by Bex Dane
Leaning back with his legs spread, he pulls me into the crook of his arm. We stay like that for a while thinking about the women Arthur killed and the chance we lost at saving them.
Cutter clears his throat and says solemnly, "I'm his next of kin."
My head snaps back. "So?"
"He had no will. Nothing. They're saying Sutton and I could sue for his estate." There's no emotion in his voice. Almost like he's talking about someone else.
"You'd get his fortune? It's probably billions."
He shakes his head and takes a sip of beer. "I don't want his money."
"You'd be a billionaire," I say with a hint of question in my voice.
He slices one eye at me and frowns. "If I had trillions, I'd still be right here on this couch in these mountains with you after putting my kid sister and brother to bed. Money would not change that."
It's too much money to just let it slip away. If he's the rightful heir, he should find a way to turn it into a positive thing. "I think you should take it."
He growls back at me. I know he doesn't like the idea, but he has to consider it.
"Think of all the good you could do with that money. Help his victims, anything Sutton needs. All your brothers and sisters would never have to worry about money."
He looks back at me with skeptical eyes. "I don't want anything from him."
I totally understand his position. It's dirty money. Three women died because of it. Cutter and Sutton suffered so much because of it, but it seems like such a waste to turn it down. "If you won't take it, then give it away. To the families of his victims. Give it to charity. What about the agencies that work with Foster and Mila with the at-risk teens? Give them the greatest surprise ever. Think of the good they could do."
He pulls my lips to his and plants a soft kiss on me. I can tell he's thinking about it. I stay quiet and enjoy his kisses as he processes this too. When he pulls away, his eyes have changed from hard and dark to soft and loving. "I'll think about it."
Good. I like it when he listens to me and he's open to my ideas. "I know money won't heal everything, but think how you'll feel if you can get back at him this way."
He takes a pull from his beer, swallows, and sets it on the coffee table. "Foster's dad was named Henry."
Hmm. I'm surprised by his change of subject. "Okay?" I've heard people around here mention Henry, but I haven't heard the entire story.
"He adopted him when he was seventeen. Didn't need to. He was old enough to age out. But Henry made a point of legally adopting him. Henry told him to pay it forward. Foster and Mila did the same for me and Sutton."
His voice changes as he talks about his parents. The love they gave him made him into the man he is today, and I'm the lucky one to be part of his life now.
"That's amazing. To have someone say they want to be your forever family."
He nods. His family is everything to him.
"So, Arthur's dead, and I have his money, it's my turn to pay it forward." His voice is resigned. He's accepted he has a responsibility to make sure that money gets used for good.
"Yeah."
"We'll give it to whoever needs it. We'll support the foster care facilities and organizations that help the kids like me."
"That would be wonderful." My voice breaks because I'm fighting tears. This means so much to him and to us.
"We'll probably end up adopting a crew of our own," he throws out casually.
I gasp and my heart jumps. "We will?"
"You okay with adopting kids?"
I laugh. "Of course. Anything with you. Anything for you. Maybe not right now, but someday."
"Not right now. When we're ready." He takes my beer and places it next to his on the coffee table. When he leans back, he pulls me up on his lap so I'm straddling him, his palms flat on my thighs. "Gonna stop smoking."
"You are?" I haven't mentioned it in a long time, but it's always on my mind. "Why now?"
He slips his big warm palm behind my neck and squeezes. "All the shit that's gone down. Facing Arthur. Accepting who I am. It's changed me."
I nod. I totally know what he means. He's changed my life so much. "Look how far we've come since that night in the bar." My lips curl up into a smile remembering the night we met.
His fingers caress the sensitive part of my neck at the base of my hair. "You were so crazy. Yelling and screaming about faking it." He smiles and shakes his head. "Wanting to hate fuck a stranger, ordering all the drinks." He uses a mocking tone when he says all the drinks.
Looking back, I can't believe I was that girl. I can't believe I ever thought I loved Dayton when he was such a loser. Cutter is everything I ever wanted. The fact he wants a family with me makes my heart dance. I would love to have a second chance at a family. It would be a dream come true to be part of his.
He looks over my shoulder like he's thinking back to that night. "I knew it then. I saw it in you. The wild spark you have follows you everywhere. A brilliant star in the dark night."
"You saw that in me?" I lean my head on his shoulder and hug him.
"Woman, it's hard to miss. You wear it on your sleeve." He kisses the top of my head. "But I love it. I need more of that in my life."
I sit up and look him in the eye. "You totally do. You looked like a sad cowboy drinking away your troubles in the saloon. Why were you even there?"
"I'd been watching Arthur's house. I'd seen the girls. I decided to go in. Knew I'd have to face him again. Didn't know how I was going to do it, but I knew I had to do something. That's what triggered me."
My hand glides over his cheek. His beard is one-week scruffy and I love it. "Let your beard grow back?"
"Was planning on it."
We both grin. "I thought you were a really hot biker dude."
"I thought you were a fuck hot angel fallen from heaven."
My cheeks heat. We both knew that night and fought it, but it was inevitable.
"So why quit smoking?" I ask him.
"Got a reason to live now."
Aww, I love this man.
He pulls me in for a passionate, loving, hot, wet, kiss.
Chapter 26 Bruce
"We said no presents." Cutter has just emerged from the closet carrying a huge box wrapped in emerald green paper and topped with a red-and-white bow.
We returned to our cabin after a raucous Christmas Eve dinner with Foster, Mila, and all of their children together for the first time in years. This is my first Christmas with Cutter, but Sutton told me usually someone is away at school or unable to return home for whatever reason, but this year, the stars aligned and everyone made it to Twist Cabins in Boulder Creek for Christmas Eve.
Foster and Mila's cabin was jam-packed with brothers, sisters, friends, and kids. Even Tash and Laith came up for Christmas in the redwoods.
Now we're alone in our cabin exchanging gifts privately. I loved the hustle and bustle at dinner, but the quiet at our place calms the soul.
"You're gonna like this one." Cutter sits on our couch in front of the fireplace and nods at the giant box.
"Okay then, you open this first." Under a small tree we set up in the corner, I had wrapped a shoebox for him with a special gift inside.
"You first," he says.
"No. Please, you first." I take the wrapped box and place it on his lap. He looks up at me with love and adoration. Being Cutter Twist's girlfriend gets better every day. We grow into each other. He's more open, less volatile timebomb, and I'm more confident, less lonely child. We give each other what we need to let those old fears go. He quit smoking and I'm a brown belt in karate, so we're both healthier.
I've been taking makeup jobs in town and working on some videos up here in the mountains. I've learned that I don't have to "make it big" to be a success at my job, I just have to make the client look fabulous and feel good about it.
With all that going on, my love for Cutter keeps expanding. We've had a few fights, but under it all, there's a deep unabiding love neither of us
would ever do anything to ruin. I trust it won't ever fade. I'll never stop loving him.
"I won't open mine until you open yours so get on with it so we can get to bed and make love." I wiggle my eyebrows at him.
He smiles and turns the box in his hands, looking for a place to break open the paper. I knew mentioning sex would work. He's always eager to get me to bed. I am too, but I want him to open his present first.
Watching him tear the paper makes me smile. I've planned this for so long, and now it's here. He pulls the shoebox lid open and stares in wonder at the smiling stuffed dog I found for him. Sutton told me that Arthur had slashed Cutter's dog when he was ten years old. I tried to match her description of a velvety soft mocha-brown dog with floppy ears and a big permanent embroidered smile. He drops his hand with the toy in it and stares at me.
"Sutton helped me find it. Don't you like it? Does it look like the one you lost? Bruce?"
His eyes melt and his lip juts up. Oh shoot. I didn't think it might trigger him. He turns the dog in his hands and inspects it again. "Babe, come here."
Oh no. I thought it would make him happy to have something that he lost back. "It was a silly idea. I just thought…"
"Babe. Sit here on my lap." He pats his knee like Santa.
I walk up to him with my head down. He grabs my hand and pulls me to sit on his firm thigh. His finger under my chin draws my gaze to his. "You got me a stuffed dog?"
I nod and press my lips together. "I searched around for it. See his pointy eyebrows? Those were in the earlier versions of this dog around the time you would have been ten years old. Later production of this particular model didn't have the eyebrows. Did yours have the eyebrows?"
His head flops forward onto my chest. I run my fingers through his long hair, down over his cheek and through his scraggly beard. I love all the textures of this man. "Does it hurt you?" Because I'd never do anything to intentionally cause him pain. I thought it would heal something inside him.
He looks up at me and cups my face in his hand. "I love it. It's the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me."
"Aww." Oh good. I'm so happy he gets it. He gets me. "Really?"
"Yes. It's the most thoughtful, loving, kind, compassionate thing anyone has ever done and probably will ever do."
I smile and he kisses me hard. It starts sweet, but like our kisses always do, it makes the sparks fly, and we're both instantly turned on. His hand holding the dog caresses up my thigh, and I want to run to the bed to celebrate my success at finding such a meaningful gift for the love of my life.
"Your turn," he says with his lips against mine.
"Later." I tug at the buttons of his flannel shirt. I like his lumberjack look but I want to see him naked. Naked Cutter Twist is my favorite thing in the whole world. Better than any movie, any thrill, any thing. It's all I need to be happy.
"Babe. Open your gift and then we can fuck."
"Let's do it right here real quick and then we'll open that thing. It's so big." I twist on his lap and straddle him on the couch.
He laughs and tugs my hips closer to his, the stuffed dog still in his grip. "It is big. Open the present first, then I'll let you have at my package."
"Fine." I climb off him and move over to his enormous gift. What could I need this size? We don't have a lot of storage space in the cabin, so I hope it's not something I have to make room for on a shelf or in the closet. Unless it's a painting. I wouldn't mind hanging a new painting on the wall. Maybe it's a knife set. I saw this cute butcher knife set that had Freddy, Jason, Ghostface and Pennywise on the blades. No, this box is too big for a set of knives.
I get the wrapping off and there's a smaller box inside. "You!"
He laughs. "Keep going."
His chuckles continue as I tear through wrapped box after wrapped box. Tons of paper litters the floor. We're down to a tiny box the size a watch would fit in. Definitely not a set of horror knives.
The last box is black velvet and my heart skips a beat. It's not.
It can't be.
I'm frozen staring at the box.
He gets up from the couch and turns out the lights.
We're in the dark except for the glow of the fire and the lights on the tree.
On the far wall, next to his hatchets, in white strings of Christmas lights, it says,
MARRY ME.
He walks back to me and drops to his knees. The paper crumples as he inches closer.
He takes the box from my frozen hand. I'm sucking air in loudly trying to breathe. We'd talked about the future, and I'd hoped someday Cutter would ask me, but I didn't expect it so soon. It hasn't even been a year yet. We've been so wrapped up in disbursing the money from Arthur's estate, I figured it wouldn't happen until all that was done.
He opens it and takes out a ring with a giant shiny round diamond.
"I love you more than I ever thought I was capable of. I want to fight ghosts and demons with you forever. I want your light in my light every day to keep me looking forward, and I want to be the best damn husband I can be for you. Marry me."
"Yes. Yes!" I throw my arms around him and knock him to his back. We're kissing like crazy, and I'm laughing as I'm devouring his kisses.
A loud roar comes from beyond our front door. "What's that?"
He grins as he stands up to open the door. "Welcome to the family." The entire Twist clan stands outside in the cold. His big beautiful family is cheering and clapping for us, welcoming me.
I let go of his hand and run out and hug Sutton first. She's the closest thing to a sister I've ever had. Mila hugs me next. "Did you like the lights? That was my idea."
"I loved the lights. They're perfect."
Laith and Tash stand in the crowd with big shit-eating grins on their faces. I squeal in Tash's ear as we embrace. "I can't believe you didn't tell me about this."
"Where's the ring, girl?" she asks me.
I look down at my left hand. "I don't know."
"Go get it."
"Okay!"
I run over to Cutter and accidentally ram into him as he's finishing up a fist-bump hug with Foster. "You forgot to give me the ring."
He grins and reaches for my left hand. My fingers are shaking so bad. I feel like jumping up and down. A Christmas surprise from Cutter and the Twist family is the best present ever.
He works it onto my finger and gazes at me with so much love in his eyes I want to scream.
His family cheers again, and I'm a grinning fool.
I never dreamed I could be this happy.
I never dreamed I'd meet a man like Cutter.
Chapter 27 Willow
Ten Years Later
Cutter
"You want to come on the hike with us?" My mom and dad are sitting at their kitchen table eating breakfast on a gorgeous Sunday morning.
My three kids come tearing into their living room and scream as they run around the couch. The boys land on top of the girl and she starts to scream.
"Hey! Get off her!"
They continue to smother her as her screaming and squealing gets louder.
"Get off her right now!" When I take one step toward them to break it up, they stop and run away like guilty little leprechauns.
"No. We'll stay here," my mom says quietly. She loves her grandkids but she also knows a hike with them will be a loud and rambunctious adventure, and she looks like she's enjoying the quiet with her husband.
"C'mon, Grandma!" Willow runs up to her and tugs her arm.
My mom cringes. She's only forty-six and too young to be a grandma, but Willow loves calling her that, maybe because it draws that reaction out of her.
She leans down to look at Willow. "You come back later, and we'll have cake and ice cream. Okay?"
My mom always stuffs Willow full of sugar, which only ramps up her batteries and makes her even more of a handful, but we all love every minute together.
"We'll be here for ice cream," my son Ashton says as he points to his brother Talon.
I'm sure they will. They never miss a chance to eat dessert with Grandma and Grandpa.
My dad waves at us. "See you later." He smirks at me, knowing I'm going into the woods alone with a pack of wild kids.
***
"Willow, come back here."
Her little blonde head scurries ahead of us. She jumps off the trail and hides behind a fern.
"Ow!" Her brothers poke each other with sticks. They want to get back home to their video games, but this is our Sunday hike, and I'm keeping the tradition going until they leave for college.
"Nanook, go get her." Our husky-wolf hybrid stares up at me confused. He sees no need to retrieve the girl from the bushes.
"Get your butt back on the trail, Willow."
She giggles from behind a redwood.
"That child is going to give me gray hair."
Cass laughs. "Let her go. She's fine."
"She's a wild child like her momma." I kiss my wife's forehead.
"Let her be wild," Cass says with a smile that still gets me in the gut today as much as it did the day I married her under the canopy of these trees.
A few more feet down the trail, Willow runs out and roars like a bear, her fingers bent in the air. She's been watching Cass's YouTube videos where we go out looking for Big Foot.
"There he is. I see him." I point off deeper into the forest. We all stop and look over there, even the boys fall for this every time. Willow runs into my arms, scared little chicken. I scoop her up in the crook of my elbow.
"Where, Daddy?"
"Aww, he ran away, but I swear I saw him. Did you see him, babe?" I ask Cass.
She shakes her head. "I saw the bushes move, but I don't know. Could be Big Foot or it could be a squirrel!" She tickles Willow when she says squirrel and Willow wriggles in my arms.
The boys are unimpressed with my dad jokes, but they know I love them.
Willow rubs her finger over a scar on my forearm. They're not as raised as they used to be and they've lightened in color. They've faded along with the memories and the urge to cut myself. I'm proud I've conquered that demon and I learned a lot from it.