Because there, standing in the middle of Hayden’s kitchen, are two men. Massive, broad shouldered, and laughing. I don’t recognize them, but there’s something about them…about the sheerpresenceof them, the camaraderie…that feels oddly familiar.
Not that it matters, because I still have a job to do. I tighten my grip on my pathetic bridge book, raise it, and charge forward with all the conviction I can muster.
“HEY! GET THE FUCK OUT OR I SWEAR TO GOD I’LL—”
The two men whip around just as I lunge, completely prepared to go full gladiator on their asses with my hardcover about infrastructure. Instead of panicking at the half-naked man wielding an oversized travel guide, they just laugh…louder.
The taller one—golden haired, grinning, built like a damn statue—folds his massive arms. “Cute,” he says, nodding at my “weapon.” “What’s the plan, sunshine? Beat us senseless, then read us a bedtime story?”
The other, dark haired and tattooed, tilts his head, condescending but with something gentler in his pale eyes. His look tells me I’m hopelessly out of my depth. “No need for theatrics, we’re just here to see…” But his voice trails off.
Behind me: a shuffle, a groan, and then—
Hayden.
He appears in the doorway, wearing nothing but briefs and a scowl, rubbing a hand over his face. His hair is gloriously mussed, briefs slung low. If not for the intruders, I’d be thoroughly distracted.
“Zane. Porter.” His voice cuts through the quiet, any trace of sleep gone. “What are you doing here?”
The golden-haired one, Zane, grins wide and steps around me like I’m nothing more than a fly buzzing in his ear. He sweepsHayden into a bear hug, lifting him clean off the ground with alarming enthusiasm.
“There’s my brother,” he booms, slapping Hayden hard on the back, so loud it echoes through the room. My spine tingles with the force of it.
Brother.
The pieces slam into place so fast I nearly drop my damn bridge book. I blink between them, my brain short-circuiting.
“Holy gods,” I breathe.
Three sets of eyes snap to me. Porter looks like he’d rather be anywhere else, Zane is grinning like he just won the lottery, and Hayden? He looks like someone just pulled the fire alarm on his quiet little life.
“Literally,” I croak, because apparently my coping mechanism for immortal break-ins is comedy.
Zane winks, clearly enjoying my spiral. “Glad you’re catching up, Red.”
28
Hayden
I haven’t seen mybrothers in decades. Haven’t spoken to them in years.
But here they are, breaking into my kitchen in the middle of the night, rummaging through my things like this is an appropriate way to reconnect.
Levi handled the immortal break-in surprisingly well…aside from nearly bludgeoning them with a decorative book. Honestly, I’d have respected it.
Now Levi stands in my doorway, arms crossed like he might physically keep me from leaving.
“Are you okay?” he asks as I pace.
I should be the one askinghimthat. The man just had a run-in with my former-god brothers. I just huff, scratching the back of my neck. “They break intomyapartment and expect a reunion? The audacity.”
Levi’s lips twitch, but his eyes don’t lose their concern. He steps closer, fingers brushing my arm. “You don’t owe them anything, Hayden. Not if it costs you.”
I glance at him. At the quiet steadiness of him, the way hispresence has become this tether in my life, something solid amid all the uncertainty. A few months ago, I might have walked away. Might have ignored my brothers, let them slip away again, the same way I let everything slip away.
But that was before him.
Now, I have something to hold on to.
