Page 92 of Mountain Hero

I know what’s coming, and I’m so excited for them.

While I wait for the announcement, I head over to the kitchen island to check on the food. As I restock the bowl of nacho chips, Sage comes over and asks, “Need any help?”

“I think everything looks okay,” I answer. “But thanks.” Once I finish filling the bowl, I reseal the bag and set it over on the counter. Smiling, I say, “Thank you for coming. I know you had to take the night off. But I’m really glad you could be here.”

“Of course.” Sage pushes a strand of auburn hair behind her ear. “Thank you for inviting me.” She pauses, and her cheeks go pink. “I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about things. After…”

“It wasn’t your fault, Sage.”

“Still.”

I know she feels partially responsible for Thomas escaping from jail, even though she wasn’t even working when it happened. A few days after, she left a long, apologetic message on my voicemail, telling me she would understand if I changed my mind about meeting for coffee.

As if I’d blame her. It wasn’t Sage’s fault, or Patrick’s. I can’t even be too upset at Officer Hastings, who was the one on duty at the station the day Thomas broke out. Only a few weeks out of the Academy and into his new job, he made the inexperienced mistake of falling for the old I’m sick and need help trick I’ve seen fictional characters pull on TV.

Thomas played sick until Officer Hastings was close enough, then knocked him out, stole his police uniform and keys to his truck, and maneuvered the young officer into bed to make it look like he was the prisoner.

As soon as the ruse was discovered, every cop in the county leaped into action. But by then, Thomas was already here, spewing his threats from the front yard of the house.

I could be mad about it. But what’s that going to do? It happened, me and Enzo handled it, and now I’m ready to move on.

“It’s really okay,” I assure Sage, and pat her lightly on the arm. “I’m fine, Enzo is fine, Thomas is in jail, and he’s definitely not getting out again.”

“Definitely not.” Sage’s brows draw into a little V. “He’s up in Newport now, and there’s no way he’s escaping from there.”

“So it’s all okay,” I repeat. “And I don’t want you apologizing again. Unless it’s because you’re planning on canceling on me for happy hour next week.”

Sage smiles. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“If I can have everyone’s attention?” Enzo’s voice pitches louder as he tries to cut through the buzz of conversation. When it doesn’t work—the Jenga game has gotten cutthroat now that Leo joined in with some sort of extreme rules—Enzo puts his fingers in his mouth and whistles.

The piercing noise is enough to draw all eyes to Enzo, who’s standing by the fireplace with Knox, Ronan, Gage, and Alec flanking him.

Clara stares at Enzo, wide-eyed, then sticks her chubby fingers in her mouth as she tries to imitate him. It doesn’t work—all she does is make a farting sound—but it’s really cute, anyway.

Enzo laughs, along with the rest of the people in the room. When the chuckles die down, he says, “Okay. I’ll try to keep this quick. But I’d like to say a few things.”

I move into the living room and perch on the arm of the couch, catching Enzo’s gaze and smiling at him. He winks at me before continuing, “First, thank you for coming. It’s been really great to have so many of my friends here, catching up, and”—he glances at me—“having you meet my incredible girlfriend, Winter.”

“Glad you finally found someone to put up with you,” calls Tayo, and Kayla gives him a good-natured swat.

“I’m very lucky,” Enzo replies with a smile. Then he sobers. “But there was a time I didn’t feel that way. After I moved back here, I felt… lost. I love Vermont, but it felt like something was missing.”

He pauses. “It turns out, I’m luckier than most. Not only did I find a wonderful woman, but I reconnected with some good friends.” He glances at the four men beside him. “And recently, we realized that just because we’re not active duty anymore, it doesn’t mean we can’t still make a difference.”

His gaze jumps to Cole, Leo, and Tayo. “I’ve always admired what you guys do at Blade and Arrow and the Brotherhood Protectors, but I never thought about doing something like that myself.” A beat, and then, “Until now. Until I saw what Winter went through, and how important it was to have people I could trust to help me. People like Knox, Gage, Ronan, and Alec.”

“Always,” Alec replies. “We’ll always have your six. And Winter’s, too.”

Enzo lifts his chin at Alec, then turns to face the room. “So we started talking. Planning. And we wanted you here to help us celebrate the start of a new venture. The five of us are going to start our own security company right here in Vermont. The Green Mountain Guardians.”

Once the clapping and cheers and congratulations diminish, Enzo says, “We’re still ironing out details, but we’ll be based here in Bliss. Knox is going to help build some safe houses on my property, so we have places for clients to stay. We’ll be referral-only while we’re getting everything started, but hopefully in the future we can take requests like you guys do at Blade and Arrow.”

“We could definitely refer some clients to you,” Cole says. “Even with our new branch out in Texas, we have to turn people down.”

“Same,” Tayo adds. “Especially contacts we have out on the East Coast.”

“We’ll definitely be asking you guys for advice.” Enzo replies with a smile. “It’s a big undertaking, but we’re excited about it.”

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