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Thankfully, the service started quickly, and we took our seats.

The plan was for me to play the dutiful son at church today, giving my father and his team a false sense of security that I was falling in line. That way, Dalton could get Arden up to Wanda’s this morning before anyone suspected she wasn’t in her room.

But there was always a chance someone would get suspicious and check the sorority house’s security tapes. If that happened, they’d see me sneaking Arden out the back door to Vaughn’s truck while Vaughn kept the security goon distracted, and it wouldn’t take long to track her to Dalton’s.

So, just in case, Dalton planned to take her deep into the North Georgia mountains, where he knew a place without any cell service. There, they could switch from the truck to his four-wheeler and go the rest of the way to Wanda’s property without using public roads.

Yes, it was paranoid as fuck. But we’d all agreed it was better to be safe than sorry.

And strangely enough, it had been Dalton’s idea.

I hadn’t been sure about involving him in this plan in the first place, especially since I’d worried he’d still be feeling some kind of way about the fight.

But Vaughn had convinced me, reminding me that his mom—Dalton’s older sister—had found herself unexpectedly pregnant once upon a time, and Dalton had been her rock.

Sure enough, when we’d arrived at his place last night, Vaughn’s gruff and grumpy uncle had taken one look at Arden’s exhausted face and freaking melted. He’d immediately jumped into action, coddling and cooing over her until she was wrapped up in a nest of blankets by a gas fireplace, smiling and drinking—no lie—decaffeinated tea. Then he’d begun plotting her transportation like it was a military mission on enemy turf.

She was in good hands.

The rest of the plan was up to me and Vaughn.

The service progressed normally, with only a mildly annoying moment when there was a reading of Psalm 127:3 talking about children being a divine gift from the Lord. I wanted to fucking strangle Arden’s father. To stand up and scream, What about your children? What about us?

Instead, I closed my eyes and imagined the soft murmur of Vaughn’s voice calling me sweetheart. The way I’d overheard him telling Arden she was brave. The feel of his fingertips moving gently over the bruise on my cheek before he kissed it “to make it better” this morning.

Fuck, I was so gone for him. Like, brain-dead gone.

All I wanted was to get home to him. Crawl into our bed and hold him again. Thank him for everything he’d done for me. For Arden.

Tell him how, because of him, I felt more like myself than I had in… well, ever.

“Amen,” my mother murmured beside me as the service finally came to an end.

I turned my head and looked her over. The familiar laugh lines that tilted up, thanks to a hairdressing trick Siddell had started using on her a few years ago. The little wrinkle above her lip from her years as a smoker. The empty second piercing hole in her ear that hadn’t had an earring in it since the day she’d met my father and he’d pronounced it trashy.

“You need to leave,” I told her in a low voice. “I’ll help you.”

Her eyes widened as she turned toward me, but before she could ask me what the fuck I was talking about, I shot her a fake smile. “I’m starving. You ready for brunch? Think they’re doing those berry waffles today at the club?”

She blinked and smiled the same vacant smile she always wore these days. “I’m not sure, honey.”

As soon as we stepped out into the mid-October sunshine, I pulled out my phone to text Vaughn. Janine put a hand on my arm to gently push it down, shooting me a smile. “Maybe not here. Doesn’t make for a good photo, just after church.”

I smiled right back. “I’m texting Arden to tell her what a lovely service it was. What a great job her father did in preaching the good word. How sad her parents will be to miss her at brunch.”

Then I shrugged off her grip and texted Vaughn.

I love you.

Vaughn

You’re supposed to say marshmallow.

I let out a soft snort that drew some attention from the people around us. I ignored it.

I thought the codeword was rimjob.

Vaughn