Page 108 of Holden’s Resurrection

Finally.

Freaking, finally.

Holden Stanford lay awake in a big bed that was not his and stared into the dark. To his right, his daughter slept with her hand in his. To his left, his Leigh-Leigh had fallen into a restless sleep. He knew this because in the hours since they’d come upstairs, he hadn’t closed his eyes, not once. He was too afraid if he did, he’d wake up to find it was all a dream.

Charleigh’s body jolted and he pulled her tighter against his chest and waited. She settled in and nuzzled his chest.

Heaven.

He held heaven in his hands.

Everything he’d ever wanted was in that bed. His Leigh-Leigh and their daughter.

His.

Then he lay there in the dark remembering all the plans they’d made, all the adventures they wanted to take, all the things they wanted to do. All of the things they were going to do.

Finally.

Fucking, finally.

33

“How’s Faith?” Jameson asked.

Holden looked up from the report he was reading and rubbed his eyes.

“She already knew I was her dad.”

“How?”

Just thinking about those bitches made Holden’s skin crawl. White-hot rage took on a whole new meaning when he thought about what they’d done to Charleigh. She’d endured years of their nasty vitriol. As for Faith—they’d hurt his daughter and scared her. Holden had seen a lot, done a lot, been to battle, taken lives, but never had he wanted to commit murder. Now he could think of four people he’d gladly take out. And while the law would frown at him ridding the world of four vile pieces of shit, he would feel no remorse. Each of those four assholes played a role in keeping Faith from him, depriving his child of her father.

When Holden was done explaining last night’s conversation, Jameson’s face was set to stone. As always, when one of his friends expressed their loyalty, Holden sat back and remembered how lucky he was.

“Christ. And here I thought Chasin’s mom was the supreme cunt. Seems to me, the bitch has company. Alec filled us in on Edward Axelson. I’ll do my part and make some calls, see what I can dig up. For what it’s worth, I agree with your play. Above all else, they care about their social standing.”

“Appreciate it. But don’t give it too much time, you have a family to worry about.”

“And you’re not family?”

There it was, another reminder.

“You know what I mean.”

“Not sure I do. You seem to forget that when something happens to one of us it happens to all of us. That includes our wives and children. Kennedy and the girl posse are circling Charleigh, closing in tight, making sure her and Faith are okay. Whether she wants it or not, she just got six new best friends and became an aunt to a ragtag group of hellions. Not that Faith didn’t already have us, but she’s got five uncles and you got your brothers at your back to help you with her. That’s family, Holden. That’s what we do. It’s what we should’ve done when you left her. We should’ve strapped your ass to a board and tortured your stubborn ass until you told us why you left her. We should’ve beat you senseless when that little girl was about three, looked nothing like that douchebag but she sure as shit looked like you. We all failed you and Charleigh and Faith. That’s never gonna happen again. And I’ll remind you every fucking day what family means until you get it through your thick-ass skull. Do not shut us out. Do not carry the load on your own. Divvy that weight up and let us be there for you like you’re always there for us.”

It took extreme effort not to allow his gratitude to overwhelm him. He knew he had great friends, he knew all of them were good men, but time and time again, what he failed to remember was they were brothers.

He stared at Jameson, a man who used to be surly and selfish with his words, a man who elected to grunt more than he spoke, a man who’d lived behind walls and kept to himself, a man who had done an about-face when he met his wife. Not that Jameson was chatty, but he no longer guarded his thoughts. Therefore, Holden opened up.

“I’m so fucking happy I don’t know what to do.”

“Live.”

“Come again?”

“Just live.” Jameson smiled. “Tell me, how’d you feel when you woke up this morning?”