Jesus fucking Christ, he owed the Soul Weaver big. If he helped Dane get a handle on their situation and got him smiling again, then he owed Grey so very much. He wished he’d been able to do it, but all that mattered was Dane’s happiness.
“This time will be different. You will all make it—every single one of you.” Dane’s head popped up from where it had been resting against Clay’s shoulder and he delivered an incredibly stern look. “You and I have a long, long life to live together. We’ll have to do weird things like move when people start noticing we’re not aging. We’ll have to start over and over again.”
“You’d do that for me? Leave Georgia?”
Dane smiled. “We won’t have to leave for years yet, but yes, I would. I would do anything for you, including leave my home to start over somewhere new. A new adventure and a great big world to explore with all the time to do it together. We’re going to have a long, long life together, and I look forward to it.”
“Speaking of places outside of Georgia…” Clay said gently. He released Dane and looked around quickly. Right next to him was a sturdy dresser, so he hopped up on the smooth surface and pulled Dane between his legs. “I’ve been thinking about that cabin your in-laws want to sell. Would it be okay with you if we bought it?”
“What? We who?”
“We as in the Circle.”
A mini tornado of emotions flashed across Dane’s face and echoed through Clay’s chest. Too fast and numerous for Clay to even name.
“I-I don’t know what to say. I…” Dane paused and winced. “Not to be a total ass, but you were the one who said he didn’t have any money and needed a job.”
Clay sigh and gave a self-deprecating roll of his eyes. “Yeah, about that…”
“What?”
“I might have finally got Flo to sit down with me and talk finances. Sure, she’s got all the bills set up on auto-pay and she’s handed each of us these flashy bank cards with supposedly no limits, but I wanted to know exactly where the bottom is to the funds.”
“And?” Dane prodded, a slight wobble to the word.
A wry grin twisted Clay’s lips. “There ain’t no reaching this bottom.”
“What?” Dane took a step backward and looked as if his knees were going to give out, but Clay grabbed his arm and pulled him in again. He wrapped his legs around Dane, tucking his feet behind his legs to hold him upright.
“She dropped a file in front of me that was easily three inches thick.” He held up his index finger and thumb to show the size of the folder. “It was all the investments, bank accounts, hard assets, properties, and vaults holding bullion and other priceless items we’ve apparently collected over the years. Even if we were to divide it all up evenly between us, we’d all still walk away billionaires.”
“Holy shit,” Dane breathed. “No wonder they haven’t given a shit about what I spent on this house.”
Clay chuckled. “Nope. Go crazy. And I’m definitely getting my secret passage in the library.”
“Oh, yeah.” He still sounded stunned and completely overwhelmed.
“And it means we can buy the cabin.” Clay brushed a kiss across his temple. “Even if it takes you a hundred years to be comfortable with the idea, it will be up there waiting for you when you’re ready. Katie and Caleb are a part of who you are, and that cabin represents that piece of your past. I don’t want you to lose that. And if your in-laws ever get past the pain and want to visit it again, at least it will be in the hands of family.”
Dane hugged him tight, burying his face in his neck. “Thank you. Thank you so much!”
“I love you, baby,” Clay said, his voice breaking. “We’ll make this work.”
“Yes, we will. We have love on our side. The aunts seem to think that’ll make a difference.”
“It will.” Clay nuzzled the side of Dane’s head, drawing his earlobe into his mouth. He sucked on it, wringing a long moan from his lover. “Now, where were we earlier?”
Dane pulled away enough to smile at him. “About to go to our room for a shower. We got pretty dirty going through this stuff.” Dane looked down at the trunk before kneeling and beginning to fold everything back up to place neatly in the box. “You really think he died early, and that’s why they moved his stuff up here?”
“I do.”
Dane picked up the wallet and looked at the license inside. He ran his finger over the face of the young blond. “He looked sweet.”
“I have a feeling he is. We just have to get him here before the pestilents find him.”
“God, it breaks my heart that these men went through this loss in the past. You can tell just by the way this trunk is put together that they loved him.”