Page 45 of Stone Cold Savage

“It doesn’t matter if you’re fine. I still felt it. Like I’d… lost you too. I couldn’t live with that, Kenz. Not now, not ever.”

“You didn’t lose me.”

“And I’m so damn glad because being back here, with you, has been the most healing thing I think I’ve experienced, and getting to know you all over again, despite the circumstances… I wasn’t ready to let that go. And I felt guilty for it. I don’t deserve it, and I don’t deserve you. It felt like a cruel joke.” He let out a cold, cynical laugh. “Like I was being punished all over again.”

Kenzie cupped his chin and lifted his gaze to match hers, “And it still isn’t your fault. You can’t save everyone from everything. I chose to go back inside, alone, and I fought my way back out until you could find me. I’m okay. I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I have no right to you.” He whispered as he pulled her to his lap. “I have no right to feel this way for you.”

“You have every right, Coy. We both do because we deserve to be happy again. We paid the price through the pain, and I can say, without a doubt, your wife wouldn’t want you to go through life an empty shell of a man.”

“How can you know that?”

“Because when you love someone that deeply, you don’t want them to hurt the way you hurt. You want them to be happy and remember how to love because remembering how to love means you get to be loved again, and love, real love, isn’t something worth wasting.”

“How did you figure all this out? It seems so easy for you.”

“I got tired of hurting. I miss my husband, but I also miss being loved. I want that again. I know he would want that for me just like I’m sure your wife would for you.”

Coy nodded his head in agreement. “I want that too.”

“Then let yourself have it, Coy. Let yourself love and be loved so fiercely it hurts.” She paused. “Forgive yourself and let love in.”

Coy ran the back of his hand gently down her cheek and, swiped away the flood of tears she’d been wearing, and nodded his head.

“I do.” He whispered. “I will.”

He took her mouth and kissed her deeply, wrapping her body around his. Something came over him at that moment: a sense of freedom, and the weight of the world that had been resting on his shoulders somehow felt lighter. He was ready to love again, ready to love her. Kenzie was familiar, but still different than she was all those years ago. There was both comfort and intrigue in that.

As their kiss deepened, Coy felt a surge of emotions flooding through him, washing away the remnants of past heartaches and uncertainties. With Kenzie in his arms, he found solace in the familiarity of her touch, yet excitement in the discovery of the woman she had become. In her, he saw a reflection of his own journey, marked by growth and transformation. And as their lips parted, he gazed into her eyes, knowing that this moment marked the beginning of a new chapter in their lives. One filled with endless possibilities and the possibility of a love that could withstand the trials of life they’d both been handed.

There was a promise of something new, fresh, and intriguing. He’d never love anyone like he’d loved his wife, Emery, but he thought that’s what made her unique. Just like how he felt for Kenzie was unlike anything he felt for anyone else. Maybe that was the point of love. It came in many designs, each as unique as its beholden.

So, he loved her. Coy spent the rest of the night showing her all the ways.

13

“Facial recognition didn’t give us anything of value,” Coy said to the others as they sat around the breakfast table. “All we can confirm is they were in the area the day Devyn was hit based on all of the intel collected from the immediate area.”

“Those are the guys who shot at us?” Devyn asked, taking a closer look at the images. “Who are they, and how did you get all these pictures?”

“We have no idea who they are, unfortunately. They don’t come up in any of the databases, and we are linked to all that exist. The initial images were taken the other day while Kenzie and I were in town, then the rest were extracted from the few cameras we were able to access in the area.” Rip said. “Our colleague infiltrated the cameras and took feeds as far back as available to extract the images.”

“There are so many felonies in that confession. I don’t know if I want to know more,” Devyn said under her breath, sighing. I know you guys are allowed certain courtesies the rest of us law-abiding citizens aren’t, but…”

“The road to justice can’t always be by the book, princess,” Rip said. “Sometimes, you have to take the information any way you can get it, darlin’.”

“I guess…” she said under her breath between sips of coffee.

“Nash, are any of them familiar to you?” Coy asked.

Nash studied the images and shook his head, “I can’t say they are. Should they be?”

“I was hoping they were your… business partners.” Coy teased.

Nash tossed the images on the table, “Very funny. No. Those aren’t the guys who leased the land from me. In fact, not that I’ve been in town much since the funeral a few weeks back, but I haven’t seen them at all.”

“Is that pretty unusual?” Rip asked.

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