Page 170 of Outcast’s Vow

“On our honeymoon, you wanted to play with me,” he remarks. “And I was a dick to you. Unnecessarily so. What do you think? A game?”

I smile and nod my head.

This is him finally letting me in to see him entirely. This is the last wall he’s kept up, now crumbled away.

“Yes. I’d like a game.”

He reaches for my hand.

“Then, let’s play, Highness.”

EPILOGUE

BAPTISTE

Fabien wants to meet me. He calls me up while I’m at my office.

I’m in the middle of a review with two German investors. I should ignore him. These Germans are critical to my business, having flown out from Frankfurt just to sit down with me and go through my financial strategy.

But when it’s one of my brothers calling, I always answer.

“It’s important, Baptiste. I need to speak with you. Right now.”

That’s all Fabien tells me. It’s all he needs to tell me.

“I’ll be right there.”

With a curt apology, I stand up and cut short the review with the European investors.

I head out of my office and into my car. I drive straight to the bar where Fabien instructed me to meet him. My childhood friend is already there, sitting at a booth in the far back, away from everyone else. It’s like he wants to hide from the world. There’s dried blood on his fists. It’s clear he’s been in a fight. Punches have been thrown.

And he’s fucking topless.

What the hell does this mean?

He’s hunched forward over the table. He’s thinking about something. Pondering. Apprehensive. Nervous.

I have never seen him like this. Fabien is the most stoic and the strongest of heart among our group. He’s honorable and operates from a sense of quiet duty, confidence, and passion. He’s highly self-sufficient and has dealt with a lot of shit in his life.

He is never like this.

I sit down in the booth opposite him.

“What is it, Fabien? Jesus, are you hurt? What the fuck’s that blood?”

My friend looks up at me, his steel-gray eyes cold.

“The Castaways. I had to fight for them.”

“A bare-knuckle fight against another initiate?”

“Yes.”

“Ah. Okay. You’ve just come from it?”

“Yes.”

I sigh.