“Our life is a series of plans,” she finally said. “Days, weeks, months, years… And then, there are moments. Moments you don’t see coming and you don’t plan, but everything you need, all the things you want to feel, are in that moment.”

I listened to her, letting it sink in.

“People come together, and for a tiny space of time,” she went on, “it’s beautiful and raw, because you can’t think and you don’t want to. You just feel.” She paused and then continued. “The moments are what we remember.”

People come together. So…

“You and Michael and…?”

“Kai,” she answered quietly. “Before he was married, of course.”

She put the first aid stuff away, refastening a cap and closing the box.

“So believe me when I say I understand,” she explained. “Men don’t feel ashamed for enjoying sex on their terms. You shouldn’t either.”

I gave her a little smile, thankful we all had our secrets.

“You have some marks on your neck,” she told me. “Just an FYI.”

Marks? Like hickeys?

Splendid.

“So have you forgiven him?” she asked.

“Who?”

“Damon.”

I thought for a moment and let out a long sigh. Now that was a question.

“Yes,” I replied. “No…I don’t know. I’ve been angry for so long. But I love him.”

“You just don’t know if you can trust him.”

“I don’t know if I should,” I clarified.

Should I entirely?

I wanted to trust him, and there were things I would never doubt.

I knew he’d always come for me. I knew he loved me. I knew that however long this lasted, it would probably be the happiest and most miserable I’d ever been. He made me so angry, I wanted to punch him.

But then there was nothing like kissing him.

I shouldn’t forgive him. That was the textbook answer.

But I didn’t want to ever be without him, so in reality… There was never a question of forgiving him.

“Will you forgive me?” she suddenly asked.

I pinched my brows together, confused. “For what?”

She fell silent, and I didn’t realize I’d been holding my breath until my lungs started to ache.

“I gave Damon the information on your father,” she finally said.

My face fell, and I didn’t know how to respond. I’d thought Damon was entirely responsible for that, and it was something I’d already gone through the anger for. With Damon and my father.

But knowing she was working with him. That she knew his plans all along and helped him?

“Rika.” A stern voice pierced the silence, and I jumped.

Damon. He was across the room, probably in the doorway, and after a moment, I felt Rika leave my side, walking away.

“Call Banks and Kai,” he told her in a softer voice. “Get them over here. And can you get her something to eat?” And then he added, “Please?”

“We have breakfast laid out upstairs. I’ll bring a plate,” she said. “And some clothes.”

I kind of wished I didn’t have to borrow her clothes now, but I didn’t have a choice. Was I angry with her? She gave Damon information that changed my life forever and sent my father on the run.

But then again, the money we lived off of wasn’t ours, and my father wasn’t a good man.

One way or another Damon would’ve gotten what he wanted. I just didn’t like that more people than just him were in on it. It made me feel like a pawn in a scheme much grander than I knew. Powerless.

And their families weren’t exactly saintly, either, so what right did they have to take mine down?

Damon came over and cupped my face with one hand. I didn’t pull away, but I shifted in my seat, not really in the mood.

He knelt down, coming down to my level. “If you don’t hate me, don’t hate her,” he said. “I had info she needed, and she had what I needed. She regretted giving it to me almost immediately.”

I knew he was right. I shouldn’t hold her to a different standard than I held him.

I’d just already processed my anger with him, and this brought that up again.

He picked up the objects in my hand, and I blinked, remembering I was holding them.

“Why were they here?” I asked.

He didn’t answer immediately, but then told me, “They were safe here, I guess. I didn’t want to leave them at my house when I knew I was going to jail.”

Jail.

For three years.

And I’d been sent back to Montreal to escape the storm and chaos that raged over the town when he, Will, and Kai were sentenced, and to run away from the taunts and whispers of everyone who thought I was a slut.

He lied to me. He shouldn’t have done it, and he paid the price.

But there was so much more than that between us. Buried in the cracks of all the broken things, where the words were always true and days were too long without him.

When no one else could make the world look like he could, and even after years, in the quiet parts of my mind, I missed the feel of his eyes on me.

Maybe on those nights, sneaking into my house and taking me on adventures, was the real Damon Torrance.

I dipped my forehead to his and took my barrette back, clasping it in my hair.

“I need a shower.” I grinned. “Step into my fountain?”

I heard him exhale a laugh, and then he stood up, pulling me into his arms.

Damon

Present

“Ugh, what the fuck?” I said, wincing as I sucked a drag off my cigarette and watched Banks clean my wound.

It felt like I’d been stuck with a red-hot poker.

She sat in a chair in front of me, eye level with the stitches and shaking her head. “What the hell did you do to this?”

“Lots,” Will chuckled, coming into Michael and Rika’s luxury kitchen and rounding the massive marble island.

Just as I thought, they completely douched up the place. I couldn’t bring myself to look at the rest of the house after I’d come upstairs.

Banks dabbed at the blood from the torn stitch, and I just hoped nothing inside was torn as a tiny wave of nausea rolled through my stomach.

But thankfully, it quickly left.

Will came around to Winter’s side, who sat at the island facing me, and lowered his head next to hers, whispering in her ear.

“Get the fuck off,” I told him.

He could talk to her. Just not like that.

He looked up at me and laughed, but threw his hands up and backed off.

Nothing had changed. He’d remember that.

“You’re going to need to go to the hospital again, Damon,” Banks spoke up.

“Fuck that.” I blew out smoke. “Just butterfly bandage it.”

“Are you kidding?” she blurted out.

Rika blew through, carrying a small duffel bag and wearing a black suit with her hair teased and wild. She plucked the cigarette out of my mouth, quickly looking around for Michael before she took a drag.

But pain suddenly sliced through me, and I hissed, “Shit, Banks.”

She just shook her head, and I barely noticed as Rika stuck the cigarette back between my lips.

I blew a few breaths, using what nails I had to dig into my skin around the wound and detract at least a little of the pain.

I swallowed, looking at Rika who unzipped her bag and started adding shit to it.

“We need guns,” I told her.

She didn’t look at me, only grabbed something out of her bag and slammed it down on the counter next to me.

I looked down at it, arching a brow. “That’s not a gun.”

It was the dagger we gave her two years ago as a threat. Coincidentally, the same one she stabbed me with then, too, not very far from the wound I had now. Her cut wasn’t as deep, though.

“It’s our way,” she answered, still focused on her task.

“Our way?”

What the hell did that mean?

She zipped up her bag and fixed me with a hard stare. “If you want this town, we are not leading by creating a massacre in the streets,” she bit out. “They won’t fear us because we’re armed. They’ll fear us because we never fail.”

And she grabbed the bag and stalked off, head held high and shit.

I snorted. “Madame Mayor…”

“Shut up,” she fired back.

But Michael caught her, wrapped her in his arms, and led her off himself, smiling back at me. “I knew she’d warm to the idea.”

Yeah. We had her. Definitely.

Banks cut two-inch pieces of first aid tape, slicing off triangles to make the butterflies and started fixing them to the incision, keeping the skin together until I could get back to the hospital.

“What are you guys going to do?” Winter asked.

“You mean, what are we going to do?” I teased back.

She was coming tonight. We were ending this once and for all.

She shrugged. “I can stay here with Mr. Crane,” she said. “I’ll just slow you down.”

I narrowed my eyes, looking at her. She was beautiful in a tight black turtleneck and black pants, her hair loose and shining down her back, and Rika had even helped with her makeup. She was ready. Why did she think she wasn’t coming all of a sudden?

I’ll just slow you down.

I pulled away from Banks and headed around the island to where Winter sat. Leaning over the corner, I took her under her arms and lifted her off the seat slowly, bringing us nose to nose.

She tried to face away, but I followed her.

“I’m not in a rush,” I whispered.

Her mouth twisted to the side, like she was trying not to get upset.

“I don’t want you to worry about me,” she admitted. “You need to focus tonight.”

I stared at her, thinking about all the times that would come up over the years ahead where she would think we’d move faster without her. Have more fun without her. Get to enjoy the full extent of an adventure without her.