“Like a normal fucking couple?”

“Like a normal fucking couple.”

Bex swung her legs off the side of the bed and scooted closer to me until she could wrap her legs around my waist. “Johnny,” she said. She sounded very serious all of a sudden, and it made me nervous. “I want to tell you something.”

“Anything,” I breathed against her lips. I reached out and put my large hands on her flat stomach. My baby was in there. My own flesh and blood. Our baby.

“I love you, too,” she said. My breath caught in my throat as I looked up at her. I’d never seen anything more beautiful in my life. In the most unlikely of places and in the most unlikely of circumstances, we’d both fallen in love. Two people jaded by life and wanting nothing more than to quiet the demons in our heads had fallen in love. With each other.

I stepped out of the room as Bex signed release papers. I’d called Julia briefly on the way to the hospital and updated her, but I needed to tell her what had happened since.

Just as the phone started ringing, Beau came into sight with Natalie right behind him. I’d called them on the way to the hospital as well. When Julia answered the phone I told her quickly that everything was fine, but I had to call her back and then hung up.

“How is she?” Beau asked first.

“She’s fine,” I said. “She’s signing release papers. I’m going to take her home.”

Natalie narrowed her eyes. “Home? Home where?” She crossed her arms in front of her. “What the hell was she doing with you, anyway?”

Bex appeared behind us, papers in her hand. She was wearing an Outrigger shirt and shorts that Cal had gotten for her to change into, and the bright touristy colors looked funny on her. “What’s going on out here?”

Natalie enveloped Bex in a hug and she allowed it. “God, we were so worried about you.”

“How did you know?” Bex looked at me over her shoulder, and I winked at her. Despite the shit that had gone down over the last few hours, I’d never felt better in my life.

“Johnny called us,” Beau said, still eyeing me. “What the hell happened?”

“Mr. Gibbons? Ms. Bryant? We’re going to need you to come to the station now and make a formal statement.” The two officers that had followed us from the scene reappeared. Shit, I’d almost forgotten about them.

“We’ll be right there,” I confirmed and they nodded, turned and walked out the doors.

“What’s going on?” Beau was looking at Bex.

Bex stepped over to my side and linked her arm with mine, sliding her hand down until our fingers twined together. “I love him.”

I’d thought her telling me privately had been the best moment of my life, but this right here might just even top that. She was admitting her feelings in front of the only ‘family’ she had.

Beau and Natalie’s mouths simultaneously dropped. “What?”

“I know none of this makes sense,” Bex said. “But we need to go make our statement. We’ll come home after we’re done and explain it all, okay?”

Beau fixed his eyes on me. “You better not fucking hurt her. She was a raging bitch for the last month because of you.”

I nodded. “I promise. You have my word that if I do anything to hurt her, you can kick my ass.”

“I want you to know that I’m not sure I’m okay with this,” Beau said to Bex.

“You will be,” she said, letting go of me to hug him quickly. “Because you want me to be happy, and after everything, I finally am.”

I put my hand on her stomach. “We’re going to be a family. I’ll protect them with my life.”

“Natalie told me,” Beau said to Bex. She nodded, placing her hand over mine. “I guess congratulations are in order?”

Bex nodded. “I get another chance, Beau.”

Beau looked up at me and we had a silent conversation, man to man. I understood. I’d show him, just like I’d show everyone. Including myself.

“I can’t believe we’re going to have a baby,” I said, tracing my fingers along her tattoo. “I can’t believe you said you love me.”

Bex laughed, making her stomach move. “I can’t believe it, either. Are you sure we know what the hell we’re doing?”

“I know for a fact we don’t know what we’re doing. But the great part about it is, we have no idea if we’re fucking this up or not, so let’s just go with it.”

“Sounds good to me,” Bex said. “I’m sure as hell glad this day is over. It definitely didn’t turn out the way I thought it would.”

After leaving the hospital we’d made our statement at the police station. Neither of us even knew which one had actually pulled the trigger, but I had my suspicions that Bex had done it. However, I would never say that to her because I wasn’t sure how she would feel about being the one that cost the man his life. It wasn’t a first for me, and if I had to choose one life over the other, it was a no brainer.

We’d then spent the rest of the night talking to Natalie, Beau and the band, and then we made our way over to Julia and Carter’s. Julia had bawled her eyes out when we’d told her we were together and were having a baby. She then dropped the bomb that she, too, was expecting again. Their second baby and our first were due within a week of each other. Calia was going to be a big sister and a cousin.

“Johnny,” Bex said. She sounded serious.

“Bex,” I said, teasing.

She rolled out of my bed and walked to the wall where she’d left my Gibson all those weeks ago. Picking it up, she brought it back to the bed and sat cross-legged in front of me.

“Are you going to play for me?” God I loved when she played just for me. It made me want her in so many ways.

She shook her head. “No. You’re going to play for me. And our baby. He or she needs to hear both of us.”

Tightness strangled the breath from my lungs. I shook my head, fighting the panic.

“Johnny,” she said, softer now. “You can do this. I’m right here with you. I love you, and you love me. There’s nothing holding you back anymore. All of your reasons for not playing are gone. You’re free, we’re both safe, and we’re starting a life together. I want you to play with me, Johnny. I need you to play with me.”

She needed me to play with her? “Why?”

She furrowed her brow. “Why what? Why do you I need you to play with me?” I nodded. “Because I need to feel that part of you, the part that makes you come alive. I know you, Johnny. I’d die without playing music. It’s been the only constant in my life. I know a whole part of you has been lying dormant for so many years. For you to fully heal and move on, for us to be able to do this, you need to realize that this is a big part of who you are.”

We sat in silence for a moment while I tried to calm my racing heart. She didn’t say anything else or force the guitar in my hands. She just . . . waited.

After a few minutes, Bex moved closer to me. She held out her hand to me, and I took it without hesitation. She reached our hands over and placed them on top of the guitar strings. The guitar was lying in her lap, calling to me. A feeling I couldn’t quite explain spread over me.

“That’s not so bad, is it?” Her voice was just above a whisper. After another moment she moved my fingers so that I was strumming the strings. I gasped at the feeling. It had been so long but felt like just yesterday all at the same time.

“I’m going to take my hand off,” she said. “Just touch it, okay?”

She removed her hand from mine. It was just a guitar. Why did I act like it was a poisonous snake ready to attack? Pick it up, I willed myself. We were sitting so close that our knees were touching, our bodies facing each other.

I reached over to her lap and picked up the Gibson that had been sitting mocking me for way too long. I ran my fingers along the smooth exterior. When I looked up, Bex was grinning.