Page 116 of Cold Hard Truth

I wonder if I’d have been like the other wives—the ones who left.

Waiting around until eventually resentment bloomed. Until what we had wilted, and the rot would reach up from the roots to the surface.

I’m not certain how that would have turned out. Still, I miss it. This alternate reality we never built together. Maybe we could have been the exception when there was so much proof it wasn’t possible.

I like to think that whatever has always existed between us would break expectations.

Glancing up at him, I’m disarmed every time. His strong jaw is tense as his endless eyes watch me. His tattoos make art of his flawless body.

He takes my breath away.

And even if he allowed pieces of himself to move on, a part of us was planted in this land when we were kids, and that part of us never left. A part of him was always with me, and a part of me was with him.

Sage stops in the den and drops down onto the couch, pulling me with him, and I curl against his side.

He has to stay on the compound for a few days while the Vegas chapter is in town, and he didn’t want to leave me in the city. So here I am, back where I said I’d never go again.

Home.

Part of me is surprised Kane’s even allowing Sage to continue protecting me given what he knows about our relationship, but I’m thankful.

My father still hasn’t addressed whatever happened, but Sage didn’t let go of my hand when we met with him earlier, so he’s at the very least accepted it.

Sinking into Sage’s hold, we stare out the large window that overlooks an empty corner of the Twisted Kings property. A few sparse trees scatter across the land. This late in the evening, the sun is setting, coating the LA desert in a warm glow.

“This could have been our life.” I rest my head against Sage’s shoulder.

He hums. “It could have been a lot of things.”

“Maybe I should have just accepted it.”

After all, if I really didn’t want this life, I’d have left when Ellie did. Or when Reed did. But I wasn’t like them, and even if I hated that part of myself, I knew a piece of me belonged on this land.

“You’re too stubborn for that.” Sage chuckles.

“Is that so?” I crawl onto his lap, straddling him, and planting my hands on his shoulders.

He grabs my jaw and pulls my mouth to his for a kiss. “That’s so.”

I shake my head when he releases my jaw. His palms find my thighs and rub up and down.

“Are you telling me you never thought about it?” I dig my fingers into his shoulders and his eyes roll back. “That in all these years you never regretted not patching in?”

“I regretted plenty, but not that exactly.” He tips his head back against the couch and looks up at me. “I regretted not looking for you the first time you left. For not admitting my feelings for you sooner. For not making you my old lady the second you turned eighteen.”

“I hate that term.”

Sage squeezes my thighs. “I know you do. And you’d be a terrible one anyway.”

“Says who?” My eyebrows pinch, and even if I’ve never wanted that title, I still pretend to be hurt.

“Anyone who’s ever heard you run your fucking mouth.” Sage grins.

“You like it when I run my mouth,” I remind him, sinking against his body and giving him a quick kiss. “If for no other reason than having an excuse to punish me for it.”

“You’re right.” Sage grabs my chin, pressing his thumb over my lower lip and peeling my mouth open. “I like all sorts of things about your mouth.”

I run my tongue over the pad of his thumb, and he groans, pushing it deeper.

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