an accident.
It’s late.Like… stupid late.
The kind of late where the house is too quiet and every little sound feels louder than it should, and my body is exhausted but my brain refuses to shut up.
At some point Ansley moved to the other couch, curling up with a blanket and her phone facedown on her chest like she passed out mid-scroll. Bella dozed off sitting up with Jax still tucked against her, one hand tangled in his curls. Bri keeps drifting in and out next to me, her head tipping onto my shoulder, then jerking up again like she’s afraid she’ll miss something if she fully falls asleep.
Me? I’m wide awake.
Every creak, every shift of the house settling, every distant car that passes outside makes my stomach jump.
So when the front door finally opens, slow and quiet, I sit straight up like someone hit a switch in my spine.
Blade and Switch slip inside, moving like they think we’re all asleep, boots careful on the floor, voices low and rough like they’ve been scraped raw.
It’s three thirty in the damn morning.
We should all be knocked out.
We are not.
“Where is he?” I ask, and my voice sounds way steadier than I feel.
Blade and Switch both freeze.
Bri’s already awake now, pushing up on the couch, eyes wide and scared and hopeful all at once. Bella blinks awake too,instantly alert, her hand tightening protectively around Jax even though he doesn’t stir.
Blade and Switch look at each other, and something passes between them that makes my chest tighten even more.
Then Blade looks back at me. “He’s on his way in,” he says quietly. “He’s talking to Ghost and Razor outside.”
My breath rushes out of me like I didn’t realize I was holding it.
Outside.
He’s right there.
My hands are already moving, pushing the blanket off my legs, my body halfway off the couch before my brain fully catches up.
Bella reaches for me automatically. “Brooke, honey—”
“I just… I need to see him,” I say, and I don’t even care that my voice shakes a little. “Please.”
Blade steps aside without hesitation, clearing the path to the door like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
Switch watches me for a second, something soft and heavy in his eyes, then gives a small nod. “He’s okay, Brooke.”
Okay. Alive. Here. That’s all that matters right now.
I pad across the floor and pull the door open before anyone can stop me. The night air hits my face, cool and quiet, and there he is. Rev stands near the porch steps with Ghost and Razor, his back half-turned toward the house, shoulders tense, hands planted on his hips like he’s holding himself together by sheer force. His cut is still on, his hair a mess, and even from here Ican tell he’s exhausted in that bone-deep, adrenaline-crash kind of way.
Ghost says something low, Razor claps him on the shoulder, and then Rev turns. And the second his eyes land on me, everything else disappears. He freezes. Like actually freezes, like his body forgets how to move for a second. “Princess,” he breathes, and his voice is wrecked and soft and so very him that my chest tightens all over again.
