Page 52 of Stay Little Fighter

I snicker and step closer to them, dropping a kiss to the top of her head. It doesn’t seem to matter how much I touch her, it’s not enough. I always need more, and I don’t think that’s ever going to change.

I’ll never take a second of our time together for granted.

“Let’s get you up to bed, Sparrow,” I murmur.

She rolls her eyes. “I don’t need to go to bed, Ro. It’s four in the afternoon. I won’t sleep tonight if I nap now.”

“You need to rest,” Ryker says.

“And I will, but I don’t need to be in bed to do that.”

Without another word, she steps out of our hold and follows Damon through the house.

She’s come so far over the last few days, and most people wouldn’t even realize she’s hurt with how steady she is on her feet.

Ryker brushes his hand down his face when she steps out of view. “She’s going to be the death of me. I’m sure of it.”

Kingston chuckles and slaps his back. “Welcome to loving someone.”

“She should be in bed, right?”

“You know Chloe, she doesn’t like to be stagnant for too long if she can avoid it. She just spent days in a hospital room after a near-death experience. I can’t imagine that’s been very good for her mental health.”

He sighs. “I guess. I just don’t want her to overdo it.”

“Sometimes you have to trust her to know what’s best for her, bro. We can’t protect her from everything, no matter how much we would like to,” I say before following her and Damon’s path to the back of the house.

The beach comes into view and stops me in my tracks. The sky is mottled with pinks and blues as the sun prepares to go down for the night, making way for its counterpart.

This is one of the houses we checked out when we were looking for where Kingston was hiding Chloe, but it’s different when you’re not living in a perpetual state of pure terror.

I find them standing by the glass doors that lead onto a large deck. They’re not touching but their shoulders are so close together they may as well be.

Damon glances down at her every few seconds, as if he’s afraid she’ll disappear if he stops watching her for even a second.

The dark marks beneath his eyes get worse with every hour that passes, but I know my brother well enough to know he still has a day or two in him before his body will force him to sleep.

Leaning against the doorway, I watch them for long minutes. After so many years of them being at each other’s throats, it’s strange to see them at peace with one another like they were when we were younger.

The change in both of them is obvious. The animosity they carried for one another weighed on them more than they would have ever admitted, and now it’s noticeably absent.

All I want is to give them both what they’ve been missing all these years, but first we have to neutralize the threats that are circling.

By any means necessary.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

CHLOE

NOW

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a real home.

As much as I loved my time with the De Marcos, it never felt like it was mine. Eventually I knew I would have to move on, and that knowledge stopped me from ever feeling like it was where I belonged.

The closest I’ve come since escaping the compound was that little cabin in the woods. The quiet and serenity were addictive as I allowed myself to consider the future for the first time in as long as I could remember.

But it wasn’t until we stepped into the beach house, if that’s what you want to call the oceanfront mansion Kingston pulled up in front of a few days ago, that my heart felt at home.