And in two days, she’s going to be my wife.

Mine.

***

(Maddox)

I walk past Chelcie while I choke down a lump the size of fucking Texas. I purposely sideswipe Emmy when I see her standing just behind us, her eyes full of tears. Fuck. It kills me to see her hurting. Fucking breaks me. I want nothing more than to pull her into my arms and promise her the world.

But I keep walking.

She deserves so much more than me—a broken man with nothing but the trail of pain behind him.

I want to laugh when I remember Asher telling me about the darkness that was surrounding him. He acted like there was no way I could understand his situation. There’s no doubt about it—he had a shit run. Losing Coop cut us all deep, so I can only imagine that the slice he took losing his brother cut him to the core.

And if he had darkness closing in on him, then I’ve been stuck in a black fucking hole. I know darkness. It’s my best fucking friend. It’s tainted every inch of my soul.

And that’s why I am terrified to let Emmy in. To risk my angel becoming tainted with the shit that swirls around me.

She’s pureness. She’s the definition of everything I don’t deserve.

I snag a beer out of the fridge and go sit in the living room. Silent as always. Listening to all of the people I care about laugh and love. Meanwhile, I keep my mouth shut, afraid that, if I let my guard down—if I let them in—I will destroy them all.

I hear Asher announce from where he’s standing in the kitchen that he and Chelcie will be getting married this week. Good for them. Chelcie looks at me and gives me a wink. I shake my head and look away. Right into the steaming-mad eyes of Emersyn Rose Keeze. I hold her gaze and wait to see what she will do next.

“You’re fucking unbelievable,” she mumbles, almost low enough that I don’t catch it.

And like the idiot I am, I egg her on. “What was that, Em?”

Her eyes flash. Her porcelain skin turns pink, and she jumps up from where she was sitting at the kitchen table. The chair falls to the floor in a loud clatter that draws the attention of the room.

Fucking great.

She storms over to me, grabs my beer from my hand, and takes a large pull before handing it back to me.

“Look at you. Sitting there silent as always. You’re in a room full of people who love each other. People who have fought their demons in order to be together. They had the strength to battle anything that stood in their way. The courage to push away from uncertainty of the unknown. And what does Maddox Locke do? He sits back and gives everyone else around him advice on how to make that happen! He fights for them, but he refuses to fight for himself. FOR ME! Well guess what, buddy? I’m sick of it. I love you FOR you. I never gave a damn about your past, those secrets you hide so deep. I’ve been willing to fight for you. Battle those demons that shake your doors at night. And while I’m at it, I might as well just go for broke, right?” She laughs, and it sounds so empty. “I never gave a damn about you having one leg. You think you’re slick hiding it, but I see you! I didn’t love you for whatever limbs you have or don’t have. I want you for your heart, and I won’t settle for anything less.”

She stomps over to Asher and Chelcie, gives them a hug, and apologizes for ruining their night—to which, of course, they assure her that she didn’t. The whole time she’s talking to them, Asher is throwing silent daggers at me with his eyes.

I’m left there, my jaw slack, and a million doubts running through my mind. And for the first time in too many years, that small flame of hope starts to flicker.

Epilogue – Chelcie

Ugh. I feel terrible. My back has been killing me all day. Of course it doesn’t help that I went crazy pregnant woman and cleaned every inch of the house I could reach yesterday.

My due date has come…and gone. I’m so beyond ready to meet our baby that my anxiety is making me crazy. Asher is just as bad. He’s been calling me every hour, on the hour, for the last three days. Ever since I passed my due date, it would seem that I transferred over my basket-case persona to him.

And it is driving me nuts.

So here I am on this perfectly sunny day, surprising my husband with lunch at work. He hasn’t been terribly busy lately, just going in for a few hours a day. With him and Maddox working the computers and technical team at Corps Security, they’ve been able to ease the workload considerably.

I pull myself out of my brand-new Audi, a wedding present from Asher, and hike up my pants in a move that I’m sure is sexy as hell. I pull at the edges of my shirt to make sure it’s covering my stomach before I reach in the car and grab the bag of lunch I picked up from Asher’s favorite Mexican restaurant. The smell of it has almost caused me to wreck the damn car a few times on the way over.