The others don’t seem to have any trouble believing it, though. Rafe finally lowers the damn phone, and they all start yelling and punching the air. Zane grabs Dakota round the waist and swings her around, making her squeal. Micah and Ev hug each other, laughing. Tyler and Asher bump fists.
This is really happening. Too much to take in. Especially when Zane and Asher turn toward me and come to stand over me.
“I have a damn good feeling about this,” Zane says, grinning like the mad joker. “We’ll clear your name, guys. Just wait and see. The Brotherhood doesn’t easily give up. Not on their own.”
Their own. It’s slowly sinking in, in fits and starts, in rippling circles. I’m part of this brotherhood, this family. They never were about to kick me out. All this time, they’ve been trying to help. They had my back and now they’re celebrating because they might have found a way to save me. Clear my name. Give me back my life.
Manon’s arm slips around me, and I breathe out, struggling to focus. But I can’t. My eyes have gone blurry, and I can’t breathe. I can’t. Gasping, gritting my teeth, I bend over. There’s a stone lodged under my ribs, a lump in my throat. It won’t go away.
“Seth.” Manon twists, puts both arms around me. “Hey…”
My chest contracts, my lungs finally allow in air, and I gasp again, dimly aware my cheeks feel cool. Wet. The pressure in my chest finally gives, and the pain starts to fade.
More arms go around me, patting my good arm, my back, holding me. Anchoring me. Shane, Asher, Jesse.
Fuck. I’m crying on Manon’s shoulder. What the fuck’s wrong with me? I’ve made it through the worst without shedding a damn tear, and now I can’t seem to stop.
“I love you,” she whispers in my ear. “I love you, Seth.”
I hang on to her voice, to her words, struggling through this, and think, well, if she still does, even after seeing me sob like a baby, then fuck it. Seriously, when all’s said and done? I’m the luckiest man in the whole damn world.
Thank you, fate. I owe you.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Manon
A month later
I wake up to find Seth sitting up in bed, clutching his injured arm to his stomach. He’s graduated from a full shoulder immobilizer to a smaller sling, since that awful day when we found him in that back alley, and the doctors are happy with his progress. Still, on some days he’s in pain.
“Hey.” I sit up, rubbing my eyes. The sky outside is lightening. “Can I get you a painkiller?”
“I’m fine.”
I know he has nightmares. Mostly from his time in prison. He told me about them, told me a few things about what happened there. Makes me want to hug him all the time, remind him those days are over.
That’s what I do now. I scoot closer, hug him around his waist. He puts his good arm around my shoulders and I lean on him, inhaling his spicy, musky scent.
“Bad dreams?” I whisper, my cheek resting on the hard muscle of his pec.
He hums an affirmation.
“Want to talk about it?” I look up, searching his face for clues.
I like to think I’ve learned the small shifts in his expression that tell me what he’s thinking—but maybe he’s just lowering his defenses around me, letting me see what he feels. Even when he’s angry or sad, or shaken by a nightmare—something he wouldn’t have allowed himself before.
He trusts more. Slowly, in degrees, he’s letting himself believe his life won’t crash and burn come tomorrow. That this isn’t a joke. That he has a chance at happiness.
He’s back to training at the tattoo shop. Zane is really pleased with his work and wants him taking it up full time soon. Meanwhile, he got a job at a gym. In fact, Cassie’s the one who got him the job. Maybe one day the guys will become friends with her again.
And I have a surprise for him: I’ve asked at the Herpetology Club at the university if they’d accept a member from outside, and they said yes. I hope he likes the idea.
“How about I go make us some coffee?” I ask.
Seth doesn’t move. He’s looking at me under lowered lashes, and I frown. What I see in his gaze is fear.
“What is it?” I lift one hand and rub slow circles over the hard muscles of his chest. “Seth.”
He often dreams of the solitary confinement room where he was locked up sometimes, or the guard who beat him up. Can’t stand to see him lost in pain.
“Nothing,” he whispers. He smiles, the fear slowly fading from his gaze. “It’s nothing. Can’t even recall what the dream was about.”
I rub my cheek on the soft flannel of his T-shirt. “Maybe it’s stress, because you’re meeting your mom tomorrow.”
“Maybe.” He shivers, and I manage to scoot just a little bit closer. “Don’t know what the fuck to feel about that.”
Because she confessed, and maybe one day his record may be cleared. But how do you clear your head from all those memories of pain, or from the fact that it was your own mom who left you to suffer and vanished from your life?
Yeah. He may forgive her someday, I don’t know. It’s his mom. But as for myself, I don’t know if I can ever forgive her for putting him through this.
“I’ll be there with you,” I remind him gently. “You’re not alone in this, Seth.”
He sighs, kisses the top of my head. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“Done what?”
“Been so nice. Now you’re stuck with me.”
“Good,” I murmur. “You’re mine. Not letting you go.”
I love the smile that lights up his face. I’ll convince him I’m staying, that this is for real, and that he deserves all the happiness in the world.
***
“Looks like another gray day.” I peek out of the kitchen window, clutching my steaming mug in my hands. “Let’s hope it won’t rain.”
I’m driving us to Indiana, to visit Seth’s mom in jail. Rain on the highway isn’t one of my favorite things in life, although for Seth, I’d do anything.
It’s because he looks so delicious, sitting in my kitchen only in his sweats, that muscular chest bare, I tell myself. Even the black sling looks badass on him, the tattoos on his arm peeking over the cloth, swirling on his pecs and shoulders.
But it’s not just that. I love his mind, his big heart that lets him listen to my petty complaints and rants and think they are important, even if his own problems are that much worse. His lack of selfishness and arrogance.
Still, that body… Holy crap.
He looks up from doctoring his coffee with milk and sugar and grins at me. “If it rains, we could take up our lessons in your car again.”
“Shut up.” My face heats up at the memory of our making-out session in the parking lot of the zoo.
“Are you telling me it wasn’t fun?”
How can I lie? It was amazing, and the way he’s looking at me sets my blood on fire. “It was.”
“We’re behind on your training,” he says, taking a sip from his coffee, dark eyes wicked. “Need to catch up.”
“So now you’re training me for yourself?” I step close to him, put my mug down on the table.
“Damn right.” He takes another sip, places his mug next to mine and reaches for me. “Who else?”
That’s right. I laugh when he pulls me to his lap. “So I’m not good enough yet?”
“You’re the best there is,” he says, his voice going husky and deep. “The sexiest, most beautiful girl in the world.”
“But you think I need training,” I tease, straddling his lap, lacing my arms around his neck. “More training.”
“One can always improve,” he says, “and practice makes perfect. You know, you could train me, too.”
“I’ll do that,” I whisper, bending over him, kissing his soft lips, his scruff scratching my chin. “Teach you a thing or two.”
“Oh yeah, baby.” He groans, his cock hard and thick, pressing between my legs. “Teach me what you like.”
Oh God, I like everything I do with Seth, everything he does to me. I love it when he touches me, I love putting my hands and my mouth on him. He’s like chocolate and Nutella. The boy’s addictive.