Page 154 of Covenant

“Yep,” Jackson says around a mouthful of eggs. “Harley’s going to teach me how to play poker.”

Harley leans over the table to fist-bump my brother. “Damn straight. Gotta have you hustling alongside the rest of us.”

I side-eye Harley, wondering if encouraging this friendship is actually a good idea.

“So, I’m moved back in, just so you know,” Jackson says before I can question the sanity of allowing the two of them to spend more time together. “Moving company came last night, and Wylder brought me here.”

“Oh god. I’m sorry,” I say as I pull him into a small hug, apologizing for the chaos that our lives have been.

He pats my back lightly. “Don’t apologize. I get it.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. I do. Life’s hard sometimes. Now go to Matthias. He’s looming, looking like a desperate puppy dog.”

I turn and see my husband lingering in the doorway, looking rumpled and flushed. A hickey sits on his neck, the one I left on him this morning. I can’t help but preen at how good it looks on him right now.

Mine.

“Yeah. All right. I think we’ll go outside. It’s not raining, so come get me if you need me.”

“I won’t need you, but thanks,” Jackson says with a wink.

And so Matthias and I wander around outdoors, my eyes taking in my garden that Corbin has kept pristine as if waiting for my return. He even kept my cannabis plants thriving. They must have started getting smelly because they’re nicely covered and just waiting to be harvested. He must have known I would come back.

“I can’t believe how much it’s all grown,” I say, my fingers laced with Matthias’s.

Matthias nods. “It has. I haven’t been out here since you left.”

“You haven’t?”

“Nope,” he squeezes my hand softly. “Too difficult. Reminded me too much of you.”

I lean into him, offering my weight as an anchor. “I’m back now, Matt. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Even if I fuck up again?”

I brush my lips over the hickey I left on him. “Nope. Not even then. This is home now.”

I pull back and study the gardens thoughtfully before turning to face him. “Actually, that’s not true. This isn’t home. You’re my home. You always have been.”

His answering grin heals something within me. Something that was broken and shattered when I walked away. Perhaps before that, all the way back when we were just dumb kids, hoping for an idealistic future that didn’t exist.

It’s okay though. We found our way back in the end.

I like this version better anyway. It’s more real.

It’s us.

* * *

“Are you sure about this?” Matthias asks me as his hand wraps around mine. I can hear the brothers in the other room, all talking loudly, the scent of smoke and food wafting toward us.

“Yeah, I am. I want to know everything about you. No more secrets.”

Tonight isn’t just about game night. It’s our unofficial initiation into The Firm. Mine and Jackson’s. We’re not going to be expected to work for them or anything like that.

But we’ll know what’s going on. We’ll have to keep their secrets.

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