Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
She lifted her hands and made a bunch of exploding sounds and gestures. “It was over for him the second he saw you.”
“You should have seen her this last week at the shop. Her feet haven’t touched the ground once.” Emery said it like it was completely scandalous.
“All because that bad boy has been sending her soaring.” Charleigh conspiratorially glanced around the table.
“I’m not sure I’m ever going to come down,” I admitted. “He’s…”
All the teasing drained away, and Charleigh’s head tilted to the side in soft speculation. “You love him?”
I looked down at the swirl of my drink, the old part of me thinking I should keep it hidden. But that era was over. I didn’t want to live concealed any longer.
“So much,” I admitted. “I realize I haven’t known him for all that long, but…” I trailed off.
Emery reached out and set a gentle hand on my arm. “But when it’s right, you know.”
My nod was jerky. “Yeah. It feels impossible. I fought it with everything I had, but I think he was under my skin the first time I saw him, too. And then after everything happened…”
I paused, not sure how I was supposed to put it into words. Or really, if I even should. I understood we needed to be incredibly careful when it came to Sovereign Sanctum.
“It’s a lot to process,” Raven whispered. “This life. I’ve been a part of it for so long, and there are still times when it feels inconceivable. Outside of reality. The fear and worry that comes with it because we love them so much, but what they do is so important. The lives I’ve seen them save…”
Reverence filled her features, and emotion welled around her.
That same kind of awe surged to overflowing inside me, though I still struggled to wrap my head around it. Thinking of Alicia and Lucy. The horrors they’d suffered that Theo had confided in me during the deepest hour of the night. He’d answered more of my questions, holding me as he confessed how truly terrifying and dangerous their lives could be.
I’d been so close in that moment—so close to giving it all to him.
“It’s terrifying,” I forced around the lump in my throat. “What they do. But I…understand it.”
Accepted it.
“They’d give it all for these women and children…and I think you know how much more that extends to us.” Charleigh’s words sounded almost prodding.
The gaze that she set on me was knowing.
As if she saw the fear that had been my master for so long.
“I believe this town draws those who belong here to it,” she continued, a glance flickering to Emery for a beat before it returned to me. “It draws you to the people you’re supposed to be with. I told Emery that same thing when I met her, and I think that applies to you. It certainly did to me.”
“I needed him.” It was the gush of an admission that I expelled.
“You’ve been…afraid?” I could tell with the way that Raven phrased it that she didn’t want to freak me out, but it was also clear they were sure something was going on with me.
The same as Theo had known from the start.
A heavy strain of air filtered from my nose. “I’ve been running from my ex for a long, long time.”
It felt so strange to say it. To just…lay it out when it’d been the most horrible secret I’d ever carried.
Compassion leaked from all of them.
“He’ll hold it, Piper,” Emery said. “I promise you. You can trust him with it. Whatever you’re going through. Nothing is too big for him.”
The scarce remnants of reservations and questions that remained whipped around inside me.
“All of us, Piper.” Raven’s expression morphed into the starkest sincerity. “All of us are here for you and your son. You’re our family now.”
“And that Nelly I haven’t met yet,” she added, her voice going light. Like she knew I needed a breather from the tension that suddenly bound the air. “That is a travesty that we must rectify. You make sure you bring her to our family gathering on Sunday.”
Then her voice went pointed. A soft, poignant prodding. “After you confide in Theo about everything that’s going on with you.”
My mind traveled to the pain he held close to the vest. “He already carries so much. Has lost so much.”
Raven must have known what I was referring to because she sat back in her chair. Searching me as she seemed to waver with what to say. “Did he tell you?”
I barely shook my head. “Only that he failed someone he was supposed to love. That he doesn’t believe he can really love.”
My spirit thrashed. I didn’t believe it for a second.
I’d felt that love.
Experienced it.
I just prayed in time, Theo would recognize it, too.
Sadness weaved through Raven’s features. “It’s not my place to tell you what he went through, Piper, but what I can say is he’s carried it like a scourge for so many years. And when I told you I never imagined he would fall for someone, I meant it and not in a teasing way. I truly believed he would never love after what he suffered. But then I saw him dancing with you and your son in my living room, and I knew there was a piece of that broken man that’d been healed. Freed. And it’s free in you.”