Page 309 of Heart So Hollow

Two Weeks Later

Sergei finally shows up with his bags full of enough explosives to turn the mountain into a pyrotechnic hellscape, which Ray Marcum may or may not be excited about. But I promised him a show, so he knew what this was.

“Where’s the fire brigade?” Sergei takes a long drag off his cigarette and blows it off the deck.

I hop up onto the railing and swing my legs back and forth, tapping the boards with my heels, “They cleared an access point from one of the existing fire roads. They’re probably up there right now.”

Sergei nods approvingly and gazes through the kitchen window at Brett, Dallas, Alex, Sydney, Aiden, Tyler, and Mason as they clean up the kitchen and finish packing supplies into backpacks and duffel bags for the trek through the woods.

I cast a glance at him, “Today, she finally said she’d marry me.”

Sergei’s mouth falls open in shock and he swivels his head around. That is, if Sergei could ever be shocked, “My friend…” he holds out his fist and I reach over to bump it, “how many times did you ask?”

“212,” I reply with a shrug, “but she wasn’t going to say yes until all of this was over and done.”

“You’re a far more patient man than I am,” Sergei leans back in one of the Adirondak chairs, Pony laying at his feet staring off the deck, “one shot,” he holds up his index finger sharply.

He’s right, I am a patient man. But it never mattered whether Brett would marry me or not. She’s still mine, and I’m hers. Just like oceans don’t need gowns and pure mountain springs don’t need rings, neither do we, because you can’t dress this kind of love in worldly possessions. It is, by design, divine and perfect and complete.

“It wasn’t my decision. Things happened the way they happened for a reason,” I say with a pause, “chess, not checkers.”

Sergei gives an irritated groan. Despite his own advice, he doesn’t like long, drawn-out processes, which is interesting because I met him at a time when our job was just one long, drawn-out process; sitting in the snow waiting for nothing for weeks on end. He’s the one who finally snapped me out of whatever the hell was eating away at my brain, and just in time.

But there’s no time to dwell on it. Brett’s alive, our baby’s alive, and now Brett can live her life without the threat of one of her characters jumping off the page and trying to murder her for spilling his secrets. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat, except I wouldn’t let her leave the first time.

“Besides, if I didn’t drag you into all this, you wouldn’t have such a sweet setup down here,” I remind him.

Sergei takes another drag of his cigarette and gazes up at the stars beginning to show above the trees, “This is true. I would do anything for you, Alex, and the girls…you’re family,” his voice softens, but only for a moment, “but your sister’s a pain in my ass,” he bites out through his thick accent.

“Which one?” I don’t make eye contact at first, but when I do, Sergei is glaring at me through hooded eyes.

“The little one,” he mutters, smashing out his cigarette and tucking the butt into his pocket to throw away later.

I raise my chin up with a grin, “But you love her.”

“Who wouldn’t?” he says with indignance, “She’s like a leopard—staying in the shadows, learning, but when she strikes, it’s fast and lethal. The most dangerous kind of woman…” he speaks about Dallas with a mixture of admiration and fear, like she’s a siren who jumps out of the water to snatch unsuspecting men to drag down and devour beneath the ocean.

He’s not wrong, though. If anyone has been instrumental in doling out punishment for the transgressions of others, it’s Dallas. But no one would ever know it.

“Is Alex not afraid of her?” Sergei asks in bewilderment.

“Alex isn’t afraid of anyone.”

He hesitates for a few moments, and then glances over his shoulder at me, deadpan, “He should be.”

“Maybe you should warn him,” I say loud enough for all of them to hear as they join us on the deck.

“Warn who?” Brett asks as she locks the knob and pulls the door shut behind her, “And about what?”

“Alex,” I hop off the railing and give a nod to Sergei, “Serg says he should be more afraid of Dallas.”

“Me?” Dallas squeaks, planting a hand on her chest. “Why? I didn’t do anything to him.”

“Didn’t you?” A smile plays behind Alex’s face as he steps past Dallas, carrying one of the bags down the steps to the two quads and three dirt bikes parked in the grass.

“Name one thing!” Dallas calls after him.

Alex hoists the bag onto the back rack and swivels his head, “I could’ve gone to prison because of you, I came to blows with one of my best friends because of you—”

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