Page 71 of My End
We fell into silence again. Not the uncomfortable kind. The kind that made it feel like maybe, just maybe, we were on the other side of something huge.
“It’s pretty crazy how we got here,” she said softly, like she wasn’t even sure she meant to say it out loud.
I turned my head and watched the way her lashes brushed her cheekbones. God, she was beautiful. “Yeah,” I said. “It is crazy.”
I walked into that house looking to take down Boone and Gibbs, and I walked out with her.
“My perfect ending,” I said.
Tilly nestled into me, with her arm sliding around my waist as her leg hooked over mine. “I’ll be your beginning and your end,” she whispered. “How about that?”
My chest tightened.
That sounded fucking perfect.
And I wasn’t going to let anything take it away from us.
Not this time.
Not ever.
Chapter Thirty
Tilly
I sat at one of the long wooden tables in the common room with a half-eaten plate of waffles and sausage in front of me, a steaming mug of coffee within arm’s reach, and Stretch beside me looking way too alert for someone who hadn’t gotten much sleep.
Across from us sat Poppy and Yarder, the latter with his coffee gripped in one hand and a plate piled high in front of him like he was prepping for a food shortage.
“I think Adalee is giving Adam a run for his money,” I said and cut into the last wedge of waffle.
“Adam was good,” Stretch agreed and stabbed a piece of sausage with his fork, “but there’s just something about Adalee’s cooking. Tastes like home to me.”
Poppy smiled. “She made those waffles with sour cream in the batter. Gives it that rich taste.”
“Shut up!” Olive suddenly called from near the TV.
Every head in the room turned as she grabbed the remote and cranked up the volume. Forks froze mid-air. Conversations dropped off. I twisted in my seat and watched the screen with everyone else.
A redBreaking Newsbanner streaked across the bottom of the television.
The blonde anchor sat stiff-backed behind a desk, and her voice was urgent. “We interrupt your morning programming with breaking news from Dallas, Texas. The United States Attorney General, Boone Drake, and Texas-based attorney Craig Gibbs were taken into custody early this morning following an extensive joint investigation by the FBI and Internal Affairs.”
I blinked.
“Hot damn!” Compass hollered from the other table. “This shit is official!”
Everyone erupted.
Chairs scraped against the floor. Fists pumped into the air. Cheers echoed off the walls like the roar of an engine rally.
“They got those bastards!” Fade shouted.
Throttle and Smoke clapped hands across the table. Adalee stood beside the coffee station and was grinning ear to ear. Even Saylor had her hands in the air like she was celebrating a touchdown.
It was electric. A wave of relief so strong it nearly knocked me out of my chair.
We’d done it.
