Page 244 of Beyond the Blue Horizon

Panic streaked through her veins. Her breaths jagged and raw.

She pulled into the parking lot and parked in the spot near the stairs that led to his apartment, staring forward, unable to process what had happened.

To comprehend.

Justin fluttered his fingers through her hair before tucking a lock behind her ear.

Almost lovingly, though he muttered, “Keep your fucking mouth shut, Piper, and we’ll be just fine.”

FORTY-NINE

PIPER

“Okay,so I think I can get on board with this whole mocktail thing. Because yummy…” Raven slurped from the straw of her frilly drink.

“And here I thought I was going to be bringing you margaritas to the hospital,” Charleigh teased.

Raven giggled and rubbed her hand over her swollen belly. “Well, a celebratory party might be in order, but I think we’re going to have to hold off on it for a day or two.”

From where she sat next to me, Emery laughed with a slight shake of her head. “And that celebrating you’re going to be doing is holding that baby nonstop. I bet you don’t put her down for a solid thirty days.”

“I’m pretty sure Otto will have something to say about that. That man is already obsessed with our Little Luna.” Joy radiated from Raven. Just this all-around glow that she couldn’t hide if she tried.

“Knowing him, he’ll just have you both on his lap,” Charleigh said with a sip of her margarita. “Because that obsessed extends to you.”

“Can you blame him?” Raven hiked a teasing shoulder. “You have seen me, right?”

Lightness weaved through me. A smile constantly flitting across my mouth as I hung out with the three of them.

We were at one of the trendy bars on Culberry Street for happy hour. Emery and I had rushed over so we could join Raven and Charleigh after work. It was Friday, and we’d been super busy, running and on our feet the entire day, so it felt amazing to be sitting.

Honestly, though, the real reason it felt amazing was because of the people who surrounded me.

These incredible women who’d invited me into their fold. Accepted me as if I was already a part of it.

A family I never imagined I could have.

Of course, I itched to get home to Finn, Nelly, and Theo.

Theo who had slept in my bed every night this week.

Soundly.

His arms secure and his tortured heart at peace. As if he had found respite in me, the way I had in him.

He had taken me every chance that we could find a private moment.

Our love so fierce, even though he’d yet to say the words, the same as I hadn’t found the words to confess the rest of my secrets to him.

But they had begun to bubble. The truths right there, burning on my tongue.

“I don’t know how you’re even here,” I told Raven as I took a sip of my wine, joining in on the banter.

“Because I told him I was going to make it worth his while when I got home.” Raven’s dark eyes gleamed with the suggestion. “You know he’s over there in a stir, all worked up thinking about it. The anticipation makes it all the sweeter. I bet all your men are doing the exact same thing.”

She pointed around at each of us.

Wings flapped in my belly at the thought.