I swing my arm forward, release my grip, and let my axe fly.

In the half-second it takes to arc through the air, I can feel the buzz of excitement from the crowd vibrating in my blood, the warm summer breeze cooling the sweat on my skin. But most of all, I can feel Wendy’s presence. She makes everything around me brighter, more intense. I didn’t realize how muted my world was without her until she walked back into my life. And I’m going to do everything in my power to keep her from leaving a second time.

Starting now.

I hear the thwack as the blade sinks into the wood. Before I can even yank Hook’s bandana off, the deafening cheers tell me I’ve won. Sure enough, my axe is dead-fucking-center of the bullseye. Stretching my arms out to the sides, I crow at the moon then turn, just in time, to see Wendy Darling leaping at me. I catch her in mid-air and swing her around before setting her back on her feet.

“Peter, that was amazing!” Her smile is easy, and her blue eyes bright. Uptight Wendy has left the building, at last. And it only took a couple of beers and a fake contest to do it. “I can’t believe you actually did it!”

Capturing her chin with my hand, I arch a stern brow at her. “I know. That’s a problem we’ll have to fix.”

“What is?”

“You believing in me.” I give her a teasing wink just to see that pretty blush color her cheeks, but I’m not exactly joking. I do want her to believe in me. I want her to believe in us.

I release her to give her a second to let that sink in while I accept the congratulations and adoration due for an amazing win over an axe-throwing champion like Chief. Eventually, the crowd settles down and disperses to their previous entertainment, and my opponent makes his way over. He’s amused as hell as we clasp each other’s forearm in our usual way.

“That was ballsy, my friend. Damn fine win.”

My smile somehow gets bigger. “Yeah, I know. I’m sure you’ll get me next time. You hangin’ around?”

“No,” he says, turning serious. “Think I’ll go find my sister.”

Something doesn’t sit right with me about him wanting to check on Tiger Lily. The princess of the Piccaninny tribe is the most independent, self-reliant woman I’ve ever met, and she’s never once needed her older brother’s help. He never even got to intimidate her dates. With her ball-crusher rep, she does fine all on her own.

“What’s going on?” I ask. “Anything I can do to help?”

“Nothing right now. Just some things I’ve heard that I want to talk to her about.”

I nod. “Keep me in the loop. You know the Lost Boys think of both of you as extended family. We’re here for you, whatever and whenever.”

“Appreciate that, brother.” We clap each other on the shoulders then break apart. “Now go enjoy your prize. You earned it with that fucking stunt, man.”

“Yes, I did. Later, Chief,” I say, taking Wendy’s hand and leading her toward the house.

“Why didn’t you cuff him for cursing around me?”

I look back at her over my shoulder and the wry twist of her smile makes me chuckle. “Even I’m not dumb enough to lay hands on Gray Wolf, sweetheart.” I nod hello at Tink and Nick sitting on the back porch as we jog up the steps. “Besides,” I say as I hold the screen door open for her, “it’s not like I plan on cuffing everyone who swears in front of you. Just the Boys because they know better and still need to show you respect.”

She rolls her big, gorgeous eyes as she passes me. “Like the respect you showed me when you made me the trophy of a contest? What if you’d lost?”

“I wasn’t serious about making you the prize, woman. Chief knew that.”

“You’re lucky because I would have been serious. Seriously pissed.”

Stopping us at the bottom of the staircase off the kitchen, I press my forehead to hers. “I rarely lose, Wen, but I never lose when it matters. And you will always matter.”

She does that lip-biting thing that drives me crazy, spurring me on to my original goal, pulling her up the two flights of stairs that will take us to the third story of the house.

“Where are we going?”

“My room.”

She’s flushed and a bit winded when we reach the top, but I want to make her hot and breathless for entirely different reasons. I don’t bother turning the light on—she’ll want to explore and take everything in, and there’s nothing she needs to be looking at right now except me or the back of her lids when I finally kiss her.

And I am going to kiss her.

I shut and lock the door before positioning her against it. Bracing one of my hands high above her head, I settle my other one on her hip and lean in close enough that we share the same breath.

“Tell me why you quit your career to start party planning.”

“This again?”

I say nothing and wait her out.

“Why do you want to know so badly?”

“Because from the time you were young, you had plans on following in your father’s footsteps and helping people secure their futures—your words, not mine. It’s why you left to go to that fancy college.” It’s why you left me. “So, what changed?”

The only light in the room is from the half-moon outside, but it’s enough to see her pale eyes searching mine as she thinks about her answer. Or rather, which answer she’s going to give me—the truth, or another lie.

Finally, she says, “I missed the magic.”

“What magic is that, Wen?”

“The kind you brought into my life.” I hold my breath as she raises one hand and lightly strokes my jawline with her fingertips. “I needed a way to find it again. To find that spark of wonder in the world.”

I do my best to swallow past the brick in my throat and rasp out, “And you found it with party planning?” I don’t mean for it to come through, but the doubt is clear in my tone.

She drops her hand and exhales a quick laugh. “I know it sounds weird, and with some jobs not as much, but otherwise…yeah, I have.”

“How? Tell me how.”

I have so much time to make up for. Ten years is a long time to not see the girl you fell in love with once upon a time. In that decade apart, she matured mentally and physically, experienced things that shaped her and changed her.

And it all happened without me.

But now she’s back, and I’m hungry. Hungry to know her, to know who she is and who she still aspires to be. Hungry for her attention, her touch.

Her body.

Her heart.

I might not have her forever, but for however long I do have her, I will feast on everything she is, and everything she offers.

“I have a better idea. Why don’t I show you?”

“Okay, how are you going to show me the magic of party planning?”

“I’m doing an event a week from Sunday. You could come with me.”

“I’d like that a lot. Is it one of those black-tie things? I can check my closet, but I’m pretty sure the last time I wore something fancy was…well, never.”

She laughs softly, like she doesn’t want to disturb our shadows embracing on the floor. “No, it’s nothing like that. You’ll fit right in just coming as yourself, Peter Pan.”

“Great. Now that that’s settled…” I close what little distance is left between us. Bringing my hand up from her hip, I free her bottom lip like I did hundreds of times in another life. “You’ve always been so hard on this poor lip of yours,” I whisper, soothing it with the pad of my thumb.

Her breathing is shallow, and her gaze drops to my mouth, right where I want it. Dipping my head, I hover just out of reach, teasing my lips over hers, until her eyes flutter shut, and I know she wants this just as much as I do.

“I’ve been dying to do this from the moment you stepped into my shop.”

Then I claim her lips like I once claimed her heart—fully, almost desperately. Even growing up as I did, I’d never needed anyone. Not until Wendy. Not until I asked her for a kiss, and she gave me a thimble. From that moment on, I needed her like I needed air.

Wendy mewls in the back of her throat and opens to me, inviting me in with a tentative swipe of her tongue, and I take it. Anchoring one hand in the mass of waves and wrapping my other arm around her back, I lift her off the ground as I plunge inside the wet heat of her mouth with a growl. She wraps her legs around my waist, notching her sex over my throbbing cock that’s trying to punch a hole through my jeans, dragging a tortured groan from my chest.

I need to feel her beneath me, for her to feel my weight pressing her into the mattress and remember that she belongs to me as I much as I’ve always belonged to her. Crossing to my bed, I lay her down and cover her with my body, settling my hips into the heaven between her legs.

Fucking Christ, no woman has ever fit so perfectly with me, and I rock my pelvis against her as though driving my point home, even though she has no clue what I’m thinking. It doesn’t matter, though, because she gets the message, arching up and throwing her head back with a keening moan. I see my opening and go for her neck, licking, sucking, nipping every square inch as I grind my hips in small, agonizingly glorious circles.

Her nails score the bare skin on my shoulders. “Ohmigod, yes.”

My heart would beat right out of my chest if it weren’t for her breasts pressing against me and holding it in. But there’s too much material between us, and the soft cotton of her shirt is suddenly scratchy and offensive. It has to go.

Grabbing the bottom of her shirt, I pull it up and stop before I even get to see what color bra she’s wearing. “What,” I say, “is that?”

I can’t tear my eyes away from the sexy-as-hell jeweled star nestled inside her navel, but I can hear the blush in her voice. “To everyone else it’s just a belly button piercing. But for me, it’s a memory of how to find you.”

Second star to the right and straight on till morning.

God, I was such an idiot kid back then, it’s a wonder I was ever able to convince her to come with me. I was so young and ignorant about the world—being almost completely cut off from society will do that to you. Being around her made me nervous and sometimes self-conscious. Though I did my best to hide it, it caused me to say some pretty nonsensical things. Thankfully, she always seemed to like what I said, even if it was kind of dumb.

But I’m not that boy anymore, not where it counts. And I’m going to reward her for finding me again, even if it takes all night.

I fuse our mouths together again, our tongues tangling and bodies pressing in all the right places, when I hear three sharp knocks on my door.

“Go away!”

“Peter, you need to come outside, now.”

Through labored breaths, Wendy asks, “Is that Tink?”

I nod. “Get someone else to handle it, Tink. I’m a little busy right now.”

She snorts so loud I can hear it through the door. “Yeah, I just bet you are. But the cops are here arresting Starkey, and Hook is going apeshit. You’re the only one he’ll listen to, Peter.”

I grit my teeth. “Fuuuu—ugh.”

Wendy giggles. “Just say it.”

Scowling at her, I say, “Don’t tempt me, woman. I have to go down there, but you can stay up here if you want.” I reluctantly push myself up from the bed and pull on a T-shirt.

“No, I’ll go with you.” My cock screams at the unfairness as I watch her get up and set herself to rights again. Smoothing her hair back into place, she says, “I think maybe this is a good thing. We probably shouldn’t jump into…um, whatever…right away. You know?”

I do know, but I don’t agree. I think we should absolutely jump into anything and everything. But telling her that isn’t going to do much but scare her away, and the only place I want Wendy Darling is here.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I choke out with a smile, then open my bedroom door to a seething sprite on the other side.

Wendy offers a warm smile. “Hi Tin—”

“Took you long enough, jackass,” she tosses out at me before spinning on her heel and jogging down the steps.

“Tink, watch your lang—”

“Bite me, Pan!”

I scowl, not liking how rude Tink’s being to Wendy, but then again, I suppose that’s nothing new. Wendy, however, is laughing behind her hand, her blues eyes twinkling with amusement. “You’ve been upgraded from ‘silly’ to ‘jack’, I see.”

“Still an ass, though,” I say wryly. “Come on, let’s go wrangle some Pirates.”

“Sounds like an adventure.”

It does sound like one, but when we make it out of the house, reality isn’t quite as charming. Three squad cars are parked, their cherries spinning and lighting up the whole front half of the property. My room faces the back of the house, or I would’ve seen them as soon as they pulled up. The rest of the scene is one big shit show.

Two cops are holding Starkey down on the front of a cruiser as he struggles in his cuffs. Silas and Nick are doing their best to hold back Hook, who’s shouting obscenities at the cops, barricading him from getting to his friend and threatening to throw cuffs on him too.

“Stay on the porch,” I tell Wendy, not wanting her to get in harm’s way.

I give her a quick kiss and head down the steps. Before I even reach him, Hook wrests himself from the boys’ grip. With a beastly growl, he lunges forward and cold-cocks one of the officers right in the face, blowing his nose wide open. The cop doubles over, screaming in pain as blood gushes through his fingers.

I wrap my arms around Hook’s upper body and drag him to the bottom of the porch where I can pin him against the wooden railing. “Are you fucking insane? You want them to haul your ass away for assaulting a LEO?”

“Yeah, I do. They’re arresting him on bullshit charges. If they’re taking people in for no goddamn reason, they might as well take me, too, but they won’t.”

Hook’s eyes are wild as he pushes against the forearm I have across his chest. If his face is any indication, someone had already gotten a couple of hits in before the boys tried to restrain him. Looking over my shoulder, I notice one of the other cops favoring his right hand with swollen knuckles like he’d just used someone’s face as a punching bag.

And what Hook said doesn’t make sense, now that I think about it. Why isn’t he getting arrested? I just watched him assault a police officer to the point he’ll probably have to have his nose reset, and none of them are making a move to cuff his ass. It doesn’t make sense.

I look back at Hook, and suddenly I can see what others probably can’t. James is worried. Like, really fucking worried. For Starkey? But why? I’m pretty sure every other guy on Hook’s crew has done time, including Hook, and he’s never acted like this.

“What’s really going on here, man?” There’s a war going on behind those arctic blue eyes as he debates how much to tell me, or whether to tell me anything at all. And just when I think he might actually reach out for once in his miserable life, I see the iron gates slam shut.

“Starkey’s never been on the inside before.”

“Why so interested in Starkey’s well-being? I mean, other than the fact that he’s been one of your loyal lapdogs from the time we were kids. Smee did time. I don’t remember you getting all bent out of shape then.”

“Starkey’s too damn soft,” he says gruffly. “He’ll get eaten alive unless I’m there to protect him.”

“What’re they charging him with?”

“I don’t know, because they won’t tell me!” Hook’s voice goes from normal to shouting so loud the veins in his neck pop out, and he’s pushing on me to get free again.

One of the cops behind me calls out, “We told the kid and that’s all that matters.”

“Bullshit! Only thing you told me was my rights.”

Chancing a look over my shoulder, I see the two officers on Starkey yank him up from the hood and drag him to the back door.

“Captain!” he screams. “I didn’t do nothin’, I swear. I kept my nose clean like you said. You gotta believe me. I didn’t do nothin’!”

“I know. I’m gonna get you outta there. Keep your head down and don’t ask for trouble, you hear me?”

There’s a helplessness in Hook’s eyes and a sliver of fear shaking his voice that he’s trying desperately to mask with his signature gruffness. But I see his truth, and I’m more than shocked. I’m floored.

He claims Starkey has no more of a place in his life than any other member of his crew.

But he’s fucking lying.

He cares about that kid. He might even love him, in his own way. And that tells me everything I need to know about this situation. For now, anyway. Hook might not want to admit it, but on some level, buried way deep down, he’s my friend. He’s a Lost Boy. Family.

So I’m going to do everything I can to help him. Even if all it means is helping him cope with Starkey doing time until he gets out. Because let’s face it, it’s not like I have any connections with the law, so there’s probably not a whole helluva lot I can do.

Hook’s shoulders sag with defeat as the cops drive off with their alleged criminal, and I can finally release my hold on him. “I’m sorry, Hook, but you getting arrested with him wouldn’t have helped him any.”

Already his eye is starting to swell and the dried blood trailing from his lip into his beard cracks with his humorless laugh. “You’re so fucking naive, Pan. It’s a good thing you never left Neverland. The real world would swallow you up and spit you back out.”

I have no idea what he means by that, but he doesn’t give me a chance to think about it before he stalks off toward his motorcycle, the rest of his crew falling into line behind him.

“You’re welcome, by the way!”

His only response is flipping me off, which I’ve come to think of as Hook’s version of a high-five, so I return the lewd gesture, even if he doesn’t see it.

“Are you okay?” Wendy comes up beside me and rests a hand on my arm. “That was really intense. I can’t believe they didn’t arrest him for assault.”

“Yeah,” I say, the gears in my brain turning as I slip an arm around her waist. “Neither can I.”