Fuck, I’d kissed those lips during heated moments in our bed with Rosalie.
With trembling hands, I removed his sunglasses. I was met with blue. So much blue.
But only one eye.
An ugly, jagged scar down the side of his face where his milky white eye was.
It didn’t matter. I knew those eyes. Those lips.
“Fox?” I choked out. “… Foxy?”
“Hey, brother,” he murmured, reaching for me as I stumbled to him.
I fell into his arms, sobbing loudly, clinging to him.
“What the fuck?” I cried, burying my face in his neck. He even smelled like Fox. “What the fuck, man?”
He wrapped his arms around me tightly and held me as I sobbed. His big body shook as he cried with me.
“You fucking asshole,” I sobbed. “How the fuck…? Why? What the fuck?”
“I’m sorry, E. I’m so fucking sorry.” He held me tighter as we both cried.
We stood clinging to one another for a long ass time before I finally pulled away from him.
I reached out and cradled his face.
“You’re you,” I whispered. “But you’re…Evan.”
He nodded, and I wiped away his tears.
“Foxy… How?”
“Matteo,” he said. “I-I was going through some dark things. I was angry and worried about Rosalie. I-I was upset I wasn’t marrying her. It was fucked up of me, but I lost myself. Matteo was smart enough to find me. He knew Anson wanted Rosalie. If I died, it would break the horsemen apart. She’d run to Anson. He’d get the girl. All would be well because she’d finally be safe.”
I swallowed hard at his words, hating them, but knowing they were true.
“He gave me a coin,” he continued. “To push when I was ready to die. The underground was too much for me. I-I was already dying, but I had to save you, so I pushed the button. It was a last-ditch effort.” He wiped at his eyes again. “I-I thought I was dead. Alessio turned up, drugged me, and then dragged me away. I woke up in Matteo’s underground lair. He saved me. Gave me a new life. When I was well enough, I went to the mountain where I had told Rosalie to meet me months ago. I didn’t really think I’d be alive. I only thought she’d be closer to heaven to feel me.” He shook his head and let out a little laugh. “But I was there. Waiting for her. She knew me without ever seeing my face. I decided I wasn’t ever going to let her slip past me again. Now she’s my wife.”
“I can’t believe this,” I said, shaking my head. This news had really fucked me up.
“I know it’s a lot to ask, but please, don’t tell Cole and Enzo.”
“What? Are you fucking kidding me?” I frowned at him. “They’ve been missing you as much as I have. Fuck, Enzo drinks every fucking day just to drown out his pain.”
“E, please. They can’t know.”
“Why?” I demanded, my heart in my throat. The guys were broken at his passing. It fucked us all up.
“I just… I’m not ready. I only told you because I knew you hated me—Evan—and I didn’t want that to ruin anything we once had. So please. I am asking you not to tell my secret.”
“It’s really fucked,Evan, that you left us, that you fucking left me, and you ran off and took our girl with you. We fucking needed you, and we thought we’d buried you! Five fucking years, man! Do you know what it was like to scream your name at night, reaching for you in my fucking nightmares?” My dismay washed away as anger coursed through me.
“Yes,” he whispered. “Because I screamed your name every night and reached for you, too. It would seem that fate found a way for us to hold one another again.”
My throat ached, and my eyes burned with my tears. This was a fuck of a lot to process.
“I-I can’t. I-I have to go.”
