Page 58 of Winter's End

I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction, even as my fists clenched in my lap.

“Including you,” I deadpanned. “Difference being, they have a chance.”

I knew it was a lie. One I wanted to be true, but I was resigned to the fact Winter had obvious feelings for Logan. But I wouldn’t give him a leg up on anything today.

“Oh, look! We’re almost there,” Drew muttered hurriedly, shifting the focus back to the real topic at hand.

Logan pulled off onto a quiet rest stop without security lights and tucked the vehicle into a secluded copse of trees. We sat quietly for thirty seconds at the most, before the shape of a tall, thin man materialized from the other side of the parking lot.

“That’s our cue.” I climbed out of the car; Drew, Shane and Logan did the same; Drew grabbed Darlene’s bag and helped her down the high step like the gentleman he was.

“Whole gangbang crew is here, I see.” Maverick’s pretentious sneer was held in place by years of righteousness and capturing bad guys.

Could he hear the stories of the people he was so desperate to put behind bars? Could he taste their pain, along with their poor decisions? Did he see his place of privilege to have never been put in a decision where he chose survival over morality?

I had my doubts.

“Fuck off, Maverick.” Logan spit the name like it offended him. Given his history, it probably did. “Do your fucking job and get Cam’s mother to safety. Then do more of your job and get us to fucking safety.”

They had their macho stare-down while I guided Darlene gently toward Maverick’s vehicle. I opened the rear door of the sedan and gave her time to get situated before dropping to my haunches in front of her.

I palmed her cheeks and kissed her forehead. It was more intimate than I’d ever been with the woman who’d given me life, but it felt appropriate. If we made it out of this mess, perhaps even symbolic of the relationship to come.

“Text me when you get there and you feel safe, okay?”

She clutched my hands tightly, squeezing the life out of my fingers before releasing me and clasping them in her lap.

“You stay safe,” she murmured apprehensively. I gave her my most reassuring smile and closed the door. Walking back, I witnessed four men staring each other down in a silent pissing contest.

“Let’s go.” I grabbed Logan by the elbow to bring him back to his car, but he wrenched out of my grasp.

“Stop fucking touching me.”

Still, he followed, and we piled into our seats as Maverick stalked back to his own car. I shot off a quick text to Kellan, letting him know we’d made the drop.

The drive home was uneventful; a somber stiffness filled my limbs as I succumbed to my own thoughts in the dead of night. The others were just as quiet. Shane and Drew fell asleep against each other in the backseat, only waking groggily when Logan dropped them back off at Drew’s place with little fanfare. Finally, we arrived back at his parking garage in one piece.

Logan looked even more tired than I was. I felt the need to thank him for his help, but all I had were my words.

“Why’d you do it?” I asked instead, needing an honest answer to his unexpected altruism.

His heavy eyes appraised me before he blew out a breath. “I never had a mother to save.”

With that cryptic response, he stepped into the elevator and disappeared into the tower of his castle.

It took me twenty minutes to get home—I rolled all the windows down to keep me awake. Stumbling up the apartment steps to my humid abode, I stopped dead still when I found two people fast asleep in my bed.

Travis and Winter had waited up for me. He was the only one with a key to my place, and by the looks of things, they had come here straight from work, their black uniforms shucked in a pile by the door.

Travis was curled around my little violet’s body wearing only his boxers, and Winter wore a pair of my boxers with one of my boxing tanks. The apartment was hotter than hell, so they had abandoned the blanket and thrown it on the floor.

My heart stuttered at the sight. A less exhausted man would be aroused. Instead, wispy tendrils of contentment filled me; a feeling I only experienced in my violet’s presence.

I pulled off my own clothes and crawled into bed on the other side of them, careful not to disturb their slumber.

Within seconds I was asleep, my heart whole with the two people I cared most about in this world tucked safely in my arms.

CHAPTER 16

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