Sunlight (Haven River Ranch)

The sound of a car door slamming dragged me from sleep. I came instantly awake at the noise, my eyes popping open.

My body was curled around Sasha’s, her back pressed against my chest. Her face was buried in a pillow, her mouth slightly open.

I peeled myself away, trying not to shift the bed as I slid out from beneath the covers.

But when the mattress dipped, she stirred. “Jax?”

“Someone’s here.”

She pushed up onto an elbow, shoving her hair away from her face. “Who?”

“I don’t know. Go back to sleep.”

It didn’t surprise me in the slightest that she whipped the sheets from her legs and climbed out of bed, scanning the floor for her clothes.

“Here, babe.” I swiped up my T-shirt and tossed it over, before pulling on my jeans.

She tugged the cotton over her head, the hem hitting her below the ass. Then she shimmied into her panties. Her lip curled when she picked up her slacks.

If she wasn’t at work, she liked her sweats.

I ducked into the walk-in closet, grabbed a flannel off a hanger and a pair of folded sweatpants, handed them over. “You can wear these.”

“Thanks.”

The clock on my nightstand glowed 1:14 a.m. If someone was here this late, something was wrong.

“Maybe I should just go home,” she said as she pulled on the pants, rolling the waistband three times so they’d stay on her hips.

“Don’t go.” Not a chance I was letting her walk home alone in the dark, even if it was only fifty yards.

“Okay.” She pulled on the flannel first, the sleeves draping well past her fingertips, while I grabbed a hoodie and yanked it over my head.

Then, when we were both dressed, I clasped Sasha’s hand and walked out of the bedroom.

A faint knock sounded at the front door. Through the living room windows, I spotted Emery’s Jeep parked out front. “Fuck. It’s Emery. This can’t be good.”

Emery was the type who was in bed by nine. If she and Calvin were fighting, it was usually right after they both got home from work. He’d come home in a shit mood and take it out on her, which was the equivalent of chasing her out of the house because rather than argue, she’d just leave. These days, she seemed to always have an overnight bag at the ready.

Either they’d been fighting late tonight, or the fight they’d started early had lasted hours.

“Come on in,” I hollered, since I hadn’t bothered flipping the lock earlier. The lights were still on in the kitchen and living room too.

When Sasha and I had crashed, we’d crashed.

The door’s knob turned, and its hinges made their sweeping sound before it clicked shut behind her. The thud of her shoes hitting the floor as she took them off carried through the house.

“I’m so sorry to come this late, Jax.” Emery sniffled, emerging from the entryway. The second she spotted Sasha, her eyes widened. “Oh my God. I’m sorry. I’m interrupting. Again. Shit. I’ll go. Forget I was ever here.”

“Don’t you fucking dare.” Red coated my vision.

Because there was red on her face.

Red in the form of a welt. Red splashed across her cheek. Red that would likely turn to black and blue.

Sasha gasped. “Emery.”

My best friend swallowed hard, dropping her gaze. “It’s not what it looks like.”

“Really?” My nostrils flared. “Because it looks like you got punched in the fucking face.”

Her eyes swam with tears.

“That son of a bitch.” I stalked for my phone, still on the kitchen island. “I’m calling the cops.”

Emery ran for me, her socks slipping slightly on the hardwood floors. “Don’t call Zak.”

“He hit you.” That motherfucker. Calvin deserved to rot in jail.

Was this the first time? Had this happened before, and she’d just hid it from me? My heart hammered as rage spread through my veins like wildfire.

“You can’t.” Emery sobbed, trying to wrestle the phone from my hands. “Stop.”

But it wasn’t her hand that made me stop. It wasn’t her hand that stole the phone away. It was Sasha’s. “Jax.”

Her voice was steady and calm, her grip firm. Anchoring.

One touch and enough of the fury ebbed for me to slow down. And think. “You have to call this in. Maybe you don’t end up pressing charges, but it needs to be on record.”

Emery shook her head. “I can’t.”

“Emery.”

“Jax, I—”

“Either the cops pay Calvin a visit. Or I do. Your choice.”

She gulped but pulled her phone from her coat pocket. Her fingers were shaking as the tears streamed down her face. But she made the call.

“Zak? It’s Emery.”

The murmur of his voice was audible, though not loud enough to make out what he was saying. But Emery nodded and inched away, crying as she listened.

She didn’t have to tell him what had happened. She just answered whatever questions he asked with a series of yeses and nos.

We all knew the way Calvin treated her, including Zak, the local sheriff.

“Fuck.” I dragged a hand through my hair, my heart still hammering. “I should have done something. It shouldn’t have come to this.”

Sasha gave me a sad smile. “You gave her a place to come. That’s all you could do.”

I reached for her, hauling her into my chest. With my nose buried in her hair, I breathed in the sweet, fresh scent of her perfume.

Her arms snaked around my face as she pressed her nose to my heart. “I should go. Let you two talk.”

“Don’t even think about it.” I held her tighter, waiting until Emery was off the phone.

“He’s coming out here,” she said.

“And Calvin?”

A new wave of tears shone in her eyes. “He’s sending a deputy to the house.”

Her asshole of a husband had better spend the night in a cell.

“I’m going to make some tea,” Sasha said, loosening her hold.

She didn’t know where I kept the tea bags. She didn’t know where I kept my coffee mugs. She didn’t know that the kettle was in the cupboard beside the glasses.

I would have followed her into the kitchen anyway, just to help, but the look that she gave me before walking away might as well have been a leash tugging me along in her wake.

Emery unzipped her coat and tossed it on a stool at the island. Then she wandered into the living room, plucking a throw blanket from the arm of the couch and wrapping it around her shoulders before curling into the oversize chair.

I rummaged around a cupboard for a couple of tea bags that were probably expired, but I couldn’t find a date, so I set the water to boil anyway. As the flames on the stove’s burner roared, I braced my hands on the counter beside Sasha.

“What do you like in your tea?” I asked her.

“I don’t drink tea.”

“Of course you don’t.” I shook my head, barking a dry laugh.

If she hadn’t forced me into the kitchen, I’d be interrogating Emery. It was going to happen, but before that, I needed to calm down. Sasha knew it. She’d played me well.

So I pulled her into a hug, holding her tight, until the kettle began to steam and whistle.

“Emery, do you want tea?” I asked.

“Sure,” she murmured.

I fixed her a mug, letting the bag steep, then Sasha and I joined her in the living room.

Emery’s hands folded around the cup as she inhaled the steam.

Sasha sat close to me on the couch, her hand going to my knee. When I opened my mouth to talk, she squeezed my leg, her nails digging in hard.

“Fine,” I mouthed. I’d be quiet and wait.

So we waited. And waited. And waited. We waited until headlights flashed outside. Until I greeted Zak at the door, shaking his hand as I invited him inside.

“Hey, Em.” His voice was gentle as he took the empty chair. Zak nodded at Sasha, a wordless introduction, but settled into the silence seamlessly.

Once upon a time, he’d been in Emery’s close circle. There was a reason she hadn’t called 911, but his personal number instead. He was older by nearly a decade. He’d gone to high school with West. But once upon a time, we’d all hoped she’d see Calvin as the asshole he was.

And see the way Zak looked at her.

Other than the agony in his gaze, he kept his expression neutral. Years of training had taught him how best to approach victims, so if giving her a few minutes to sip that tea made it easier, so be it.

“It’s not what you think,” she finally said.

I opened my mouth to call bullshit.

Sasha’s nails once more dug into my thigh. Damn, this woman had strong hands.

My nostrils flared, but I clamped my mouth shut.

“We were fighting,” Emery said. “It’s been . . . hard, lately.”

“How often do you fight?”

She shrugged. “A few times a week. Usually, I come and crash out here.”

Zak nodded, taking out a notepad and pen from his jeans pocket. He’d put on his sheriff’s black button-down shirt, but I hadn’t seen him in the full uniform since he’d been a deputy himself. “What was different about tonight?”

“He went out for drinks with Jonathan.” Calvin worked as a carpenter for a local contractor in town. Jonathan was just as much of an asshole, probably why they got along so well. “He came home late. I was already in bed. He, um, wanted sex. I told him to go fuck himself in the shower.”

Sasha let out a soft laugh.

Emery met her gaze, a faint smile on her lips that soon fell flat. “We started fighting. About money. About sex. About never going to see my parents in Tulsa. About the way his mom talks down to me. About everything. It’s always like that. We just circle around these topics over and over and over again, and it’s always the same. So I told him I was done.”

Did she mean it? Did she really mean it this time? She’d told me she was done before, but Calvin would win her back with apologies and promises of change. Nothing ever changed.

“I packed a bag, and he followed me into the closet. He started accusing me of having an affair.”

“With who?” Zak asked.

“Jax.” Emery kept her eyes glued to Sasha, like she’d somehow become the safest person in this room. Maybe that was true.

Sasha just stared right back, like she’d gladly offer that security.

I could have kissed her for being here for my friend. I would kiss her for it later.

“I swear, there is nothing between me and Jax,” Emery said. “Nothing. I know it’s weird that my best friend is a man. It’s probably strange for you to see me here a lot. I get it. I’ll understand if it makes you uncomfortable and you need us to spend less time together.”

“It doesn’t bother me,” Sasha said.

Her gaze was aimed straight. No flicker to the ceiling. A truth.

“Thanks.” Emery sniffled, wiping beneath her eyes. When her fingers skimmed her red cheek, she winced. “I kissed him once. Jax. When we were thirteen. It was disgusting. Zero desire to repeat that experience.”

Sasha smiled, and there was a bit of tension that faded from her shoulders. Like maybe she’d needed to hear it from Emery too.

“I told Calvin there was nothing going on with Jax. He didn’t believe me. He kept yelling. We were still in the closet, and it just kept getting louder and louder.”

My hands balled into fists, but I kept my mouth shut.

“I told him to get out of my face. He didn’t. I pushed past him and almost made it to the garage door, but he grabbed my arm. I backed up against a wall, and he just kept yelling.” Emery closed her eyes, her chin quivering. “I’m so tired of yelling.”

Zak’s jaw clenched as he scribbled a few things on the notepad. “Then what?”

“He started yelling in my face. His arms were straight, extended at the sides of my head. Sort of trapping me in place. When I told him I wanted a divorce, he pulled a hand back like he was going to punch the wall. I moved at the same time. His hand grazed off my cheek before it slammed into the drywall. There’s a hole in it now.”

“Do you believe he meant to strike you?” Zak asked.

“No, I don’t. He wanted to scare me. The minute he realized what he’d done, he backed off. Started apologizing and crying. Promised it was an accident. He didn’t try to stop me when I left.”

It didn’t matter if it was just an accident. Calvin never should have stopped her in the first place. Never should have tried to scare her.

“What’s happening with him?” Emery asked Zak.

“A deputy went to the house and picked him up while I was driving out here. He’ll be at the station when I get back to town.”

She nodded, her gaze dropping to her mug. “I’m not pressing charges. It was an accident.”

“What?” Venom dripped from my voice.

She finally met my gaze. “It’s the truth, Jax. I’m still leaving him. I’m filing for divorce. But I’m not putting him in jail.”

Zak’s broad shoulders sagged. Either from relief. Or defeat.

What happened when Calvin apologized this time? What happened when he begged for another chance? If what she said was true and he hadn’t meant to hit her, what happened during the next fight when he decided aiming at the wall wouldn’t be enough?

“This is a good thing,” Emery said.

“How the fuck is this good?” I seethed.

“I wouldn’t have left otherwise,” she whispered. “We both know I wouldn’t have left.”

“Sometimes, we need the worst to make us change,” Sasha said.

The way she spoke made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. It sounded like she had experience with this. Like she’d survived the worst. She wasn’t talking about the death of her parents, was she?

“I’ll never go back. I swear.” There was steel in Emery’s voice.

I hadn’t heard that sort of determination from her in a long time.

“Can I crash in your guest bedroom for a while?” she asked me. “Until this gets sorted?”

“Of course.”

Emery turned to Zak, her eyes softening. “Thanks.”

“Welcome.” He stood, lifting a hand to wave. Then he walked out of the living room, about to disappear. Except he slowed behind Emery’s chair. He lifted an arm, like he was about to reach for her. But then he dropped it at his side and walked to the entryway.

I followed, shaking his hand before he ducked outside. Then I collected Emery’s bag that she’d dropped beside her shoes.

She’d folded the blanket and was putting the mug in the dishwasher when I returned.

I dropped her stuff on the island and went to the freezer, then took out the plastic quart bag full of corn syrup. It was a trick Grandma had taught me. The syrup got cold but not hard. It made a better ice pack than anything you could buy.

“Thanks,” she said when I handed it to her. “I’m going to bed.”

“Night.”

She snagged her bag, about to disappear, but stopped and crashed into me for a hug. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. You okay?”

“No, but ask me again tomorrow.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I like Sasha.”

“So do I.”

“Keep her, all right?”

I glanced over Emery’s head, finding Sasha’s beautiful eyes waiting. “That’s my plan.”