Page 61 of No Second Chances

“Okay.” He pauses. “And Remy?”

“Yeah.” I close my eyes against the migraine I can feel forming. “Casper and Cole, too. Everyone. Except Emma. Don’t let Emma come over.”

“Kennedy?” For the first time since we were teenagers, there is uncertainty in Linc’s voice. “Kennedy, is everything going to be okay?”

“No,” I tell him honestly. “It’s really not. But… I have to do it anyway. I’ll see you there, Linc.”

“Hey.” His voice cuts through the phone, coming across a lot harsher than he intends. “Kennedy. I’m not there with you, so I can’t make you look me in the eye when I say this. I love you. I am going to spend the rest of my life with you. Nothing is going to change that. Nothing.”

I see him, even with my eyes closed. He’d press his forehead right against mine and promise me forever. If it were anyone else, I’d think that they were lying to me. Not Linc. He’d destroy the world if it meant that he could save me.

But when I open my eyes and stare down at the folder that holds my darkest secrets, I wonder if I might be the one to destroy him.

“I’ll see you soon, Linc.”

For the first time in my life, I have the power to take back the control Royal stole from me. I have the ability to change my world.

27

LINC

Every available surface in Veronica and Alex Townsend’s kitchen has an adult member of their family sitting on it.

Veronica and Chief Townsend sit together at the head of their dining room table, holding hands. Veronica, even in her older age, is beautiful. And all of her daughters look just like her. Her red hair, streaked with white now, is pulled into a braid that hangs over one shoulder. There are worry lines around her eyes, and she is watching her husband carefully, like she thinks he may break at any moment. She is the real strength in their family, and seeing them together spells it out.

I watch them, and I crave every single thing they have.

Love. Happiness. A family.

Children.

Even the thought sends a sliver of dread down my spine, but while we sit there waiting for Kennedy, I obsess over it.

We haven’t discussed it once. Not when Parker found out she was pregnant. Or when Casper delivered the twins she is currently rocking in the chair that Remy drags in just for her. We don’t discuss children at all, but I see the look in her eyes when she doesn’t realize anyone is looking.

Cole, Casper’s husband, sits next to her with his eyes locked on his boys and wife. When he notices my attention, he looks up and smiles.

“Hey, man. How’s it going with Kenny?” He is one of probably two people outside of me or her brother who would ever call Kennedy Kenny, and he is the only one who can get away with it. Cole saved Casper, gave her a reason to live again. And when we’d been deployed together on our last hitch, he proved himself during a roadside bombing. He got out for Casper. He loves her, and their boys are the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in a hot minute.

I’m jealous.

Kennedy deserves to have that.

She deserves to have me holding her growing stomach like Remy does with Parker. She deserves the growing love I watch around her family’s kitchen. Yet, all I’ve offered her is me. No future children to fill her home. No family to build and love. Just… me. And that won’t be enough to keep her happy for the rest of her life.

Before I can delve too far into the self-loathing I can feel building up, the door opens and closes in the distance. Kennedy walks into the kitchen a few moments later, carrying an all-too-familiar folder.

“What’s in the police report?” Remy beats me to the question. “Is that why we’re here? Nox is sleeping up in my old room, so if we get this done quick enough, I can sneak my woman home for some alone time.”

Kennedy glares at her brother, doesn’t say a word to him, and moves across the kitchen to stand in front of me.

“I love you.” She doesn’t care that her whole family is there. She looks up at me with something that resembles trepidation in her eyes, like what I say next is the most important thing in the entire world.

The weight of the world sits on her shoulders, and there is only one thing in that moment that I can do.

I slide my hand into the pocket of my jeans and pull out my wallet. Without looking at her or anyone else in the room, I ease down onto one knee and pull the ring I’ve spent my entire deployment pay on six years before. The diamond engagement ring that I got and prayed that when the time came, I’d be able to give it to the only woman who has ever mattered.

“I bought this ring after Danny died,” I say quietly. “When I didn’t even know if I would come home. When I spent my deployment doing stupider and stupider shit just to test the limits. I bought it when I buried my brother, so that I’d know who was worth everything to me, my reason for living. That’s you, Kennedy.” I look up into her eyes, showing her that it is her. Always her. “I’ve loved you so long that I don’t know what my life would look like if I didn’t love you. Whatever’s there. Whatever you have to tell us, I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”

---