Nightfall

by Douglas, Penelope

  Last night was insane. What was she doing to me?

  She was incredible. To see her like that, alive like she was in the greenhouse, too, and to know that the lies I carried around to make myself feel better about losing her all those years ago were completely untrue.

  She fit with us.

  She was made for us.

  What wouldn’t people do if they felt safe enough to dive in headfirst? She did it. She didn’t have to, but the best part about it was I didn’t think she was thinking about it at all. She just let go.

  I wanted to wrap my body around hers so badly I refrained, because I knew that I’d squeeze the life out of her, wanting her so much. My cock was so hard last night, watching them.

  And Alex… The way Emmy took control of her was even more of a surprise, because I knew Alex wasn’t used to it. It was beautiful to see her dominated and seduced and taken charge of, so she could just revel instead of feeling the pressure to give others pleasure when it was high time for her turn.

  Luckily, Emmy hadn’t seemed to wake up yet, even though nightfall had passed hours ago. The spell hadn’t broken, and she was still…divine.

  We arrived in Thunder Bay around eight this morning. Lev and David were instructed to take Emory to St. Killian’s and they walked across the platform, followed by Misha and the girls. The guys stayed behind with me in the emptying car.

  I spotted a courier outside and opened my mouth to tell the guys I’d see them in a while, but then, all of a sudden, a punch landed in my gut, and I hunched over, barely registering Damon moving to Kai, and then Michael next. He threw a punch across Kai’s jaw and landed an uppercut right in Michael’s stomach.

  “Ugh!” Michael growled as I winced.

  “Man, what the fuck?” Kai barked, rubbing his face.

  I looked up at Damon, the pain in my abs like a knot tightening over and over again.

  He inhaled a deep breath, fixing the lapels of his suit jacket. “I’d rather not walk in on my sisters in some weirdo, bacchanalian sex fest ever again,” he stated. “Understand?”

  He didn’t wait for an answer. Spinning around with his lips tight, he stalked off the train as the rest of us tried to stand up straight again.

  Shit. He saw that last night? Fuck.

  “I keep forgetting those are his sisters,” Michael said, rubbing his stomach.

  Kai started laughing, shaking his head. “Crap…”

  We all started laughing, an image of him walking in and then promptly back out replaying over and over again in my head. How had we not seen him?

  Poor D.

  I held out my hand to Kai. “Give me your keys,” I told him. “Ride with Michael. I have a few things to do.”

  He nodded and dropped his keys into my palm, grabbing the back of my neck and bringing me in. “Welcome home,” he said and then left the train.

  It felt good to be home. I think.

  “Take Emory with you,” I told Michael. “Lock her up downstairs. I’ll be back in a while.”

  “Okay.”

  Micah, Rory, and I headed off the train, and I grabbed the envelope from the courier as I passed, not stopping for anything as I ripped open the package and dug out a cell phone. Turning it on, I clicked to my keypad, my thumb hovering over the numbers, but…

  I wasn’t ready. I didn’t want to face the world yet, and I wasn’t sure what I was going to say to my parents if I did call them.

  Or my grandfather, brothers, or other friends...

  Slowly…

  Clicking the key fob, I saw the taillights of a black Porsche Panamera light up, and the three of us climbed in, my body tingling at the feel of a car.

  God, it had been so long. The leather seats grinded under my weight, and I inhaled the scent of the new vehicle, instant euphoria calming my brain.

  Fuck, this felt good.

  Starting it up, I hit the clutch, turned up the radio as some new song from Thousand Foot Krutch started playing, and punched the shift into reverse, hitting the gas.

  We peeled out of the parking lot, the speed and music taking over as Rory let his head fall back and his eyes close, exhaling for the first time since I’d met him. Micah sat in the passenger seat next to me, his head tipped out the open window, smiling and sighing at the same time as the wind blew over his face.

  How we’d missed the simple pleasures of speed and wind and freedom.

  I just needed a decent cheeseburger now, and I was home.

  We raced into town, past the Cove, past Cold Point, and through the neighborhoods, a For Sale sign sitting on the lawn of Emmy’s old house. The yard looked like shit, and I knew Martin Scott was spending more of his time in Meridian City as he moved up the ranks of public service, but I did a double take, not expecting to see that. Did Emmy know the house was for sale?

  How long had it been on the market? It was a great house in a quaint, little neighborhood. There would be interest soon, if not already.

  Turning right, we passed the village and the cathedral, turning left up into the hills and past my old high school as we headed up to my parents’ house.

  I kind of wished I could put this off a while longer, especially since I wouldn’t get out of there easily with my mom whining about how worried she’d been, and my dad grilling me about every detail until he was good and satisfied. But if they found out I was in town and hadn’t touched base, it would be worse.

  I wasn’t sure why I’d brought Micah and Rory with me. Maybe I wanted them to see my life here. Or maybe it aggravated me they’d taken her side yesterday, and I wanted some time with them myself. I’d worked too long and too hard on them to lose them to my little usurper.

  I did kind of appreciate their loyalty to her, though. That might be useful.

  Climbing out of the car, we jogged up the steps of my house. Everything looked exactly the same as when I’d left more than a year ago. I had no idea where my keys or clothes were at this point, but I guessed the crew had kept my apartment at Delcour, so I should have a good supply of things still there.

  I squeezed the handle, the door opening immediately, and I smiled smelling the fresh flowers my mom always kept in the house as I stepped inside.

  The foyer was grand and white, like Blackchurch, but my mom was a far better decorator. It was light and airy, and I smiled as the guys followed me, looking around themselves.

  “Hello?” I heard Meredith’s voice. “Who is that?”

  The head housekeeper rounded the corner, drying her hands on a towel with her hair pulled back in a ponytail so tight her eyebrows nearly reached her hairline.

  She smiled, seeing me. “Will!”

  “Hey.” I leaned in, giving her a peck on the cheek. “Any of my family home?”

  I didn’t want to give her a chance to ask questions.

  She shook her head. “No. Your parents are in California for the week on business, and there’s no one else here. Should I call Mr. and Mrs. Grayson?”

  “No,” I blurted out.

  This was actually perfect. I missed them, but I had more pressing matters right now that were better dealt with them out of the way.

  “I’ll surprise them,” I told her.

  She looked at Micah and Rory, and I could see she wanted to talk more, but knew it wasn’t a good time for a chat. “Well, it’s good to see you.”

  “Yeah, you, too.”

  “Do you want something to eat?”

  “No,” I lied, remembering how I loved her breakfast casseroles. “But I’ll be back in the next few days. Just pass on the message to my parents when they get home that I’m in town, and I’m not going anywhere.”

  She grinned. “Good. Your mom needs her spin partner back.”

  I groaned inwardly before she winked and walked away.

  “Spin partner?” Rory repeated.

  “Shut up.”

  Micah snorted, and I rolled my eyes.

  I looked around, intending to go to my room and pick up some things when I got here, but now I didn�
��t feel up for it.

  “You need clothes or something?” Micah asked.

  I didn’t answer. I walked to the small table on the wall, instead, and pulled open the drawer, taking out some car keys.

  I tossed them to Micah. “Take the Audi and follow me.”

  We left the house, and they hopped in my father’s car as I took Kai’s, all of us jetting into the village and sliding into spots just along the curb in front of the theater. I had something to give them, and more business to take care of, but as soon as I grabbed the envelope and climbed out of the Porsche, I looked up and saw something new in the distance.

  What…?

  The leaves rustled in the trees, the smell of pizza wafting out of Sticks hitting me, but I didn’t even look when someone noticed me and called out, “Oh, my God. Will! You’re back!”

  I kept my eyes on the top of the small hill, in the center of the park, in the middle of the village.

  Where the hell did that come from?

  We jogged across the street, the guys following me into the park and up the incline, my heart pounding as I took in the massive, beautiful, wrought-iron gazebo standing in the place of the one I’d burned down.

  As if it had always been there. And Emmy’s had not.

  After the fire, the city had cleared away the debris, and a few years later I was out of jail, constantly avoiding the emptiness that loomed to my left every time I went into Sticks or the theater or the White Crow Tavern…

  I’d only been away less than a year and a half this time, and someone had rebuilt a gazebo in the old one’s place?

  Someone had taken away my chance to make amends.

  Not that I’d been rushing to do it myself, or even sure that I wanted to, still pissed at her constantly as I was, but… I didn’t like the opportunity to decide for myself taken away from me now.

  “This was the gazebo?” Micah asked. “I thought she said it was burned down.”

  I’d forgotten she’d mentioned it that night at the dinner table. I wasn’t about to explain myself, especially when I had no idea who built this, but why wouldn’t Michael or Kai stop them? They would anticipate I had plans of my own for a replacement someday. Or they’d anticipate that I’d eventually have plans of my own.

  I gazed up at the black, circular structure with four sets of stairs, one each on the north, south, east, and west sides leading up to the landing, and the open roof, the beams coming from all sides to join at the top, letting in the falling leaves overhead and the rain during thunderstorms. Ivy wrapped around the railings, almost like the gazebo grew out of the land.

  It was quite beautiful, actually. I wouldn’t have done it better, so there was that consolation.

  Well, shit…

  Exhaling, I shook my head and turned away, facing the guys as I dug in the envelope. “The car is yours for now,” I told them.

  My parents wouldn’t balk at me borrowing it for as long as I needed. They just didn’t need to know it wasn’t for me.

  I handed Rory another key and pointed to our family’s movie theater behind him. “There’s an apartment at the top. Fully furnished, the fridge is stocked, and it’s all yours.”

  My eyes shifted from him to Micah, and I handed them each a phone and a billfold.

  Rory’s brow knit in confusion as he opened the wallet and sifted through the license, the credit cards, and the cash, everything rush delivered this morning at the train station.

  He looked up, pulling out the Black Card with his name on it. “You didn’t have to do this.”

  “I didn’t.”

  Micah’s black eyebrow shot up, and he looked at Rory, and then at me. “Our parents?”

  I didn’t answer. I’d made lots of calls last night, but it wasn’t as much of a miracle to arrange all of this on short notice as it probably seemed to them. I’d been planning all of this for a long time, and me and my little laptop in my attic room had started these wheels in motion a long time ago.

  They had a car, a place to stay, money, and they didn’t have to return to the families that had hidden them away in disgrace. It was the start of a new life, and it was the least they deserved.

  “Do what you want,” I told them. “Stay. Go. Flush the money and cards down the toilet.”

  I wanted them here, but they had to want it, too.

  “Just give me the weekend,” I said. “See if you want to build a life here.”

  They glanced at each other, knowing they could go anywhere, for at least a little while.

  Their families only agreed to leave them alone, because my friends and I—Graymor Cristane—came with the deal.

  But I wasn’t forcing them to do anything they didn’t want to do.

  “If you stay,” I pointed out, “if you want to be a part of what we are, your parents will fund your buy-in to our resort. If not, no worries.”

  They could run on their own. Or they could run with us.

  “Thunder Bay is where you don’t have to hide,” I told them.

  We were a family. We’d had the rug pulled out from under us a long time ago, but we weren’t changing. Everyone else would.

  I just needed to hear a yes from them.

  “I’ll let you think about it. Let’s head to Michael’s house,” I said, leading the way back to the cars. “We need food.”

  “I’m not arguing with that,” Micah said. “I’m starving.”

  And I smiled to myself.

  If they were willing to stay through breakfast, then that wasn’t a no.

  • • •

  I didn’t stay. I dropped them at St. Killian’s where the cook had breakfast laid out, but then I saw the table bustling with everyone and parents and security and…

  My heart plummeted, seeing little black heads of hair scurrying around the table.

  Kids.

  My chest cracked wide open, and I didn’t know which one was Madden and which one was Ivarsen, but I couldn’t stay.

  I just… I couldn’t. I bolted, jumping back into Kai’s car and racing away, leaving my boys and Emmy behind, and spending the rest of the day taking care of the gazillion other things I had to do, so I didn’t think about everything I’d missed while I was away.

  I’d known that, though, right? Both Banks and Winter had been pregnant when I went to Blackchurch. I’d known what was happening at home.

  It was so hard to see their sons for the first time. I should’ve been there.

  I hadn’t been there.

  After burning a thousand calories at Hunter-Bailey where my membership was still current—thank you, Michael—I collected some clothes and belongings from Delcour, checked in with my bank and unfroze my accounts, made some more calls, took care of a couple of other minor tasks, and had a quick meeting at the White Crow.

  The town was just as beautiful as ever. The Bell Tower still sat in ruins, the Cove still standing quiet from a distance, and Edward McClanahan’s grave was decorated with trinkets from the latest pilgrimage made by the current basketball team of Thunder Bay Prep. I drove around for a long time, past Emmy’s old house repeatedly, our old school a few times, and completely avoided the bridge where I’d almost drowned two years ago.

  It wasn’t until my fifth pass through the neighborhoods surrounding the village, the sun setting and dusk rising, that I realized it was EverNight. “Man or a Monster” played on the radio as candles flickered in windows, the upstairs rooms that belonged to teenagers and children glowing bright with their offerings to Reverie Cross.

  As night settled, and the chill seeped into my bones, I wanted warmth, and I wanted that scent I had on me last night.

  Did her brother know we were in town? It wouldn’t be hard for him to know where to find her.

  I veered toward St. Killian’s.

  Climbing the cliffs, the sea air breezing through the car, I cruised down the blacktop road, past Damon’s house, Banks’s house, Michael’s parents’ house, and Rika’s mother’s house, speeding through the pillars with their gas lamp
s, and down the drive to St. Killian’s.

  Candles glowed in every window, and I saw movement through the drapes upstairs as a thatch of grass sat in the center of the driveaway with a bowl of fire blazing high. Gravel crackled under the tires, and I pulled to a stop, exiting the car.

  The drive in was gorgeous. This place was beautiful. They’d done a good job.

  Music and laughter greeted me as soon as I opened the door, and I peered inside the dining room, the open floorplan pretty well preserved, except for the few walls they added here and there to give some rooms their privacy.

  Winter sat in Damon’s lap as she and Alex laughed at whatever Rika was saying, the table strewn with notes, magazines, tuxes—for the wedding, I presumed—snacks and flowers. Banks and Kai must’ve gone home, and Micah texted me earlier to let me know they were heading to the apartment for the night.

  I had no idea where Misha and Ryen were, but they’d probably gone to his house or hers in Falcon’s Well, not far from here. Michael walked in from the kitchen with a platter of sandwiches, devouring one as he walked.

  But I slipped back and away before anyone saw me.

  A coo drifted off behind me, a flutter hitting my stomach as I turned and crossed the foyer, into the ballroom.

  The chandeliers dimmed and the chairs and sofas spread out around the room, and I looked over and saw a playpen with a spiky black head of hair sticking out the top.

  Walking over, I looked down at the blue-eyed boy with his father’s eyebrows and his mother’s long lashes, my chin fucking quivering because he was so damn cute.

  Reaching down, I picked him up and held him in my arms, his little body feeling lighter than air.

  Laughter went off in the dining room. His awesome baby smell made me dizzy, and needles pricked my throat as tears welled in my eyes.

  I shook with silent sobs, looking at his beautiful face as tears streamed down my own. Damon had done all this without me. He was doing so well—without me.

  I should’ve been here when the kid was born. I should know Madden.

  “I’m taking you trick or treating next year, okay?” I whispered down at him. “I’m taking you every year. I’m getting my own house, and I’m going to be at every one of Michael’s games and every one of your mom’s performances and I’ll be giving you the biggest presents for every birthday.” I leaned my cheek into his forehead, just sitting there. “I’ll even blow off your bedtime when they leave you with me for date night.”