Breathe

Epilogue All That’s You

One year and six weeks later

“It’s now my honor and my pleasure to pronounce you, Chace Keaton and you, Faye Keaton, husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

My eyes slid from the reverend to Chace’s.

His eyes were really, really blue.

They looked really, really happy.

Just like me.

I didn’t know it happened until his mouth came to mine, his eyes open, so close, so very close, and his lips moved against mine when he whispered, “Faye, baby, breathe.”

My breath rushed against his lips.

Then he kissed me.

When he was done, even with the cheering and clapping, he didn’t take his mouth from mine as he whispered, “Bubblemint.”

Against his lips, I smiled.

Ty

One year, five weeks and six days earlier

They should have seen it.

They didn’t see it.

Or maybe they didn’t expect it would happen coming from a man like Keaton.

But they weren’t there like he was, watching Keaton digging her out with his bare hands, jumping into that hole, the agony of relief on his face when he heard her choke, the way he pulled her out, dropped to his ass and curled around her.

Ty was there. Ty had seen it. And Ty had felt that same relief when Lex called him after she’d been kidnapped by Fuller and when he’d seen her at the hospital.

So he knew when they brought the man who kidnapped and buried Faye alive through the Station for whatever fucking reasons they brought him through, Keaton would not keep his seat and just watch.

He didn’t.

Ty had never seen a man move that fast. Not in his life.

But one second Keaton was sitting behind his desk, the next he was across the room, the man against the wall, Keaton in his face, his hand wrapped around the asshole’s throat.

The officers moved but Ty and Sterling were already in motion and they got there first and flanked Keaton.

Keaton was chest to chest, nose to nose with him and the man was choking.

“How’s it feel not to have any air?” he whispered, face and eyes stone cold.

“Stand down, Detective,” Sterling murmured.

“You left her three hours, not four,” Keaton kept whispering as he kept squeezing the breath out of his captive.

“Chace.” Ty inched closer.

“Three hours of air,” Keaton hissed.

“Man, you are not doin’ Faye any favors with this,” Ty told him quietly. “She needs him to pay. Not you. Stand down.”

Keaton held the man’s eyes.

Ty inched closer.

“Stand down, Chace,” Ty whispered.

A muscle jumped in Keaton’s jaw and he pushed off, stepping back one step as the man lifted both his handcuffed hands to wrap around his throat and choked in air.

“Let’s go outside,” Ty muttered and Keaton, eyes still locked to the kidnapper whose face was battered, bruised and swollen, kept still for a long moment before his body jerked around and he prowled to the door.

Ty gave Sterling a look and slid his eyes through the officers before he followed Keaton. He found him standing at his truck, both hands to its hood, weight leaning into his hands, head bent.

Ty stopped close.

Keaton didn’t delay, asking his question to Ty but the words were aimed at his gut. “How do you live with it?”

He knew what Keaton was asking. How did he live with his woman, the woman he needed in order to breathe, getting kidnapped but more, coming that close to losing her.

“Held my baby girl in my arms yesterday, last night and this morning,” Ty answered, Keaton pushed away from his truck and turned to him.

“That easy?” he whispered.

“No. Every day it burns in me. Every fuckin’ day. And every night she falls asleep beside me. So it’s not easy but I trip over one of her heels on the floor, she brings me a shake, I grab my workout bag in the morning and she’s sorted it, I get a different kind of burn. A better kind of burn. A burn that means I can live with the other. No problem.”

“And her?” Keaton asked.

“Far’s I can tell, she don’t feel it,” Ty answered and Keaton’s brows went up.

“You never see it? Sense it?” he pushed and Ty shook his head.

“Never. Not now. Not after you pulled her through dealin’ with putting holes in Fuller. She’s livin’ in the sunshine, new baby, big house she can fill with shit, me. She’s got all she ever wanted. Lotta people don’t get even a little of what they want. She understands that, appreciates it and doesn’t waste time on shit in the past. Her luck changed when she met me, mine when I met her. She understands that too, doesn’t question it, just looks forward and keeps guiding me to the light.”

Keaton held his eyes.

Then he whispered, “Ella Alexi.”

Ty grinned and whispered back, “Ella Alexi.”

“She beautiful?”

“Only one thing more beautiful I’ve ever seen in my life and that’s her Momma standing beside a Charger outside a prison. But I’ll tell you, man, love my wife but I’ve never felt anything more beautiful than the weight of my baby girl in my arms. So fuckin’ heavy, so fuckin’ light, so fuckin’ tiny, so fuckin’ huge. She’s everything. Everything that’s Lex and me. So she’s fuckin’ everything.”

Keaton brought them full circle, murmuring, “Then it’s that easy.”

Ty held his eyes.

Then he replied, “Yeah.”

Keaton nodded before muttering, “I gotta go get Faye from her folks’, bring her in so she can make her statement.”

“Go,” Ty invited.

“After that, she’ll wanna meet Ella.”

Ty grinned again. “You do, get the bug.”

“Faye?” Keaton asked, his lips twitching.

“No, brother, you,” Ty answered and Keaton shook his head.

“Got it already,” he told Ty and Ty felt his brows go up.

Then he asked, “How many?”

“Three.”

“Faye on board with that?”

“Yep.”

“Lexie wants four.”

Keaton’s lip twitch turned into a grin. “Now I’m thinkin’ I want four.”

“Better get to work, man,” Ty advised.

Keaton’s grin faded before he said quietly, “We got time.”

Ty locked his gaze on Keaton and replied just as quietly, “Yeah, Chace, you got time.”

Keaton lifted his hand Ty’s way, Ty took it but they didn’t shake. Their fingers curled tight and they held on a moment, eyes locked, grip firm and strong.

Then they broke and Chace moved to his truck.

Ty moved into the Station to tell Sterling he was going back to his wife and baby girl at the hospital.

Faye

One week later

“Girl time!” Lauren shouted, moving from the fridge with a bottle of champagne toward me sitting at the island in her kitchen in her house. “You guys were supposed to be gone half an hour ago!”

When I sensed movement, I shifted in my chair and watched Tate sauntering down the hall, all tall, dark, bearded badass. I did this thinking that if Chace had never come to town, I’d still have a major crush on Tate Jackson.

Lucky for me, Chace came to town since Chace was awesome and since Tate was taken.

Tate grinned at me and this solidified the knowledge that if I didn’t have Chace, I’d still have a major crush on him. I smiled back as he rounded me and went directly to the cake on the tall stand on the island in front of me. I watched as he shoved his finger into the creamy, white frosting, scored it through taking a long finger full with it then he lifted his finger to his mouth and sucked it off.

Oh frak.

Yeah, if I didn’t have Chace, I’d totally have a crush on Tate Jackson.

“Are you serious?” Laurie asked and, with effort, I tore my eyes off Tate sucking frosting off his finger to look at Laurie who was, shockingly, unaffected by this and instead of looking like she wanted to jump him, she looked pissed.

“Baby, you girls are not gonna eat this entire cake,” Tate replied and I looked back at him to see he was grinning.

“Who says?” Laurie asked.

“I do,” Tate answered.

“Right, that’s a challenge we’re accepting. We’re eating this entire cake,” Laurie shot back, I felt my eyes get big and I looked down at the enormous cake.

It looked delicious.

Okay, maybe we could pull it off though I wish I hadn’t had lunch.

“You manage that, I’ll buy you a piece of Jenna’s jewelry,” Tate muttered.

“He’ll buy one for me anyway,” Laurie told me. “I have so much silver I could open my own store.”

Tate’s brows drew together over narrowed eyes and it was such a scary look, I fought the urge to lean away from him. “You bitchin’ about my silver?”

“No,” Laurie retorted. “I’m just saying you’re generous.”

“Sounded like bitchin’,” Tate returned.

“Well it wasn’t,” Lauren fired back.

“Yeesh, only these two could fight about Dad buyin’ Laurie gifts,” Jonas, Tate’s teenaged son, muttered, wandering in, looking like mini-Tate, giving me the understanding that in a few years, me and every woman over twenty-five years of age in Carnal would be moved to become a cougar.

Then he went directly to the cake, shoved his finger in, swiped off a load of frosting then shoved his finger in his mouth.

“Jonas!” Lauren snapped.

“What?” he asked, eyes big, mouth full of frosting.

Lauren looked to the ceiling before she aimed her eyes at her boys.

“Get out before I throw the cake at you,” she threatened.

“Waste of cake,” Jonas muttered.

“Out!” Lauren semi-shouted, her arm coming up, out straight, finger pointed to the back hall.

Tate grinned at Lauren then at Jonas who was grinning at Lauren then his grin went to his Dad.

“We better go before her head explodes,” Jonas muttered to his Dad.

“Right,” Tate muttered back and they made a move, saying their good-byes to me. But I watched as they left, Tate hooking Lauren around her belly, he leaned down, kissed her neck and said low but loud enough for me to hear, “Cool it, Ace. I like your head where it is.”

She rolled her eyes but I didn’t catch the full roll because Tate moved his mouth from her ear to hers and he gave her a short kiss.

When he was done, I heard her say softly, “Later, Captain,” which got her another short kiss though I looked away because I noted this one, albeit short, included tongue.

I looked back when I sensed him moving, he gave me a hot guy, bearded, badass finger flick and he was gone.

I was still watching where he disappeared into the hall and therefore jumped when a champagne cork popped.

I looked to Laurie and grinned a happy, champagne cork popping grin.

Lauren grinned back, poured the champagne and brought the glasses to me.

She handed me one then lifted hers whereupon she toasted, “To you and Chace and the time when you’ll bicker over stupid shit and love every second of it.”

Call me weird but that was the best toast I’d ever heard in my life.

I lifted my glass. “To me, Chace and bickering.”

We grinned at each other like idiots before we downed half the glass.

Laurie cut the cake.

As we gabbed, we managed to get through a third of it.

So her boys got a treat when they got home.

Which, I suspected, was her intention all along.

Three days later

I idled in my Cherokee as Chace’s garage door went up.

No, strike that, our garage door went up since I was now living there.

I loved my apartment. I made every inch of it mine and I thought it was awesome. Further, my stuff didn’t really fit with Chace’s décor.

When we moved me in and I fretfully shared this with him, he pulled me loosely in his arms, dipped his face close and told me, “This décor isn’t mine either. It’s Ma’s. Do what you want. Anything you want. I don’t give a fuck. Just as long as you’re happy here.”

I’d be happy on a deserted island that had nothing but a palm tree and a lifetime supply of sunscreen as long as Chace was there. And it was because of statements just like that I would.

I didn’t tell him that.

I just whispered, “Okay.”

The door went up, I drove in, parked, hit the garage door opener to set the door closing and hauled my booty out kind of hoping that Chace felt like pizza since I didn’t want to cook. It had been a taxing day at the library. In fact, it had been taxing since the City Council had its meeting, thus reminding folks they had a library, and it got more taxing after I’d been buried alive, thus making me an object of interest.

I knew it would die down and I was happily anticipating that day.

I moved through the back hall into the kitchen and as I was planting my purse on the island, I called, “Chace! I’m home.”

“Just out of the shower!” he called back. “Be right out!”

Hmm. Chace just out of the shower.

Why was I suddenly not tired anymore?

I started to move through the hall, my mind on Chace and his shower when my eyes hit a big box sitting on the sectional.

Then I stopped dead when the box moved.

What the frak?

“Chace!” I called. “There’s a box on the couch!”

“Yeah!” he shouted back.

It moved again and I took a step back.

“It’s moving!” I yelled.

“Yeah!” he yelled back and I blinked because he didn’t sound surprised.

My head tilted to the side and I moved to the box cautiously.

Then I heard the noise coming from the box and I moved to it swiftly, threw open the loose flaps and stared down at two scrunch faced, fluffy haired, tiny Persian kitties, one chocolate point, one lilac.

“Holy frak,” I whispered.

“Mew,” the lilac point mewed up at me.

“Holy frak!” I shouted, reached in and nabbed the lilac point.

“You opened it,” Chace said from behind me and I whirled to see him standing several feet away in a t-shirt that was tight across his chest and loose running shorts.

“Kitties,” I whispered, pressing the squirming Persian to my face.

“You said you wanted a cat,” he reminded me of something I didn’t think he remembered then went on to inform me, “Pets are like kids. One is not enough. So you got two.”

God, he was fraking awesome.

I didn’t have it in me to say this.

Instead, I repeated in a whisper, “Kitties.”

Chace grinned then asked, “You like ‘em?”

“They’re fluffy.” Yep, still whispering.

“Yeah,” he replied, still grinning and now moving toward me. “But do you like them?”

“Their faces are all scrunchy.”

You got it, I was still whispering.

He stopped toe to toe with me. “I’ll take that as an indication you like them.”

I nodded as I swallowed down happy tears.

Chace leaned into me but around me. He came back with the chocolate point and lifted it up close so they were kitty face to hot guy face.

My heart melted.

“You got no choice but to be friendly,” he told it, being Chace bossy but the heretofore unknown cute kind.

My heart melted more.

The kitty lifted a paw and pressed it to Chace’s nose.

Chace grinned at him.

The rest of me melted.

Chace pulled him down, tucked him feet up in the crook of his arm, other hand scratching his belly and his eyes came to me.

“Both boys. They need names.”

“Luke and Han,” I stated immediately and Chace smiled huge.

Then he said, “Fuck no.”

I cuddled my kitty to my chest and suggested, “Spock and Kirk?”

“Again, fuck no,” Chace repeated.

“Sam and Dean?” I tried.

He shook his head, still smiling.

My eyes narrowed then I suggested, “Starbuck and Apollo?”

“I thought Starbuck was a girl.”

Jeez, his television experience was seriously narrow. Everyone knew there were two Starbucks.

“She is, in the new version. She’s Dirk Benedict in the old one.”

He lifted his kitty to his face and asked, “What do you think? Starbuck and Apollo?”

The kitty just stared at him.

“Starbuck?” he asked.

The kitty stretched his legs straight down.

“Apollo?” he went on and the kitty put his paw to Chace’s nose.

Chace curled him to his chest and looked at me. “This one’s Apollo. That one’s Starbuck.”

“Works for me,” I whispered.

Chace studied my face.

Then he muttered, “Cats and bubblemint.”

“What?” I asked.

“That does it for you. Cats and bubblemint. You don’t know what to do with pearl earrings but you look so happy you’re about to burst ‘cause of a coupla cats. It doesn’t take much for you.”

“Yes it does,” I contradicted him quietly, he got even closer to me and our kitties started batting at each other with their fluffy paws but I didn’t notice because Chace was all I could see.

“What does it take?” he whispered.

“All that’s you,” I whispered back and suddenly found myself without a cat, Chace didn’t have one either and I knew this because I was over his shoulder and he was prowling down the hall.

“Chace! We need to go to the store, get cat food, litter boxes, litter –”

“Done.”

God, I loved this man.

But I kept trying.

I mean, I had two scrunch faced, fluffy kitties. Sex was awesome but I had kitties!

“We need to let them out so they can explore.”

What I meant was so I could play with them.

I flew through the air, landed on my back in our bed and Chace landed on me.

“They can wait.”

“They’ll get bored in there.”

“Then hurry and show your gratitude.”

Oo, that sounded fun.

So I rounded him in my arms but planted a foot in the bed and rolled him to his back so I was on top.

Then, with my hair hanging down both sides of our faces, I whispered, “I can do that.”

He grinned up at me, his hands pulling my hair gently away and he whispered back, “So do it.”

I smiled down at him.

Then I did it.

One and a half months later

I hit the button on the television remote and looked down at Chace.

“Admit it, you liked it,” I ordered.

We’d just watched the pilot episode of the new Battlestar Galactica.

“Baby, you sucked me off, rode me, forced my assent to watch the fuckin’ thing right before I came then we watched it with you on me in my tee, no panties and my hand on your bare ass. Of course I liked it but I didn’t see it.”

How could a man be annoying and hot at the same time?

“You think Admiral Adama is the bomb,” I pushed.

“Da bomb,” he corrected my street lingo.

“Whatever,” I muttered, then, “Admit you think he’s awesome.”

“Which one was he?”

I slapped his arm and snapped, “Chace!”

He rolled so I was on my back in the couch and he was on me.

Then he gave in. A little.

“It didn’t suck.”

“You liked it,” I decided.

“Let’s just say, you want me to watch more, you gotta use your mouth on me.”

“I do that all the time anyway,” I reminded him and he grinned.

Then he murmured, “Yeah.”

“So, every time we, uh… you know, you have to watch one of my programs.”

“Deal,” he agreed immediately and surprisingly then I would understand why when he added his part of the deal, “You go down on me, you get geek TV. I go down on you, you watch one of my programs.”

My eyes narrowed. “You know Southland freaks me out.”

“That’s because you get too involved with the characters.”

“Sammy is sweet!” I defended myself.

“But he’s not real,” Chace replied. “He got in that car accident, you stopped breathing.”

“I was surprised.”

“Honey, they were in a high speed chase with a pimp shooting at them. How could this be a surprise?”

This was true.

“Do we have a deal?” he pressed.

“So, breaking this down,” I started breaking it down, “essentially, we both watch each other’s shows because we both regularly go down on each other.”

Chace grinned again. “Essentially.”

My hands slid up his tee at the back and my legs moved restlessly as my eyes dropped to his mouth and I whispered, “Right then, time to earn an episode of Southland.”

I watched his grin turn into his smile.

Then his head dipped and he kissed me.

Then he set about earning another episode of Southland.

When he was done, I didn’t tell him, but he earned two.

Deck

Two months later

“Is it done?”

Deck stared at Trane Keaton standing at his office window, staring out at Aspen.

“Dominoes will fall,” Deck told him, arms crossed on his chest.

“How long?” Trane asked, not looking at him, the dick.

“Wheels in motion, my guess, the first one’ll go down in a week. The rest not long after. It’ll take, at most, three months.”

“And Bonar is neutralized?” Trane kept at it.

“Bonar has confirmed he’s received the message. No blowback on Chace or me. Before you ask, the kidnapper has too. Sterling is clear. They got enough to worry about without havin’ to worry about me. Kidnapper is facing attempted murder charges on top of kidnapping and Bonar and the two boys in your posse conspiracy. Evidence is solid. Case is tight. They’ll all go down. They don’t need me makin’ a hard fall harder.”

Trane turned and finally his eyes came to Deck for the first time since Deck entered the room.

“This can’t be traced back to you or me?”

He meant him.

Deck didn’t call him on it mostly because that would take time and he wanted to get out of there.

“Nope,” he answered.

“I have your assurances on that,” Trane pushed.

“I answered the question once. I did not lie. I won’t answer it again,” Deck replied.

Trane held his gaze and nodded.

Then he moved to his desk, lifted his hand and rested it on the top of his high-backed, leather desk chair.

“You did it as we agreed,” he stated softly.

“Yep,” Deck confirmed.

“Painful,” Trane went on.

“They’ll lose everything.”

Trane nodded.

Then he declared, “Chace can’t know.”

Deck’s back went straight at his surprising words.

“What?” he asked.

“You will not tell Chace.”

“That wasn’t part of the deal,” Deck growled.

“You won’t tell him.”

Deck uncrossed his arms from his chest and planted his hands on his hips. “Man, you just paid me to arrange for every man who had anything to do with his woman gettin’ buried alive to lose everything they hold precious. It’s the only fuckin’ thing you’ve ever done that even hints at bein’ for Chace. They’re plannin’ a wedding. You did this, he knows, you can get in there and you don’t want him to know?”

“I lost my son years ago. I’ll not get in there, as you put it, no matter what I do.”

“You’re wrong. This’ll help,” Deck told him.

“Was what you did legal?” Trane asked.

“Not by a long fuckin’ shot but these men colluded in a scheme to bury his woman alive. I’m not thinkin’ my boy’s gonna quibble.”

Trane shook his head. “He won’t know. You won’t tell him.”

“Don’t keep shit from my boy,” Deck growled.

“I’ll add an additional one hundred thousand dollars to your final pay,” Trane told him.

“Again, I do not keep shit from my boy.”

Trane’s head shifted to the side. “Do you want him to know so you can receive his gratitude for doing what he cannot to make those men pay?”

“Fuck no.”

“Then why would you need to tell him?”

Deck leaned into him and said quietly, “So he can believe, even if it’s for a second, one second his whole goddamned life, that his Dad has his back. I got a Dad who loves me. I got a Dad who’s proud of me. I got a Dad who’d bleed and die for me. I know how it feels. Chace has never had that. So if I could give him that for even one second, I’d give it to him. You doin’ this shit for him, for Faye, will give him that. So that’s why I need to tell him.”

Trane held his gaze.

Then he flipped his hand out, moved to sit in his chair and muttered, “Do what you must.”

“Would do that anyway,” Deck muttered back, making his own move and this was to get the fuck out of there.

“Jacob,” Trane called, Deck sucked air in through his nose and turned back. “I’m proud of him,” he whispered.

“Tell him not me.” Deck did not whisper.

“I love him,” Trane went on.

“Man, you’re talkin’ to the wrong guy.”

“He thinks I’m filth. If he knows I paid you to engage in illegal activities –”

“Keaton, fuck, man, he dug her out with his bare hands. Trust me on this, he… will not… quibble.”

He’d caught Trane’s flinch at his “dug her out with his bare hands” even though the man quickly wiped it from his face.

Fuck, was there a heart under all that dick?

Trane looked to his desk and repeated, “Do what you must.”

Deck stared at him a second.

Then he got the fuck out of there.

Chace

Four hours later

He listened to the phone ringing in his ear.

Then he heard, “Chace.”

“Make a reservation at Reynaldo’s. This weekend. Sunday night. For four.”

“Chace,” his father whispered, and fuck him, he heard that whisper tremble.

Chace’s gut got tight.

“We’ll meet you there at seven.”

There was nothing then, “Right. Seven.”

“Tell Ma I said hi.”

“I’ll pass that along.”

“I’m almost home,” Chace told him, seeing the white picket fence up ahead. “I gotta go.”

“Of course.”

“Later.”

“Chace?”

Shit.

Chace gave him something, he was going for more.

“Dad, how ‘bout we take this slow,” he suggested.

“I like her.”

Shit, fuck, shit.

“Good.”

“She suits you.”

Chace sucked in breath.

His father went on. “A good woman for a good man.”

Shit, fuck, shit!

“Right.”

Unfortunately, he wasn’t fucking done.

“I heard what you did for that boy and his sister. I’m proud of you.”

Shit, fuck, shit!

“Dad –”

“I just wanted you to know.”

Chace turned into his drive then hit the garage door opener and into the phone he said, “All right, you wanted me to know. I know.”

“All right,” Trane replied quietly. “Your mother and I’ll look forward to Sunday.”

“Great. Later.”

“Have a good evening, Chace.”

“You too,” he returned then disconnected.

He drove into his garage and parked. He was in his new blue Yukon. His old one was parked next to him. When he’d bought the new one, he’d given the old one to Faye and her Cherokee was gracing someone else’s garage. She accepted this without much discussion much like he suspected Sondra did when her ride was phased out and Silas’s new one phased in. Faye didn’t really care what she drove and since he did and his old Yukon was better than her Cherokee, she went with it without giving him any lip.

When the garage door was going down, he leaned forward and rested his forehead on the steering wheel.

“Shit, fuck, shit,” he whispered.

Then he pulled in a breath, got out of his truck, walked through the garage, opened the door, moved into the back hall and was immediately accosted by Apollo.

He bent and scooped up the cat, walked down the hall while avoiding Starbuck who was chasing his feet and saw Faye at the stove, stirring something.

She turned to him and smiled. “Hey honey, how was swimming?”

He stared at her, her gleaming hair, her crystal blue eyes, her cute outfit, her smiling bubblegum lips and felt his gut release.

Then he smiled back and said, “It was good. What’s for dinner?”

Faye

Two weeks later

I swam up from the fog of sleep and I did this because I heard Chace whispering in my ear, “Wake up, baby.”

I blinked, looked at the alarm clock and saw it was early.

It was Sunday.

I didn’t need to get up early anyway, though these days I did to get up with Chace. But Sundays, we both could sleep in.

So I was wondering why he wasn’t doing that.

I shifted and the pile of cats draped over my feet and ankles shifted, Starbuck, with his usual attitude, doing it on an annoyed mew.

“What?” I asked Chace.

“It snowed last night.”

I stared at him.

Then I asked, “So?”

“Come on, baby, get up, wrap up, let’s go drink coffee outside.”

Coffee outside?

Was he fraking nuts?

I didn’t get the chance to ask and had no choice in the matter since he yanked the covers back, grabbed my hand and pulled me out of bed.

I saw he was already wrapped up and he also was sauntering out the door. I considered climbing back into bed but curiosity got the better of me. So I went about brushing my teeth and doing the same, pulling up some leggings under my nightie, one of Chace’s sweatshirts over it and some thick socks on my feet.

I met Chace at the end of the hall and he had two steaming mugs. He gave me one and we wandered out the front door. Chace pulled the rockers up to the railing and we settled into them, both immediately lifting our feet to the railing like we had countless times when we sat out there that summer.

Our breath came out in puffs.

The steam from the hot coffee got steamier.

Mine tasted of hazelnut and went down warm.

The plain was startlingly different with a blanket of snow.

Beautiful.

Peaceful.

Chace didn’t speak.

Still slightly sleepy, I didn’t either. I just sipped my coffee and stared at the snow, the plain, the white covered hills and mountains beyond with their stark breaks of green pine.

“Common miracle,” he muttered and I looked at him.

“Pardon, honey?”

His eyes didn’t leave the plain when he answered, “This. Common miracle. Even common, still miraculous.”

I looked at the plain and the instant I did it settled in me he was right.

It was.

Miraculous.

Not only snowfall on the Rockies but him finding me, me finding him, both of us sitting on our porch, drinking coffee, quiet, content, beauty as far as the eye could see.

Absolutely miraculous.

I pulled in breath and turned my head to look back at Chace, noting his unruly curls resting on the scarf wrapped around his neck.

So of course I had to reach out, grab one and tug.

Then I watched as he grinned into his coffee mug.

Yes.

Absolutely.

Miraculous.

Two and a half months later

“Jesus, Faye, only so much Spam a man can eat.”

We were in the grocery store and we were bickering.

I looked from the cans in my hands to Chace, “It’s nearly Christmas.”

“Yeah. So?” he asked.

“Even Outlaw Al needs something special for Christmas,” I informed him then threw the two cans of Spam to join the four cans already in our cart which were jockeying for position with a variety of other canned meat, beans and cat food that wouldn’t go to Starbuck and Apollo.

“I should have never told you about him,” Chace muttered, hooking a finger in the end of the cart and firmly pulling it down the aisle.

I made no reply since he was wrong and he’d only disagree with me, put my hands to the handle and followed.

“By the way,” he said over his shoulder, “saw the bags.”

My heart clenched.

“What bags?” I asked, hoping he hadn’t found my present stash for him because that would suck fraking huge.

He stopped and thus stopped the cart and me.

“She’s not even a year old.”

I felt my brows draw together and asked, “Who?”

“Ella. You got her, like, seven outfits.”

Well, that was good. He found Ella’s presents. Not his. Also good, since I hadn’t hidden Ella’s presents so this meant he wasn’t snooping (I hoped).

It was my turn to say, “Yeah. So?”

“Darlin’, Lexie already outfits her like she’s an American Princess. You do not need to assist in her endeavors.”

“It’s her first Christmas!” I snapped.

“She’s not gonna remember it.”

“So? I like baby clothes and she’s the only baby I know.”

“Jesus,” he muttered, beginning to move us along.

I followed him noting he was going at a good clip through the canned food section.

Oh well, Outlaw Al was going to eat well all the way into the new year with what I’d already nabbed.

Chace turned the corner and guided us up the aisle, my hand darting out whenever we passed something we needed and tossing it into our cart. Since I was actually paying attention to shopping and my man wasn’t, I ran into the cart when he stopped it and I didn’t notice.

He was staring ahead and I looked around him to see a few people in the aisle, no familiar faces so I looked at the back of his head.

“Chace?”

He turned to me.

“You were standing right where you are now. I was at the end of the aisle.”

I quit breathing.

Oh God. Oh God.

Chace kept talking.

“Near on eight years and I’m finally in this aisle, shoppin’ with you.”

Well, actually, we’d been in this aisle together dozens of times over the past months.

Still.

“Honey,” I whispered.

“Don’t know why folks need diamonds and pearls, fur coats, first class tickets, island adventures when simple shit like this is the best thing you could ever do.”

He was absolutely right.

Kind of.

I licked my lips.

Then I asked, “Is it bad that I wouldn’t mind an island adventure with you?”

He studied me, warmth in his face before he said, “No.”

“And it’s not outlandish to think that perhaps your mother will buy me a fur coat for Christmas,” I noted. “So, um, you’ve given me a diamond, she’s given me pearls and diamonds so that just leaves first class tickets and I’m okay with coach.”

His lips twitched but I wasn’t joking. Valerie bought me expensive stuff all the time. It was sweet. It was over the top. But she started to get upset when I demurred so I stopped doing that and it was now tradition.

He moved from his end of the cart to my end of the cart, stopped in front of me, lifted a hand to slide the hair off my shoulder and curled his fingers around my neck.

Then he dipped his face close and muttered, “Only my girl says the word ‘outlandish’.”

“It is in the English language, Chace. I didn’t make it up. I’m sure others say it too,” I told him, going for tartly but it came out breathily because he was close, his face was still warm but his gaze was intense.

“How embarrassed are you gonna be after I make out with you in the spot where I first saw you?”

Oh my.

“Um… you say that like it’s a given you’re going to do that,” I remarked.

“It is,” he replied.

“Chace –” I started but his hand at my neck pulled me to him and up. His other arm curled around my waist then his mouth was on mine and I had no choice (though I wouldn’t pick another one) but to neck in the grocery store aisle with Chace where he first saw me.

When he was done, he turned me toward the handle of our cart, moved in behind me and put his arms around me, his hands beside mine on the handle. He started us forward and I wasn’t embarrassed even though other patrons were grinning at me.

No, all I could process was thinking grocery shopping was simple. It was every day.

But it was one of the best things you could ever do.

Chace

Five hours later

In his sleep, Chace sensed the light going out.

Faye was done reading.

Before he could hook her around the waist, he felt her shift into him.

He knew what that meant.

Her hand glided up his hip to his waist.

He knew what that meant too.

He grinned, curled his arms around her and rolled to his back, taking her with him.

Her mouth went to his neck.

“Done?” he whispered into her ear.

“Kind of,” she muttered against his neck, her lips gliding down.

His hands slid over the satin of her nightie at her back. “You wanna use me, honey, you gotta do all the work. I’m wiped.”

Her lips slid up as her hand stopped playing with his chest hair and moved up his chest, his neck and her thumb came out to stroke his jaw.

“That’s too bad,” she whispered in his ear. “Because, see, the hero in my book just did all this stuff to the heroine while she was naked and on her knees then –”

She shut up because Chace’s arms closed tight around her, he sat up and cats scattered.

The instant he was up, he growled, “On your knees.”

“You sure?” she asked, her musical voice lilting and playful, cute and fucking hot. “If you’re tired we can sleep.”

He lifted her off him and planted her in the bed on her knees.

Then he shifted to his knees behind her, his hands moved to the hem of her nightie, he yanked it up and off and felt her soft, sweet gasp in his dick.

Then his hands glided from her waist to her belly, one going up, one going down.

“You wanna act it out or wing it?” he asked the skin of her neck.

“Wing it,” she breathed when his hands hit two particular spots.

He grinned then muttered, “Right, baby.”

Then he winged it.

Half an hour later, they came simultaneously, Faye impaled on his cock, her head twisted, forehead pressed into his neck, one of his arms wrapped around her belly, his other hand at her breast, his eyes aimed over her shoulder and down, watching her touch herself while he fucked her.

It was sensational.

Then again, with Faye, from the very beginning, it always was.

Months later, the night before Chace and Faye’s wedding

“Told you, you’d make it legal,” Deck said.

Deck was sitting beside him in a rocker on his front porch, his feet, like Chace’s, up on the railing, legs straight, ankles crossed.

They were both staring at the dark plain, the hazy lights of Carnal the only thing that lit it. He hadn’t even turned the porch light on.

Chace didn’t reply.

“You didn’t waste any time, brother,” Deck continued.

Chace disagreed. After pulling his girl out of that box, he wanted to marry her the next day. A year and six weeks’ wait was way too fucking long. Faye agreed, they’d talked about a Christmas wedding and were both all for that until Liza stuck her nose in. Then their small, intimate Christmas wedding somehow became a huge, summer wedding and that somehow, Chace reckoned, was because his Faye actually wanted that and more, she liked planning her wedding with her sister. They were having a blast. So he let it go.

He also let it go because Liza could be pushy and nosy but she also loved her sister and Faye had an idea of exactly what she wanted. Which was exactly what she was going to get, Liza was making sure of that.

Therefore, at that moment, in his backyard there was a floating deck with an arch sitting on the spot where Faye had been buried and tomorrow they’d stand on it and get married.

Faye’s idea, her way of getting rid of that memory.

It was a good way.

Also tomorrow, tables, chairs, tents, a dance floor, another floating deck that would hold DJ equipment and a shit load of flowers and bunting would be delivered.

Luckily, Silas Goodknight was a smart man who loved his daughters deeply. Therefore, he’d been saving for a good long time to give them the weddings they wanted. Not to mention, Chace’s Mom had horned in and demanded to pay for the cake, catering and booze. After a word from Faye, Silas had given in. So the hit Chace’s trust fund took to take care of Miah and Becky didn’t mean his girl wouldn’t have exactly what she wanted on her day and they’d have to worry about their kids’ educations.

She would have what she wanted.

Exactly.

Everything she wanted.

And their kids were covered.

Now, she was at her parents’ house and he and Deck had come back from Bubba’s where they spent a number of hours with the boys having drinks. Not a bachelor party. That shit was shit and he’d made it clear to Deck he didn’t need any of it and furthermore did not intend to be hungover when he made Faye his legally, in the eyes of God, standing in front of a reverend, surrounded by friends, family and God’s country. So it was just that at Bubba’s. Drinks with the boys.

“You aren’t gettin’ any younger, man,” Chace pointed out, his meaning not veiled.

“Not a lotta girls like Faye,” Deck muttered and, surprised, Chace looked at him.

“You want a girl like Faye?”

“Nope,” Deck replied, took a drag off his beer bottle and kept his eyes on the plain. When he dropped his hand, he went on, “And yep. What she’s got inside, that sweet, that strong, can’t be beat.” Deck looked at him and Chace saw the white flash of his smile. “Though, bigger tits, shorter skirts, tighter tops and high heels on more than just special occasions wouldn’t go unappreciated. Just as long as all that comes with class.”

Chace got him but he couldn’t miss it. Deck made an art of playing the field and it wasn’t regular, it was frequent. But Chace didn’t miss the fact that the few who had even a modicum of staying power were high maintenance and beyond ballsy. Deck, like Chace, enjoyed the simple life. But Deck, like Boyd Newman, liked the challenge of a woman who brought high-class and not a small amount of drama into his life. Unfortunately, he had yet to find one who could do her own thing and find a compromise so they could fit together in their way like Liza and Boyd had.

Or he had. But then he lost her.

“Think your hunting ground should be Denver, bud,” Chace murmured his advice, his eyes moving back to the plain.

“Then it’s good I’ve taken a job there,” Deck murmured back.

“Gone long?” Chace asked.

“Leave tomorrow and gone as long as it takes,” Deck answered.

“Try not to get arrested,” Chace muttered and Deck chuckled.

“Like anyone could catch me,” Deck muttered back.

This, fortunately, was true. This also, unfortunately, gave indication of the kind of “job” Deck had taken.

Chace let that go as he always did and moved onto more important matters.

“You know, the head’s up you gave Faye about Ma set her up to deal with that. You at my side when that shit went down with Faye and what you did with Dad –”

“Brother, we don’t discuss that shit.”

“We don’t. Also don’t care. In those instances, you gotta know you got my gratitude.”

“I already know it, Chace.”

“Well, give me somethin’, man, and accept it anyway.”

“You’ve had my back a lot of times,” Deck reminded him.

“Not one where someone you loved was buried alive.”

“This is true,” Deck muttered.

“So just give me this and accept my gratitude.”

Deck was silent.

Then he whispered, “Do anything for you, man.”

“I know,” Chace whispered back.

“You know why.”

“I do.”

“Losin’ her was the worst thing to happen to me.”

Chace pulled in breath. Deck didn’t bring her up. Ever. She wasn’t a ghost. She wasn’t a memory. As far as Deck was concerned, she didn’t exist.

Then, still whispering, he said, “I know.”

“Your ending was a fuckuva lot better than mine.”

“I know, Deck.”

“You kept me from flyin’ apart.”

Chace didn’t reply.

“Do anything for you,” Deck whispered.

“Then give me this,” Chace pushed. “Move past her. She’s gone. Quit dickin’ around. Find what I got, Deck. You know how it feels. Find it again.”

Deck was silent.

Then he muttered, “We’ll see what Denver brings.”

Chace knew that was as good as it was going to get so he let it alone.

Chace took a drag from his beer and Deck did the same.

They stared at the plain in silence.

Deck broke it. “Happy for you, brother.”

“Not as happy as me.”

“No,” Deck agreed. “And that’s precisely why I’m happy.”

Chace grinned at his beer bottle before he took another drag.

Then he sat with his best friend in silence, contemplating what the next day would bring and beyond that, the island adventure that his soon-to-be wife didn’t know she was getting for her honeymoon.

Which meant he sat beside his best friend in silence and he did it still grinning.

Faye

The next afternoon, Chace and Faye’s wedding reception

It was a moment alone.

A moment after dinner, my first dance with Chace, dancing to (of course) Ella Mae singing “Holding out for a Hero”. A moment after my dance with my Dad and Chace’s with Valerie. A moment after we cut the enormous, ornate but awesome cake, that moment not being one where we shoved it in each other’s faces but we did lick the frosting off each other’s fingers to hoots and catcalls we barely heard. After that moment Chace kissed me and he’d done it deeply. And after that moment he’d whispered, “Cake. Better than bubblemint.” Which made me all melty as well as slightly turned on.

I was sitting by myself and watching Ty and Lexie dancing, Ty having one arm around his again pregnant wife, his other arm holding his daughter and they were close, grinning at each other and whispering while sweet, pretty Ella pulled at her Mom’s hair.

My eyes moved to Bubba dancing close with Krystal. Then they moved to Tate doing the same with Laurie, then they moved to my sister doing the same with Boyd and Max doing the same with Nina. And then they moved to Twyla doing the same with her partner Cindy. Not done, my eyes glided through Mom and Dad, Valerie and Trane, Sunny and Shambles, Wood and Maggie and Sam Sterling and his woman Jada all doing the same thing.

Last, they moved to Chace who was holding both of Becky’s hands and her feet were on top of his feet, she was arched back, grinning up at him and he had his neck bent and he was grinning down at her in her little bridesmaid gown.

Yeah, Chace needed a princess.

Or, another one.

My gaze shifted from my husband…

My husband.

At that thought, I smiled a small smile to myself as my eyes took in friends and family including my brother Jude chatting up Amber, one of the waitresses at Bubba’s and Deck, laughing with Jim-Billy, Stoney and Wings. Finally, they lighted on Miah looking like he was getting into trouble with Robbie and Jarot. Robbie was crawling under a table, Miah stooping to do the same while Jarot appeared to be playing look out.

All was well in my world.

Very well.

Fraking brilliant.

My body started when two chairs were dragged up to either side of me. I looked up and to my right to see Ally moving in to sit on that side then I looked to the left to see the short man with narrow shoulders, a big belly, thinning light brown hair and a sweet smile taking the seat there.

Benji.

The second he settled, my body drooped to the side, hit his and his arm slid around me.

“So glad you came,” I muttered and looked to Ally. “Both of you.”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Ally muttered.

“Me either,” Benji also muttered.

My eyes went to Benji. “It was a long way for you.”

His eyes caught mine. “Better than a TV show. Better than a book. Because it’s real. Once in a lifetime. So no way I’d miss it. I’d beam to the moon to see you this happy.”

“Totally,” Ally muttered and I felt her hand find mine, wrap around and squeeze.

I squeezed back.

Then my gaze went to the dance floor again and I sighed.

“Coming back for Comic-Con. Now that the seal has been broken and we all know each other as in know each other, expect you and Chace to meet me there,” Benji told me and my mind filled with thoughts of Chace at a Comic-Con.

Because it did, I burst out laughing.

Chace’s eyes came right to me and seeing the look on his face, openly happy, I sighed again but this time on the inside.

I grinned at him but murmured, “I’m not sure that’ll ever happen.”

“I am,” Ally replied and I tore my eyes away from my husband…

My husband.

I looked to her. “No way.”

Ally looked to me. “That man would do anything for you. Even commune with a bunch of geeks.”

Well, I figured she would know. Since she had one like mine.

I grinned at her.

The song changed to Norah Jones’s “Come Away with Me” and I watched Dad claim Becky and Chace’s gaze come to me.

Then he lifted a hand and crooked a finger.

“Hot,” Ally muttered then, “Righteous.”

“I’m being summoned,” I told them something they couldn’t miss.

“Go, darling,” Benji encouraged, his arm giving me a squeeze.

I tossed them both a smile, got up and walked across the grass to the dance floor. I was two feet away when Chace leaned down, grabbed my hand, guided me up and pulled me immediately into his arms. Close. Tight. My arms wrapped around his shoulders and he started us swaying.

I didn’t even hear the song. I just felt Chace.

My husband.

“Havin’ a good day?” he murmured into the hair on the side of my head where his jaw was resting.

“The best. You?”

His arms gave me a squeeze. “Yeah, baby.”

He meant that.

He meant it deeply.

I pressed closer.

“Have I told you I love you today?” I asked.

“Fifteen times,” he answered and my head went slightly back so his tipped down so he could look at me.

“You counted?”

“Never miss you sayin’ those words, Faye.”

My heart melted.

Then I whispered, “Here’s sixteen. I love you Detective Keaton.”

He grinned and his grinning lips came to mine before he whispered back, “Love you too, Mrs. Keaton.”

I smiled against his mouth but didn’t finish that action since my husband… my husband… kissed me.

Six years later

“I’m supposed to talk about my class’s future. I’m supposed to reminisce about our past. I’m not going to do either. I know no one is going to remember this speech except me. So I’m going to use it as the opportunity to say what I’ve needed to say for a long time.”

My shoulder in Chace’s armpit, his arm around me, our eldest son in his seat at my side, our second eldest boy fidgeting in his seat at Chace’s, our toddler daughter sleeping curled up in her Daddy’s lap, my eyes were trained across the auditorium to Miah giving his Valedictorian speech.

“Most everyone here knows what happened to me and my sister. A lot of you even know a number of good people in a town called Carnal that’s a state away looked out for us. What you don’t know is that when I was alone and scared and hungry and cold, two of those people went out of their way to save me.”

Chace’s back went straight at the same time as mine.

Miah kept talking.

“They didn’t know a thing about me. They didn’t know what happened to me or just how bad it was. They didn’t know what happened to my sister. But they didn’t care. They just knew something was wrong so they did something about it. They bought me food and a sleeping bag and books to read and wrote me notes, telling me about them, the only human connection I had for three years that was good and pure and right. After they started doing that, for the first time in three years, even though I was sleeping in a shed in the forest in the winter cold, I went to sleep not scared. I went to sleep knowing someone was looking out for me. I went to sleep for the first time in a long time knowing that there was good in the world. Weeks later, after I’d again tried to save my sister, I was injured and alone, I lay in that shed in that sleeping bag, but even as the days passed, I knew they wouldn’t give up. I knew they would find me. And they did.”

My lips started trembling as tears welled up quickly and slid out of my eyes.

“My mother was murdered,” Miah continued and a deep hush stole through the already silent crowd. “My sister and I kidnapped and confined. But even with that, when they came into my life, I learned a lesson that was different than the one I’d been learning for three years. That this world was infested with dark and it can drag you in, hold you down and make you believe that’s all there is. But they taught me with the dark comes light and light is stronger and more powerful because it never gives up. That there were good people in this world who sense wrong being done and set about making it right. They didn’t talk about it. They didn’t think about it. They did it. It cost them time and money and emotion. All of this for a kid they did not know. But they still did it. So if there’s anything I want my fellow graduates to take away from today, from this speech, as they move on in their lives, learning to be adults, learning to fit into this world, no matter what they decide to do, who they decide to be, they should endeavor to be good and pure and right. They should be the kind of people who sense wrong being done and set about making it right. Not talk about it or think about it but do it. Because the wrong being done can be very wrong. It can destroy lives. It can eat away happiness in a way that it will never come back. But if it’s stopped and light shines through the dark, it could end in a kid who lost everything but his sister, had no power, was terrified but, years later, stands in front of a room full of people making a Valedictorian speech.”

Miah’s red, wet gaze came to Chace and me.

“I stand here because of you, my Aslan, my Faye, my protectors and I make the promise that what you gave me, what you taught me, I will live those lessons. I cannot repay you for what you gave me. That’s all I can do. All I can do is learn the lesson you taught me and go forward in my life good and pure and right.” His voice dipped to a whisper in the microphone and he finished, “Thank you.”

Through watery eyes, I watched Miah duck his head and move away from the podium.

I was quietly blubbering.

The auditorium was on their feet.

Chace’s arm tightened around my shoulders, I heard him clear his throat but I felt a little arm slide around my belly so I looked down at my son, Jacob.

“Mommy, who’s Miah talkin’ about?”

I lifted my hand to his cheek, looked into my husband’s beautiful eyes in my son’s beloved face and whispered, “Your Daddy and me.”

Jake looked to his Dad then the podium and back at me.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, baby,” I was still whispering. “Absolutely fine.”

And I absolutely was.

Because I knew, without a doubt, finally, that Miah was.

Chace

One day later

“You can show me,” Miah said softly and Chace turned his head and looked at him.

They were sitting on top of a picnic table by the creek just down from his grandparents’ home, feet on the seat, eyes, until Chace looked at him, on the rushing water.

He’d grown up healthy and strong. Not tall, none of his kin were tall, he was five eleven. But he had a lean, straight body, long legs, growing broad near-to a man’s shoulders and he was a good-looking kid, that mop of thick blond hair, those unusual light brown eyes.

He was popular at school. Ran track and cross country. Class president. Captain of the debate team. Editor of the school newspaper. National Honor Society.

It didn’t surprise Chace that he chose sports where he competed individually, on a team but his performance was based on his personal endeavors but still, he found other activities where he could be a leader and each one he found he was the leader.

What did surprise Chace was that he was popular regardless of his intellect, his continued voracious reading, the fact that he was quiet, not shy, not introverted, but an observer, soft spoken and he didn’t speak unless what he had to say meant something.

“Had a chat with Ezra,” Chace told him.

“I know,” Miah replied.

“Ezra said you’re ready.”

“That’s because I am.”

Chace pressed his lips together because he was uncertain he agreed and he looked back at the creek.

“Chace, I talked about it to the counselors a long time ago. To granddad. To you that time you and Faye were up here last year. I’m cool with it,” Miah assured him and Chace sucked in breath.

He looked back at him. “Yesterday was your graduation and your party. In a few months you’re off to Columbia. Don’t wanna bring up bad shit when all you got is good happening and the same to look forward to.”

“I want to do it,” Miah stated.

“Miah –”

“Chace,” he straightened but kept Chace’s eyes, “I want to do it. Show me.”

Chace sucked in another breath then turned to the folder sitting on the table beside him, flipped it open, pulled out the mug shot and handed it to Miah. Miah bent his head and studied it.

It was the mug shot of the man they suspected murdered Misty and Darren Newcomb.

“He screwed up,” Chace told him. “Got him in Oregon. He took an assignment, took to the woods again and some hunters, both ex-military, were up there. Heard them comin’, they were experienced, got quiet, watched, didn’t like the look of things and hunkered down. Saw it start to go down and they moved in. Incapacitated him. Saved his target. He’s free-lance, not connected to any organization and there’s the possibility that he’s responsible for at least a dozen hits in eight states including two in Carnal.”

“That’s him,” Miah said firmly and handed the mug shot back to Chace.

Chace’s gut got tight.

Shit, this was it. This was finally fucking it.

“You’re sure?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Miah answered.

“Was a long time ago, bud,” Chace reminded him, turning to return the photo to the folder and when he turned back, Miah again locked eyes with him.

“You don’t forget that kind of thing. You know it. I told you about it. All of it. That’s him and I’ll testify.”

Years ago, Miah’s grandparents had been informed that Miah was holding onto this knowledge and thus they’d informed his counselors. So years ago, his therapists helped him deal with what he saw which was not only Misty’s face getting raped but her subsequent murder. Jeremiah had seen the whole thing.

“I’ll testify,” Miah repeated when Chace didn’t speak.

“That’ll be tough,” Chace replied. “You were young, in a serious situation, if he’s extradited to Colorado to stand trial, the defense attorney will go hard.”

“A kid, no matter what he’s going through, can’t make that stuff up,” Miah returned.

“This is true,” Chace muttered. “But I don’t like that for you, that bein’ part of your future, the possibility of testifying.”

“A wrong has been done,” Miah whispered, his gaze unwavering on Chace. “When that happens you set about making it right. You taught me that.”

Chace closed his eyes and dropped his head.

“I can do it.” Miah was still whispering. “I want to do it.”

Chace opened his eyes and looked at the creek. “I hate this for you.”

“I don’t,” Miah replied. “She was your wife. If I can do that, make him pay, then I can do something for you. So I want to do it.”

Serious as shit, this kid was a good fucking kid.

Chace lifted his hand, wrapped it around the back of Miah’s neck and gave him a squeeze while finding his eyes.

“You’re a good kid,” he whispered and Miah grinned.

“Not a kid anymore.”

Chace shook his head and gave his neck another squeeze while rocking him gently before letting him go. “Nope, you’re still a kid.”

“Amelia and I did it last night.”

Chace blinked and his throat sounded clogged when he asked, “What?”

Miah grinned again. “Went all the way.”

Holy fuck.

“Jeremiah –”

“We used… you know and we’re both eighteen. We’ve been seeing each other since we were sophomores and we’d always planned for graduation being the, um… main event.”

Jesus Christ. Where did he go with this?

Miah looked at the creek, still grinning and now muttering, “It was good.”

“Was it good for her?”

Miah looked back at him and his grin faded. “Well…” he trailed off and Chace shook his head.

“Gotta make it good for her, bud,” he said gently.

“I have with the stuff we’ve done, uh… before but last night it kinda went,” his face flushed and he finished on a whisper, “fast.”

Chace fought back a grin and held his eyes as he advised, “You get that but you only get it once. You two carry on with this shit you do two things, you use protection, always and you see to her first, always. With her and, should things end with her and you find someone else, with them too. That protection is for her but it’s also for you. Don’t mess up your or her future by bein’ stupid and don’t take a woman, ever, without takin’ care of her.”

Miah pressed his lips together, leaned forward, elbows to his knees and looked to the creek.

Chace’s eyes followed his, he leaned forward on his elbows too and kept talking.

“I get where you are, your age, you two bein’ together for a while, you think this is a natural progression. I know you and Amelia are tight. But I wish you’d talked to me before you went ahead with this. I’ll just say, I know you feel like a man, I know you’re lookin’ forward to independence but I’ll tell you you’re still young. You should be young and this shit is adult shit, Miah. The seal is broken and maybe there’s no goin’ back. But you’re a smart guy, always have been, I’m just sayin’ you should keep bein’ smart, think about this before you do it again with Amelia or any girl. It feels good, I know that. You’ll want it, I know that too. It’s probably pretty much all you’re thinkin’ about, I know that too. But it isn’t ever just about doing it and it is never just you doin’ it. Two people are involved. Always let her know where you’re at. It’s a connection, a closeness, an intimacy you two share and feelings can get caught up in that. You’re not feelin’ it outside of doin’ it, you let her know where you’re at so she doesn’t get lost in you. You with me?”

“Yeah,” Miah whispered.

Chace wasn’t done.

“Amelia is going to the University of Wyoming, buddy. In a few months, you two will be separated. That could stay strong while you two are in different states or you or she might find someone else. Have a mind to that this summer with her and where you guys went last night. You leave, you find someone else in New York, she’s lost in you, you could hurt her. Think about how you feel about her right now, what that might do to her and handle her with care. You still with me?”

“Yeah,” Miah repeated on a whisper.

Chace fell silent and Miah didn’t speak.

Then Miah spoke.

“How did you know it was Faye?”

Chace felt his lips tip up as his eyes watched the waters run. “Just knew.”

“How?”

He turned his head to Miah to see Miah’s eyes on him. “You see her, bud, the one that’s meant for you, you’ll know too.”

Miah held his eyes. Then he nodded and looked back at the creek.

Chace did too and they again lapsed into silence until Chace broke it this time.

“Been years, Miah, lookin’ for that man. Wantin’ to put Misty to rest in my mind. Now she is. Thank you.”

He heard Miah take in a breath before he said softly, “You’re welcome, Aslan.”

Fuck, that socked him in the gut. Every time.

Without taking his gaze from the creek he again lifted his hand, curled it around the back of Miah’s neck and gave it a squeeze. Once he was done, he removed his hand, returned his elbow to his knee and sat silently with his boy, no, his boy who was becoming a man and watched the waters flow.

One week later

Chace stood outside the bedroom door, ass and back to the wall, feet out in front of him, ankles crossed, a grin playing on his lips.

He did this listening to his wife reading to her sons, Jake and Silas.

It wasn’t the first time. It wouldn’t be the last.

As usual, listening to her melodic voice adding nuance and drama to the story, he enjoyed it for a good long while.

Then he moved away from the wall to check on his sleeping baby girl, Twyla.

Three hours later

Faye underneath him, his cock still hard inside her, Chace ran his tongue along her lower lip.

The instant he was done, she ran hers along his.

When she was done, he lifted his lips, kissed her nose then dipped his chin and caught her eyes.

“You gonna read, baby?” he asked but he knew her answer.

Still, she gave it to him.

“Yeah.”

He grinned, bent his neck, kissed the indent in her collarbone and slid out.

She slid out of bed and he watched her silk nightie fall over her heart-shaped ass as she walked to the bathroom to clean up.

Chace rolled to his side of the bed, turned out his light and settled in. Then he watched his wife walk back into the room and climb into their bed.

He threw the covers over her.

She grabbed her book.

Chace closed his eyes and fell asleep.

An hour and a half later

Chace sensed the light going out and the bed moved as Faye settled into it.

Sleepily, he reached out an arm, hauled her into him, tucking her under him and he curled into her body.

“Done?” he muttered.

Her hand glided down his arm until her fingers found and laced through his.

“Yeah,” she whispered.

“’Night, baby.”

“’Night, honey.”

He felt his wife’s body relax under him as he felt Apollo and Starbuck adjust and settle on and around their feet.

And Chace drifted to sleep knowing that everything was right in the world.

Absolutely everything.

And he knew this because their kids were asleep in their beds under a roof he provided for them doing something he was proud of.

But he knew this more because like the night before, and the one before that, and all of them, every single one since she gave him the gift of her virginity, Chace Keaton and his Faye fell asleep, tucked tight, holding on, together in their bed.