Page 82 of Man of Honor
Wyatt was in front of me in an instant, decisive and commanding as always. Even if he stomped on my heart and rejected me right here, part of me was just relieved to have him taking control. He carried himself like the strongest man in theworld, and that’s what I needed right now, or I was going to go crazy. I wrapped my arms tightly around his waist and pressed my face against his stomach, holding on for dear life.
For a moment, I thought he was going to haul me to my feet, but he didn’t. His fingers threaded through my hair, stroking firmly, and then he gave a gentle tug, coaxing me to look up at him. I was caught instantly in his warm, steady gaze. There was no judgment there, no hesitation, nothing but love—unwavering and solid as a stone wall.
“I didn’t just save you back then,” he said in a low voice. “I was saving my future self. You became a part of me that day, and I didn’t even know it. Hell, I couldn’t have known. But those years weren’t wasted, Gage. Not a single one.” He tipped my face up further, forcing me to hold his eyes. “I got to watch you become the man you are now. Every minute was worth it, just to get to this moment, standing here with you. I’m so damn proud of you, Gage. You’re it for me, and I promise to spend the rest of my life proving that I deserve to be it for you.”
“Is that a yes?” I asked, feeling my lips twitch into a small, self-deprecating smile.
He cradled my cheek, heartbreakingly tender, swiping one callused thumb over the dampness I hadn’t even realized was there. “It’s a yes, baby. You and me, we’re more than our past. We’re a beginning. Whatever comes next…we’ll face it together.”
“Together,” I whispered, swallowing the lump in my throat.
For a moment, we stayed just like that: my arms locked around his waist, and his hand gentle on my cheek. Morning light warmed my back and fresh air filled my lungs. It was peaceful,but more than that, it was whole. Here, in this garden, our future had already taken root.
I’d never felt so content.
Wyatt broke the spell first, leaning down to brush his lips against mine. The kiss was slow, lingering, and filled with deep, earth-shaking promise.
The promise of forever…and we were just getting started.
EPILOGUE
Mason
The chapel was so quiet,it almost made me believe in a peace that didn’t exist. The scent of beeswax and old wood surrounded me, cut only by the barely-there perfume of the fresh flowers Loretta always left near the altar. Soft light filtered from the stained-glass windows, painting the old stone floor in fractured watercolors. It was beautiful in an austere way, a place where time felt slower, almost reverent.
But I wasn’t here for reverence. I’d turned the chapel into my makeshift office. The pew in front of me served as a desk while I sifted through paperwork I barely had the energy to read. The packet was thick, heavy with legal jargon and procedural minutiae, the kind of thing that would bore anyone to tears. Not me. I thrived on it—usually.
Today, the words were bleeding across the page no matter how thoroughly I cleaned my glasses. My focus kept slipping with every muffled sound echoing through the house. Footsteps. Laughter. The unmistakable timbre of Gage’s voice, booming with unrestrained joy as he and Wyatt played some chaotic game with the kids.
The sound should have annoyed me, but instead, I caught myself smiling. Gage deserved this happiness. Wyatt, too. After everything they’d been through, they’d earned this messy, sprawling joy. Even if it made my work impossible.
“Shouldn’t you be using Boone’s office for this? Or mine?” Gideon’s deep voice broke my flagging concentration, dragging me back to the present. I didn’t even have to look up to know he was leaning in the doorway, arms crossed, that slight tilt to his head that always made him look like he was seconds away from giving unsolicited advice.
“It’s quieter in here,” I replied, flipping a page even though I hadn’t absorbed a damn thing from the last one.
The heavy tread of his steps against the stone warned me he hadn’t taken the hint. “Quieter?” he asked incredulously. “With Gage hollering like that?”
My lips quirked despite myself. “You should hear them from the office. It’s chaos out there.”
“Chaos you could use,” Gideon said, lowering himself to the pew in front of me and draping his arms over the back. “You’ve been running yourself ragged too long, Mason. You don’t seem to know how to stop.”
I set the file down and peeled off my glasses, pinching the bridge of my nose to stave off my brewing headache. “I’m working,” I said evenly. “I can see how it’d be confusing, since I’m the only one of us with a real job.”
“You’re killing yourself,” he countered solemnly. The certainty in his tone sent a chill of warning down my spine. “First, it was the fast track to get your law degree. Then it was working as Boone’spersonal attorney. Now it’s the task force. You’ve kept up this inhuman pace for years, but Ben is free now. You can breathe.”
“He’s not free,” I shot back, sharper than I’d intended. I had no time or patience for this. “He’sout, sure, but he’s still wearing that damn ankle monitor. I can’t even visit my own brother without Colt’s approval. He’s not free, and he won’t be until he’s fully acquitted. You know that as well as I do.”
Gideon took a long, measured breath and squared his shoulders, the way he did when he had more to say but knew I wouldn’t listen. So—all the time. “You can’t carry the world on your back forever, Mason.”
I didn’t respond. Couldn’t. There was no point. Gideon was great at seeing people, but that didn’t mean he always understood. This was my burden. My fight. We were all brothers, blood or not, but Ben wasmine.My twin. I’d been protecting him since before we’d even drawn breath.
Gideon knew better than to press me. He left me to my silence, with only the soft click of the door to serve as a punctuation mark for whatever had been left unsaid.
I stared blankly at the gilded crucifix above the altar.
Maybe I couldn’t carry the whole world on my back, but I could damn well try.
I slouched down in the pew and loosened my tie. The paperwork had lost my attention. Instead, my focus drifted to the laughter echoing down the hall.