“Does anything feel different?”I asked, because part of me kept waiting for the moment that would make the fear stop.
He took a long breath, like he was sorting through his own thoughts carefully.“I thought it would feel like something had been fixed.But watching him shiver while he realized nobody was coming… that hit harder.He looked small.Pathetic.Not like the man who made you feel trapped.”
I lifted my head and really looked at him -- his jaw, the scar along his cheek, the line at the corner of his mouth that deepened when he carried too much.He looked exhausted, but he also looked present -- still here, still mine in the way that meant safety, not possession.
“You came back,” I said quietly.“You promised, and you came back.”
“Yeah.”His voice softened.“Told you I would.”
“My heart is still trying to catch up,” I admitted.“It stayed in my throat all afternoon.”
He kissed my temple.“It can move back now.We’re home.”
Home.The word landed differently this time -- less like borrowed space, more like something I could actually hold.Somewhere on the far side of the property, Roth sat tied to a chair in the dark, his delusions of Diaz’s approval cracking into dust.Diaz didn’t know yet that one of his leashes had been cut.When he found out, the simmer would turn into a boil.
We had maps.We had a club that had decided, out loud, this fight belonged to them too.
I had Kane’s hand in mine, steady as a heartbeat.And for the first time since all this chaos started, I could almost believe the future might hold something other than running.
Chapter Twelve
Kane
I woke up before my alarm again.
The room sat quiet and dim.Jade lay on her stomach, hair spread across my pillow, one arm stretched toward my side like she’d fallen asleep reaching for me.The sheet had slipped down, baring the long line of her back.Faded bruises from earlier drills marked one thigh, where she’d bumped into the cot frame.New life, same clumsy corners.
Roth’s voice tried to creep in.I gave him a chair in my head last night, down in the same cellar where we’d left him.I locked that door and refused to let him upstairs.
Up here, I had this.
I ran my fingers down Jade’s spine, light enough not to wake her.She shifted, head turning toward my touch, a sleepy sound slipping out.
I didn’t deserve the trust that sound held.Didn’t stop me from wanting to keep earning it.
My phone buzzed on the nightstand.I snagged it before the noise dragged her the rest of the way up.
Text from Spade:rat woke up.still stupid.get coffee.meet in office.bring your brain, not your fists.
I snorted under my breath.
“What?”Jade’s voice came out muffled against the pillow.
“Nothing.Go back to sleep,” I said.
She cracked one eyelid.“You talking to yourself over there?”
“Spade,” I said, waving the phone.“Apparently Roth’s awake and talking shit again.Spade wants backup.”
Her expression sobered fast.“You going down there?”
“Yeah,” I said.“General’s already in the loop.Atilla too.I’ll be in the room, not driving.That belongs to them and Spade.”
She rolled onto her side and propped her head on her hand.The sheet shifted higher.I dragged my gaze back to her face.
“You okay?”I asked.
“Is that going to be our thing now?”she asked.“First words every morning?”
