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“I’m not leaving again.” Athelia squares her shoulders and matches Wes’s intense stare. “Nor do I want to. I can’t say it was a mistake to leave—this couldn’t have worked any other way. But I know it’ll be a mistake to leave again.”
Wes nods. I know he understands where she’s coming from. Deep down, he’s broken up over the way we treated her, even if he tries to hide it from me and Cal. More than any of us, he knows he deserved every ounce of pain Athelia has dished out.
“So you want to come back,” he says.
She’s twisting her fingers together nervously. “Yes. As long as you…” She trails off.
The corner of Wes’s mouth tips up. “Don’t forget, my soul. I promised I’d give you anything.”
She presses her fingers to her lips for a brief moment before running to him and flinging her arms around his neck. His eyes closing with relief, Wes holds her tightly.
“Please don’t punish me for this,” she whispers.
“I won’t. I understand.” But then he pulls away, his lips forming a full smile. “But you said please, Thelia. You know what comes with that.”
She groans. “Can’t you let it slide? Just this once?”
His lips feather over her forehead. “Never.”
Cal walks into the kitchen. His blond hair is mussed, and his face is still relaxed from sleep. But… he’s up. He’s down here. It’s been too long since that was the case.
He smiles when he sees Athelia in Wes’s arms before heading straight for the coffee pot. I’m not a fool—I know Athelia being back won’t solve all of Cal’s problems. We still need to get him help—therapy, preferably. But this is a start. Improvement.
Hopefully, it’s only up from here.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Wes
I keep Athelia on my lap during breakfast. She doesn’t protest, although even if she did, I wouldn’t let her off. I need her close to me.
After we clean up, I step onto the front porch to get some air. I spent so much of last night staying up with Cal, and the rest of it was spent pacing my bedroom worrying. Worrying Athelia would leave, worrying Cal would get worse, worrying he’d never recover—thatIwould never recover.
It was all for nothing. She’s here. She’sstaying.For good this time.
The cold morning air hits my face, and I welcome it. My head is muddled and tired, too confused by the sudden turn of events to process anything.
When the porch door opens and closes, I don’t turn to see who it is. Part of me was hoping she’d follow.
Her arms come around my waist from behind, and she rests her head on my back. God, I’ve missed this.
Inside, she begged me not to punish her for what she did. I can’t deny that there was a part of me that wanted to last night. I wasso angry, so afraid she’d hurt Cal more. But before I even gave punishing her a full thought, I pushed the idea away.
That’s not who I am anymore—not when it comes to Athelia. What she did to us? We had it coming. Honestly, we deserve worse, and I’m happy she’s willing to leave it at this.
Today starts a new chapter for us. From this point on, there’s no more intentional hurt. No more punishments or revenge—unless they’re the fun kind. I want to love her in a way that would make my father proud if he was still with us.
When I turn around, she’s smiling up at me. Her dark green hair frames her face, blowing slightly in the breeze. I lean down and kiss her, and Athelia slips her arms around my neck. She’s still only in leggings and a T-shirt, so I figure she’s freezing. I pull her into my body, hoping to keep her at least somewhat warm.
“I missed you,” I murmur in her ear. “Even when I thought we’d lost you forever, my heart never stopped beating for you.”
“I thought about you a lot.” She lets out a small laugh. “More than I should’ve, considering I wasn’t planning on coming back.”
“What did you think about?”
“If you all were okay. If you’d… moved on already.”
I snort out a laugh of disbelief. “Moved on? Are you fucking kidding me?”
