Rowan squeezes my hand until the bones creak. Shit. He hasn’t lost any of his legendary strength.
Lyric shoulders his way between us. “Don’t kill him yet.”
Rowan drops my hand and I grit my teeth to stop myself from massaging the pain. I’ll be damned if I’ll show any weakness in front of these two men. They may be practical strangers to me, but they’re connected to Ellie.
“You can’t kill me. People know I’m in Winter Falls. They’ll come searching for me.”
Lyric and Rowan stand side by side and cross their arms over their chests while they glare down at me. I’m not short by any means at five-foot-eleven, but these men tower over me. They don’t appear as if they care if people come after me. I try a different tactic.
“Do you want Ellie’s child to grow up without a father?”
“The way I heard it, Ellie’s not sure she’s going to raise the child herself.”
His words are a punch in the gut. I suck in air, but I can’t breathe. Lyric clasps my neck and presses until my head is between my knees.
“Breathe. We can’t have you dying on us out here.”
I suck in air. “Then, you’re not going to kill me for defiling Ellie?”
Rowan barks out a laugh. “Defiling? Have you not spent any time in Winter Falls? Once the town hears you got her pregnant, they’ll cheer for you.”
“After Mrs. West gives him a lecture about prophylactics,” Lyric adds.
“I swear I used a condom.”
Lyric nods. “Good. Use the same emphasis when you speak to Mrs. West and maybe Mr. West won’t get out the shotgun.”
I gulp. “The shotgun?” Are shotgun weddings a real thing? Or is Ellie’s father going to murder me? “I need to sit down.”
I stumble my way to a boulder and collapse on it. I bury my face in my hands. “I didn’t think about Ellie’s parents' reaction. I’m not ready to die. If the firm wins the bid for the community center, I’ll make partner. I can’t die before I make partner. And I want to watch my kid grow up. My kid. I’m going to be a dad.”
“He’s babbling,” Rowan murmurs.
“I got this,” Lyric says.
Whoosh! A bucket of water rains down over me.
I jump to my feet. “Fucking hell. The water is freezing.”
“And now you know why the falls are named Winter Falls,” Lyric says as he calmly returns the bucket to his golf cart as if he didn’t just try to drown me. He pulls a blanket out of his kit and throws it at me. “Here. Can’t have you dying of hypothermia.”
I wrap the blanket around me before my teeth can start to chatter. “Can you stop the torture and kill me already?”
“We didn’t bring you out here to kill you,” Rowan claims.
“Half the town saw me drive off with you. If I kill you, it’ll be when there are no witnesses.”
Is he serious? I hope not. I play it off as a joke. “Good to know, Chief.”
He slaps my back. “Call me Lyric since we’re practically related now.”
“You’re with Ellie’s sister Aspen?” He nods. “I thought you hated her.”
He hooks his thumbs in his belt and leans back on his heels. “You’ve been gone a while. Aspen and I are engaged.”
“And you’re engaged to Ashlyn?” I ask Rowan.
He smiles. “Just asked her.”