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“Does it make me a bad person that I’m glad your past led you to me?”
“No, because I’m grateful my life led me here. Are you going to be okay?”
“Yeah, it takes a while for my brain to fully finish its tantrum, then I will be as good as new. Brawley has been watching me like a hawk, and I will need you to sneak me some sugar, but I’ll be fine. I’m more concerned if you are going to be okay. What you went through was a lot for one person.”
“I will be, plus now I have you by my side.”
The back door opens, and Brawley fills the doorway. He looks down at the two of us, and his shoulders relax.
“I made a snack, inside with both of you,” he says and walks back inside.
Vero stands and pulls me up with him, holding the door for me. We find Brawley in the living room, waiting with a tray of cheese and crackers. I find it amusing that this huge-ass man has made us a morning snack. There are also grapes and a few other treats for Vero that are not sour gummy worms but should satisfy his sugar cravings.
Vero pockets three packets of something, and Brawley holds out his hand patiently. “One of those was for Kayla.”
“They all had my name on them.”
Brawley narrows his eyes, and they stare at each other until Vero hands over two packets. I sit on the floor beside the coffee table and take a cracker, while Brawley hands Vero a bottle of water. Watching them together makes my heart happy—I don’t think they realize how in sync they are.
“Where’s Ares?” I ask, as the last time I saw him he was putting his bike away.
“He went into the bar. He has a few things to do before tonight.”
“And Clay?”
“Doing his security checks of the island. He will be back later.”
I nod and take a grape. Vero sits across from me, eating his snack straight from the bag like a drug addict craving their next fix.
“Stop staring at me,” he says without looking up.
“I’m not.”
“You’re memorizing me.”
I snort, but he isn’t completely wrong. I enjoy looking at him and capturing the memories of good times. It was something I started doing when I was with Aaron because the good times were so good, but the bad times were worse.
Brawley puts his phone face down on the coffee table. “How did it go with Rogue?”
“Better than I expected. She knew it was coming and threatened Ares to treat me well, so I call that a win.”
I don’t bring up the cops poking around, as I figure that’s a conversation we need to have when everyone is here.
“And you’re certain? I know this is a big step for you.”
My heart melts. From the outside looking in, these men don’t come across as the types to care as much as they do. Yet each one has made sure I’m okay each step of the way, reinforcing my decision.
“Better than I thought I would be. I keep waiting for it all to catch up to me, and it almost did earlier, but Ares was there to help. I know everything will be okay.”
“That’s how this works. We will always be there for you. We may have red flags waving in every direction between us, and I can’t promise it will always be easy, but the one thing I can promise is that we will have your back.”
“Or we’ll come on it.” Vero snickers at his own joke, but Brawley and I ignore him.
“That is surprisingly comforting coming from you.”
The corner of his mouth curves up into a half-smile. “What can I say? I’m complicated.”
Vero stands and stretches his arms above his head. “I’m going to have a nap. Come wake me up later?” He winks as he says later, and I nod, knowing what he means. After a brief pause to touch the top of my head, he disappears out of the living room.
