Page 225 of Cobra
“You okay?” she whispers.
Cain huffs out a breath that almost sounds like a laugh. “No.” That gets a soft laugh out of her. He stares at her for another second before speaking, and when he finally does, his voice is rougher than usual. “You saved me long before I deserved it.”
The yard goes quiet.
Cain’s thumb brushes over her knuckles unconsciously. “When you walked into my life, I was surviving. That’s it. Just surviving.” He swallows hard. “I knew how to protect people. I knew how to fight. I knew how to bury shit deep enough that nobody could touch it.” His eyes lock on hers. “But I didn’t know how to let somebody love me.”
Emma’s eyes fill instantly.
Cain keeps going anyway. “You gave me a family,” he says quietly. “You gave me Amy and a chance to be someone safe for her to run to when she needed comfort. You gave Jason a mother before he was even old enough to understand what that meant.” His jaw flexes once. “You gave me a home worth coming back to.”
Emma presses her lips together hard like she’s trying not to cry.
“And I swear to God,” Cain says, voice thickening, “I’ll spend the rest of my life protecting that. Protecting you. Protecting our kids. Protecting the life we built together.”
Amy fully loses the battle with her tears at that point.
Joker mutters, “Fuck, now I’m sad.” Raven elbows him.
Emma lifts one hand from Cain’s and touches his face gently. “You never had to deserve love, Cain,” she says softly. “You just had to let someone give it to you.” Cain’s entire expression breaks open. Not dramatically. Worse. Quietly. Like those words hit somewhere deep enough that he doesn’t know how to defend against them. Emma smiles through tears. “You spent so long believing your worth only existed in what you could protect,” she continues. “But the truth is, you’re worthy of love simply because you exist.”
Cain’s eyes shut briefly.
Emma steps closer. “You are the safest place I’ve ever known,” she whispers. “Not because you’re gentle all the time. Not because life with you is easy. But because you love with everything you have.” Cain lets out a shaky breath. “You love our children like they hung the stars,” she says with a watery smile. “You love me like losing me would destroy you.” Her fingers brush against his jaw. “And I promise to spend the rest of my life loving you just as fiercely.”
Cain opens his eyes again. Completely wrecked.
Emma laughs softly through her tears. “You’re crying.”
“No, I’m not.”
“You absolutely are.”
Cain shakes his head once and pulls her closer without warning, pressing his forehead against hers. “I love you,” he says roughly. “So fucking much.”
Emma smiles. “I know.”
Twisted clears his throat. “Boy, if you don’t kiss your wife already—”
Cain doesn’t need to be told twice. Cutter wipes at his eye aggressively and pretends he isn’t.
Then Logan and Mac.
Mac looks entirely too pleased with herself. Which honestly tracks.She stands in front of Logan in a fitted white dress with Knox balanced on her hip for half a second before Nikki swoops in to steal him away because apparently even surprise weddings still require grandma intervention.
Logan watches all of it like he’s trying to process how his life became this. President of the Deathstalkers. Feared across half the state. Brought to his knees by one tiny blonde woman smiling at him like she already owns his soul.
Mac reaches for his hands and tilts her head slightly. “You look terrified.”
Logan exhales slowly. “I am terrified.”
“Good.”
The yard laughs.
Logan shakes his head under his breath, but there’s no missing the way his eyes soften when he looks at her. “You planned this whole thing behind my back?”
Mac shrugs. “What can I say? I’m organized.”
