Someone to love. Killer brothers to hang out with, when you’re not kissing my sister. If you want to enjoy all of that, then you need to forgive yourself for what happened last year. Find absolution.”
Logan blinked. “Jesus Christ, it’s like listening to Coop speak.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
Logan stared at Josh until the ache in his chest eased. “No, kid. Highest compliment.”
“Cool! So are you gonna find your joy and forgive yourself or what?”
How he’d ended up in the one place he needed to be at the time he needed to be there, so he could meet the very people who would help him off the path he’d been traveling, was nothing short of divine intervention. In those months after his friends’ deaths, Logan had thought he’d been alone while traveling in circles. It was clear as day now that he’d never walked alone. He’d been directed to the one place where he could heal and find the absolution Josh talked about.
“Joy, kid. Found it with you three, and I plan to spend the rest of my fucking life enjoying the hell out of it.”
Epilogue
One week later . . .
WARMTH FILLED MY body as I slowly woke to the morning sun. I gasped and my traitorous hips moved against Logan’s hot mouth, causing my sore ribs and incision to growl at me.
“I’m still not speaking to you,” I whimpered, clawing the bedsheets to keep from moving. “You should have told me about my brothers.”
“Hush. Lie still and let me find my joy before you hurt yourself.”
A different kind of warmth spread through my veins. How could I argue with that?
_______________
Six months later . . .
“And then I told John, rumor has it your police chief doesn’t work out of the courthouse but out of this bar. He said I was nuts, so I hauled him down here to prove him wrong. It’s true, isn’t it? A gal over at the diner said after he caught some serial killer, he refused to take the job unless he could work out of this bar. She said he didn’t trust anyone else to keep an eye on the owner. That if they wanted him to wear the badge permanently, he would only do it sitting at the end of the bar.”
Jordan had been running her mouth again. Susie and John Little were an older couple passing though Ennis on their way to Yellowstone. Logan had become a bit of a curiosity for vacationers when they heard where his office was.
“Yes, ma’am, it’s true. The police chief sits right there.” I pointed to the vacant barstool where Logan rarely sat because he was too busy pouring beer or clearing tables when he wasn’t out on a call.
It had been six months since Logan rescued my brothers, and I still hadn’t forgiven him for keeping me in the dark. Since it ended well for my brothers, I only brought up it up when I was losing a fight now.
It could have been so much worse, considering Jake had been shot. Thankfully, it was his non-throwing arm and the small caliber bullet only passed through the meaty part of his shoulder. He only missed two games before he insisted he was fit enough to play, even if I’d adamantly said no. It took Logan intervening on his behalf before I finally gave in. I shouldn’t have worried. His offensive line wasn’t about to let anyone touch him after what he went through. He finished the rest of the season without a single sack and the Mustangs took state. A month ago, he signed a letter of intent with the Oklahoma Sooners. In a few short months, he’d be leaving Montana to follow his dream on a full-ride scholarship—as long as I kept the girls away.
Josh was still Josh. I learned after we were all home and recouping together that he had nerves of steel. He’d held it together through the whole ordeal and had secretly pulled his pocketknife out of his back pocket and was moments away from cutting through the rope. He’d been egging Chance on to keep his focus on himself and off his brother. Logan told me in the dark of night that Josh was a natural born soldier, and I needed to prepare myself—because in three years, Josh would enlist—as long as I kept the girls away.
When Logan arrested Chance for kidnapping and attempted murder of my brothers, the town had been shocked. The sack of bones Logan found at the