Better When He's Bad

CHAPTER 17 Bax

THREE MONTHS WAS NOTHING compared to five years. I could do three months locked up standing on my head. Well, I could’ve done it without blinking if I hadn’t actually had something to lose this time. I spent every day, every minute, every second, breaking down and dissecting what could have happened differently. Even though I refused to see him, to see anyone but the feds that were hounding me over and over again, Titus bullied his way in. I knew Dovie had almost died. I knew she was having a really hard time sitting by while I was locked up, and I knew it broke her heart every time she tried to come and see me and I told the guards to send her home.

There was nothing that could be done about it. I didn’t want her to see me in convict orange, didn’t want her to fold and try and tell the feds she was really the one who had put the bullet in Novak. So even though it tasted like dust and ash all along my tongue, I refused to see her, and after about the fifth time, she stopped coming. So I lay awake at night, stared at a cement ceiling, and turned it over and over trying to think of all the ways I could have done better by her, could have prevented her from ever being a part of any of it. The answer was really simple when I broke it down. I should have kept my hands off of her, left her alone. That way, at least, had she gotten tangled up with Novak, it would have fallen on Race’s hands, on his conscience, not mine.

The feds had wanted to keep me locked up for a lot longer. My reputation was preceding me, and the fact that I had bad blood was not lost on them. Only I was way more useful as a witness and I had enough dirt on the rest of Novak’s operation that eventually, they had had to cut a deal that involved time served and probation. Titus was pissed. The fed he had turned the case over to was dragging his feet on getting me sprung, and Titus knew it. He said it was because I refused to go into protective custody. They wanted me to move, wanted me to go play house in some nice, quiet suburb and change my name until the case went to trial against the last of the crew, but I refused. I didn’t know how to live anywhere but in the Point, and I had never been the type to hide.

Really, now that Novak was gone, I was probably the scariest guy left on the streets, and I was still mad enough about Dovie getting hurt, about Gus getting murdered, about Race having to give up his life and taking a beat-down, that I didn’t think anyone was going to be brave enough to try and take me on.

I didn’t just think about all the ways I should have done better by Dovie. I thought about her mouth, her pale, freckled skin, and the way her hair twisted and turned like it had a life of its own. I remembered the way her eyes glowed from dark green to bright jade when I was inside of her, the way she called me “Shane” when she was turned on, and the way she used “Bax” to remind me that she thought there were two sides of me and one scared her on the regular. It sucked that she was right to be afraid of him, because he had caused her nothing but hurt and trouble. And it extra sucked because there was enough of Shane in me to know that now that I had been out for two weeks, the best thing was just to forget her and let her live a safe and happy life away from everything Bax brought with him.

Two weeks of freedom. Two weeks of spinning my wheels and trying to figure out what my next move should be. So far, all I had come up with was getting super drunk pretty much every night and blatantly looking for a fight whenever anyone so much as looked at me sideways. I was being reckless and stupid. I knew it and I couldn’t stop it. In all of my life, whatever had been handed to me, I had just accepted it as part of what living hard and rough meant. I was never dissatisfied, knew I had done my fair share of really fucked-up shit that I needed to atone for, but I had never been unhappy or felt like I was missing something. Now I did, and I hated it. I felt carved out, felt wrong, and just on the fine line of keeping it together and not going all-out crazy.

I was at my shithole apartment in the center of town, and about halfway through a handle of cheap whiskey, when my brother walked in without knocking. Somewhere along the line I had subconsciously dropped the “half” every time I thought about him as my sibling. And considering he was the only real tie I had to what I wanted most, I tried to play nice as best as I could, even though I still had some issues with the way he had let the whole show play out with Novak.

“What are you doing here?”

At least that’s what I meant to ask, but I was pretty wasted and my tongue didn’t feel like it was working right.

Titus took one look at me and sighed. He walked over to where the giant handle of whiskey was sitting on the floor by the bed and scooped it up. I should have protested when he dumped it down the sink, but I didn’t have the energy or the fortitude to get into it with him.

“A lawyer contacted me today.”

“So what? Lawyers have been crawling all over my ass since I got out.”

“That’s because you’re a star witness, and if you go and do something stupid to ruin what little credibility you have, it can put Benny and the rest of Novak’s crew back on the street. They’re trying to make you keep your nose clean.”

I swiped a hand across my face and bared my teeth in a ferocious facsimile of a smile. “All clean, big bro.”

“You’re acting like a dumb-ass.”

“Whatever. What do you want, Titus?”

“Gus’s estate is getting closed in the next few days. He left pretty much everything he had to his wife. But the garage and the cars . . .” Titus’s blue eyes were sharp as he stared at me. “He left that to you.”

My head was fuzzy and I tried to sit up all the way, only to have the room tip on its side and my stomach start to roll in protest.

“The garage . . . it’s yours. You just need to get your stupid shit straightened out and go sign off on the paperwork. I guess the lawyer handling the estate has been trying to get in touch with you, but apparently, you don’t want to talk to anyone.”

I closed my eyes and threw an arm over my eyes. I smelled bad, I felt bad, I looked bad. I was bad.

“Nothing to say to anyone.”

“Really? Maybe a phone call to your best friend to tell him you’re happy he made it out alive? A call to your mom to let her know you’re out of lockup? A call to your girl to let her know you miss her and that you’re sorry for being an ass? Jesus Christ, Bax. You should see her. It was almost impossible to get her to agree to keep her mouth shut, and then you go and break her heart on top of it. She thinks you blame her, thinks you won’t talk to her because you had to go back behind bars for her. You need to make things right with Dovie. No one is ever going to love you the way that girl does. Go home, Bax. Fix this, make a life for yourself for once.”

“I almost got her killed.”

I wasn’t sure I said the words, but I felt them, tasted them, and lived with them like a lead weight on my chest every minute of every day.

Titus sighed and I heard the old chair creak as he lowered his body into it.

“Yeah, well, that was a perfect storm of bad timing. Yes, she is vulnerable because of you, because of Race, but isn’t it better to keep her close rather than let her face it on her own? Just because you aren’t physically around her doesn’t mean anyone, and I mean anyone, is going to forget the lengths you were willing to go to set her free. Pointing a loaded gun at your head sends one hell of a message, Bax. Everyone in that warehouse got it loud and clear.”

My chest rose and fell, air rushing in and out of my lungs, but I didn’t feel like I was breathing. I didn’t feel like I was anything. “She deserves better.”

He snorted and I had to turn my head and crack an eye to look at him. “She was sold out to Novak’s guys by someone she considered a friend, her own father put a hit out on her, she has a junkie mom, a brother who plays with fire, and she’s in love with you . . . yeah she deserves better, but this is what her life looks like, Bax. There is no better, there is just making do and being happy with what you have. She’s a good girl, she’s lived with all the same darkness, the same struggle, as you have, and yet she manages to still be soft, still manages to see the good in guys like you and Race. Don’t fuck this up, it will be the worst decision you have made to date—and holy hell, have there been a lot of bad decisions made on your part over the years.”

I halfheartedly threw a pillow at him, but he just caught it and chucked it back at my head, making me wince when it landed with a thunk on my tortured skull.

“Why do you care?”

“Because you’re my brother. Because even if you don’t see it, you deserve better, too. Do something with the garage. Do something with the girl. Do something with your life, Bax. This time, you can’t blame being the bad guy on not having any other options.”

His words landed on me like physical blows. I was drunk, but even under the blanket of booze and denial, I couldn’t hide from the truth of his words.

“What if I take the garage and do something with it you won’t like?”

He groaned and shoved to his feet. “Are you seriously telling a cop you plan on running a chop shop?”

I would have laughed if I didn’t think it would make me puke. “No, I’m telling my brother I might not have the most illustrious plans for the future. You think you can handle that?”

“I’ll handle it the same way I always have. I love you, Bax, but if you break the law and I catch you, I will put you back in jail. Now that you know what it’s like to be behind bars when you have something to lose, I’m hoping going forward that it might be enough to keep you on the right side of the law.”

I cracked a grin and slowly swung my legs over the edge of the bed. I looked around the sad little apartment and realized it was the last place I wanted to be.

“At the very least it makes me motivated to not get caught.”

“You are an epic pain in the ass. You know that, right?”

Getting to my feet was a little bit trickier than just sitting up. I needed all the coffee in the Point and a shower the temperature of Satan’s hot tub to get my head working right.

“I have been told that a time or two. Do you know where she is? Did she go back to that crap apartment across from the diner?” I figured the “she” didn’t need any further explanation.

Titus shook his head and moved toward the door. “I think she was tired of me harping on her to keep her mouth shut about the shooting. She took the news about her friend sending Novak’s boys pretty well, but I think it still stung. I haven’t talked to her since you got out. Race is still staying in the loft above the garage, but she isn’t there.”

A sharp and icy sliver of rage worked its way through the boozy haze.

“Who was the friend? The blonde from the restaurant?” Dovie didn’t have very many friends, or people she was close to, so the suspects were limited.

“No. They worked together at the group home, but before you get all worked up and think about doing something idiotic, you should know the feds scooped her up as a material witness as well. She took them up on the offer to relocate so you can’t get to her.”

I glared at him, even though it hurt like a bitch. I swayed a little on my feet, which totally ruined the badass, threatening look I was trying to throw at him. “But you can.”

He lifted an eyebrow at me and pulled open the door. “I could if I was so inclined, but you should know by now, people make bad decisions all the time. Those decisions shouldn’t be used to define them forever.”

I snorted and rubbed my hands over my face. I didn’t even feel like a human.

“You’re just saying that because she’s gorgeous and has those big blue eyes.”

“I’m saying it because her actions almost got Dovie killed and forced me to watch my little brother hold a gun to his own head. Do I want to throttle her for that? Yes, but I also know what it’s like to feel like you’re trapped by something bigger than you and more powerful than you with no way out. I knew Novak was never going to just let you go and I pussyfooted around the law and tried to be the good guy, play it legal all along. Looking back . . . maybe I wish I had been just a little bit more like you. Maybe I could have saved everyone a whole lot of heartache by breaking the rules.”

“It’s not in your makeup, Officer King.”

“I dunno about that, Bax. We do have half of the same DNA. Good luck with your girl.”

The door closed behind him with a soft click and I tottered into the bathroom to try and drown some of the drunk out of me. It took longer than it should have. By the time I got out, the water was cold and I had wrinkled fingers. I had to run a razor over my face and brush my teeth, twice, to even get to a semirespectable state. I still wasn’t a hundred percent sober, but most of the fog had cleared and I was coherent enough to dig my cell out of the drawer it had been living in since I got out, and call Race.

It rang for a long time and I didn’t think he was going to answer, which made my heart start to thump and tick an unsteady rhythm in my chest. I could drive all over the town until I found her, and I would do it if that’s what it took, but I had wasted enough time and I just wanted to go to her.

“So you made it?” He sounded annoyed and I couldn’t say I blamed him.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“You’re an asshole. You get that, right?”

I let my head fall forward on my neck and stared at the carpet between my feet. “I just got the same thing from Titus. Yeah, I get it.”

“Look, dude, I get you not wanting her to see you all jailed up. And I even get staying away for her own good . . . it actually makes me want to kick your ass less, but this total freeze-out, not cool. You really hurt her.”

I blew out a breath. “Well, where is she at so I can go unhurt her?”

“It doesn’t work that way. She almost died, almost watched you die, and Novak messed her up pretty good. All she wanted was you, or to at least do right by you, and you stonewalled her. I don’t know that she wants to see you anymore.”

I snapped my teeth together and felt my blood start to heat up to the point that there wasn’t any way for the whiskey not to burn out of it.

“I have to talk to her, have to try and make it right.”

He sighed. “What do you know about making anything right?”

It was a valid question, but I wasn’t going to point out he was the one who had set in motion the events that had led me to his sister’s front door in the first place.

“I know that Dovie is right. I know that being with her changed me, and being with me changed her. I’m never going to be a great guy, Race, but I sure as shit will do everything in my power to make sure nothing bad ever happens to her.”

He gave a bitter laugh that made me want to punch him in the face through the phone.

“Aren’t you the worst thing that could happen to her, Bax?”

I growled, actually growled at him, and clenched my hand around the phone. “Help me out or don’t. I’ll track her down on my own, Race. And like it or not, I’m going to make this happen with your sister, so you can be on board, or you can get run over by it. You’ve been like a brother to me, but I have no problem taking you down if you get in my way with Dovie.”

He laughed a real laugh and it skittered across my skin. “Good, because if you hurt her again, I’ll rip your intestines out and string you up with them.”

“Where is she?”

“Where you should have been the second you got sprung from the feds. Go home, Bax. It’s about time you knew what that felt like.”

Before I could question him any more, he hung up on me and left me with blood ringing in my ears, and boiling steadily under the surface of my skin. I struggled into a pair of jeans and pulled on a long-sleeved thermal. I shoved my feet into my boots and headed out the door. When the wood thudded shut behind me, I knew I wasn’t ever coming back here. This seedy apartment in the worst part of the Point belonged to the guy I used to be. There were still large chunks of him ingrained in my being, but now there were bigger parts of the guy I wanted to be for Dovie. Sure, that guy wasn’t going to wear khakis and go to a nine-to-five job, and there was a really good chance I hadn’t seen the last of the inside of a jail cell, but the guy I was now wasn’t convinced that was all there was to my future anymore was bars or a body bag, and that gave me something I had never had before . . . hope.

I made the trip to the little house at the base of the Hill in record time, even though speeding after two weeks of steady drinking was probably an awful idea, and a DUI was the last thing I needed. I wasn’t surprised to see the lights on when I pulled the Runner into the driveway. I had tried to give this house to my mom to let her make it a home, to try and make up for the shitty hand she had been dealt in life, but she had never appreciated it, never been able to get out from under the demons and addictions that held her captive. Leave it to Dovie, to sweet, strong, unbreakable Dovie, to take this place and turn it into what it was always meant to be . . . a home.

I opened the front door and just stood there for a second. She had been busy in the months I had been locked up. Instead of just the bare-bones furniture I had left, the place was now decorated. There were pillows on the couch, a rug on the floor under the coffee table, and the walls were no longer boring beige. It looked lived in and comfortable; it looked like her.

I did a double take at the sight of the candles she had burning on one of the end tables and made my way into the kitchen to see if I could find her there. I don’t think I had ever been in a house that had candles in it. That just seemed so out of the realm of the life I lived, I was having a hard time getting my head around it.

The kitchen was empty, but stocked full. The cabinets had food, the fridge was full, and she had put place mats on the little dining room table. I let my gaze rake fondly over the kitchen counter, dirty thoughts of having her splayed out and begging dancing behind my eyes. Five years without sex was no joke; three months without sex, when you had just figured out who the person you wanted to have sex with for the rest of your life was, was flat-out torture.

I called out her name as lightly as I could. I didn’t want to scare her, and if she really didn’t want to see me, I didn’t want to give her the opportunity to run away from me. But if she did, I would chase her down and make her listen to me, make her realize I couldn’t do this anymore without her. This life was always going to be brutal and dark, and she needed to be the one bright spot in it.

I walked through the kitchen to the back of the house where the master bedroom was. When I got closer, I could hear soft music coming from the under the closed door. I knocked lightly before twisting the knob and walking in. The big king bed that had been covered in plain sheets now had a charcoal-and-black comforter on in, and pillows that looked like they had been professionally fluffed up. There were lamps on the end table that looked like they were made from chrome and metal, and she had hung dark drapes over the window. There was a bloodred rug that covered a huge section of the hardwood floor that should look gaudy and harsh, but just added an edge to the dark furnishings. It looked like a sexy and dark retreat. The rest of the house looked like her, but this space she had decorated with me in mind. It was heavier, it looked a little mean, and I loved everything about it.

Once the initial shock wore off, I heard the water running in the attached bathroom. I took a deep breath and walked over to the open doorway. I was going to freak her out just showing up out of the blue like this, especially if she was naked and vulnerable in the shower. I debated waiting for her to finish, thought about calling out to her to let her know I was there, but in the end I just walked into the bathroom, already pleading my case.

“Copper-Top? I’m so sorry I wouldn’t see you when I got locked up. It was a dick move and I was being a coward, but please hear me out.”

It was steamy and she had a radio on playing some kind of rock. The mirror was fogged over and my chest got tight when I noticed that in the steam she had written:

I BAX

The glass door to the walk-in shower whipped open and I was faced with a naked and wet Dovie who didn’t look at all surprised to see me. Her bright hair was a red curtain down her back and draped over her shoulders. Her eyes were big in her face as she blinked the still-running water out of them, but all I could see was the scar arching over the top of each of her perfect breasts. Instead of a V, it almost looked like a crudely etched bird in flight. It was still pink and looked freshly healed. It was big and not all together ugly, but there shouldn’t have ever been any situation where her perfect skin was marred with such violence and ugliness.

“It’s about time you showed up. If you were a no-show by Monday, I was coming to find you. Welcome home, Bax.”

I jerked my head up from her chest to meet her eyes. I think she had tears in them, but it was hard to tell with the water and the steam separating us.

“What? Titus and Race both told me you were over it.”

She lifted her hands over her head and ran them along her long fall of hair. Some of the blood thundering in my head raced below my belt.

“They were just trying to get you to pull your head out of your ass. I was mad you wouldn’t see me, and I felt awful you were sitting in jail for something you didn’t do, but I understood it. I understand you, Bax. Eventually you’re going to have to accept that.”

I took a few steps closer to the shower. There was water leaking out onto the floor and my boots squeaked across the tile as I got close enough to touch her. I didn’t, not yet, but I made sure she could see what I was feeling in my eyes.

“I would never want this for you. Me, this life, the messed-up shit that comes with it, but I missed you. I care about you and can never repay you for what you did for me. You set me free. I would die for you . . .”

My voice trailed off and I got a little choked up. I reached out a finger, I should’ve been embarrassed it was shaking, that I was shaking, and I touched the very center of her scar where it dipped in the crevice of her naked breasts. Her chest rose and fell in a heavy breath, but her eyes were steady on mine. In fact, she seemed a hundred times steadier than me.

“I know you would die for me, Bax.” Her voice was just above a whisper and all I wanted to do was pull her to me and never let her go again. “What I need to know is if you are willing to live for me? I know you’re always going to be this guy who lives a dangerous life, who takes risks and pushes limits left and right. I can deal with all of that—hell, it’s part of what makes you so irresistible. What I can’t handle, what breaks my heart, is that you live every day like it’s your last, like it doesn’t matter if you don’t make it to the next one. It does matter. It matters to me, it matters to your brother, it matters to Race—but it has to matter to you, Bax. You have to understand that you matter.”

I let out the breath I was holding and took another step closer to her. The water was splashing on the sleeve of my shirt as I reached up to grab both of her cheeks in my palms.

“Are you scared of me?” It was the start of the questions I had asked her what felt like a lifetime ago. Her answer didn’t change, but this time when she answered, she was holding back a smile that made my heart hurt.

“Terrified, but I kind of like it now.”

“Do you trust me?” My voice broke. I had never really trusted anyone but Race and now there was her and my brother and just all kinds of new things making my life so much more complicated and undeniably fuller.

“With my life. I trust all the parts of you, Bax. You need to know that.”

“You going to go to bed with me?”

That made her outright laugh and she reached up to curl her hands around my wrists.

“As often as I can and anyplace in between when the mood strikes.” The rest of the blood racing around my system went solidly south.

I dropped my forehead so it was resting on hers and the water from the showerhead was cascading down around us. I was making a mess, but I didn’t care because I had her, and she was my home.

“Do you love me?”

The words sounded so foreign, but so right, when I was saying them to her. She brushed her full lips across mine and the last three months without her faded away.

“Do you want me to lie to you or tell you the truth?”

I smiled against her mouth and kissed her back twice as hard as she had kissed me.

“Lie to me.”

She reached up and put her arms around my neck and took a step back, dragging me all the way into the shower stall with her. The water was lukewarm at best, and it made me shiver. So did the fact that she started to impatiently pull the tail of my shirt up over my head. A task made increasingly difficult considering I was now soaked head to toe and the material was clinging to me.

“Of course not. You’re the last person in the world I could love.”

Even though she was just playing my own game, it still stung and made me scowl down at her. She lifted an eyebrow at me and put her hands on the sodden leather of my belt.

“Want the truth?”

I nodded and grunted a little when she finally managed to get the front of my heavy pants open. The water was going to ruin my boots but I didn’t care because she gave a little hop and I had her in my arms and was pressing against her and the back of the shower wall. She was slippery and warm. I didn’t even need her to tell me the truth; I could see it shining out of the forest that colored her eyes.

“I didn’t want to love you. You’re not the kind of guy who is ever going to be easy on my heart. You take things to the extreme and I don’t love how easily you slip between Bax and Shane.”

I ran a hand down her side and curled it around her hip. She locked her ankles around my back and arched into the light touch. All I had to do was lean forward just a little and I would slide inside her, but then there would be no more talking and I needed her to finish what she was saying. Needed it more than I needed to push my way home.

“But you also make me feel safe and cherished and you make me feel like the entire world has to get through you to get to me. There is just something about that that makes all the other stuff incidental. I believe from the bottom of my heart that we can make each other happy. I’m never going to ask you to be a good guy, Bax, because I fell in love with you just the way you are. Bad.”

I blinked at her and bent down to seal my mouth over hers. She tasted like toothpaste and redemption. She tasted like mine. I rubbed my tongue across hers, sank my teeth into her bottom lip, and pulled her hips just close enough that I could use the angle I was holding her at to sink all the way inside of her. She gasped into my mouth and I groaned into hers. I felt my fingers tighten on to her skin and she burned all along the exposed length of my cock.

The fact that I was inside her, that we were together with nothing—both literally and figuratively—between us anymore seemed to hit both of us at the same time. Her eyes got huge in her face and I felt everything under my skin start to buzz. I pulled back and dropped a kiss on the end of her nose. Her fingernails dug into the back of my neck and her freckles stood out in stark relief across her milky-white skin.

“You know where I’ve been this time.”

“I just want you. I missed you. Missed this.”

I throbbed inside of her, felt the way her body paid testament to her words, and I think it made me even harder. Her chest was pressed intimately into mine and I could feel the tiny points of her nipples stabbing into me, slipping along with water trailing between us.

“I don’t know how love works, Dovie. I don’t know how to be anything other than this, but I know the only thing that gives me hope is the idea of you and me. I know I’m not the ideal, not the dream guy, but no one will ever fight for you the way I will. I promise you that you will always have the best parts of me I have to give.”

“I know, Bax, and I know that’s how you love me. Now, can you please get your ass in gear and MOVE? Three months was way too long.” She leaned forward and ran her tongue along the shell of my ear, which made me shiver, and not just because the water was now cold as hell. She whispered in a husky voice that just turned me inside out. “I need you to make me come.”

“Shit.” Of course I was in love with her. Who didn’t love a good girl who could get bad when the mood struck her?

I slid my hand around her hips and grabbed her under her ass so I could heft her up and sink more fully inside her damp heat. I braced a hand on the slippery tile next to her head and buried my face in the curve of her neck. She tightened her arms around my neck and I felt her drop kisses all along my shoulder as I thrust inside her like I had no control. I didn’t. She felt so good, felt like where I should always be, that I just lost all sense of being and ground into her, moved along her until I heard her whimper, felt her inner walls start to spasm around my quivering dick. It wasn’t just sex, it wasn’t just making love, it was her imprinting on me, and me on her, with nothing between us ever again. It was a primitive claiming of another person in the most basic way possible.

I lowered my hand from the wall and tangled it in her hair. I pulled her head back and tapped her lax mouth with mine. I breathed my life into her as I felt my body start to release into hers. She brought a shaking hand around to the front of my face and rubbed my cheek. She tapped her middle finger along my star and wordlessly mouthed my name as I pumped into her until I was empty and spent.

It took the last of the strength I possessed to reach behind me and crank off the freezing water as we just stood there, replete and soggy.

She put a kiss on my shoulder then walked around me to climb out of the shower. She made a face when she saw the mess on the floor, but just walked around it to fish some towels out of the linen closet. I just stared at her, trying to get my head around the fact this was all real. She was here, she had given me a place to call home, and she was going into it wide-eyed, with no illusions about who she was going to be crawling into bed with each night.

I climbed out of the shower and sat on the toilet to struggle with my boots. I’d just got one off when she came back in, wrapped in a towel, and handed me one. I ran it over my head and looked up at her.

“Gus left me the garage.”

She leaned a shoulder on the doorframe and lifted a rust-colored eyebrow at me. “That’s sad, but kind of fitting. What are you going to do with it?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Whatever you decide, I’m behind you.”

I got the other boot off and tossed it with a thud onto the floor. I had to do a little wiggle and shake to get the damp denim down my legs, and by the time I was done, her eyes were glowing bright green at me again.

“What if what I do isn’t exactly on the up-and-up?”

She came back into the bathroom and took the towel from my hands. She wrapped it around my waist and used the tip of one of her fingernails to trace the top of one of my flags.

“Three months apart was a really long time, Bax. I just want you to consider that when you make whatever choices you make. I love you and I’m not going to tell you what’s the right or wrong thing to do, but you need to remember now that what you do ultimately affects me too.”

I closed my eyes briefly and pulled her against my chest. “All right, Copper-Top.”

She smoothed her hands along my sides and grasped my hand. “What do you think of the house?”

“It looks like home. It looks like you, and I love the bedroom.”

She giggled a little and I followed her to the big bed. It just took a little nudge and she was sprawled on her back, the terry cloth between us long gone. I braced above her and grinned down at her.

“I want to spend every night in here with you.”

“That was the plan.”

“I don’t know how this happened, Dovie, but I will always be grateful Race put you directly in my path.”

Her mouth hooked up on one side and I bent down to trace the puckered skin of her scar with my tongue.

“Things have a way of working out, Bax. You just need a little faith.”

I lifted my head up and stared down at her. She was just so lovely, so optimistic and full of goodness, and kindness. She was the only way I was ever going to find some sense of rightness in this ultimately backward and wrong place we existed.

“I don’t need faith, Dovie. I have you.”

And I did have her, over and over again, because I was making up for lost time, and because she was beautiful, and mostly because I felt like another person was truly mine, and that she was choosing to be here with me. No matter how bad it got, or what kind of road I might end up taking us down, she was in it with me for the long haul. I had never done anything right or righteous to deserve her, but now that I had her, I wasn’t letting her go and I was going to make a conscious effort to live a better life, knowing she was my reward and she deserved to have some good, even if she could handle all the bad.