Page 128 of Declan

“From the little bits and pieces Jaxon gives me, she’s not doing well. Ashaki’s death hit her hard. And she still refuses to talk about it. Owen’s about ready to lose his shit. They’re still living together, and surprisingly, she hasn’t tried to run, but she’s not opening up, either.”

Ashaki’s death had hit Autumn hard, too. For the first month after she died, Autumn had talked about her a lot as she fought to come to terms with not knowing her friend as well as she thought. The fuck of it was, to give my woman peace, I had to stand up for a woman I really didn’t like and remind Autumn that Ash had demons, she’d lost her family, and just like the rest of us, she’d found an outlet. Most of what she’d done was good. She had saved lives, she had brought bad men to justice. But she’d made a fucked-up play that cost her her life.

Before I could comment, the door swung open and Thad’s large frame filled the doorway.

“I have a girl!”

The room erupted into cheers and a round of congratulations went through the room. When everyone was done, Thad looked directly at me and smiled huge.

“You ready to meet your niece?”

My niece.

Fuck, that felt good.

“Yo! You gonna tell us her name?” Max asked.

“Calliope Autumn,” Thad proudly announced.

“Dude, that’s a mouthful, I’m calling her Calli,” Kyle proclaimed.

“And what’s up with all you assholes giving your kids middle names after your siblings? Someone better name their kid Maximus. Just sayin’ I’m gonna be pissed I get passed over.”

One look at Max’s seriously disgruntled face was all it took for me to lose it and bust out laughing. He was seriously put-out.

“Brother, the way all of you are popping out girls, you might be lucky to get a Maxine out of one of them.”

“Jesus Christ, he laughs now, too.”

I ignored Brooks’ comment and looked over at Violet.

“I’ll see you tonight, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

I ignored her wide eyes and shocked look.

“Love you, sis.”

Those wide eyes got wet and I ignored that, too.

“Love you, Declan.”

Chapter 40

Two months later—Rescue, California.

“This is it,” Autumn proclaimed.

Fucking finally.

After spending two weeks in Maryland, we’d returned to Oregon, stayed a little longer, then drove south into California. We’d explored Crescent City, Eureka, Redding, Nevada City, then we’d stumbled upon a little place called Rescue. It was twenty minutes east of Folsom and an hour east of Sacramento.

Rescue was pretty much desolate.

But it was perfect.

We could settle, blend in, and disappear.