“Will you be here when I wake up?”
He brings my hand to his lips and kisses my knuckles. “I’m not going anywhere, Lola. Not tonight. Not tomorrow. Not ever.” He presses another kiss to my hand. “You sleep now. I’ll be right here holding your hand when you open your eyes.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
I let my eyes close. Let the tiredness take me. Let the beeping and the hum and the warmth of him blur together into something that feels like safety.
The last thing I’m aware of before sleep pulls me under is Hunter’s thumb tracing slow circles on the back of my hand. And his voice, barely above a breath, saying something he thinks I can’t hear. “I love you, firefly.”
I hear it.
And I fall asleep smiling.
CHAPTER EIGHTY
HUNTER
Wyatt isoutright refusing to leave Lola’s side. And I am not going to argue with him. They deserve this time together. I’m not going to stop that. Every time he refers to Lola as his mom, a piece of my jagged heart slots back together.
Ace has been in and hand-delivered a huge bouquet of flowers for her.
Colten even brought her chocolates.
And Violet nearly collapsed on the spot when she heard what happened. The love she has for Lola radiates off her. And I’m happy my girl has her.
Hopefully, we will stop giving Violet near heart attacks soon. That girl deserves some happiness in her life, too. And the way Jett was looking at her earlier, she might end up part of the family.
But finally, the room is ours again. My little family. Wyatt is picking out different chocolate flavors for Lola to try.
“Hey Daddy, do you want this orange one?”
I scratch my beard, glancing at Lola. “I prefer cherry if you have it, son.”
He frowns, looking at the box again. “No. I don’t think so. Strawberry or orange only.”
I chuckle. “You eat them, Wyatt. I only want my cherry.”
Lola smiles as I approach the side of her bed.
The monitoring is going well; we’re hoping she can be discharged tomorrow and that I can look after her at home.
“Lola… I do have something to tell you,” I say, checking my watch.
Her parents will be here any minute. I have a lot of things to tell her. Like the fact that I am now a free man who can leave New Falls.
Drago gave the evidence to the main detective in Red Creek, and it’s all been sorted with a little blackmail on our part. See, that detective is a naughty man who does filthy things with other officers late at night. As Romeo found the footage of.
So, Beau and Reese are technically missing persons that no one is looking for. No one really cares they’re missing.
Ace sliced up Reese and got every bit of anger out he could on him. And now, they’re in our fucking graveyard without even a headstone. Rotting where they should be.
But, Lola can find all of that out later. Because this war is won, that doesn’t mean it’s over. The Greeks aren’t going to stop. But for now, we can breathe.
My brothers and I can work with Enzo to figure this shit out. Lola is more important now. Always will be.
“What, cowboy?” she asks, sitting herself more upright.