Page 51 of Haunted By the Storm
Something twists in my gut at those words. Home. Back to their house, their normal life, away from the clubhouse. Away from me.
"Yeah," I say, keeping my voice level despite the turmoil inside. "They can go home when they're ready."
Ace studies me for a moment, then nods, a knowing look in his eyes. "Meeting adjourned," he announces, pushing back from the table.
As the others file out of the chapel, Ace lingers, waiting until we're alone before speaking. "You gonna tell her?"
"About the arrangement with Cantlay? Of course."
He shakes his head. "Not that. About how you feel. About what you want."
I stare at him, caught off guard by his directness. Ace and I have been brothers for years, fought side by side, trusted each other with our lives, but we've never been ones for heart-to-heart talks.
"She knows how I feel," I say finally. "We've talked about it."
"But have you told her what you want? Long term?" he presses.
I hesitate, thinking back to this morning, to waking up with Camryn in my arms, to making pancakes with Emily, to the domestic scene that felt so right it scared me.
"No," I admit. "Not in so many words."
Ace nods, unsurprised. "You should. Before she goes back to that house, back to her old life, you should make damn sure she knows what could be waiting for her here."
"And what's that?" I ask, though I already know the answer.
"Family," he says simply. "A home. Protection. Everything she and that little girl deserve."
The word hits me hard, stirring up feelings I've spent a lifetime burying. Family, something I lost long ago and never expected to find again, especially not in a woman I've known for barely a month and her butterfly-loving daughter.
Yet here I am, contemplating exactly that.
"Thanks," I tell him, meaning it. "I'll think about it."
"Don't think too long," he advises, heading for the door. "Women like her don't come along every day, brother."
I sit alone in the chapel for several minutes after he leaves, turning his words over in my mind. Ace is right, I need to be honest with Camryn about what I want, about the future I'm starting to envision for us. But the thought of laying myself bare like that, of risking rejection, makes my chest tight in a way facing down armed enemies never has.
Eventually, I make my way back to the room, rehearsing what I'll say, how I'll broach the subject. But when I open the door, all planned speeches fly from my mind.
Camryn is standing in the kitchen wearing nothing but one of my t-shirts, her long legs bare, hair damp from a recent shower. She's hummin softly, moving around the small space with a grace that makes my mouth go dry.
"Hey," she says, looking up with a smile that turns questioning when she sees my expression. "Everything okay?"
"Where's Emily?" I ask, scanning the room for signs of the little girl.
"Girls' night with Sera and Ruby," she explains. "Tavia invited her to stay over. Apparently they're having a movie marathon and making sundaes."
"So we're alone," I say, the implication hanging in the air between us.
Her cheeks flush slightly but she holds my gaze. "We are."
I cross the room in three strides, coming to stand before her, close enough to feel the warmth radiating from her body but not yet touching. "I have news," I say, forcing myself to focus on the reason I came back. "About Cantlay, about Eric. It's handled."
Her eyes widen. "Handled? What does that mean exactly?"
"It means you're safe," I tell her. "Cantlay has agreed to back off. Eric's debt is no longer your problem. You and Emily... you can go home, if that's what you want."
She absorbs this, her expression unreadable. "I see," she says finally. "And is that what you want, for us to go home?"
