Her chin lifts the way it does when she's giving me her real answer. "I hear you."
I get off the bed, pull a shirt on over my t-shirt and pull on socks and boots.
I strap on the sidearm I keep in the drawer of my nightstand. Pick up my cut from the back of the chair and shrug into it.
Hadley is standing next to the bed when I turn around.
Her bare feet on the hardwood. The ring on her finger. My t-shirt skimming the tops of her thighs.
She looks like a wife.
I put my hand around the back of her neck and pull her forehead against mine. "I'm comin' back, baby."
Her breath catches once against my mouth. "I know."
I tighten my hand on the back of her neck. "Say it."
She gets her hand into the front of my cut and grips it. "You're comin' back, Silas."
I press my mouth against her forehead and keep it there for a long moment. Then I let her go.
I get my hat off the table on the way out.
* * *
My brothers are mounting up in the gravel turnaround when I get to the bunkhouse.
Phantom is at the head of the line on his bike with his hat low and his hand on the throttle.
Holt to his right. Roan behind. Blaze pulling his bike out from the lean-to on the side of the bunkhouse.
Banshee already gone. He's been at the front gate since sunup.
Phantom looks at me when I walk up.
His eyes catch on something at the side of my mouth.
I haven't been able to wipe it off.
He looks at me for one moment longer than he needs to. Then his voice drops low enough that only the two of us hear it. "You ask her this mornin'?"
"Yeah, I did."
The corner of his mouth pulls up under his beard. He claps a hand once against the side of my neck. "Knew it was gonna happen sooner than later."
He drops his hand, tips his head at the south gate. "Let's go see what Miller's lookin' at."
I get on my bike. The engine catches under me.
I look back once before I lean into the throttle.
She's at the bunkhouse window where Marlena and Bex have her standing between them.
I memorize it.
If I die today, that's the last picture I want in my head.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
