His whole body sagged in relief. “Ava, I’m wishing you’ll let me kiss you for the rest of your life.”
I leaned forward and my mouth found his.
It was way laterwhen the thought came to me, and why it hadn’t before? I’d never know.
“You hacked Jarrod, didn’t you?”
His arms tightened around me. We were in bed. “I might’ve.”
“Simple cyberstalking, my ass.”
He chuckled, but moved in closer to me, nuzzling the back of my throat. “Anything for you, Ava. I was already falling for you.”
I laced our fingers. “Love you.”
He brushed a kiss against my forehead. “Always, Ava. Always.”
EPILOGUE
AVA
We were at the Fallen Crest Bingo Hall a few weeks later, and why we were there? Because Zeke picked it for our date night. We’d started a routine since he liked to say that we were somewhat married, since we lived together, and since the whole living together was totally working out. It was great. Almost unnervingly so.
Zeke was Zeke. He was happy. Supportive. Loving. Loyal. And sweet. So very sweet and romantic, and I didn’t know how to handle it sometimes when he laid out fresh dandelions next to my morning coffee and that was on mornings when I had an early shift at the stables. So yeah. Things were going well, but Zeke insisted we have “date nights.” He’d said, “We need to keep it fresh and spicy,” and because he had read on an online marriage and therapy website that scheduling regular dates helped “to get away,” he had decided that was what we needed.
“It never hurts to start great routines. Habit, baby. Our dates will be routine and a part of what we need to keep sane in this cycle we call life. You pick two and I’ll pick two.”
This was Zeke’s pick tonight. Fallen Crest Bingo Hall.
When we’d first walked in, Zeke stopped and grinned at me. “Please tell me you didn’t work here back in the day?”
I laughed but shook my head. “No. Though, I did volunteer here one time and never again.”
He raised his eyebrows.
“Let’s just say they can be ruthless here.”
Now he frowned.
We were set up toward the back of the room, both of us with three cards in front of us. Zeke made sure we were on the end, but he wouldn’t tell me why. He just kept laughing, almost giggling to himself. A lady surrounded herself with crystals in front of us. Another had trolls to the left of us. And behind us, a guy had thirty gnomes set up on the end of his table. All had stone cold sober expressions. They meant business. Then there was a table of teenagers on the other side of the aisle, all giggling and being hushed by the others. And a table of college students not far from them. I didn’t think they were together since one group refused to look at the other. Plus, the high schoolers had Fallen Crest Public letterman jackets while the other table had a couple people wearing Cain University apparel. I didn’t know what they were doing in Fallen Crest, but they were here.
Zeke’s phone lit up, and his smile stretched as he took it. “Kade.”
I could hear a low murmur on the other end.
Zeke leaned back, resting his arm over the back of my chair, and kicked his legs out in front of him. One ankle crossed the other. “We’re in the back. Go in and aim right. You’ll see us behind the Crystal Lady.”
His phone went dark, and he put it in his pocket before glancing my way.
He was planning something. He could barely hold back his glee. I raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing.” But his lips pressed together, and he was trying to hold back laughter.
“Zeke.” I looked around but didn’t see anyone coming our way. “Who’s coming in here? Kade?”
“You’ll see.” His shoulders were almost shaking.
I knew about the Kades. Mason and Logan Kade. One needed to, well,notlive in Fallen Crest to not know about them, so everyone knew about Mason and Logan Kade. Two brothers who ruled their school and this town. And Samantha Strattan, who moved in with them and fell in love with Mason. The stories were long and probably dramatized over the years, but they were legends. Samantha was best friends with my boss and was still tight with Heather, so yeah, I knew them. Knewofthem, knew them, it was somewhat the same deal for me because I kept out of their proximity. I was on the outskirts and had no interest wading in. They operated on a whole different level than I ever wanted to be a part of. They were powerful, but with power came danger and both Kade brothers were known to be dangerous. And from their best friends, who were connected to Blaise, who was connected to Zeke, I considered Zeke “in there” with them. But thinkingthat, I didn’t think he was so close to the actual Kades themselves so I wasn’t too worried. But then Logan Kade took Zeke’s case when he was arrested…