Page 107

Lexington had proceeded to try and shush us, but only half-heartedly. It ended in a pillow fight in the middle of the night—all three of us laughing loudly, our cheeks straining from how hard we were smiling. Most of our nights and days went like that now, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

“Knock, knock.” I looked up at the sound of his voice and found Lexington leaning in my office doorway.

“You’re late,” I chastised with a grin.

He shrugged. “You gonna fire me?” he said with a wink.

I picked up a pen from my desk and threw it at his head, but he dodged it easily, the pen missing him entirely and clattering to the floor. Laughing, he closed the distance in a few long strides, rounding my desk to lean in close.

“Missed you,” he murmured, his face inches from mine, before pressing a soft kiss to my lips.

“How did the drop-off with River go?” I asked as Lexington sat on the edge of the desk, perching close to me. It was River’s first day going back to Theo’s during the day.

Lexington's happy gaze turned troubled. “Perfect. It went perfect, and I know I should be grateful because it makes my life easier, but damn am I a bit bothered by how much of a headache that kid used to give me.”

I just smiled up at him and patted his hand. “You’re a good dad, Lex.”

He glanced down at my desk, his gaze sweeping over the articles arranged in front of me, then back to me.

“The sheriff called me again,” he muttered, taking my hand in his own and brushing his thumb over my knuckles. “The prosecutors will be reaching out soon as they prepare for trial. Are you ready to dive into it?”

I swallowed hard and nodded. “It’s necessary. What about Silas?”

“This whole case will take years. They want to give him time to adjust to being in the world, and maybe back home with his brothers. Do you know when he’s leaving?”

With the revelation that the only reason Silas had avoided his brothers was for their safety, it was one of my first priorities to get him home to them. It was Jackie’s, too, and she was spearheading the legal processes. Technically, Silas was a ward of the state, and the goal was to move him to where his brother lived—the one I hadn’t met. It was a small town in Montana and seemed like a good solution. He could avoid the public eye out there and learn to be human in this world. He had a long road ahead of him, but I knew he could do it. The kid was stronger than most. He was currently meeting with his brothers under supervision. It was a temporary solution, but everyone involved wanted to ensure that Silas was comfortable moving with them. He had the world behind him to support him; he would be okay.

“In a couple of months,” I explained. Silas called me almost daily to just talk—not about what we had survived, but life in general. It seemed I was his only friend, and I would do my best to be the greatest friend to him I could be. “He asked if we would drive him out.”

“Us, or you?” Lexington challenged with a smile.

I rolled my eyes and stood, playfully whacking him in the chest. “Us, you idiot. Did you forget you were the person who saved him twice?”

Lexington grabbed my hand and pulled me close. I collided with his chest, a breath escaping me. “Baby, I saved you twice. You saved him more times than anyone knows when you two were down there. But… I think we should go. Maybe we could make a trip out of it, bring River, and do a family vacation.”

I wrapped my arms around him, reveling in his warmth and the safety his arms had always brought me. “Family, huh?” My heart warmed at just the thought, because he was my family.

The man who once upon a time made me want to tear my hair out and throw things was now my family—the most important person in my life.

He kissed my forehead softly, and again on the tip of my nose. “You best believe it. There’s no getting rid of me now, Marigold.”

Silas

Goldie and Lexington sat in the front seats of the SUV, their hands clasped over the center console, both of their heads moving to the music. It was almost eerie how similar the two were, though I had a feeling they would both disagree. The way the two bickered wasn’t because they were opposites, but because they were exactly the same. The jokes, the looks they threw at each other, even their laughs were similar.

Maybe that was what a soulmate was: the other half of you, just packaged a bit differently. It was a new concept I was beginning to understand. Soulmates. There were a lot of new concepts I was learning. It was overwhelming to learn it all at seventeen, but I wouldn’t give it up now. Now… now I was free. I was out of the hellhole I had grown up in, acting as the grim reaper for the souls that were brought to me. I was the last person so many met, talked to. I did my best to make their final moments happy—as happy as I could in the dark.

When Goldie was dropped into that hole with me, I didn’t know what to think. She wasn’t a kid like the rest; she was different in so many ways. Where I was the grim reaper, she was an angel sent to save me from the darkness. She would disagree, say I saved myself, but it was her.

She looked back at me, giving me a soft smile and giving another one to her son, who was asleep in his car seat next to me. He was a cute kid with his green eyes and light-up sneakers. He had given me a parting gift that was packed in my suitcase: a stuffed alligator he insisted kept the nightmares away. It was one of my many new belongings coming with me to my new home.

Because I had a home again—two brothers who survived the night my parents were massacred, who were left in their room the night I was taken: Brooks and Blake. They were waiting for me in Montana where I would live now, where I would find a new normal, or I guess my first dose of normal.

“What’s this called again? The music genre?” I asked.

“Rock,” Lexington called. “It’s by a band named Queen, so 80s rock in particular. One of the best bands ever.”

“Who says?” Goldie asked with a laugh.