Page 1 of ForeverMN

Ciaran

“What do you think of this one?” Kimberly, our town’s most sought after real estate agent, pins me down with a raised brow. I swallow and shuffle my feet against the hardwood floor, knowing I’m probably pissing her off. This is thesixthhouse she has shown me in the past two weeks, well, now that I really started looking. It’s not that the house isn’t great, it has the three bedrooms and a master bathroom, which checks everything on my list, but I don’t feel like it’s us.Us.Maybe I would connect with a home more if my fiancée was willing to look at them with me. The minute I even bring up looking for a house, Saylor bails and makes an excuse to get out of it. Between planning a wedding and trying to find our forever home, one would think I’m the female in the scenario. I’m all into planning, but I secretly hope every day that Oaklynn will convince Saylor to move the date up. She won’t budge. Some guys might think I’m lucky, although I can’t turn off the roar inside my chest constantly telling me to make her mine. Legally, spiritually, and in every single way it counts.

I sigh, my eyes swinging to Kimberly who’s still waiting on my reply. The minute she sees the look on my face, her shoulders fall. “I’m sorry.”

“What is it this time?” She quirks her head, one heeled foot crossing over the other.

I glance around, trying to pin down something, anything, to give her to go on. I glance out the window right into another yard, and maybe that’s what it is. I’m used to more distance from my neighbors after growing up with Matt. “The yard feels too open.”

“The yard feels too open,” She repeats back, before whipping out her cell phone and making notes. I watch her light pink nail taps on the screen. She glances up when she notices I’m watching her. “You know, sometimes when a couple looks together, it makes it easier than taking on all the decisions yourself.”

I nod, knowing she’s right, but I don’t really have the option right now. I wish I could explain the need to own a home together right now, but I can’t. Just like all my other gut feelings, this one hits hard. “When things slow down for her it will be easier.”

“Okay. Well I’ll add this to my notes,” Kimberly informs me as we move towards the front door and back out onto the front porch. “Are you sure you don’t want to look further out of town? It might increase our likelihood of finding what you really want.”

I shake my head, knowing the perimeter I need to keep with Rogue, “Nah. We have time.”

Kimberly gives me a smile, and we head to our separate vehicles. The minute I slide into my truck, my phone vibrates with a message from Kai.

Kai:Should we start without you?

Me:On my way.

I manage to text quickly and then make my drive through town. On the way, I pass Saylor’s work, seeing her car parked in the lot. I breathe out, feeling better now that I know where she is. Savage Lakes has been quiet for many years, but every once in a while, I remember the year we almost lost everything. Now, eachmove we make is to keep Rogue strong, and stay one step ahead of anyone who threatens us in the future.

I’d be lying if I said one particular situation wiped out anyone gunning for us. If anything, the years have shown that the bigger our reach, the more complex the various types of danger have gotten. We get bigger, and the bad guys get smarter. With social media and technology constantly changing, we move to adapt, but once in a while a secret weapon is needed. The purpose for our meeting today is to discuss our weapon, and the cryptic as fuck message he sent Kai last night.

The door to Rogue closes behind me, the smell of oil and gasoline hitting my nose. On the way back to the office, a few of the guys working tilt their heads in my direction, and I nod back.

“Where have you been?” Matt asks, rolling out from underneath one of the cars. Retirement for Matt lasted about a week before he needed something to keep him busy. He and Jason decided to rebuild the auto repair business, and now they fix cars part-time, and assist with Rogue business when needed. Matt also continues to send me house listings weekly, knowing how much I’m itching to find our own home.

“The listing on the South end,” I tell him, shaking my head when I see the way he frowns.

“Not the one?”

“Not even a little bit,” I tell him quickly before opening the bulletproof office door.

“Finally,” Kai says and cracks a crooked grin at me. “I thought we were going to have to contact Kimberly ourselves.”

“Fuck off,” I shove his shoulder and take a seat at the table with him and Silas. I notice Oaklynn is also here, so there must be a change from last night. I glance up at the screen on the monitor and see a picture of a group of men, dressed in black, with weapons holstered on their sides.

“This from Reed?” I nod towards the screen.

Silas looks behind him, and then grunts, “Surveillance picked up this image. The message Reed gave us last night turned out to be a series of coordinates. One of them allowed us to pick up this image, the rest appear to be shipping containers.”

“He didn’t send any other information?” I question skeptically. Both my friends shake their heads.

“The images I captured show each of these containers registered to the same company,” Oaklynn says. “I was then able to get this image from our contact in New York.”

I tense at the mention of that state, my gaze rolling towards Kai. He shrugs.

“The guy has details we need sometimes.”

I crank my neck from side to side, “If there is a way to leave Nash Aimsworth out of Rogue’s business, let’s do that.”

Oaklynn rolls her eyes, “Oh please. You won already. You’re marrying the girl, and she chose you. The information Nash can help with though, is about saving lives.”

I keep my eyes on Oaklynn and notice how she never shrinks away from me. She’s too comfortable. That,andher best friend has me wrapped around her pretty little finger, although I’ll never admit to it. Only Saylor knows what she does to me. “Still. Ainsworth made it clear we stay out of his jurisdiction, so I’d prefer to not ask for favors if we don’t need to.”

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