“So, uh, hey,” I say as we sit in my truck. “I’m gonna start driving now.”

She’s shivering, her face white as a ghost.

We wrapped Arthur in the throw rug and carried him down the steps without any incident. She popped the tailgate for me as I heaved him in the bed of the truck. She tossed her duffle bag over the back seat as I helped her get inside and buckled her seatbelt tight.

She’s staring off into space, her lips moving, but no words coming out.

“I’ll send some prospects down tomorrow to finish cleaning up. We’ll get your car and you can go wherever you need to go.”

She goes to look in the rearview mirror, but between her badly chopped orange hair and the blood all over her face, I have a feeling she’s going to freak out. I reach up and turn the mirror to the side.

“Maybe we don’t do that just yet,” I suggest.

“That bad, eh?” she finally says, breaking the silence.

“I mean, I still think you’re beautiful.”

She puts her head in her hands as if she’s about to cry, but instead a roar of laughter fills the air.

“Fuck, Gavin,” she says through bursts of giggles, “Am I misfit enough to join you up on that mountain?”

“Well from where I’m sitting right now, I think you’d even give my old man a run for his money.” I pull off to the side of the road and kiss her hard, cupping the back of her head in my hands. Tasting her lips again after all this time fulfills me. This is exactly what’s been missing from my life. I don’t want to ever stop, but we have the rest of our lives to do that. I just need to get us back to the farmhouse in one piece.

“Take me home, Gavin,” she sighs, resting her hand on my thigh. The sweetest words I’ve ever heard coming from the only person I want to hear them from. We take the trip up the mountain in complete silence, but there are no words needed to fill in the blanks of our time apart. It sucked, and now it’s not going to anymore. She’s so easy. We’re so easy.

I don’t even bother pulling the truck into the garage, just drive straight up the driveway to the front door. The party is still going in full force, and even though I know everyone will be more than happy to see her and talk to her, I don’t want to overwhelm her.

“Straight to the shower?” I suggest. “I’ll send Ollie up with your bag?”

She presses her lips to mine gently. “Sounds good.”

“We’ll get rid of that,” I say, motioning to the back of the truck. “You’ll never have to worry about him again.”

“Thank you,” she whispers. “Just… thank you.” Her face is slick with tears, but she’s smiling.

I get out of the truck and drop the tailgate, my brothers gather around in the dark, watching in fascination. Hopefully I can distract them long enough that she can slip inside unnoticed.

“What ya got there, bud?” Brooks asks, confusion on his face. “You get a new rug?”

I pull back the corner, exposing the corpse with the half blown off face while he bends over and starts dry heaving.

“Well ain’t that something,” Heat laughs.The truck door swings open, and Sloan steps out, offering a weak smile and wave to my crew before turning for the porch steps.

“Holy shit,” Brooks mutters. “She looks like a cheese doodle dipped in ketchup. Still sexy, but damn, Gavin, what did you do to her? You were only gone for a couple hours.”

“You still haven’t figured out how this dating thing works, have you, son?” Heat chuckles. “Dinner and a movie. Not gunshots and haircuts.”

“I have a feeling this is a long story,” Clutch says, grabbing the rug and heaving it over his shoulder with a grunt. “And I want to hear all of it. But let’s do something about this first.”

Olive pushes through the crowd, waving her arms, screaming my name.

“Where is she? Did you get her?”

I smile and hug her close. “Her bag’s in the back of the truck. She’s in the shower. I told her you’d be up.”

“What’s that?” she asks, motioning to the rug.

“Arthur,” I say.

“No,” she whispers hoarsely.

“I think you should go talk to her,” I urge.

“You better be up soon,” she scolds. “Sloan and I might be best friends, but it’s your turn now, too. You’re gonna be the one she needs to talk to when she’s going through shit. It’s your turn to be her best friend.”

“I know,” I assure her. I want nothing more than to be holding her in my arms right now, comforting her, promising her that I will never let anything like this happen to her again as long as she lives. “But first I gotta find a nice tree to string this fucker from. The bears sure will be happy.”

She turns and leaves, grabbing Sloan’s bag and making her way inside.

“So this is actually happening, huh?” Goob pulls me aside with a snarl on his face. “I’m sure you won’t last much longer as vice president if Dad and I have anything to say about it.”

“Fuck the title,” I say to him. “You and Dad do whatever you want. These men here have my back. And so does she. Things are going to change around here, Goob. You’re gonna have to choose what side you want to be on.”

Brooks whistles. “You coming?” he shouts.

“You coming?” I ask Goob. He turns his back and disappears into the darkness.

I join my men, my main crew, my merry band of Misfits as we use our cellphone flashlights to navigate through the woods, taking turns carrying the load, laughing all the way.

Nothing can ruin my mood tonight. I’ve got my family by my side and my lady waiting for me. We’ll deal with the rest of the details when everything calms down, but right this moment, my life is perfect.