Page 83 of Severed Heart (The Ravenhood Legacy #2)

Chapter Forty-Four

T YLER

D OM AND SEAN stand idly by in the driveway, exhaling mixed smokes while eating up some of their last few hours stateside as the movers latch the back of the truck before they pull off.

“You’ll watch over her,” Sean prompts for the umpteenth time, inhaling an exaggerated drag of his cigarette as I sigh and nod.

Dom remains wordless, burning down his joint just as excessively while wearing every bit of his brother’s wrath in his worn frame.

Some part of me is hoping alongside them that T will pop up—possibly changing his mind and orders at the last minute.

Then again, after personally enduring Tobias’s birdside manner the past few weeks that he gave Dom and Sean to prepare for their exile, I know better.

“I may be going along with this shit, but I won’t let her out of my sight. Not for a single fucking day.” Dom looks over to me then. “You have my word,” I declare to them both.

“Do you think he’ll forgive us?” Sean prompts.

“The best thing you can do is not miss that plane. That’s all I really know right now, man.”

Dom flicks his joint, his words for us both as he stalks past. “I’m going to do one last sweep and take a piss. I’ll be right back.”

“Hurry up,” Sean calls after him, “we need to hit the garage before we go.” Sean turns to me. “Thanks for getting our shit somewhere in the meantime.”

“I’ll put the boxes Dom marked back at Delphine’s and stick the rest in storage. You’ll both have a fresh start of your choosing when you get back.”

He nods, the worry in his eyes one I recognize, but he doesn’t speak it aloud, having spent the last two weeks making peace with it. Sean pulls me into him and claps my back. “Love you, brother.”

“Hang in there, man. It’s just another hurdle,” I tell him, “and she’s worth it.”

“Yeah, she is,” he agrees easily. “So fucking worth it.”

“Then go.” I nod toward his Nova. “The sooner you leave, the sooner you can get back to her.”

His nod is solemn, and I feel for him as he looks over at me.

“All of this is on me. I’m sorry, Tyler. I am, but I can’t bring myself to regret it other than hurting him, and that’s fucking hell to live with too ... fuck .” He glides his hand again through his thoroughly jacked hair.

“I know,” I say, “head down but chin up. You’d be surprised how much you can endure for a woman who’s worth it.”

“Says the man who’s been to hell and back for his own,” he utters low as I go stock still. “I’m pulling for you.”

I remain mute as Sean eyes the townhouse, no doubt to make sure Dom’s out of range as he nudges me. “Come on, man. Ever wonder why I’ve asked about your hookups but never once asked you if you’ve been in love? It’s because I knew that answer.”

“When?” I ask, barely above a whisper.

“I spotted you looking over at her across that kitchen table one day and fucking knew. It was clear as day, and fuck how you hid it so well—almost too well. Well enough to make me doubt it, but that look you gave beat the guise hand over fist. To anyone who wasn’t looking, they might never have noticed, but I’m a man who fucking loves his brothers enough to notice. ”

“Me too.” I blow out a harsh exhale, realizing just how horribly I’ve hidden my affection for Delphine over the years. Apparently, everyone fucking knew.

“Ten months, fuck.” He pulls me into a longer bro-hug before he stalks to his driver’s door, taking one last look at the townhouse before entering and revving up his Nova.

For a brief moment, I resent T and his fucked punishment, already missing them both despite the nightmare roommate situation.

We’ve been apart for years already, and our fucking planning is just paying off.

But even for and to me, this punishment is fitting of the crime, so I try to let it go.

Dom exits the house shortly after, a small box in his hand as he stalks up and holds it out to me. “Found this in the hall closet.”

“Not mine,” I say, frowning down at it.

“It’s yours,” he insists before palming my shoulder, his version of a hug. “Think your mom dropped it off when we first moved in, and you never really unpacked.”

Grabbing the box, I peer over at him.

“I’ve got her,” I assure, sensing his ache as he keeps his eyes lowered. “Look at me, Dom,” I prompt, and he does, the unguarded pain in his expression enough to have me pissed at Tobias again. “I’ve got her.”

He nods before glancing briefly at the townhouse and surprisingly pulling me into him for something closer to resembling a hug. “Thanks, brother. I owe you.”

“Sure you don’t want me to tell him?” I ask about the day he literally became a hero last month, but Dom’s insistent that he doesn’t want said heroics to play any part in this.

He’s worried that his actions might give Tobias more cause to leash him.

Dom shakes his head, indicating as much.

I decide it’s one more secret I’ll keep from T for a while longer.

Because as of right now, today, fuck him, and he wasn’t in on the secret.

His rules.

“Fine,” I sigh. “Just hurry the fuck up,” I say as he releases me, taking the passenger seat, before I watch the two of them pull out. Sean’s motor hums in their wake well after they race out of sight.

Chest aching due to their departure, I head back inside and set the box on the kitchen counter before opening it.

Inside sits a pair of sneakers I wore out with my runs, a few of my high school yearbooks, and other small hits of nostalgia.

Especially when I pull out one of the battalion soldiers I kept from the first game I won against Delphine.

Besides my old phone, the rest of the contents are mostly junk, but the sight of my Sidekick jars me a little.

I’d left it charging on my nightstand the morning I confronted my dad and left home for good.

I never bothered to retrieve it after my sabbatical in the woods just after enlisting, or after my trip to Georgia before I got on that bus.

I grin as I unwrap the charging cord and plug it in for kicks.

Heading upstairs, I eye the small litter of trash on the living room floor of the otherwise empty townhouse.

Melancholic—but thankful this hellacious summer is fucking over—I pack what’s left and tape the boxes.

Hours later, when I come down with the last of my shit, I click off the lights of the townhouse before retrieving my ancient phone from the counter.

Freezing when I see I have fourteen missed calls and dozens of unread text messages.

I swallow as I open the feed up from Delphine and damn near hit my knees when I see what’s on screen.

General Half-Pint: I di d not mean it solder

General Half-Pint: Plse come back

I curse the fact that I don’t know what date she sent them, but I know for certain it was after I left, especially when I read the next one.

General Half-Pint: Plese dp not stop be frien d to me.

General Half-Pint: does soldeir not miss fish buddy

General Half-Pint: I cna stop cr y for y ou come bak to me sodler

General Half-Pint: I was wrnog so sorry please txet me bac k

General Half-Pint: You go marines no say bye to me question mar k

General Half-Pint: Plesa don t leave wihtiou say bye to me sodier of my heart

General Half-Pint: Plesse sodker I was scaerd so scard I am sorry ever y day

General Half-Pint: I so sad ans sorrry since you left I cry evey day I cannt breathe solder

General Half-Pint: I geuss you li e to me quest mar

Furious tears line my jaw as I stare at her last text.

General Half-Pint: I will wait

* * *

Knowing I’ve put some serious wear and tear on my engine with my erratic driving, I furiously blaze a path down the driveway, rocks battering my truck as I battle my conflicting emotions.

Fury burning through me as reminders fly at me of what she’s already been through.

It’s the need to confront her that outweighs those reminders.

What I’ve fucking been through in the aftermath of that morning that overrules everything else.

Jesus, has she really been waiting all this time?

The truth of that rings true as her words from weeks ago slam into me. “I understand why you didn’t text me or come back.”

“Jesus Christ,” I rasp out hoarsely, relieved when I see her ancient sedan parked in the driveway as I pull up.

The porch light illuminating her other carefully laid out lanterns and plants.

The same soft light glowing from the kitchen beckoning me that my answers are there as my heart thrashes in my chest.

Far too gone in my anger and utterly wasted on the texts I got nearly a decade late, I waste no more time exiting my truck. Stalking over the porch, through the front door, and into the kitchen ... I’m stopped dead at the threshold by the sight that greets me.

Delphine stands at the refrigerator with the freezer door open.

A pitcher of iced tea on the counter. But it’s the sight of her, hair back to onyx-black, laying in silky waves over her shoulders, standing in a light blue sundress, feet bare, toenails painted, her skin glowing, full lips tinted, that sends me fucking reeling.

“Hi, Soldier,” she whispers as she lifts her gorgeous silver eyes to mine, and I swear I see her cheeks heat.

“You look . . .”

“Not the same as I once did, I know, but I fixed my hair,” she relays as if she’s not knocking the breath out of me with a sledgehammer.

“So ... fucking beautiful,” I rasp out, swallowing and swallowing again as her eyes hold mine, searching for long seconds before they light with some satisfaction.