Page 197 of Sage Haven
Keenan was different.
All fire and impulse.
He reminded me of Castor when we were younger and still does.
Felt everything too much. Held nothing back. And sometimes, that kind of recklessness was what you also needed.
Keenan didn’t question motives.
He didn’t weigh consequences.
He acted.
I needed both of them.
Even if I hated needing anyone at all.
The quiet gnawed at me.
The waiting always did.
But then—I heard it.
The low, hungry growl of Nael’s Camaro as it closed in the distance up the drive.
That sound was a time machine.
Took me back to a simpler time.
Late nights. Fast drives. Faster deals.
A brotherhood forged in fire, bone, and blood.
We hadn’t always been clean men.
But when we did something, we did it right.
No hesitation. No second guessing.
We got the job done.
The car slid to a stop, headlights cutting through the fog.
They got out together.
Unchanged, but heavier.
Like me and Castor.
Older, wiser and meaner since our days back in college.
Nael was the first to move. Eyes dark and unreadable, but there was something there—a recognition of what this was.
Of whom this was for.
He wasn’t here for ENA.
He wasn’t even here for me.
