Not a fucking thing about this town.
“GCPD!” I shout, yanking out my gun and stepping forward. Michael is smiling, folding to his knees, a content little thing. He’s dropped his gun, and his hands are behind his head.
He knew. He knew this would be how it ended. That it would always end like this.
Eli is crouched next to Scarlett, and she’s gasping for breath, blood pouring from the bullet wound in her chest. Her eyes are wide and cloudy with pain, but she smiles.
The bitch touches his face, with bloody fingers, and she smiles as she dies.
“Archer,” Hazel says, urgently. “Where the fuck is Gabe?”
“I keep my promises, Hazel,” Michael. “King made sure we always kept our promises. Go home.”
He smiles at her, then, and I want to punch him. Want to drag my brother away from the whore on the ground.
Rusty is gone.
“Thank you,” he murmurs, and then he goes limp and silent. Patient and secretive as I call in the arrest.
It takes a few weeks, for things to settle. The County is anxious and on edge after the spree of killing, and with Rusty Watson still on the loose.
I hear more than most of the public. Having a brother on the case helps.
So I hear, before it hits the papers, that Michael is dead. Poison in his cell.
They find John and Hanna a few days later, on the sprawling farm they grew up in.
It was the plan, from the very beginning. There was no happy ending for them. They were too—everything. Too volatile, too dangerous, too, too, too.
Some of the public distrust and nerves settled, after that.
But it’s going to take time. Especially since we know that Morningstar is still out there. Still seething, like a silent secret, under the surface of the County.
It’s been two weeks but things are finally settling into a normal. For us, that means this. Finally.
We’re having family dinner, because Nora pitched a fit.
And that is a whole different nervous-making ball of worms.
She’s in my kitchen, putting the finishing touches on the side dishes. I can hear Archer and Eli arguing over the chicken Archer is grilling. It strings a smile across my lips, and some of the tension in my chest eases.
“When were you planning on telling me?”
I pause and look at her. She’s sprinkling cheese on the pasta salad and I have no clue what she’s talking about.
“C’mon, Hazel. You don’t think I raised you and him and somehow managed to miss that the two of you have been in love since you were fourteen.”
I pale and she laughs. “You knew?”
“Of course I knew. Why the hell do you think I gave you and him so much space? You and Archer are perfect for each other and always have been because you allow yourself to be there for each other. You’ve been working together like an old married couple since you were old enough to care about boys. I never thought you’d be stupid enough to run away from him.”
She cocks her head at me, her gaze fierce but loving.
Demanding and understanding. All the things Nora has always been. “You two can destroy each other. Or you can be the best thing that’s ever happened to either of you. Don’t run from that.”
“It scares me,” I say, quietly.
“The best things in life do, Hazy girl.” she answers, calmly. “Now go get your boys before they burn down the back porch.”
My boys. What she’s always called them.
Makes sense. If she knew how I felt about Archer, she wouldn’t continue to call him my brother.
I leave the cake I’ve finally finished frosting on the table and head to the back of the house. Eli is headed into the house, and Archer. Well. Archer is being utterly Archer. He’s gathering trash from the porch and watching the grill as the fire slowly dies.
He looks so right, there. Like he was never gone.
“Are you happy, sis?” Eli asks.
I nod. “Yeah. Feel a little guilty about it, but. Yeah. I am.”
“Why feel guilty?”
I focus on him. He’s watching me, those hazel eyes of his puppy sad and sweet.
“Because you lost someone you cared about.”
He takes a shuddery breath, and his eyes close. We haven’t talked about it, how Eli is dealing with the sudden death of Scarlett. We haven’t talked about how withdrawn and moody he’s been.
Oh, he’s been present. He was at Gabe’s when we found him, tied up and unconscious in his bedroom. He was there at the hospital when Gabe woke up and stayed until my grumpy best friend threw him out, and his brother arrived.
But he’s been quiet. Archer is worried, even if he isn’t talking about it much.
“I’m okay,” he says, now, slowly. Quietly.
Impulsively, I hug him and his arms come around me, almost too tight. He’s clinging to me, a subtle tremor running through him, and I bury my head in the crook of his neck. Whisper, softly. “You’re allowed to miss her, Lijah,”
“She wasn’t a good person, Hazel.”
“We don’t always love good people. Doesn’t make losing them easier.”
Eli stares at me, turning that over. I lean up and kiss his cheek and Archer makes a low noise in his throat as he enters. “Back off, Lijah. I called dibs.”
I give my boyfriend a hard stare. “You called dibs.”
He grins at me, completely unrepentant and I roll my eyes at him. But all of the annoyance fades away as he tugs me into him. His lips covering mine. And everything fades away.
Archer makes everything fade away, with his big hands on my hips, holding me close, licking into my mouth like I’m the air he needs to live.
Far away, I can hear Eli gagging, and Nora shushing him, her voice soft. I can hear Gabe and Aiden arriving, and my best friend’s laughter and mocking.
It’s not perfect. There are still so many secrets in the County, and the people I care about are hurting.
But Archer is here, and I’m in his arms. Surrounded by our family.
It doesn’t have to be perfect, to be right. And this has always been right.
DIRTY STOLEN FOREVER
GREEN COUNTY BOOK 2
PRE-ORDER TODAY!
Colt Rayburn loved Aiden Delvin, once. A lifetime ago. Before duty and the Marines took him a world away, chewed him up and spit him out.
Aiden would have waited forever for Colt to come back. But Colt didn’t want that, and he’s rebuilt his life. Without the man he loves.
When Colt comes home from a deployment that went wrong, Aiden is there. Inexplicably back in Green County and impossible to resist. He swore he’d never go back to that place, never destroy Aiden the way he had when he walked away the first time.
But Aiden grew up and changed too, while Colt played war hero.
Both of them know what they want. After all this time. But can a love story that destroyed them once be rebuilt, when life and duty still hangs over them both…
About the Author:
Nazarea Andrews (N to almost everyone) is an avid reader and tends to write the stories she wants to read. Which means she writes everything from zombies and dystopia to contemporary love stories.
When not writing, she can most often be found driving her kids to practice and burning dinner while she reads, or binging watching TV shows on Netflix. N loves chocolate, wine, and coffee almost as much as she loves books, but not quite as much as she loves her kids.
She lives in south Georgia with her husband, daughters, spoiled cat and overgrown dog. She is the author of World Without End series, Neverland Found, Edge of the Falls, The Blood Scion Saga, and The University of Branton Series, as well as Before & After and Fatal Beauty.
Stop by her twitter (@NazareaAndrews) and tell her what fantastic book she should read next.
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Table of Contents
DSS FINAL
Dirty Sexy Secret (Green County Book 1) Page 16