“Ben.”
Mia’s voice snaps my eyes open, grabbing all of our attention so fast, it’s as if she’s shaking each one of us with it. The three women are standing at the edge of the yard where the tree line begins, Tessa and Beth flanking Mia’s side.
I get to my feet. Luke does the same. Ben steps forward as I look down at the phone in Mia’s hand.
“Ben.” Placing a hand on his shoulder, I’m ready to point out what I think brought the women down here, but he must already see it.
“Angel,” he whispers, his voice shattered. He moves through the trees and cups her face in his hands. Luke and I move closer.
Mia stares up at Ben, their foreheads touching. She smiles and he crushes his mouth against hers, lifting her off the ground. I collapse against the nearest tree, my legs ready to fail me as relief surges through my veins.
She’s smiling. She wouldn’t be smiling if it wasn’t good news.
Mia’s words are broken up by Ben’s frantic assault on her. I manage to pick out something about the lump being nothing, benign or some shit. That’s all I need to know.
“Thank fuck,” I say, rolling my head to the side. “Did you think he was going to hit me?”
I look over at Luke, expecting a response, an acknowledgement, something. He’s staring at Tessa like a man possessed.
Body stretched, eyes fixated on her with a darkening intensity, chest heaving in quick bursts. He moves past Ben and Mia, grabs Tessa’s face, and pulls her against him as his mouth drops to her ear. Her body goes still. Slowly lifting her eyes, she stares up at him for a long second, then nods. Luke kisses all over her face.
Beth takes a few steps to her left, blushing at the two of them.
Ben sets Mia down on her feet. “He’s sure?” he asks, keeping her in his arms. Mia nods her head. “Where was that fucker yesterday? He was supposed to call us. And why the fuck couldn’t we reach anybody all day? Does he know what we’ve been going through?”
Mia smiles. “He was in surgery all day. He apologized for that.”
“Give me the phone.”
“Why? So you can threaten his life?”
“Fucking right.” He kisses her again. “You’re really okay? We don’t need to worry about anything?”
“I’m really okay.”
Ben grabs her face again. “Mia, baby, I’m sorry I couldn’t . . .”
“Shh.” She silences him with a finger to his lips. “I love you.”
He closes his eyes, visibly relaxing, and kisses the top of her head. “I love you. So much.”
I push off from the tree. “I need a beer. Anybody else feel like they need one?”
Ben lifts Mia again. She squeals in his arms. “Fuck yeah. You know how close I was to hitting you?”
I smile at Beth as I walk through the trees. “You know how close I was to hitting you? Calling me pathetic, like I don’t know.”
Ben laughs. “You do need to handle that shit.”
I nod, looking from Beth to Tessa and Luke, who are standing a few feet away.
Luke lifts his head when we reach his side. Tessa’s climbing all over him like she needs his air to breathe, wrapping her limbs around his body.
“We’re going to head out,” he says, looking at the group, his hands planted on Tessa’s ass. “Really fucking good news, Mia. We’re all really happy you’re okay.”
“Soooo happy,” Tessa agrees, kissing Luke. She grabs his face and stares at his lip. “What the hell? Why is your mouth cut?”
“Sorry about that, man.”
Tessa glares at Ben after he speaks. “You hit him? Are you serious?”
“Ben, you didn’t.” Mia leans back to look into Ben’s face.
“It’s fine, babe. Your brother punches like a little bitch.”
Ben shifts Mia against him, flipping off Luke.
“Come on,” Tessa urges, pressing her lips against Luke’s neck. “We need to go,” she whispers.
The group of us head across the yard toward the house. I fall in next to Beth.
“Hey.”
She lifts her head, smiling gently. “Hey.”
“Wanna have a beer with me? Or do you need to go?”
Her lips pull down. “I would love to stay and have a beer with you, but I’ve missed several calls from the bar and one from my aunt’s house. The messages just tell me to call them, but I can’t reach anybody at either number. The answering machine at the bar keeps picking up.”
“Were you supposed to work tonight?”
“No, but maybe they need me to come in. That might be why they were calling me.” She looks ahead of us, smiling when Mia giggles against Ben. “I’m so glad everything’s going to be okay. She told us about what she overhead. About him not being able to live without her. That broke my heart.”
I turn my head, watching Ben carry Mia into the house, her hands threading through his hair while she kisses him. Beth and I continue down the driveway as Tessa and Luke get into their separate cars.
I look over at her. “Yeah, I realized I didn’t have shit to say to him after that. Not that anything I had already said to him did much of anything, besides piss him off more. I should’ve just stood there and offered myself up as a punching bag.”
Beth opens her car door, lifting a teasing eyebrow. “And mess up that pretty face? What about your service to the state of Alabama? You wouldn’t want to send all the women here packing, would you?”
I smirk down at her as she settles into her seat. Grabbing the door, I prevent her from shutting it. “I don’t care about all the women. Just a handful. As long as they stick around, that’s all that matters.”
She looks up at me, holding my stare through several deep breaths. Blinking away, she anxiously reaches for her belt. “I should go. Find out what’s going on with my aunt and uncle.”
She backs out of the driveway, hesitating to pull down the street when her eyes can’t seem to leave mine. I don’t look away when she finally manages to pull her attention to the road and drive away from the house.
She didn’t want to leave.
If she hadn’t gotten those phone calls, she’d still be here talking to me, smiling, getting comfortable with me again. That’s what I want, and I’m going to get her there. Fuck CJ. That’s my smile. Nobody’s making her that happy but me.
I step up to the front door, hand on the knob, listening to the sounds of Nolan giggling somewhere in the house. Ben and Mia need this time together, just them and the boys. After all this shit, it should just be the four of them, healing with each other. I don’t need to stick around for that.
I get in my truck and back out of the driveway.
Staying off the main roads, I take to the back ones I like to take when I’m not in a rush to get home. It’s after six o’clock now, so there’s no need for me to go back to the job site. Work’s closed for the day.
Windows down, I inhale the cool night air as it blows against my face. Silence surrounds me, the only noise being the wind whipping around the bed of the truck. The tight coils of tension in my shoulders slowly unravel. I focus on the road in front of me, the quiet night, the faint smell of flowers nearby. My phone rings on the seat and I glance down at the name flashing on my screen.