“Before we met, I knew you were the eternity kind of guy,” Darius said. “I placed you in the same category as my folks. You, just like them, deserved to spend your life with someone who wanted the same type of forever. And that’s why I chose the numbers my father used when he proposed to Ma. It was my mission to bring you back so you could find that future with someone.”
Gray swallowed hard and glanced up. “How—I mean… How was the number eight a proposal to your mom? It must’ve symbolized something, right?”
“Flip the eight on its side.”
Gray frowned, unable to understa—wait.
8…
8
Gray automatically sought out the digits on his neck and ghosted his fingers over them. In the central den of that yacht, surrounded by evil and agony, Darius had marked him with the promise of infinity.
“Somewhere along the road when we drove across the country with Jayden, it became unbearable to think of you finding someone else for that journey,” Darius admitted. “I reckon that’s when you became my forever.”
God. Gray released a breath and dropped his forehead to Darius’s uninjured leg. His heart had never felt so full. And he’d never struggled so hard to put his feelings into words.
Darius combed his fingers through Gray’s hair. “I hope that wasn’t too much.”
Gray choked out a laugh and looked up at him. “Nothing you say will be too much, Darius. I love you to stupid measures—I can’t even explain it.” And he had to take it one step further. “One might say it’s convenient I’m down on one knee already.”
The corners of Darius’s eyes crinkled. “Good to know. But I’ll be the one handling that subject—and not when you’re busy tending to yet another gunshot wound of mine.”
“So you admit you have way too much experience with getting shot.” Despite the seriousness of that particular matter—or, it should be serious—Gray was grinning from ear to ear.
Darius smirked back. “I admit to nothing.”
“Except that you’re not allergic to marriage anymore.” Gray couldn’t help but throw that out there, curious if it sparked a memory from earlier.
It didn’t. Darius only laughed. “Except that, yeah. I’ll admit to that.”
Gray finished his gig as his man’s personal nurse and didn’t quite know how to proceed afterward. He got up on his feet and bent down, and he kissed Darius hard, but he was at a loss for words. The fusser in him was chomping at the bit too, demanding to make sure Darius got something to eat.
“I love you.”
Darius kissed him once more, just a quick peck. “I love you too.”
“Let’s get some food in you. We’re having hot dogs.” Gray helped Darius up and slipped his shoulder under Darius’s arm. “You should call the boys after too. I talked to them earlier, and it took all my willpower not to drive over there.”
“Are they okay?”
“Yeah, but Justin’s getting fussy. He misses us.” Just saying those words put Gray’s chest in a vise, a feeling that got worse when he thought about not seeing the boys for another three days. Or four, depending on how long Darius lingered in Vegas.
“Oi!” Ryan came in from the patio just as Gray and Darius reached the living room. “Squeezy texted. We’re supposed to turn on the local news.” He picked up the remote from the coffee table and flipped through the channels until a very familiar truck appeared on the flat-screen.
BREAKING NEWS.
Gray’s eyes widened, and he couldn’t process the news fast enough. The text bar at the bottom of the screen rolled by quickly, revealing that an unknown number of young men and women had been recovered from being held by a human trafficking organization. The reporter spoke rapidly too; they were trying to get more information from the authorities, and there would be a press conference. The background of the video showed police officers, flashing lights, the truck, a hospital in Barstow—and the second truck now too. They’d all made it.
“They made it.” Darius let out a breath.
“…pulled over right here outside this gas station behind me. Samantha Rodriguez and Harry Olsen were working this morning when the young girls came in and asked them to call 9-1-1, and we have Ms. Rodriguez here…”
Gray blinked past the sting in his eyes and smiled.
“It’s breaking all over,” Ryan said.
No doubt, it was gonna be national news—if not international—before the day was over.
“Clock’s tickin’, then,” Darius deduced quietly. “It’s only a matter of time before the Feds find the compound.”
Gray peered up at him. “When’re we gonna blow it up?” Maybe the answer had changed. Shit changed all the time.
“We’ll push it as far as we can,” Darius responded. “You and Niko are out of here before midnight—Ry, you too—and Willow and I will keep an eye on things. It’s not the easiest place to find, so I wanna believe we have a few days before they either hunt down a driver or find the location some other way. They have to link the event to Lange before they start raiding his known addresses.”