Ma sets Eden up in the guest room, which is my old bedroom. Smiley and I unload the car. I come back in just as Ma is bringing Alix’s sister some toast and Advil.

“This will settle your stomach,” she says. Eden tells her she isn’t hungry, but Ma’s not taking no for an answer.

“You don’t think you’re hungry, but you need to eat anyway,” she admonishes. “You’ll feel better, I promise.”

Eden more or less obediently takes the pill and picks up a piece of toast from the plate. Ma nods approvingly and leads Alix and me back out into the living room.

“Okay. We’re good here. I’m gonna have Gunner take you home for now,” she tells Alix, glancing up at me.

“What? No!” Alix shakes her head stubbornly. “Lucy, I can’t go anywhere now. Eden needs me!”

“Your sister’s gonna need you even more in the coming days,” Ma says, her voice firm. “It’s better for right now that you not be here. She needs someone to talk her through what’s going to happen next, and it’s better if it’s not family. Smiley will stay here with me tonight, just in case. Go get some rest, and come back tomorrow. We’ll take shifts with her until she’s better.”

“Come on, babe,” I murmur, holding out my hand for Alix to take. “Ma’s right. I know patience isn’t your strong suit, but you’re gonna need a lot of it for the next few days.”

Alix allows herself to be led out to my bike and gets on behind me. From the front stoop, Ma waves to us both, then goes back inside.

I take Alix back to my place instead of the clubhouse. Once we’re inside, I pick her up and carry her wordlessly into my bedroom. I think she’s gonna be too emotionally exhausted to do anything but sleep. But when I set her down on the bed, she looks at me with those light brown doe eyes of hers, and I instantly know what she wants.

Alix reaches to cup the rising bulge in my pants. “Please, Gunner,” she half-whimpers. “I just need to forget for a while.”

Groaning, I pull her into my arms and look down into her fucking gorgeous, fawn-colored eyes. “I can make you forget, babe.”

I kiss her, soft at first, but she responds with an urgent need that matches the one I’m trying to hold back. She clutches at the fabric of my T-shirt, and I let her yank it off me. Her hands roam over the muscles in my chest and arms, almost like she’s checking to make sure I’m real. I’m real, all right. I’m here, and I’m hard as hell, and I’m all for her.

Growling with an aching need that I know she feels, too, I strip her down and kick off my jeans. When we’re both naked, instinct takes over. We move like our bodies were made for each other. We kiss and bite and lick like it’s the last time we’ll ever be together. I fuck her like our lives depend on it.

When Alix clings to me and flies over the edge, her channel clutching hard at my aching cock, I finally let myself let go. I come so hard it’s like I’m emptying every ounce of myself inside her, joining myself to her until it’s impossible to tell where one of us ends and the other begins. And it’s still not enough. I still want her. Need her. I know it will never be enough.

Afterward, we lie together, my arms holding her tightly to me.

How bad is it going to be?” she asks me in a small voice.

“The first three to four days will probably be the worst,” I tell her. She’ll find out soon enough anyway. It makes sense to be honest with her, so she knows what’s coming. “I’m assuming Eden wasn’t using junk until Gonzalo started shooting her up. So she won’t have been addicted for very long. She should be detoxed in a week or so.”

Saying Gonzalo’s name makes bile rise in my throat. Even though he’s already dead, I wish I could kill him a second time. Gonzalo Medina and the disgusting trash he ran with will never hurt any woman again, though. The Lords have seen to that.

I shake those thoughts from my head. I need to stay present, for Alix. “Eden will need some help to stay off, though,” I continue, reaching up to stroke her hair. “Heroin’s a powerful drug. It creates a pull in you that’s hard to resist, once you know what it’s like. We’re gonna need to be strong for her. Until she can be strong for herself.”

“Thank you for helping me get her back, Gunner,” she says in a small voice. “I know I keep saying it. But thank you.”

“Of course, babe.” I kiss the top of her head. The familiar scent of her shampoo fills my nostrils.

I’d do anything for you.

I can’t imagine not smelling that shampoo scent anymore. I don’t even fucking know why, but it gets me every time. It’s Alix’s smell. I’ll have to throw out the fucking pillow she uses after she leaves. If she leaves.

“Alix,” I say.

“Can I ask you a favor, Gunner? You’ve done so much for me already, but… Can I stay with you just a little longer? Just until Eden’s better.” Her tone turns apologetic. “Your mom offered, but she really doesn’t have the room, with Eden already there.”

I’m feeling kind of choked up. I need to say something, but I’m trying to think of the words.

“Yeah. Of course,” I say instead. “I just assumed you were gonna stay here.”

“Thank you.” She reaches over and gently kisses my cheek. “After Eden’s… okay,” she continues, almost to herself, “I don’t know what she’ll want to do.”

“Patience. Remember?” I tell her. “That’s a long way off. A week, at least. And it’s gonna be a long week. It’s eons away.”

“I know.”

“Alix.”

“Yeah?”

“You saved her. You know that, right?” I turn my head to look at her. “No matter what happens now. What she does. You saved her, from something serious. Whatever happens between you now as sisters, know that. You don’t have to feel bad, or guilty, for anything that’s happened in the past between you.”

“I do.” She says it, but I know she doesn’t quite believe it. “I just wonder if she’ll want to come back to Lynchburg with me.”

Back to Lynchburg. The words feel like a knife going through me.

“What’s back in Lynchburg for you, Alix?” I ask gently.

“Nothing, really,” she admits with a sigh. “Mom’s house is already foreclosed on. I couldn’t stop the process if I wanted to, and frankly, I wouldn’t have the money to do it anyway. And I lost my job, such as it was, by coming here and taking more time off than my boss let me have. So…” I feel her shrug. “I’ll have to start over.”

“Then, if there’s nothing for you in Virginia,” I say, lifting her chin with my finger, “why don’t you think about starting over here, instead?”

“You mean, here in Tanner Springs?” she asks uncertainly.

“Yeah,” I say. “And here, in my bed.”

Alix sits up abruptly. Her eyes go wide and almost wary. “Gunner, what are you saying?” she whispers.

“You know damn well what I’m saying,” I retort, my voice gruff with emotion. “Ever since I saw you across the bar telling off a man twice as big and three times as strong as you, I haven’t been able to take my goddamn eyes off you. And I’ve spent every day since trying not to think about what was gonna happen when we got your sister back and it’d be time for you to leave.”

I lean in and kiss her hungrily. Just like always, her body responds instantly to mine. I fist my hand in her hair; her tongue twines around mine as she moans into my mouth. When we break apart, we’re both breathless.

“Why the fuck would you leave, Alix?” I ask. “I know damn well you don’t want to.”

“No,” she whispers, biting her lip. “I don’t.”

“Then shut up and stop talking about it,” I chuckle, and pull her against me again.

“But… I can’t just live with you,” she protests.

“Dammit, woman,” I growl. “Are you gonna fight me on this? Why the fuck not?”

“Because…” She trails off. “I don’t know. It’s too early? We barely know each other?”

“Are you saying this because you don’t want to, or because you think I don’t want you here?”

“I’m saying it because…” Alix lets out a shaky breath. “I guess because I’m a little scared.”

“Scared of what?” I frown. “Of me?”

“Scared that this isn’t real,” she murmurs. Her eyes grow moist. “That I’ll want it too bad, and it’ll just… go away. Evaporate. I haven’t had anyone to… count on… to care for me… in so long, Gunner. On my own, it’s hard but…” She sniffs and swallows painfully. “I’m at least used to it, I guess.”

A tear runs down her cheek. I wipe it away with my thumb.

“Babe,” I rasp. “I couldn’t stop taking care of you if I tried. I didn’t even see it happening, but it turns out, I’m in love with you.”

“Gunner?” She whispers my name like it’s a question. She’s looking at me like she can’t believe what she’s hearing.

I bend down and kiss her again, tenderly. “Yeah, I said it. I love you. And that ain’t gonna change.”

“I love you, too.” Her voice cracks. More tears start to run down her cheeks, but this time she’s grinning.

I have to swallow a couple of times before I can talk.

“So, stop worrying about me. About this,” I say gruffly, pulling her into my arms. “Let’s worry about getting your sister well again. Everything else will sort itself out. Deal?”

She laughs wetly, and snuggles against my chest.

“Deal,” she agrees.