Page 70 of Barbed Wire Hearts

“I’m sorry,” I croak. “I don’t know what came over me.”

“You went through something traumatic,” Wiley murmurs. “It’s expected.”

“Levi isn’t a blubbering mess,” I point out.

“Yes, well, Levi’s been through much more traumatic events than this,” Dakota comments.

I don’t ask even though I want to. Right now, I just want to be held and feel loved. Here in their arms, it feels just like that. I don’t care what kind of demons they carry. I don’t care if they’re bad people. Here, in this moment, they’re good and they’re mine, and that’s enough.

Naomi brings us plates of dinner, and everyone gets ready to rest for the night. Someone sets up my tent, but when I take it in, I grab the cot from inside and drag it out to where the others sleep. I shove our cots all together and place mine in the middle of Levi and Wiley’s. They watch with amusement as I rearrange things.

“Whatcha doin’, witchy woman?” Wiley asks.

“Sleeping out here with y’all,” I reply.

“Out here with the coyotes and the mountain lions?” he teases. “You know we’ve got bears up here, right?”

I pause and glance at Levi. “There’re bears?”

He nods. “Grizzlies.”

My heart stops. “And we’ve just been sleeping out here with them?”

Dakota shrugs. “They probably won’t bother us.”

My frown deepens. “Well, I’m sleeping in the middle, so it’ll get one of you first.”

“How magnanimous of you,” Wiley laughs. “Feeding us to the bears.”

But he’s smiling and happily takes the cot beside me despite the wildlife around us. I go to help Levi lay down and he bats me away.

“Quit fussin’ over me,” he grunts. “I’m fine.”

“Says the man who can’t sit down without pain,” I growl back. “Just let me help you.”

“No,” he grumbles, laying down and leaving me to stare down at him with a scowl.

“You stubborn ass,” I mumble before lying down between them. Dakota hesitates after a moment before laying down on the other side of Wiley.

Tonight, the sky is clear and there’s nothing but stars and the moon above us. Despite the exhausting day, the sight of them makes things feel a little better.

“There’s twice as many stars in the sky,” I whisper, and Levi jerks his head toward me.

I know he understands. We almost died tonight, and almost dying does a lot of things. Mostly, it reminds you you’re alive and to cherish what you’ve got. Tonight, all I want to focus on is how much I want to be here and the men around me.

I glance over at Levi to find he’s already looking at me. “There’s always been twice as many for me,” he admits.

What monsters must this man have faced to see the stars so different than I had before? What secrets corrupt his soul?

I reach over and thread my hand with his. Levi isn’t often a toucher but tonight, he lets me. His hand is warm in mine and Wiley presses against my other side and Dakota is over there offering his silent support and I’m alive.

Oh god, I’m alive.

“You know,” I whisper, my eyes focusing back on the stars and taking it all in. “Rattlesnakes don’t seem so bad.”

I can feel Dakota’s awareness and Wiley and Levi’s confusion, but no one speaks again. Instead, we all just press together, happy to be here.

Together. Whole. Alive.

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