Page 239 of Mountain Men Heroes
She threw her hands up and spoke to him in her drill sergeant voice. “Leave me out of this, Sawyer. This is between you and Clara and as far as I’m concerned, it’s long overdue.”
I sent her a quick smile of thanks before turning my attention back to my fuming brother. “I love you, Sawyer. I love everyone in our family. But I’m done living my life according to your rules?—”
“If you think I’m going to let you run off to play in bars?—”
I held up a hand. “Enough. You don’t let me do anything. If you had caught me one of the million times I snuck out in high school and mom and dad grounded me, that would be one thing. But I am over twenty-one. You don’t let or allow or forbid or give me permission to do anything. It might not have sunk in yet, but I am a grown-ass fucking woman and only I get to decide what to do with my life. You can voice your concerns, and I promise to consider them. But at the end of the day, all decisions about my life get made by me and only me!”
Just as I was running out of steam, the bell over the door rang and Eeli stormed in. Perfect. I was already on a roll.
I whirled to face him and pointed at him. “And you. You’re my soulmate. And I get that it means something deeper than just love. But you don’t get to decide to run off and leave me behind. You want to make me happy? You stay here and we figure out how to work things out between us.”
Eeli didn’t hesitate. He lunged forward and snatched me around my waist and clutched me close to his broad, warm chest and my world slipped back into place.
“And you,” he growled into my ear, “don’t get to run off crying and not telling anyone where you are. We’ve been looking for you for hours, woman. I nearly lost my fucking mind. Dyson too.”
I could hear the fear in his voice and it melted all the anger right out of me. I glanced over his shoulder and through the glass double doors, expecting Dyson to come storming in at any moment.
When he never showed up, I pulled back from Eeli a bit. “What, is Dyson so mad he’s waiting in the car? He doesn’t want to see me?”
“Shit.” Eeli let me go and grabbed his phone from his pocket. He quickly typed in a text before looking back up at me. “We split up to cover more ground. I just let him know you’re safe.”
The last words turned into a fierce growl I felt to my soul. He prowled back to me and pulled me into his arms.
“Eeli, you and Dyson split up?” I asked softly.
He grunted. “Yeah, we’ve both been going crazy not knowing where you were in case you missed the memo.”
I stared up at him wide-eyed before shooting a look over at Sawyer and Trinity. I was sure my expression matched theirs.
“How long ago did you split up?” I asked carefully, trying to not let a wash of hope overtake my emotions.
Before Eeli could answer, Dyson pulled up out front. I watched as he threw open his door and marched inside. He didn’t pause a moment, even after his gaze skimmed over Sawyer. He walked right to us and yanked me out of Eeli’s arms into his own. Eeli followed behind me, molding his front to my back and in seconds I was cocooned between my men.
“Don’t do that again, baby. Please God don’t do that again to us,” Dyson growled, his mouth close to my ear, making me shiver.
I melted into him, but I wasn’t about to give up my newfound independence. “And you don’t talk about reenlisting and leaving me again.”
He pulled back just enough to look down into my face. “You heard us?”
“I did. You did a good job of breaking my heart that either of you would consider leaving me.”
His eyes closed briefly and then he leaned forward and nuzzled against my temple. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. We just hate the thought of getting you involved in all this messed-up stuff. We didn’t mean to hurt you. I doubt they’d take us in our condition anyway.”
Eeli eased a hand soothingly up and down my back, his gesture reinforcing Dyson’s words.
“I understand that, but the only thing that would hurt me is if you two left me.” I gave Dyson a hard look and glanced over my shoulder to include Eeli in my scolding. “You don’t get to leave me. And as far as things being messed up…you two do realize you’ve been apart for hours while you looked for me, right?”
I kept my eyes glued to Dyson’s face so I got to see the emotions that passed over it. He raised his eyes to look at Eeli over my shoulder. “You were okay?”
“Yeah. You?”
Dyson nodded.
I grinned up at him feeling a bit cocky. “See. You’re already better being with me. You two need me.” And I needed them.
Dyson grinned down at me, his hands flexing on my hips. “No doubt about that, sweetheart.” His grin became even more boyish as he included Eeli in his glance.
I had to swallow as tears clogged my throat. This time tears of happiness, not fear or heartbreak. This was the first ray of hope we had that Eeli and Dyson would settle into a more normal life after so much death and loss.