She blinked hard as she turned the small crystal in her hands. It was warm to the touch and one side of it had a bunchof sparkly patches, and one side was smooth and fit her thumb perfectly. “Is this for my pocket?”
He nodded.
“I love it, love it, love it,” she told him excitedly as she shoved it deep into her pocket. She would carry it everywhere for good luck.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked. “Shifter life can be messy.”
“Good thing I already have experience,” she said, twitching her chin toward Cold Foot Crew.
“It would be best for you if you were settled and had support. You have Harley here, and the girls. And I know Jess. When she’s in her right mind, she’s a good friend. She’ll try to make this up to you. She’ll pull you in. I want you to be happy, not uncertain.”
“I want you to be happy too.”
He snorted. “I don’t know what happy is.”
“I mean…you smile a lot with me and made a purple rope with me.”
He grinned again, and looked back at the Cold Foot Crew, who were milling around the firepit. A couple of the guys were dragging a big blue cooler from Cash’s house. “The Crew will be good, but it’s you and me first,” he murmured, cupping her cheeks again. “If ever you aren’t happy, you tell me, and I’ll fix it.”
And she could hear the oath in his voice.
The memory of Aaron’s picture in the hospital Mom had showed her flashed across her mind.
The vision of him fixing her battery flashed across her mind.
The memory of how she felt when she’d realized he had fixed her headlights flashed across her mind.
His oath held weight.
Tawkwouldfix it, whatever it was, whatever came.
And she was going to do the same for him.
“Are we doing this?” she whispered, hope building in her chest.
A slow, handsome smile stretched across his face and reached his eyes. “You and me.”
Her face crumpled and her eyes spilled tears, but not from sadness. Joy had done this to her.
Tawk leaned down and sipped at her lips, his hand gentle against the side of her neck, and then he slid his big strong hand around hers and led her toward the fire pit.
“I vote yes,” he said as they reached the edge of the flickering firelight.
The blur of celebration and hugs after that filled Tammy’s heart. She had come to Wreck’s Mountains tonight with this deep sensation that something was wrong, but everything had turned out right.
Tawk was going to be in the Cold Foot Crew, and from the way they were talking, Tammy was being brought in officially too. Cash pried open the lid to the cooler, and iced down drinks were tossed around, and for the next hour, they just enjoyed the high of everything being set right.
Jess hung on the outskirts, a small smile painting her lips, but she seemed to just be taking it all in. It was Tawk who gestured her over and pulled her in for a side-hug.
“We’re good,” he murmured. “You did good. You stopped it.”
“Apologizing is hard,” she admitted. “I feel completely drained now.”
“But you did it,” Tammy said. “I respect the hell out of that.”
Jess nodded, and looked like she wanted to say something, but then changed her mind.
“What?” Tammy asked.
