Page 61 of Fastlander Fealty

“Sold,” Silver said immediately. “Twenty-five a day is perfect. Oh my gosh, you have no idea what this means to me.”

But when she looked back at Hallie, the Second of the Fastlanders was smiling with tears in her eyes. “I do know,” she said quietly. And Silver believed her.

Silver dropped the handle of her suitcase and hugged Hallie up so tight. “Thank you,” she forced out past her tightening vocal cords.

“Girl, thank you,” Hallie murmured.

“For what?” Silver asked, easing out of the embrace.

“It was so damn good to see that moment when another woman broke away from something designed to break her. I’ll think about the things you said to Rook for weeks to come. I’m ridiculously proud of you.”

Silver just wanted to bawl. “What about Gunner? He’ll be so mad that I’m still here.”

“Nah. Owen will have him straightened out by the time he gets home.”

“What do you mean?”

“Owen brought you back here knowing he would have to post up to his Alpha. He’ll be fine. He’ll make Gunner understand. Look, I’ve got to get ready for work. I know for a fact that Gunner forgot his lunch in the chaos of the morning, and I’m betting Owen forgot his too.”

“He didn’t have time to make one.”

“Well, I’ve got a long lunch break at eleven. We can bring the boys lunch together if you want. That way you can see Owen’s jobsite, and I guarantee that boy will be happy to see you. He feels…”

Silver sniffled. “Feels what?”

“He feels so much lighter around you.”

Hallie left after that, and Silver got to explore the singlewide she would be staying in. Her mind was spinning, and mulling over the conversation with Rook, but even if she tried, she couldn’t dredge up a single regret. Would the paranoia of being hunted set in later? Probably. But for now, she was familiarizing herself with every nook and cranny and drawer and cabinet of this old singlewide trailer. The floors were soft in some places, and the ceiling tiles sagged, and the paint was coming off the cabinets in strips, but this place was amazing.

Sanctuary.

What Hallie had said felt so right.

And as much as she wanted to spend every waking moment with Owen here between work hours, she did appreciate having a little space to get to know herself again. It had been a long damn time since she’d been truly free. Already she could imagine a half-empty bottle of red on the counter as she texted Owen from here. This place was freedom to grow with Owen without some forced living situation.

This place offered her choices.

She unpacked her clothes and stacked them in organized piles in the empty bedroom, and then pulled her notepad out and scribbled a grocery list of things she would need, just to feel like she was steadying out and getting organized. She had to flip past Owen’s autograph to get to an empty page, and it made her smile.

When a knock sounded on her door at ten in the morning, she was surprised, and then shocked when she opened it to find Corey standing on the tiny porch.

“Hi, hey,” she greeted her.

“I talked to Hallie,” Corey said, her hands clasped behind her back. She lifted her chin into the air and looked down her nose at Silver, and for a moment, she thought she would say something scathing. But she didn’t. Instead, Corey said, “I have another day off work today, but need to go to Moosey’s to pick up my paycheck. Want to ride there with me? We can pick up Hallie for her lunch break.”

Silver arched her eyebrows up high in surprise. “Um, sure!”

And ride together, they did. Corey seemed more at ease with her, and even talkative. She was funny, witty, she had those fast lines that drew a laugh from Silver before she’d even realized how funny they were. Corey parked right in front, in a spot that Silver was pretty sure wasn’t even a parking spot.

Silver liked going into the barbecue and gas station combination building with Corey. She waved at people and greeted them like old friends, even people who stood in line waiting to order food. And she introduced Silver to people, which was shocking but also awesome. Hallie was bustling around the barbecue side, and Corey excused herself to pick up her paycheck and go say hi to her mate, Ace, who was managing the gas station half of the building.

Hallie waved her forward in line and handed her a bag of food. “For the boys,” she declared. “Captain’s been bitching all morning that he had to make them extra spicy everything,” she said low with a giggle.

Captain was back messing with a row of smokers. He tossed them a dirty look. “I can hear you,” he barked.

“What do you want to eat?” Hallie asked her. “I’ll use my employee discount for you.”

“Really?” she murmured, feeling like she was doing something scandalous.

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