Page 90 of Fierce Hope
DJ glanced at Deke, then nodded and moved willingly with Izzy and Kenji.
“I’ll catch up with you in a sec.” Deke headed toward Jade, protective instincts surging again.
Jade turned as he approached, her eyes lighting with relief and something deeper. The bruise forming along her cheekbone made his stomach clench, but it was the vulnerability in her gaze that truly undid him.
Before he reached them, Zara glided away.
In the harsh glare of emergency lights, every emotion was laid bare on Jade’s features—relief, exhaustion, lingering fear, and beneath it all, a tentative hope.
He began quietly, voice thick with emotion as he launched straight into it. “I was wrong—about everything. I shouldn’t have pushed you away. It was easier blaming your past than admitting my own failures.”
Jade met his gaze. “Deke?—”
He gently interrupted her, touching her arm tenderly, feeling the slight tremor that ran through her. “No, listen. Your past doesn’t define who you are. Your actions do. You’re brave, strong, and good. And you risked everything to save my son. You’ve got more heart and courage than anyone I know. And I need you to know I don’t want our lives to go back to the way they were. Jade, I want you in DJ’s life. I want you in my life.”
The words hung in the cold air between them, his breath forming small clouds that dissipated in the space between theirfaces. He felt strangely weightless having finally spoken the truth he’d been fighting.
Tears shone in her eyes, catching the colored lights from the vehicles. She tilted her chin up. The sweet show of bravado humbled him.
“I can work with that,” she murmured.
“Good to know.” He cupped her cheek tenderly, his thumb gently brushing the bruise forming there.
She leaned into him then, the warmth of her body against his melting away lingering fear.
“After I told you about my past, I figured you’d need to protect DJ,” she whispered shakily against his chest. “Which I totally get.”
Deke’s arms tightened around her, his heart swelling with certainty that he’d never felt before. “My son would be lucky to have you as a role model. You don’t have to prove anything,” he murmured into her hair. “Not to me. Not ever.”
The cold air burned his lungs with each breath, but he welcomed the sensation—a sharp reminder that they were alive, that they had survived. His fingertips tingled where they touched her, every sense heightened in the aftermath of danger.
DJ returned quietly, Izzy and Kenji trailing behind him, both grinning broadly.
Kenji nudged DJ with a shoulder. “Nice moves back there, bro. You should consider a career in covert ops, you know, after you’re old enough to drive.”
DJ smiled with genuine pride. “I was just doing what Jade taught me.”
“Which was?” Deke asked, curious.
“To think before I act,” DJ replied with a sudden maturity that caught him off guard. “But to act when it matters.”
Pride surged through him, so intense it was almost painful. He looked between DJ and Jade, overwhelmed by how closehe’d come to losing them both. The world narrowed to the three of them, standing together in the cold night, surrounded by the bustle of emergency personnel but somehow set apart.
She winced slightly when she shifted her weight.
He scowled. “That fall hit you harder than you’re letting on.”
“Bruised ribs,” she admitted. “And probably a spectacular collection of other bruises. But nothing serious.”
“The paramedics should check the two of you out.”
“Already did,” DJ reported. “Just some rope burns.” He raised his arms, showing raw, reddened wrists.
Deke bit down on a fresh surge of fury at the sight. “We’ll get those taken care of properly.”
“No worries, Dad. The paramedic said they might leavescars.”
A very good thing, judging by the awe in his son’s voice. Deke wanted to argue, but he had to admit his own fifteen-year-old self would have wished for the same.
