How It Will Be by T. S. Joyce

Chapter Fifteen

 

The last month had flown by in a blur.

The aftermath of any war was consuming. Lives have to be reset, and rebuilt.

Injuries had to be healed and animals had to be settled back into an existence that wasn’t as battle-ready.

Ren was lucky. She was coming into this Crew right as everyone was choosing to settle into the dynamics, so she got to be a part of it all. There was no coming in late, when friendships had already been established, and there was certainly no being an outsider.

If anything, it felt like the Crew orbited around her and the other women. Even the crazies in this Crew made sure they were good.

Krome and Bron had their hands full with this batch of wild men. There were at least three fights a week, but it wasn’t out of hate. These boys just liked to talk shit and fight.

Ren loved it. She owed Gwen twenty bucks from her first paycheck at her new job from losing fight bets. She’d been hired at a local coffee shop, which was great because Bron was starting to pick up steady morning shifts with his construction crew now that he didn’t have to spy on the bears.

She’d never had a favorite time of day before, but three o’clock was it now. It was the time she got home from her shift at the coffee shop. Home. Before she went inside, she always did this—she took stock of the moment. Of her life. She sat on the porch swing Bron had hung for her, curled up in a blanket he’d randomly bought her as a gift, and waited for her person.

Her person.

That’s what he was, without the shadow of a doubt.

That confidence had settled into her chest over the past month they’d been building a life together. Tonight was the Crew BBQ Gwen and Aux hosted every couple of weeks. It was called a BBQ, but mostly it would be loud and chaotic, and there would be pigs and chickens running around while the boys would probably start a fight or seven. Nuke would hover around the edges, always watching for danger. Krome would keep everyone in line for the most part, and the sound of laughter and veiled insults would fill the clearing of Aux and Gwen’s yard.

But for now? Ren got to enjoy her moment of peace as she waited for Bron to come home.

This place was special. It was warm, and the pine and sap and earth scent was burned into her mind for always. There was no place in the world like these woods. Her woods.

She’d thought so much about Laken over the last month. In a way, she’d healed from his decisions by focusing on the good. She was here because of what he’d done. And because of what she’d been through, she could truly appreciate the good in her home now.

The back of her arm itched from the healing tattoo removal she’d done on her lunch break. The tattoos from her previous Murders were barely visible now.

Her life had begun to completely turn around the day she’d come here.

The porch swing creaked under her and in the stiff breeze that told her autumn was coming, she drew her knees up and smiled to herself as she heard his truck engine coming up the road.

Today was a special day. He didn’t know it yet, but the whole Crew did. Tonight wouldn’t be just a BBQ. It would be a celebration.

Nervousness took her as his truck appeared through the trees. Ren wrung her hands and set the blanket aside, then stood and waited for him at the porch stairs.

He was smiling at her before he even got out of the truck.

God, he looked good when he came home like this—all dirty and disheveled from work, and always genuinely happy to see her.

Without a word, he jogged up the stairs and pulled her against him, swayed them gently from side to side as she melted into him.

Now she was home. This was home, in these woods, in his arms.

Why did she already feel like crying?

“Hey,” he murmured, hooking a finger under her chin and dragging her gaze to his. “You feel sad.”

She shook her head. “Not sad at all. I’m so happy, I don’t know what to do with myself. I have something to tell you.”

He searched her face, worry swimming in his black eyes. “You can tell me anything.”

“I talked to my parents last week, and told them about Laken, and caught up with them.” She pulled the trinket from her pocket and held it clenched in her fist. “I asked them to send something to me, and I’ve been waiting. I’ve been checking the mail every day after I get off work because I just couldn’t wait to give it to you.” She pulled his hand up and flattened his palm, and then carefully, so it wouldn’t roll off, she placed the red marble onto his palm.

Bron sucked in air sharply, clasped his hand around it tightly and lifted those open eyes back to her. “Ren,” he said low.

“I want you, too,” she whispered around her tightening vocal cords.

He brushed the pad of his thumb across her cheek gently, coveting her.

“No more running ever?” he asked softly.

Ren shook her head. “It’s me and you now.”

His eyes filled with emotion. Bron—tough, stoic, immoveable, strong, commanding, steady Bron, and he only softened for her.

He pulled her against him, lifted her off the ground and held her so tight, she couldn’t fall apart even if she tried.

This was the love she’d dreamed of. It was the comfort. It was the confidence to know he would always be there for her, no matter what.

Here, in this Crew, in these woods, she wasn’t money.

She wasn’t bragging rights.

She wasn’t something wild to be tamed.

She was Ren, plain and simple.

It was a beautiful thing to be reminded that she was enough, just as she was. She’d thought leaving those Murders had been the end of her story, but it wasn’t. It was the beginning of her story with the man who protected her heart.

This home she’d found, right here in these woods, in the arms of Bron, and surrounded by an unlikely set of friends, would be the backdrop for the best season of her life.

No matter what came for them, they were going to charge through this life together.

No more running, no more uncertainty.

From this day on, she knew exactly where she belonged.