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For everyone who feels like they don’t belong. I see you. You’re beautiful, good, worthy. And you will find others who see it, too. Don’t ever give up. Finding your people will be all the sweeter because you walked alone for a little while.
Shep shot Cope a grin, his amber eyes twinkling with mischief. “Good thing I’ve got a great ass. Nothing to worry about there.” “Your ass is so pale, it gives mooning a whole new meaning,” Cope fired back.
“You make me feel…not alone. And, Sparrow? I’ve been alone for basically as long as I’ve been breathing. But you? You make it all better.”
Kyler’s hands fisted, and the already bruised knuckles cracked. “It’s a good thing you’re not. Because if you lay a finger on her, you know I’d snap your neck like a twig.”
Kyler turned, his gaze roaming my face like he was trying to memorize it. “You’d better go. You don’t want to be late.” I moved in, not caring that his friends were there. I linked my pinky with his. “You gonna be okay?” One corner of his mouth quirked up. “Always am, aren’t I?” “Be careful,” I whispered.
My heart hammered in my ears. A tingling sensation erupted in my fingers, and it felt like the whole world might drop away. Kyler. My Kyler was the one who’d been hurt. The one who needed shelter.
I had to look at him then. The shock and fear were too much. “Kyler,” I breathed. His tears came then, running down his face in streaks of agony. “My dad tried to kill me. And my mom didn’t do a damn thing to stop him. She just watched like I was nothing to her.”
Pain ripped through me. Kyler didn’t deserve that. He deserved to be somewhere he wouldn’t have to watch his back. A place he could heal. And he would be. Even if I had to erase the fact that he knew me better than anyone. Even if I had to hide that I’d fallen in love with him the moment he found me screaming in the woods.
“Sparrow,” he croaked, “you were always too good for me anyway. It’s better this way.”
Kye was an invisible brand on my bones. Something I carried with me wherever I went, in whatever I did—even if no one ever knew.
Because it didn’t matter if it had been fourteen seconds or fourteen years, he’d always be the boy who’d given me everything.
I slid my tote bag to the floor and pulled back my chair, stilling as a package and note caught my eye. A bag of strawberry Sour Patch Kids and a folded piece of paper with Fallon in artful, colorful letters.
The last was my favorite. He’d taken what I’d doodled over and over again and turned it into something beautiful. It didn’t matter that I’d never make enough money to afford that kind of house. It was more than that. It was a symbol of hope.
“Not sure what you’re looking for, but I can tell you where it’s fucking not. And that’s in Fal’s cleavage.” Oh, hell.
She could. Always. It didn’t matter if she needed me in the middle of the night or from a million miles away. I’d be there.
I set my sandwich down and did something I rarely allowed myself to do anymore. I curled my pinky around hers and squeezed. “The last thing I think you are is weak, Sparrow. But we miss you. Your family misses you.”
Memories of my father coming at me with that knife. My mother’s voice swirling around and around in my head. “Worthless. Everything you touch, you ruin.”
Even if I’d only ever have pieces of her. Those tiny shards were better than anything else.
They painted it every few years, oiled the rockers and porch swings every spring and fall, and maintained the gardens with a single-minded focus—even if Lolli’s personal garden had a few so-called herbs that were far from just medicinal.
“You like to give me gray hair,” Mom shot back. There was a little more silver woven through the light-brown strands now. It looked beautiful, but it reminded me that she was getting older, and that wasn’t something I was fond of thinking about.
“Those girls,” I croaked, my brain rapidly putting the pieces together, a sick feeling sinking into my gut. Gracie’s, Clementine’s, and Hayden’s eyes were amber. It was a color I knew better than any in existence. Those girls were Kye’s sisters. And he had no idea they existed.
Fallon shook her head, her cheek still pressed to my palm. “It’s about you,” she croaked. My brow furrowed, and confusion swam. “What do you mean?” Pain swirled in those dark blue irises. No…it was deeper than pain. Agony. “Your mom,” she finally rasped. I stilled, my blood running cold as my hand slowly dropped from Fallon’s face. “She had more kids. You have three half-sisters, and DHS just took them into custody.”
“I’ll never forget her face. You showed me a picture once, and I’ll never forget it. Because I know how much she hurt you.”
“My situation was a fucking miracle. A one in a goddamned million chance. Three girls? And none of them infants or toddlers? They’ll never keep them together.”
“I do. I know that you are the kindest soul I’ve ever known to walk the Earth. I know that a rage lives inside you, but it’s only matched by your gentleness. And I know that you will never do a damn thing to cause me any sort of harm.”
Kye searched my eyes for a long moment. “I want to take them. I want to give them a home. I want to make sure they’re never scared again. I want to make sure they always know they’re wanted. That someone chose them.”
“I’d walk through fire for him.” Rose’s face softened. “He’s lucky to have you.” I shook my head. “I’m the lucky one.”
through me. “What? I’ll do anything. Hell, I’ll cover my tattoos with body makeup if I have to. Wear polo shirts and take up golf. Whatever you think will make me acceptable in the court’s eyes.” Fallon’s delicate throat worked as she struggled to swallow. “Marry me.”
“It’s not because I don’t want to. I’ve been dreaming of you since I was sixteen. You’ve been my one spark of light in the hellish dark. The only good thing in my life. But I won’t risk losing you or the family you gave me. Because I’m sure of one thing: I’ll fuck this up. And I’m not ruining the only good in my life because of it.”
Mateo sent Serena a mischievous grin. “You can beat me up anytime, Ser.” She swatted a towel in his direction. “Hit the showers, Casanova.” Mateo began jogging in that direction. “I love it when you spank me.”
“We talk as we spar.” I scowled at him. “What are you, my shrink?” “Some days.” Jericho rolled onto the balls of his feet and started moving.
“I don’t get it. You’re both grown now. I see how she looks at you. She didn’t stop loving you for a single second. And I can’t imagine a better woman. She’s kind and fierce. Fucking funny. And she’s sure as hell easy on the eyes. Why aren’t you going there for real?”
The center stone was a black diamond. Thorny vines cast in rose gold curved around it, and the band was made up of those vines woven together. I let out a long breath as I let the sketchpad drop against the wheel. This was the one. Me. Her. Us.
“He won’t take us. Mom said he doesn’t want anything to do with us,” Clem whispered. Fury like I’d never known blazed through my system. It felt as if someone had replaced my blood with lighter fluid and then lit a match. It took everything I had to beat it back and swallow the rage so the girls didn’t see it.
“Pain means we care. Means we love. Means we live. I wouldn’t trade any of that just to avoid some suffering.”
I turned then, and what I saw nearly knocked me sideways. The house was a blend of Victorian and Craftsman, painted a deep teal blue with dark wooden accents. It felt like part castle and part farmhouse, coming together to create something that was out-of-this-world perfect. Something I’d doodled countless times on paper, but also somehow more. “Kye,” I rasped. “That’s my house.”
“When I lost you, lost what we were, I needed something to hold on to. I thought if I built the house, if I lived in it, I could still have you with me—the you that you were to me back then. But when they finished it a few years ago, it didn’t feel right…living here without you.”
“Was going to give it to you, but then you’d have known,” I rasped. Those beautiful dark blue eyes cut to me. “Known what?” “Everything I’ve buried deep for fourteen years.”
“This is a room fit for a princess,” she mumbled as she turned in circles. “No,” I countered. “It’s fit for a queen.”
“You’re my person. The spark in the shadows. You carried me through when I didn’t think I’d survive. So, I’m never going to stop demanding that this world give you everything.”
“I’ve never…” Fallon struggled for words as she lifted her hand. “It’s perfect. Raw and real and stunning beyond measure.” Her gaze lifted to mine. “It’s you.”
“I will honor you every day of this marriage. And every day after it’s done. And no matter what comes, my battered and blackened heart will always be yours.”
“Fallon…” Rhodes began, her voice wary. “Why is there a ring on that finger?”
Fal’s gaze didn’t stray from mine, as though she thought she might lose her nerve if she looked at her family. I held that beautiful blue gaze, not letting go as I spoke. “Because I asked Fallon to marry me.”
I knew what was coming as Fal rose to her tiptoes. “He asked, and I said yes.”
“Uncle Cope, that’s a bad one,” Keely said. Ellie winced. “On that note, why don’t you, me, and Luca go downstairs? I heard there’s a movie theater. You can tell me what movies we need to stock.”
Sutton whirled on him. “Copeland Colson, I will do more than ground you if you don’t pull your head out of your ass right this second. You, more than anyone, should know that we aren’t guaranteed a certain number of moments on this Earth. And we need to make the most of them. If we find someone we love, someone who makes us feel seen, we can’t waste it. Who cares how they came into our lives? What matters is that they’re there and make us better.”
“You think I’m not used to people looking at me like I’m not worth the dirt on the bottom of their shoes? I know what the people in this town think of me, of where I came from. The mistakes I’ve made. I know. And I’ll take it times a million if it gives me Fal and a home for my sisters. But I will never let them say a damn word to your sister. Not once. And that’s a goddamned oath.”
“Whatever it is, it won’t top a diamond fairy orgy.” “And for the stunt he pulled today, I’ll be hanging it in our bedroom,” Sutton called. “Ooooh, that’s a great plan,” Lolli said, clapping her hands and making her beaded bracelets decorated with mushrooms and pot leaves jangle. “It’ll help with fertility and sexual energy for sure.”
Lolli adjusted her sequined shirt that read, Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy. “It’s just a hockey stick and a pile of artfully arranged pucks. If you see more, that’s on you. A buncha dirty birds, I tell you.”
