“Smart man.” Jace nodded approvingly. “Always have an exit strategy.”
“Plus, look how much fun she’s having,” I added, watching her throw her head back in laughter. “I’m not about to interrupt that.”
But really, I needed time to build my case. To figure out how to convince her that we were worth the risk.That what happened tonight was more than just wedding-reception hormones and champagne.
I was going to ask Faith out properly. Make her see we could be more than stolen moments.
I told myself to give her time. Let the dust settle after the wedding.
But before I got the chance, she showed up at the mansion’s door, covered in blood.
19
FAITH
“You okay?” Ryker walked into my kitchen, closing the sliding glass door. Behind him, mostly out of view from this angle, our friends remained where they’d been for the last hour: gathered around the bonfire, talking. Laughing. The orange glow painted their faces as Axel gestured with his drink, telling a story I couldn’t hear from inside.
“Better than okay.” The smile came easier than expected, though it didn’t quite reach my eyes.
Ryker tilted his head, that laser-focused gaze of his making my skin prickle with awareness. “You don’t have to hide from me, Warrior.” His voice dropped, rough with concern. “I saw the hurt written all over your face out there. Even if everyone else was too caught up to notice.”
My chest constricted, breath catching as I spun toward the cabinet, desperate for something to do with my hands. Anything to escape those knowing eyes. Because the truth terrified me. Not just that he could see through every mask I’d perfected, but that something inside me was beginning to crack. A small voice, barely a whisper, wondered what it would be like to let him keep looking. To stop running.
I stretched for the top shelf, like the action alone could anchor me, could stop this unraveling feeling.
“It has to be hard.” His voice softened to velvet, each word carefully chosen. “Watching everyone together like that. Hearing your brother might have a kid soon, knowing you might miss …” He stopped himself, but the unspoken words hung heavy between us.Knowing you might miss everything.
Damn him. Ryker had always seen too much, understood too deeply.
“I will do everything in my power to keep you out of prison.” The floorboards creaked as he moved closer, and suddenly, I could feel him. The warmth radiating from his body, the way the air shifted around him. “I can’t let that happen. I won’t.”
As he stepped closer behind me, his breath ghosted across my neck. “But if, God forbid, the worst happened, you need to know something.” A pause, heavy with meaning. “I’d never fully move on, Warrior. Not really. Every bonfire would echo with your laughter. Every dinner would have an empty chair. Your absence would live in every breath I take.”
The words shattered something inside me. My throat constricted painfully as tears burned behind my eyes. I blinked furiously, catching one traitorous drop with the back of my hand before it could fall.
Don’t break. Not now.
Another stretch toward the cabinet, fingers straining. My fingertips barely grazed the edge of what I was reaching for, and I knew, without looking, that Ryker was watching every move, seeing through every deflection.
“What exactly are you attempting?” Amusement threaded through Ryker’s voice, and I appreciated that he was letting me off the hook by allowing me to change the subject.
“Tessa’s trying to get pregnant.” I hoisted myself onto the counter, balancing on my knees like some suburban acrobat. “I offered her some non-caffeinated tea, but it’s crammed way back here like it’s hiding from civilization.”
Myfingers finally found the box wedged behind spices. I stretched higher, weight shifting forward onto one knee.
“Careful,” he said, voice dropping an octave. “Don’t want you to fa?—”
Gravity, that vindictive bitch, chose that exact moment to assert dominance.
My knee slipped. Arms windmilling like a deranged bird, I had just enough time for one panicked thought:This is going to?—
Ryker’s arms locked around me. Momentum sent us both tumbling, but somehow, he twisted mid-fall, taking the full impact as we crashed to the floor. Him first. Me on top. His back absorbing every punishing inch of linoleum meant for me.
I landed on top of him, chest to chest, my palms splayed against the crisp button-down that was warm beneath my hands, which moved up and down with the rapid rise and fall of his breathing. This close, the kitchen lights turned his eyes almost silver.
“You okay?” he asked.
“AmIokay? You just used your spine as my personal airbag.”
