Page 147 of Trigger Happy Ending

I glare at him. “Figure of speech. You were railing me, Soren.”

A low snicker rumbles from him. He continues walking, Prince Charming cosplay still in full force.

As he carries me through the lakehouse, I take in how stunning it is. Built from dark wood and decorated with lambskin accents I never really noticed earlier. Out the back, he treads softly down the slope of the lawn and to the edge of the water. A long jetty stretches out into the dark lake and at the very end sits a classic country-style deck chair.

Soren settles into it and pulls me onto his lap beneath the blanket.

The water is glassy, almost black, save for the moonlight rippling across its surface. The forest engulfs us on every side, leaves lightly bristling in the gentle breeze. There’s absolutely nothing out here. No lights or noise. No people. Just us.

“This is my favorite spot.”

My eyes rise to the moon. It’s hauntingly beautiful shining over the dark body of water.

“It feels like we’re the only two people on Earth.”

“Yeah.” His forehead rests on my shoulder. “That’s the idea.”

I settle back into him further. “Let’s stay like this forever.”

If only we didn’t have the giant problem of being enemy number one and enemy number two to the most powerful shadow organization in the world.

“I’m worried,” I admit after a while. Being concerned is not something I am used to openly admitting.

Soren’s arm tightens around me as he sighs heavily. “I know.”

“O will find out.”

“He probably already has.”

The honesty of it lands cold in my stomach.

“He’ll come for us, you know.”

“Raine.”

“And Carson’s still a giant pain in the ass too,” I say, words vomiting from my mouth. “You owe him. I owe him. He’s not the forgive and forget type. He will come to collect his favors at some point.”

“Carson’s a self-serving cunt.” Soren huffs out a dry laugh against my skin. “But I’m not concerned about him.”

“Why?”

Soren pauses to collect his thoughts. “He was there when everything turned to shit. When it mattered, he helped get you back to me.”

The simplicity of it surprises me. He makes it sound like slaughtering the Raptors was nothing. When in fact, it was everything.

I trace one finger over the back of his hand. “Yeah, because it served him, Soren. He saw a chance to have two dangerous people in his back pocket. Now we’re both in debt to an underworld kingpin.”

Soren kisses the side of my neck. “We don’t need to worry about him right this second.”

Soren’s right. I need to slow my roll, calm my racing mind. At this moment, Carson isn’t a concern, even though he is a future problem. I drop it and move on to the information I've been wanting to tell Soren ever since I got here.

“I found out what happened to her,” I say quietly.

Soren stills behind me, but doesn’t interrupt. He knows I'm talking about my mom. He waits for me to muster the courage to continue.

“The Agency killed her.”

Even now, saying it feels unreal. No, not unreal. It feels worse than that. It feels wrong and backwards, inside out and upside down. I have to force myself to keep going.