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“ Y ou going to want to bring this?”

I look over at Summer holding up a welder and shake my head. “No, not that one. The other one.” I point to the one I want on the table beside her.

She looks at it, then at the one still in her hand. “They all look alike, Viv.”

I shrug. “But they aren’t. So get the other one.” I turn back to the box I’m packing and lift my head just enough to tell her, “Please.”

I can hear her grumbling, but I know she’s doing it. She can complain all she wants. No one is forcing her to be here. I can pack up what’s left of my shop on my own. I don’t need the help, even if she insisted that she come with me.

When she came to the clubhouse yesterday, she was in freak-out mode.

She was talking a mile a minute and wouldn’t even let me out of her eyesight to pee.

It was pretty bad for her, but I get it.

She almost lost me, according to her. I didn’t think it was that dire, but she went off on me having no feelings or clarity about the situation.

Do I get how it could have gone? Do you think I slept well last night? I had more nightmares than all my other nights combined. I thought I would be fine because it didn’t happen. In my book, if you aren’t dead, you’re fine. But maybe there’s a bit more to life .

Summer had a point last night. I was fine with how things went because I didn’t really have anything to live for. I had my work. I had my fights. But other than those, what else was keeping me from freaking out?

Domino.

I somehow knew he was going to save me. That I was going to be mad I didn’t do it myself, but he was going to find me, and it was going to be okay.

Even if it took years, I knew he was going to find me.

Somehow, I knew it the whole time. Parts of me were scared.

I won’t lie and say I wasn’t. Especially when Henry started talking about getting me pregnant and all.

But I couldn’t let that fear control me at the time.

But last night it did. Every time I fell asleep, my mind attacked me with all the possibilities if things had gone differently. If Henry won and I lost. If Domino never came. If he left. If he forgot about me.

Those were the worst ones. What started out as a nightmare, with a repeat of what happened to me, turned into a night filled with terror of Domino walking away over and over again.

I still shudder at the thought as I seal my box with tape.

When I gave up on sleep, I came up with a plan. I want to have more than what I was doing. I want to keep what I had but just have… more.

And that starts with a new workplace. Hence the packing.

“What’re you doing?” I look up and see Domino in front of one of the open bay doors. I opened up everything to see what I had. Nothing was in the same place as when I was last here, and I need all the light I can get to find things.

“Packing,” I say as I stand to grab another box and start taping it into its true box form.

“Packing?”

I watch him eye my stuff and then look at what I’ve already done. I’ve been at this for a few hours. Like I said, I couldn’t sleep. And Summer was basically sleeping on the floor in the guest room with me. If I was up, so was she.

I think she’s having a minor freak-out that what happened to her sister will happen to me.

And it kind of did. But I lived. And she isn’t alone.

Which she told me last night was her greatest fear.

That probably explains why my brain made some of those weird nightmare jumps last night.

Doesn’t really matter how my mind led me to this moment, though.

We’re here now, and that’s how life goes. You feel it, then you deal with it.

He puts his hands in his pockets, and my gaze drops between his legs. He’ll probably always be the biggest one I’ve ever been with. I can’t help but look when he draws my eyes down. “Where you going?”

I lick my lips and shake my head to get back on track. “Mack got me a new place. It’s not much, and I’ll only be able to take half of my stuff, but it’s just a temp spot. Rent by the month, if you know what I mean.”

I move around the room, gathering a few things to put into my open box. I mentally calculate how many more I’m going to need to finish this up.

“Where you moving to?”

“Kansas. ”

“Why?”

I pause and look up at him. The way he said it seems off. Like he’s honestly confused. And now I am.

“’Cause you’re moving to Kansas?” I say it as a question because I’m not sure anymore.

I thought I knew, but maybe I got it wrong.

I’m running on like two hours of sleep in the last few days.

I’m not about toclassify being drugged as sleeping.

Pretty sure my body was in fight or flight mode the entire time.

That might explain why I feel more sore today than I do after a weekend fight tournament.

“No, I’m not.” He shakes his head, and I pull back as if I’ve been slapped.

A crash behind me has me turning to see a box of tools on the ground at Summer’s feet.

“Seriously?” She puts her hands on her hips and glares. “Do you two even talk to each other?”

“Jesus, Summer, that shit’s expensive,” I yell at her just as I hear a car pull up and see Mack’s back from getting more boxes.

“And so is my patience,” she mutters as she crosses her arms and doesn’t do a thing to help me pick up the items she dropped.

“Don’t think that’s a thing,” Mack says as he enters, nodding to Domino and setting the empty boxes on one of the tables.

“Yes, it is. Look it up.” Summer raises her nose in the air, and both Mack and I roll our eyes at each other. “And while you do that, talk to each other. I’m not packing another thing till you two talk.” She points at me and then away, and I look at her finger to see her signaling Domino .

I feel Mack’s eyes on me and look back at him. He gives me a hard look and then shakes his head. “You forget to feed her again?”

“I’m not a dog,” Summer mumbles, but doesn’t even deny she’s hungry.

Which she is. She’s the type of girl that can run on caffeine, but not in a good way.

She needs meals, even if she doesn’t want to stop and eat.

You have to keep her fed, especially when she’s doing physical labor.

Hell, part of her workout regimen is to make sure she gets food before and after her training.

It’s in her contract. Well, it’s what Mack put in there for her.

He’s a smart man. A hangry Summer is not a fun one.

“Yeah,” I say sheepishly. I was so busy with my own plans, I forgot to think of others around me.

“I can hear you, you know.” Summer huffs and refolds her arms.

Mack gives her an indulgent smile. “Come on, let’s get you a snack before you become the little destroyer we all know you can be.”

“I’m not a destroyer, and I’m not hungry.” Another huff like she’s five. And she wonders where her kids get it from. She’s more stubborn than a mule some days.

“Sure, you’re not.” Mack places his hand on her back and starts guiding her to his truck. “Let’s get me something to eat, then.”

As he opens the door to his vehicle for her, she finally unfolds her arms and gives in. “Well, if you’re going to eat, I’ll take something. And we’ll get something for Viv too. Viv, don’t go anywhere. We’ll be right back with breakfast tacos. And donuts. Can we get some donuts too? ”

Mack just shakes his head, but at least he’s smiling.

He doesn’t do donuts, and that’s a must for Summer.

So, of course, they’ll get some. The guy’s a sucker when it comes to her.

He won’t say it, but I think he feels some sense of responsibility for her more than anyone.

Might be because he dated Winter before she died.

Summer is basically the little sister he never had in some ways.

Domino and I watch them pull out and drive off. Then it’s just us.

I bite my lip, not sure if I should keep packing or not. Should I even be moving?

“I get it. I do,” he says.

“Get what?”

He shrugs and pulls his hands out of his pockets, gesturing to my space and then me. “You don’t need a man. You don’t need anyone. You don’t need me.” He says the last bit softer than the rest.

I… don’t know what to say to that. After a moment, I go with “You’re right.

” He looks at me, and I continue. “I don’t.

I don’t need you. I don’t need anyone.” I look around and see everything I’ve accomplished on my own.

I’ve done so much, I really have. I made the choices to get to where I am today.

My family’s around, but once I started high school, we just didn’t need one another anymore.

I did me, and they let me. It wasn’t neglect; we just never had a need to be in one another’s lives.

Some might have an opinion on that, but it worked for us, and I’m okay with how things worked out.

We still see one another, but it’s nothing more than a hi or hello and a dinner for the holidays.

Summer and Mack are my closest friends, and they support me, but again, I’ve never needed them to help with anything. I might have talked to them about a few things, but it was more as a sounding board, not asking for advice.

I take a deep breath and look back at Domino. Things started changing that first day we met. I didn’t know it at the time, but I see it now. I see what changes he’s made in my life, and he needs to know that.