Trey sets his bowl down. “June didn’t give us much—just started talking shit about the doc—but signs look good. So… is it true? Mac’s out tomorrow?”
“If you’re going back to her place, we are too,” Chace adds. “We’re not letting you do this solo.”
For a second, I can’t speak. The quiet kind of emotion rises, that unspoken kind of warmth that moves straight through you.
“Shit, guys… I didn’t want to presume.”
“Careful, Yogi,” Trey teases between mouthfuls. “You’re almost sounding like a non-broody functioning human.”
Chace rolls his eyes and casually dips a finger into Trey’s cereal.
Trey gasps dramatically. “Chace! What the actual—?”
“Come on, Logan,” Chace says, ignoring him. “We’re a family. How could we do any less?”
Trey huffs. “Don’t fuck with my food, Chace. And why couldn’t Sam have done the family speech? Would’ve been way more emotional. Proper gravitas.”
Mac’s coming home tomorrow.
After everything—the accident, the hospital, the bruises I still see every time I close my damn eyes—she’s coming back. Back to the house on the edge of the meadow. The white porch. The swing we used to fight over. The one she always swore she’d repaint and never did.
And I get to take her there.
“I’m picking up Braden’s Charger in the morning,” I say quietly. “Gonna drive her home. Thought it might feel right… bringing her back in his car.”
Sam nods, solemn. “That’ll mean everything to her.”
“In the beast?” Chace raises a brow. “You sure you remember how to handle that thing?”
“It remembers me,” I smirk. “You just gotta talk nice to it.”
Sam claps a hand to my shoulder. “We’ll meet you there later. Give you two a head start.”
Trey points his spoon at me. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“That doesn’t leave a lot, Baker. Now clean up your damn mess.”
Laughter breaks out again—easy and warm—but then Trey pauses, paper towel in hand, going quiet. Too quiet. Not Trey Baker at all.
I watch him.
“You good?” I ask, stepping closer.
He doesn’t look up. “Kinda fucked, to be honest.”
He slides down the cabinet, sitting on the floor, legs stretched out in front of him.
Chace, Sam, and I all move in. I half expect this to be a bit. It’s not.
I crouch, forearms on my knees. “Talk to me.”
Trey exhales. Finally meets my eyes. There’s something raw there. Off.
“I may have worn out my welcome in Portland.”
Chace snorts. “Not shocking. You mess with the wrong person?”
Trey shrugs. “Got a pastor after me.”
