With regard to me, he learned about Rogan Cassidy and my relationship to him months ago, but I haven’t seen him since I left.
Jarret assures me Lorne holds no ill feelings toward me, but I’ll be the judge of that. He has every right to resent me, and I’ll do everything in my power to prove my rightful place in his family.
I love Jarret, his best friend and brother, and I’m not going anywhere.
“You okay?” Jarret gives me a sidelong glance and tightens his hand around my fingers.
“Me? How are you doing?”
“Never been happier, Maybe.” He leans down and brushes his lips against mine.
A mechanical noise sounds at the gate, and he straightens. Activity stirs beyond the glass door of the building.
It’s happening. Lorne’s finally coming home.
My heart takes flight. My knees bounce, and…
My phone buzzes in my pocket. I grit my teeth.
Jarret glances at me. “You need to answer that. If it’s your landlord…”
“I know.” I’m trying to close up everything I left behind in Texas, including my lease on the apartment. “Terrible timing.”
I remove the phone and glance at the screen.
Private number.
He reads it with me and arches a brow. I shrug and connect the call.
“Hello?”
“You took something of mine.” John Holsten’s voice growls through the line. “I want it back.”
My pulse whooshes in my ears, and my eyes dart to Jarret’s, widening.
He yanks the phone from my hand. “Hello? Hello?”
His jaw sets, and he glances at the screen.
Disconnected.
“Who was that?” He searches my face, registering my alarm.
Conor and Jake lean around Jarret, giving me the same inspection.
“John Holsten.” I clear the lump in my throat and tell them what he said.
“He knows we’re here.” Jarret hooks an arm around my shoulders and wedges me against him.
“I agree.” Jake turns back to the gate as it slides open. “He’s trying to ruin this moment.”
“We won’t let him.” Conor stands between the guys, chin raised and eyes straight ahead.
Just like that, all worry and fear lifts and sweeps away with the warm breeze.
Together, we stand in a unified line as Lorne emerges through the gate. His eyes lock onto his sister, and she breaks into a run, arms outstretched and a shriek pealing from her lungs.
When she leaps into his embrace, I feel it.
It bubbles out of me in a burst of laughter. It circulates through the unbreakable bond of the four people around me. It glimmers in the golden eyes of the man at my side.
Love.
The most powerful healing force in the universe.