Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 88673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
“You awake, Your Highness?” Riggs’s voice is all low and grumbly.
I smile. “Do I have to be?”
“Well, I think Collin Creed is about to come up here and drag me out of bed by my feet if we don’t make an appearance soon, so…”
My sigh is long. But he’s right. I can hear Collin saying something about Jim Bob Baptist down in the living room and there are dishes clattering, like maybe Lowyn is cooking up something in the kitchen.
I push the covers off, get up, use the bathroom—practically scaring myself when I look in the mirror—and come back out to the bedroom to find Riggs standing up, holding up his gray scrub shirt to look at his ribs. There’s a big ol’ bruise there.
“Who gave you that?” I ask him.
He glares at me with squinty eyes, which I interpret to mean Collin.
“Are you gonna be mad about that?” I ask.
Riggs looks at me like he’d like to be. “Maybe.”
I grimace. Collin Creed is what you’d call an alpha male. If this were a wolf pack, he’d definitely be in charge. There wouldn’t even be a discussion about it. That’s just who he is.
Riggs is more of a lone wolf than a pack leader. And regardless of what his relationship with Collin was in the past, there’s no way in hell he’s gonna give in and follow him again.
It worries me for a moment. But then I think of Amon. And while he’s no lone wolf, he’s no beta either. Every team has a leader. And a good leader doesn’t have any use for followers. A good leader wants equals.
That’s what Collin and Amon are.
So I have hope that whatever happens next, Riggs can find a way to get past last night.
But it’s not up to me. Nothing about Collin and Riggs has anything to do with me.
So when we go downstairs and Collin points to the door as he looks Riggs in the eyes, I don’t say a thing when Riggs follows him out.
I don’t say anything when they get in Collin’s Jeep and drive away, either. I just watch from the window.
Then I turn to Lowyn and find her staring at me with a soft face. “He’ll be back soon.”
I nod, and then we sit at the bar between her kitchen and living room and eat pancakes.
Lowyn and I spend the evening cleaning up the kitchen and talking about anything and everything except last night.
With one exception.
She says, “There’s a horse in your backyard.”
To which I say, “Is this my backyard?”
And she replies, smiling at me, “It is now. For as long as you need it.”
Ike’s horse has stuck around. I’ll probably have to take him back to Blackberry Hill. But I’m pretty sure he knows the way home—all horses do—and he’s still here, so… he can stay for now, I guess.
It’s nearly ten at night when Collin’s Jeep returns, pulling back into the driveway. Lowyn and I have been playing cards for about an hour now, both of us getting worried about how things are going over at Collin’s compound, though neither of us mentions it.
Then there they are. Collin. Lookin’ just like Collin.
And Riggs. Dressed up in an all-black Edge Security uniform. He looks at me and says, “I guess I got a job.”
And then that final breath comes out of me and I know, somehow, some way, it’s really gonna be OK.
EPILOGUE – RIGGS
Twenty-two of us enter Blackberry Hill and you’d think, with so many guys, it would be a shit show. Some would know what’s up, some would be confused, some might be scared, some looking for blood.
But that’s not how this goes.
That’s not how this goes at all.
When you’ve got a team of nearly two dozen men, there’s almost no way to get everyone in synch. But Collin, Amon, Nash, and Ryan somehow pulled this all together. Watching their new crew work is like watching a ballet. Everyone has a job to do and no one deviates.
It is seamless, and serious, and I would not want to go up against any of these men. They’re all damaged. The military was the only thing they had. The only thing they knew. So when they got discharged, they were lost. Homeless. Drug addicts. Criminals. That’s all they were before Edge Security.
Now they’ve got a nice compound to live on, friends they can count on, a regular paycheck, and a dog.
A dog.
I mean, is that brilliant, or what?
They’ve all got their own attack dogs. Some are puppies in training, and about half the guys share a dog, but they don’t mind because there’s always puppies coming up. I take my hat off to Amon Parrish for thinking this scheme up. Talk about inspiring loyalty and a sense of belonging. It’s fuckin’ genius.
Last time I worked with Collin, we were just a crew of ten and Ryan and Nash were special, of course. All of us were hand-picked by Charlie Beaufort, but not in a standout way like our fearless leader. They just happened to make it out the other end alive. It was a whole lot of ‘right place, right time’ so they’re partners now.