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I gave him a half-smile, but it fell quickly. I couldn’t stop watching Riva. She was so sad and broken. As completely and utterly devastated as if her soulmate had just died.
Karmichael would be going away for the rest of his life, and Bart was gone. She’d lost the two men she’d loved most in the world, and her grief was palpable, even from a distance.
I gazed up at Fang. “That’s what you’re trying to save me from, isn’t it?”
He squinted at me. “What do you mean?”
I pointed down at Riva. “That sort of heartbreak. If something happened to you, and you were all I had, that would be me standing down there.”
A lump rose in my throat at the thought of losing him.
He pulled me into his arms, crushing me to his chest. “I can’t tell you nothing is going to happen to me. But I can promise you won’t ever be alone like that.”
Kian sat on the edge of the bed. “Are you angling for a group hug there, bro?”
Fang stiffened. “Definitely not.”
Kian stood, arms open wide. “Yeah, you are.” He stepped in behind me and wrapped his arms around me from behind. He motioned over at Vaughn with a jerk of his head. “Come on, Weston. Get in here too.”
“I’m not a hugger.”
“Liar,” I said from between the two big men.
Vaughn reluctantly got up and joined the hug.
I soaked in the feel of the three of them surrounding me, and the sweet knowledge that I would sleep better tonight, knowing my mother’s killer had been found.
“I know we’re having a moment and all, but I’m so uncomfortable right now,” Fang said quietly.
The three men broke apart, laughing quietly.
Vaughn stared down at his mom again as the police drove Karmichael away. “I really should go down there.”
But it was clear he still wasn’t ready.
“I’ll go,” I volunteered.
Vaughn dug his teeth into his bottom lip. “Her husband tried to kill you.”
I shook my head. “Caleb tried to kill me. Karmichael only made threats I don’t think he ever intended to keep. I think he wanted me to stop poking around. Run me out of town, maybe. But he had no reason to kill me.”
The three of them looked at me doubtfully, which was probably warranted, but it didn’t matter now.
Riva was Vaughn’s mom, and if Vaughn was holding a grudge, she had no one. I knew all too well how that felt and I didn’t want it for her.
I went downstairs and put my arm around the woman who’d slept next to a murderer without even realizing it.
37
REBEL
“Getting the blankets ripped from your body in the middle of winter is a legitimate cause for murder,” I grumbled at Kian while tucking myself into the fetal position, my hands wrapped around my legs, trying to conserve body heat.
“Losing fitness because it’s cold is not going to be an excuse the next time you go up against Caleb. You think he’s going to step back and say, ‘Oh, sorry, Rebel. I won’t try to drag you into a van today because I know it was a little chilly last week. So get up!’”
Vaughn reached over without opening his eyes and gave me a solid shove off the side of the bed.
I hit the floor with a thump and then popped my head back up over the mattress. “Seriously, Vaughn! After what I did to you last night!”
