by Brynne Asher
Now, for the first time since we got to the emergency room last night, Evan isn’t by my side.
“He stepped out to talk with a man who came to check on you. I think his name is Crew? They didn’t want to wake you,” July explains, knowing I’m looking for Evan before I have a chance to ask. “He said he was Addy’s neighbor. I can’t wait to meet her. He said she’d be by soon to bring you lunch so you wouldn’t have to eat hospital food.”
I swallow and nod, my head swimming and not only from my concussion.
“I hope you know,” July adds, “I was all ready to pack you up and move you home with me. I wasn’t even going to let you argue. But we’ve been here for less than two hours and I can already see how many people you have who love you.”
“Yeah,” I agree and let that sink deep into my heart that’s softening to the idea more and more that I actually have people and they might just love me as much as I do them.
Evan
“MARY DOESN’T HAVE anything to worry about when it comes to her dad,” Crew explains in a low voice. “And neither do you.”
I drop my head to look at my feet as I rub the tense muscles on the back of my neck. Exhaling, I release the stress I’ve been hoarding since last night. I know Mary won’t ever have to worry about her dad. I was the one who made sure of that. But I have to know, so I look to the man I’ve only met a handful of times at Addy’s who clearly has an interest in my boss. “Why?”
He doesn’t move—his body in a weird state of wired yet relaxed. “Why what?”
“Why did you do it?”
He doesn’t flinch but answers, knowing exactly what I mean. “Because it was the right thing to do and, I don’t care how ugly shit might get, I always go with my gut.”
I look to my side and I’m not sure I can accept that as an answer. Not after last night—whatever the hell happened after we left the scene. Not after Grady explained how it would go down on the way to the hospital and, even though I didn’t have time to ask why, there was something about him, Asa, and Crew that made me go along with everything. And there’s the fact I wasn’t excited to explain to the police I killed a man, even though it was in self-defense.
Or, mostly in self-defense which was why I had no problem agreeing.
Folding my arms across my chest, I keep on because I have to know. “You don’t know me.”
“I do.” Crew’s answer comes quick. “Almost as well as you know yourself. I know Bev, Morris, Van, and Maggie. I even know Clara’s kids are a pain in the ass. Addy’s mine and that means I know everything about everyone in her life. You were a rowdy kid—but a good one—who’s become an even better man. And I know the woman lying in that hospital bed needs you. Hell, she needs everyone, just as much as Addy needs me—she just hasn’t figured it out yet. So, yeah, Evan. I know you.”
All I can do is stare at him and ask, “But I don’t know you.”
“You know enough. I got your back. So do my men. That’s all you need to know.”
I take in a deep breath. “Fuck.”
Crew doesn’t say another word but the sides of his lips tip and he gives me a shrug.
He’s right. Not only do I not need to know anything else, I don’t want to.
“Tell Mary I hope she feels better soon. I’m sure I’ll catch up with her at Addy’s.” With that, Crew turns and walks down the hall as if he’s not a guy who knows how to get rid of a dead body and cover up a murder—albeit justified.
Shifting, I turn the handle to Mary’s door and hear July talking nonsense about Mary moving back to Tennessee.
“The only place Mary is moving is in with me.”
Mary turns, her bright blue eyes finding mine. Blue eyes that may be tired, worn down, and bloodshot, but one thing they aren’t, is scared. And I’m the one who made sure of that.
I’ll never question Crew or his men again.
“I missed you,” she admits freely.
I go straight to her and put my lips to hers. “I was only gone for three minutes. Crew said to tell you to feel better and he’d see you at Addy’s.”
She nods and doesn’t give Crew a second thought. “So, I’m moving in with you?”
“Addy and Bev are moving some of your things to my condo now. We can get the rest later when you’re feeling up to it.”
She threads her fingers through mine and tips her head toward me on her pillow. “I guess you’ve got everything under control then, huh?”
“You don’t have to worry about anything ever again, baby.” I give her hand a squeeze and I see relief in her eyes. “I promise.”
“I’m worried her dad will be back. He’s already proved how desperate he is,” July says.
I glance at July, shake my head, and tell her the truth. “Mary will be with me and I have a feeling after last night, we’ve seen the last of him. When I looked into his eyes the last time, he was scared shitless.”
“I hope you’re right.” July sighs before her gaze settles on Mary. “Guess what? Wes and I are staying on Evan’s family’s farm—in a guest house!”
Mary smiles at her friend before throwing me a glance, no doubt her thoughts mirroring mine. I rub my jaw and wet my lip just thinking about our time there and make a mental note to take her back as soon as she’s feeling up to it.
She looks back to July. “You’re going to love it. And there are horses—even a colt. It’s right up your animal-loving alley.”
I watch Mary talk and smile and try not to laugh so she doesn’t hurt her ribs as she catches up with her best friend. I get to know Wes Silver and learn about his club and business.
After all this time of me wanting Mary, I had no clue just how badly the thought of losing her would hurt.
And I vow to myself, that will never happen again.
EPILOGUE
My Dandelion
* * *
Mary
Two months later.
EVAN AND I have settled into our new normal. I’ve officially moved into his condo and let my crappy apartment go. Something that couldn’t have come at a better time with cracked ribs and a broken wrist.
My grandparents’ estate was just settled last week. I’ve been spending all my extra time looking through photos, getting to know the family I didn’t know I had. Besides names and dates, there is very little to learn. I did find out that I have extended family scattered around the south, but I haven’t had the nerve to reach out to them yet. Evan told me there’s no hurry and, when or if I felt like it, he’ll be by my side.
I don’t question that. He hasn’t budged an inch from my side and I couldn’t be happier about it.
I spent my life itching to turn eighteen so I could be on my own and, since then, have lived in the moment. I haven’t thought about the future in years but, in the last few weeks, I’ve allowed myself to … dream.
Not plan. Don’t get crazy, I’m not to that level of adulting yet. Maybe someday, but not today.
But the more I allow myself to dream, the further those dreams wander. They’ve gone as far as a wedding, a home, a family…
It’s still hard for me to make plans for the future but one thing in those dreams is a constant—Evan is in every single one of them. It’s settling into my soul that he’s a reality.
“Mom.” Evan sighs as he plays with the ends of my hair, his arm resting on the back of my chair. “Give it a rest with the questions.”
I reach with my hand and give his thigh a squeeze and realize how good it feels to do that. I got the cast off my arm last week. “It’s okay.”
“See, sweetheart? She said it’s fine.” Nina raises a brow at her son before looking back at me with a kind smile. “We want to know everything about you.”
Evan gives my hair a tug. “She’s in girlfriend heaven. I can’t stop her.”
I settle into the crook of his arm and finally relax. This is my first time meeting Evan’s parents and to say I was nervous is an understatement. They’ve been home from Europe for two weeks and Evan dr
agged his feet until I got the cast off my arm. I wanted to start my new life off fresh, no reminders of anything that had to do with my father. Evan gave me that.
He also must have prepared his parents for all that is me because so far Nina Hargrove has asked me a million questions but not one of them has had to do with my family, childhood, or basically anything prior to my eighteenth birthday. As we sit on their massive patio next to the outdoor wood-burning fireplace that’s crackling away to cut the autumn chill while we have dinner, I’ve answered questions about my career in cosmetology, my short-lived time in college, and my friendship with Addy Wentworth.
Evan Charles Hargrove Jr. and his wife are kind and genuine. Even though I can’t say I know any multi-gazillionaires, they aren’t what I expected. Evan is very much like them yet, still, he couldn’t be more different. On the outside, his parents look like they belong at Churchill Downs but they don’t act like it. I do secretly wonder how many hats his mother owns. It’s plain to see they love Evan and, even though theirs isn’t a big family, it’s the same love I felt every time I visited the Maysons when I grew up with July and her sisters.
I return Nina’s smile. “It’s really okay.”
Evan’s dad finishes off his dessert and wipes his mouth before clearing his throat. “Nina’s just excited. We’ve never seen our son like this before. From all he’s said and now seeing the two of you together, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d walk through fire and take on the world for you.”
I look at their son, who I’ve fallen completely and madly in love with, to find his eyes burning into me. The same eyes that hold not only my heart, but all my secrets.
I’m pretty sure my heart skips a beat like it always does when Evan looks at me like this. He doesn’t have to say it, although he does multiple times every day.
He loves me.
And, yes, his dad is right. But he’s also wrong. Evan doesn’t need to take on the world for me.
He already has.
And he won. There’s nothing left to do but for me to try to love him back—to try to give him a fraction of what he gives me.
I’m not sure what kind of prize I am. Besides seeing Asher Mayson love on his wife, November, I didn’t grow up around healthy relationships. My dad selling my mom for sex while keeping her strung out isn’t exactly goal-worthy.
To this day, I wonder what I did to deserve Evan. I’ll probably never stop wondering, even though a couple weeks ago I told him I loved him and I’ve never loved anyone in my life.
I already knew he loved me. He whispered it into my ear on the way to the hospital that night while he was begging me to open my eyes. It was the best way to regain consciousness.
Evan leans in and puts his lips to my now fully-healed temple. “She’s worth it.”
I’d argue or chastise him for kissing me in front of his parents when I already warned him on the way here not to, but I don’t get a chance to do either because I hear a sniffle from across the table as Nina breaks into the moment.
When we look at her, she’s dabbing her eyes and Evan groans. “Mom.”
“Sorry.” She waves us off. “I’m just happy to be here to see this.”
A comment like that coming from his mom who has faced her own demons means something—it isn’t some throw-away remark.
Life. It’s as delicate and beautiful as a lily but sometimes to survive it, you have to be strong.
Like a dandelion.
Evan
Six Years later.
“WOULD YOU LIKE to bang the gavel?”
I look down at my seven-year-old daughter as my two-year-old son wiggles in my arms, with my six-month pregnant wife standing next to me as she wipes a tear from her fair cheek.
We’ve come a long way since that night she drank too much tequila at an Italian restaurant.
Thirty seconds ago, I wasn’t a dad. Not officially.
But I sort of was the day the Commonwealth of Virginia placed Cora and Caleb with us sixteen months ago. Caleb doesn’t remember a time when our large country home wasn’t his.
Cora does. She was five-and-a-half and, I’m not gonna lie, the first six months were rough.
But Mary knew exactly what Cora needed and I followed her lead.
Their biological father is dead and their birth mom has given up all rights. She hasn’t seen them since the day the Commonwealth rescued them from the Godforsaken apartment where they were found, dirty and hungry. They were brought to us in the middle of the night a week after we were cleared to become foster parents and, the moment I learned their story, I knew.
No, the moment I saw Mary lay eyes on them, that’s when I had no doubt.
They’d be ours someday.
That someday is officially today.
Cora grabbing that gavel, using all her might to bang the shit out of the wooden block, seals it. But she misses, dents the judge’s desk, and the packed room erupts.
Cora looks up to Mary in horror but my wife runs her fingers through Cora’s dark wavy hair. “It’s okay, baby.”
The judge even laughs. “Every time I look at that, I’m going to think of you and smile, Cora Hargrove.”
Cora looks up at the judge. “It’s finally real?”
The judge sticks out his hand. “Congratulations on your new mom and dad.”
Shit, we need to work on her hand-shaking etiquette because Cora blows him off, turns to jump into Mary’s arms, and squeals.
Mary sheds more tears.
July leaves Wes’s side and wraps her arms around my wife and daughter.
My mom plucks Caleb from my arms and he goes to his grandparents as if he’s known them every moment he’s been on this earth.
Addy, Maya, Keelie, and Gracie go straight to Mary.
I turn to find Crew, Grady, Asa, and Jarvis standing there with their families. Crew offers me his hand and, when I take it, he lowers his voice. “Knew it’d be worth it.”
I haven’t spoken a word about that night since Crew disappeared down the hospital corridor the day after I put a bullet through Duane Giesen’s head. I don’t say anything but nod as Grady slaps me on the back. “Talk about jumping into the fire. Congratulations, man.”
I’m about to thank him but I feel her. I turn to my wife and she comes up on her toes. I meet her as I dip my hand into her hair that’s now all blond and put my mouth to hers.
“Thank you,” she whispers for only me to hear. “You’ve made our lives beautiful today and I love you for it. Thank you for wanting my dream as much as me.”
With a tug at my arm, I let Mary go long enough to pick up Cora.
As our daughter giggles, our son belly laughs while my dad hangs him upside down by his feet, and our family and friends surround us, I feel our youngest kick from inside Mary’s belly as she’s pressed up next to me.
Life is never what you expect.
I look down at my wife. “I’ll do anything for you, baby. Anything.”
She knows and nods.
Strong, beautiful, a survivor.
My dandelion.
* * *
From the bottom of my humble and grateful heart, thank you for reading.
* * *
Read Crew and Addy’s story in Vines
Read Grady and Maya’s story in Paths
Read Asa and Keelie’s story in Gifts
* * *
Stay tuned for the next book in
The Killers Series.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THANK YOU TO Aurora Rose Reynolds and Boom Factory Publishing for inviting me into your world and trusting me with your cherished characters. Blending the Maysons with my Killers was a true honor and I’ll be forever grateful for the experience.
To my family—the Mister, my three kids, my perfect dog, and even my lizard, thank you for your love, patience, and support as I chase my dreams.
Elle—you and your family inspired this story. I love you like a sister and miss you every day.
Kristan—you continue to pol
ish and pretty up my words like an artist. Thank you for working alongside me and putting up with all my chapter thirteens.
To my betas—Ivy, Laurie, and Gi, your time and investment in me is a gift and I adore you all. Kolleen, Carrie, Ashley, Penny, Gillian, Pat, Janet, Michelle, and Annette, I don’t know what I would do without every single one of you. Thank you for your help and wanting my books to be everything I do.
Layla and Sarah—your friendship means the world. Thank you for sharing the trivial parts of my very boring life … daily. Hourly. Okay, fine, whatever—by the minute.
Finally, and most importantly, I wouldn’t be doing this without my readers and ARC team. Thank you loving my characters, wanting my stories, and pushing me to give you the books you want. I do it all for you.