Lifting my head, I look between him and Jasper.
“Such a good girl,” Jasper says softly. “Everything’s okay.”
“You’re safe.” Beau drags his thumb along my jaw.
Eventually, everything around me finally refocuses, and my lungs manage to fill with air. I straighten slowly, still shaky.
“I thought…” My voice trembles a little. “I thought someone came.”
The four of them exchange a quick look before Beau reaches up and cups the side of my face. “No one’s getting anywhere near you.”
Lincoln shifts next to Jasper and bends down to kiss the side of my head—his hand still anchored on my back. He looks to his brother, jaw tight. “We have to end this. She should never be this afraid again.”
Lawson’s eyes lock onto mine, and I see the fear there. Even though there was nothing wrong, the sound of my screams was enough to terrify him. To terrify them all. Thishasto be over. I know it. He knows it. They all know it.
Lawson nods once. Eyes never leaving mine as he says, “I’ll make the call.”
The next morning—less than twenty-four hours later—there’s a knock at the front door.
I barely stir at first. I’m curled up on the couch beneath Beau’s arm, wrapped in a soft blanket, enjoying my one cup of coffee while he hums softly in my ear as he writes in the notebook I got him for Christmas.
Lincoln is sitting on the floor in front of me, rubbing soft circles on the inside of my leg, and Lawson is leaning against the wall near the front window—a small smile pulling at his lips.
Jasper eagerly moves toward the door first. “I’ll get it.”
Lawson straightens, and Lincoln rises from the floor, not rushing—but coiled with anticipation nevertheless.
Beau presses a kiss to the top of my head as I look around the room. “It’s alright.”
The next second, Jasper pulls the door open, and a familiar voice echoes through the house. “Jas!”
I bolt upright so fast the blanket falls straight to the floor, and Beau chuckles.
My heart nearly jumps out of my chest as I spot the woman standing in the doorway. “Joe?”
I’m already off the couch before my brain fully catches up with my feet.
Josephine Jenkins is standing in the doorway.
Actually, not just Joe.
Behind her stands Dante, Enzo, Luca, and Sebastian. Each of them is holding a duffel in their hands, with Seb dragging a massive hard-shell suitcase behind him as well.
For a moment, I can only stare.
Because, based on what Jasper has told me, Josephine hasn’t come back to Montana in years.
Not since the night that changed her and Jasper forever.
Staying was how Jasper healed, but leaving is how she did.
And yet, here she is, standing in the doorway of Willow Creek Ranch.
For Jasper.
For me.
My eyes burn as she sidesteps her brother’s outstretched arms and makes her way toward me. “Oh my god. What are you doing here?”
