Page 143 of The Wrecked One

EPILOGUE

MYA

WALKINS GLEN, ALABAMA – JANUARY 2026

“I’ll have the Sense and Sensibility, please,” I ordered at the makeshift bar set up inside the Hawkins’ home at their ranch.

“Clever drink names.” Adelina lifted the little placard with the book title names on them. “No description of what’s in these. Sure Savanna’s not a mystery writer?” She pointed to the last name on the list, chuckling. “Moby Dick, huh? Don’t tell me, this cocktail is . . .”

“Oh please, finish that thought.” A deep Southern voice rolled over our shoulders and had my sister setting down the placard to face him.

“Adelina, meet Jude Ambrose. Thirty-six. Navy SEAL. Best in his class at sniper school. And Charlie Team’s resident bad boy.”

“Well, damn. You had me pegged, Mya, up until that last bullet point.” Jude placed a hand over his heart and tipped his head. “I’m not that bad, am I?”

The bartender handed me my drink and I passed it straight to Adelina. “Here. You’re gonna need the Sense and Sensibility more than I do.”

Adelina declined with a wave of her hand, never losing sight of Mr. Bad Boy. “I think I’m more interested in ordering the Moby Dick.”

Jude’s husky laugh had my sister doubling down on shooting him her seductive light-green eyes. While she was all right angles when it came to her job, when she wasn’t wearing her badge, she turned into an Italian goddess who had men falling all over her.

“Maybe it’s Jude I should save from you.” My remark earned me an elbow in the side from her.

“I think I can handle Miss Cattaneo, don’t you worry about me.” Jude’s wink wasn’t directed my way, and he’d need to do better than that to win over my sister.

Also, what was with snipers and their love of winking? Did it have to do with constantly closing one eye behind the long gun? I think they do that, at least. Maybe the shot of Pride and Prejudice I’d tossed back with AJ from Echo Team a few minutes ago had already hit me.

Leaving my sister alone with Mr. Bad Boy, I took my drink over to where Savanna, Ella, and Sydney were chatting. Ella’s mother, Deb Hawkins, could turn her house into quite the event center when needed. It was too cold out to host the party in the fields like they did for weddings, and Savanna’s coffee shop wasn’t large enough to host everyone, but this was perfect for the book release/reunion party.

“Your sister will handle Jude just fine,” Sydney said, reading me like a book as I met up with them. “She’s like you. Tough.” She held her hand out. “And I mean that in the best possible way.”

I sighed, then sipped my cocktail, which looked more like the drink we’d called a Windex back in college because of the blue Curaçao in it.

“How are you feeling about tonight?” I nearly had to shout my question to Savanna, because AJ, Ella’s brother, just turned up the music. He was usually the DJ for team parties, and between him and their older brother, Beckett, who was married to Sydney, the two of them had a pair of lungs on them. They had the voice of Luke Combs and Cody Johnson combined.

“Griffin’s spoiling me with this event. I’ll never be able to have a book release without a shindig like this to go along with it.” Savanna smiled, looking wistfully across the room toward her husband. Griffin was talking to his best friend, Carter. Tonight, the guys were armed with drinks instead of their babies.

All the children were down the hall in the other room being babysat by McKenna, Levi, and Elaina—the eldest of the kids gathered at the ranch. Well, technically, Gwen was the oldest, but she was one of us and currently dancing with Easton. And based on Wyatt’s lack of chest rubbing, maybe Wyatt approved of that pairing?

Or, knowing Wyatt, he’d cornered Easton before the party and asked him to distract Gwen to keep her from the likes of bad boys like Jude, because Easton knew better than to piss off the grumpy dad. From what I knew about him, Jude wouldn’t give a damn. Even if Wyatt outranked him. Or maybe even because of that.

“Don’t forget to sign my books before the end of the night.” Although Sam had given me back my advanced copy when Oliver and I stayed at Malcolm and Vanessa’s place at Emerald Lake last month, I’d bought quite a few at the bookstore in town the other day.

Savanna shot Ella a knowing look. “I heard about the group text Griffin initiated. He sent Falcon on quite the missions across Alabama this week, buying up every book of mine in sight.”

Ella covered her eyes for a minute. “I know nothing.”

“Mmmmhmmm,” Savanna teased.

“Hey,” Ella began, lowering her hand to her side. “We’re family. We have each other’s backs on the battlefield and back home, too.”

Carter’s wife joined us a moment later, raising her glass, and the four of us clinked them together. “Cheers to your book release, and to Falcon being back together again.” After the toast, Diana commented, almost casually, “Oh, and I think I’ve finally figured out the whole cold fusion as a reliable source of clean energy thing.”

I about spat out my drink. “Just going to drop that on us all nonchalant-like, huh?”

Diana innocently tipped up her shoulder. “Oh, looks like your brother is about to . . .”

“Yup, for sure.” Ella laughed, and we all turned our attention on AJ as he began rounding everyone up in the room to play what felt like our traditional party song.

---