Page 131 of Stay for Me

A breeze blew across the porch then, causing a shiver to run down my back as I looked over to the car parked next to mine. The sun was beginning to set behind the cabin now, basking the field in a beautiful orange glow, the glare of it reflecting off the black Jeep Grayson and Carrie came in.

“How did you get here so fast?” I found myself asking. “Mags was just on the phone this morning with Grayson.”

“Yeah, Gray was supposed to go on a hunt with the team,” Carrie said, moving to stand beside me.

“A hunt?”

“Sorry. A mission.”

I waited for more. “But?” I prompted.

“But Jake—he’s Red Snake’s tech guy. Absolute genius.” I twisted my neck to look at her, wrapping my arms around myself. “Anyways,” she continued, “he found something, and then Grayson called me, telling me to get ready. We were on the helicopter within the hour.”

On the what?

“You have access to a helicopter?” I asked, moving over to the rocking chairs.

“Well, I don’t, but Red Snake does,” Carrie said, taking a seat beside me. “Hayes—you’ll meet him eventually—he was a pilot in the Air Force. He can fly almost anything.” She jumped in then, telling me all about Red Snake and Astoria, not letting me ask the question I really wanted to ask.

What had Jake found?

Time passed as I listened to her, adding in whenever I needed to. I knew deep down that she and I were going to be fast friends. I cherished it. Our men eventually joined us out on the porch, announcing they made dinner. We shared a meal, and for the first time in a long, long time, I felt like I surrounded by family.

Grayson shared stories and I listened, greedily retaining every single word, loving the glimpses that he gave still lingered in the back of my mind.

Was Mags in trouble?

My thoughts drifted back to my conversation with Chase a few weeks ago, his discovery shouting in my mind over and over, trying to raise the alarm bells.

I’ve been around that man just as long as you have, Di, and after trying to look into him, I’ve found nothing. Mags, according the US government, doesn’t exist. I found something, but I couldn’t confirm if it was Mags. All records around what I found were sealed.

Once the meal was done, we all sat in the living room, Mags in his chair, me in his lap, Carrie and Grayson across from us on the couch.

“Thank you for dinner,” I said to Mags, breaking the sudden silence, the air thick with tension. I was the odd one out and felt like I was being examined underneath a microscope.

“No problem,” Mags murmured, his thumb stroking my thigh.

My heart squeezed, but I could only manage to give a half-smile.

“Mags said you have a teaching offer at Yale,” Grayson noted, taking a sip of his drink, studying me.

His words sucked away all the warmth, happiness, and love I’d been wrapped up in all day. My eyes landed on him, my words trapped in my throat as the plan I’d made months ago came crashing down around me.

“Really? That’s amazing,” Carrie praised. “When do you start?”

“Next year,” Mags answered for me.

My spine straightened, and I forced myself to take a drink of my water, clearing my throat after it went down.

“Oh, how exciting. Are you going to move there?” Carried asked.

“If I accept the position, I would have to move there for the semester,” I told them, shifting in Mags’ lap. Suddenly, I was the one needing distance. I moved to get up, but his hand clamped down on my hip, holding me in place.

“She’s brilliant,” Mags said coolly. “She’s been teaching at the university in Denver for a while.”

“What made you want to teach law?” Carried asked, interest peaked.

I took another drink, feeling everyone’s eyes on me. “I just want to do some good in the world. That’s why I became a lawyer in the first place, and when I built up a solid client list out here, I realized I couldn’t do this forever. A new generation of lawyers would have to take my place and these ranches and cowboys deserve to be taken care off.”

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