Chapter One

Ten Days Later

Briley Cross disconnected the burner cell phone and tossed it into her backpack; she stretched and glanced out the window at the emerging spring blooms and blossoms. She was still amazed that Pennsylvania was so mountainous – for some reason, she’d always thought that it was pancake-flat like its neighbor Ohio. The soaring peaks and rolling green hills were a pleasant surprise, one of the first that she’d had in a very long time. She’d always been attracted to contrasts, and the snowy, stern peaks looming over the lush, warm foliage was her idea of landscape heaven.

“Well, darlin’… how’s Elle doing back in Denver?”

She turned in the passenger seat to look at the drop-dead gorgeous man sitting next to her. Dark hair peppered with gray, dark blue eyes that always seemed to be twinkling with humor, a muscular chest with dark tattoos peeking out from the top of his tight white t-shirt. An utterly delicious male specimen, so gorgeous that despite them being stuck together in this van for the past week-and-a-half, Briley was still struck dumb when he smiled at her. She had a serious thing for eye-crinkles on a man, and Drake Keeler made them look sexier than anyone else alive. Well, anyone except –

“Yeah.” The voice came from the back of the custom-made van and she turned all the way around to see the mirror image of Drake lounging on the triple-seat, his massive arms stretched either side across its frame. His full lips were curved in a heart-attack-inducing grin: Dux Keeler in all his glory was (obviously) as breath-stopping as his twin brother. “How’s our former little flower coping with a life of freedom?”

“Yeah, it’s still so weird to remember that Elle used to be called Iris when she was in that cult,” Briley said. “She’s light-years from the Garden now though, and she sounds great. She’s making a real go of it, working for your MC in the bar kitchen. Says she’s saving money like mad so she can get that awful tattoo on her back all covered up.”

“And Viking?” Dux said. “Last we saw, they looked pretty serious about each other.”

“She didn’t say too much about him,” Briley said. “But what she did say was pointing in that direction… I think they’re in it together and for the long haul.”

“Good,” Drake said. “God knows Elle could use a decent guy in her life, and she can’t do better than our old Doctor Viking.”

“Wait, what?” Briley stared at him, astonished. “Viking is an actual doctor?”

“Not practicing anymore.” Drake spun the wheel as he spotted a roadside restaurant advertising two-for-one burgers. “But he’s still damn handy in certain circumstances… as I’m sure you’ve had the chance to notice.”

Briley looked at Dux again, remembering full well how Viking had removed the bullet from the back of his thigh after that shoot-out at the Garden. The red-headed giant had been in total control of the situation: his huge hands had been quick and confident with the scalpel, and surprisingly gentle when pulling the bullet out of Dux’s wrecked flesh.

She had been in shock after blasting that motherfucker Gideon smack in the heart, and she’d watched the impromptu surgery in the back of the van with a sense of disconnected unreality; even when she thought about it now, it still seemed like a bizarre dream. Still, it was funny that it hadn’t even occurred to Briley to wonder if Viking had any medical training. In her defence, though, it had been one hell of a past ten days and that was putting it mildly.

“As it happens, I did notice,” she said. “How is your leg, by the way?”

Dux straightened it in front of him with a wince. “Better. I’m glad we’re stopping, though. I could use a bit of a walk and a stretch.”

“Yeah, I bet you need a stroll.” Briley pulled on her coat, bracing herself for the chill and wind. “Plus you’re ancient, right? Need to keep those creaky old joints flexible, huh?”

Two pairs of stunningly-blue eyes stared at her now, surprise and amusement shining out as clear as day. The twins seemed to like nothing more than her teasing them, and she liked nothing more than having them both smiling at her at the same time, so it was win-win, really.

“Who you calling old, babe?” Dux said. “Just ‘cause you’re practically a tadpole at thirty-three –”

“So are you saying that I’m old too?” Drake said, switching off the ignition. “Because I’ll just point out that Dux is eleven minutes older than I am. Surely that counts for something?”

“Nope,” Briley said, batting her eyelashes at him. “Not one jot.”

“Not a single jot,” Dux said sadly. “Gosh. You’re jot-less.”

“It’s a tragic day, one with no jots,” Drake said. “How to carry on? How? How?”

“I guess us almost-forty-five years olds just have to lie down and wait for death.” Dux climbed out of the van, raised his gorgeous face to the sunlight. “But lunch first, right?”

“Yep,” his brother said. “Everything waits until after burgers. Thus has it always been, and thus shall it ever be.”

“Is that from the Bible?” Briley asked as they walked to the restaurant. “Is that the part that you wrote?”