Page 199 of Barinov

Cade’s eyes widen. But he smiles, shaking his head through his own laughter.

“That’s our girl,” I say with a massive amount of pride.

“As you wish,” O’Malley chuckles. “We’ll get it done.”

The waiting room door slams open hard enough to rattle the glass.

Every head jerks toward sound.

“BELLA!”

Ellie’s voice cracks first. Haley’s follows a heartbeat later.

Bella freezes beside me, and for one stunned second, none of us move.

Then, Bella lets out a broken sound and takes off. She reaches Ellie first, damn near tackling her best friend into the nearest row of chairs. Haley crashes into them a second later. Suddenly, all three girls are wrapped around each other in a tangled mess of tears, shaking shoulders, and desperate hugs.

“Oh my God,” Ellie sobs, clutching Bella’s face between her hands. “Oh my God, you’re really here.”

Bella laughs and cries at the same time. “I’m here,” she whispers.

Haley pulls her into another crushing hug. “Never do that again.”

“Get kidnapped by my psycho uncle?” Bella barks out a watery laugh. “I’ll do my best, Hales.”

That only makes the girls cry harder.

I end the call with O’Malley and slip my phone into my pocket. Cade moves beside me, his shoulder brushing mine as we watch the three of them collapse onto the floor together.

Bella looks up from the girls at the three cowboys towering over them. A wall of broad shoulders, denim, and boots. “Thank you,” she says, eyeing each of their golden-brown stares in turn. “For everything.”

“Don’t mention it, B,” Briggs says, kneeling down and placing a hand on Ellie’s shoulder. He presses a kiss to her blonde curls. “Had to get El’s best friend back.”

“Uh huh,” Bella says, smirking. She waves a hand between the two of them. “I need to know how this happened.”

“It’s a really cute story,” Haley chuckles, pushing up to her feet.

“Oh!” Ellie beams, leaning back and eyeing the backwards ball cap cowboy. “Brett hand me that bag.”

Brett’s boots thud on the floor as he steps up and drops a pink duffel. “Here ya go, Buttercup.”

“Buttercup?” I ask, my brow pinched as Haley shoves herself between me and Cade. “What does butter—”

“Don’t get him started,” Ellie groans. “Trust me.”

Bella’s fingers brush the bag. “What is this?”

“Necessities.” Ellie unzips the duffel, revealing a fresh change of clothes, makeup, soaps, and Bella’s favorite cherry-vanilla shampoo and conditioner. “Figured you’d want to erase every bit of that house from you ASAP.”

♥♥♥

Our girl emerges from the shower in a fresh pair of leggings and a Trifecta crop that Ellie brought her. She looks small, but she looks like mine again.

Like ours.

“Feel better?” I rasp into her neck, holding her flush against me. I inhale that cherry-vanilla scent, a smell I will never fucking take for granted again.

Ever.