SPENCER

"Do you think I need stitches?" Davina made a face as she hopped onto the bathroom sink. Very casually, I might add, considering the tension in the room.

It was palpable. Heavy but not unpleasant, like the kind of hope you earn through heartache and the strength you gain from adversity.

Mostly, it felt like everything was different now.

I gripped the first aid kit in my hands, trying not to stare when she adjusted the towel wrapped around her body, fastening it tighter at the front. My own hung around my waist as I stepped between her legs, and the heat flowing from her body was hard to ignore.

"You're getting a pretty nasty bruise," I said, forcing myself to focus on her face, "but I don't think you need any stitches."

"Good." She breathed a sigh of relief before glancing down to the box of supplies I'd set beside her. She waved a flippant hand at it. "It feels fine, honestly. You didn't have to get all of this out."

My eyes shifted over to hers, noting how she wouldn't look back at me, not surprised at all that she was downplaying her injury and trying to avoid being taken care of.

She always did like that mask of indifference, anything to hide all traces of weakness. One impactful moment in the shower wouldn't make that disappear. Her guard would take time to come down.

"The cut needs to be treated, Davina," I muttered slowly, reaching for her chin and guiding her to face me. My thumb caressed her lower lip as her gray eyes finally met mine, swirling with vulnerability. "You don't have to be strong all the time. Let me carry some of it for you."

Her gaze lingered on mine as she bit the inside of her cheek, considering what I'd said. Her shoulders lifted and fell with a deep breath before she finally nodded, letting the intensity dissolve as she came back to me.

After finding what I needed in the first aid kit, I got to work on her wound, starting with a cotton ball full of hydrogen peroxide. If it stung against her broken skin, Davina gave nothing away. She just sat perfectly still, breathing through it like a champ.

After a moment, I felt her fingertips brush along the ink on my chest. "I know what this means now," she mused softly as she traced the diameter of the compass.

"Yeah?" My eyes trailed over, finding hers still on my chest. Her touch made it hard to focus, but I pushed through. "I had a feeling you'd figure it out when you finally allowed yourself to be romantic and sentimental."

Her gaze beamed over to mine with a smile. "I hate that you know me so well."

"Get used to it." I shrugged and got back to her wound, opening the triple antibiotic cream and hoping the expiration date wouldn't matter in this emergent situation we'd found ourselves in.

"Will you tell me more about it?" she asked softly, her fingers still caressing the painted lines on my chest. "I mean, I know where the arrow points on your skin, but..." Her eyes lifted to mine again, and her hand shifted over to my heart. "What does it mean in here?"

Her question made me hesitate but only for a moment, and the sincerity in her eyes did me in. While the origins of that particular tattoo were complicated and not something I loved talking about, it was something Davina should know because her presence was wrapped up in all of it.

"My dad has always told me that a man's compass should be led by his rage," I began, squeezing the antibiotic cream onto a cotton ball and applying it to her skin. "He says that's how we succeed in all the ways that matter, like money and power...vengeance." I shook my head. "But none of those things matter to me. And seeing what they've done to him has only made me want to get further away from that ideology he clings to. Him and all the other men in my family."

"Why did you become a cop then?" she asked with only genuine curiosity in her tone. It was a fair question, too. I asked myself the same thing here and there. But the truth is, the answer was a simple one.

"I used to think my old man was good, Davina," I said, giving her a pointed look. "Just like you thought yours was. That's why I became a cop. I wanted to be like him. But now I'm left being this version of him that doesn't even exist, probably never did. He's not who I thought he was, and I don't want to go where he's been. I don't share his idea of true north."

Davina pressed her lips together, nodding slowly as I opened a bandage and brushed her hair back so none of it got caught in the adhesive.

"What's your true north?" she asked softly.

I applied the bandage with a smile, answering confidently, "Integrity and righteousness. Goodness and humanity. Basically all the things I learned from my mother..."

My poor mother. As betrayed as I was when she found out the truth, but manipulated in ways I'd never be able to fathom. She didn't deserve the lies and chaos he put her through.

"She was trapped for so long in that marriage, I don't know how the hell she managed for so long, but she did. And she never let it change her for the worse. I want to go wherever that strength comes from."

Smiling, I thought back to when I asked her about it. Where to go, how to get there, and if it came with a cost like Dad's path did.

"My mom says it's right here," I told Davina, placing my hand over hers as my heart picked up a beat. "All you have to do is follow where it takes you. It might break here and there, but it won't lead you astray. And mine, well..." I gave her a helpless smile. "My heart tends to favor you, Davina Harlow."

Eyes filling with water, her next question came out in a melancholy whisper. "Even when I break it?"

"Even when you break it." I nodded. It was an ugly truth to share, but it was still the truth. "It doesn't seem to matter how volatile things get between us. When something goes wrong or right or pretty much any fucking way in my life, I only want to be near you."

Davina exhaled an anguished breath and fell forward, straight into my arms as she crashed into my chest and swung her arms around my neck.

"I know it hasn't always seemed like it," she pulled me closer, muttering into my shoulder, "But I feel the same. Staying away from you these last weeks has been torture."

"Tell me about it," I said with a laugh.

"I'm serious." She wrapped her legs around my waist and tightened her hold on me. "You're the only place that feels like home."

"I know the feeling," I whispered, enjoying it a little too much the way she was clinging to me, melting against my body, yanking me closer and closer, like she'd climb into my skin if it were possible.

We stayed like that for a long moment, wrapped up in each other and completely content. Nothing else existed, at least none of the bad stuff. It was just us and the better parts. Our hearts beating in tandem, how good she smelled and the way she felt in my arms. I didn't think about what got us there or how we'd be handling the aftermath.

I only thought about her.

When she pulled back to look at me, Davina's eyes were hazy with something else. Something that looked a lot like love, brimming with a tenderness I hadn't seen in a while, long forgotten amidst all the distance. As her hands ran up and down my arms, I realized how touch starved I'd become without her affection, and I felt like melting right there on the bathroom floor.

"Please kiss me," she practically whimpered. "I've been dying to kiss you the way we used to. When we were younger and the world wasn't so scary yet."

My hands drifted up to her face, caressing her cheeks as my gaze flickered between her pretty gray eyes and her soft, sultry lips. When was the last time we'd even kissed? I mean, really kissed, in the way she just described.

It must've been...shit, highschool?

Time to change that...

Without another thought, I captured her lips with mine. She tasted like happiness and every sweetness the world had to offer. The softness of a memory, the rhythm of a favorite song.

My hands wandered her body as our mouths moved in sync, her teeth grazing my bottom lip here and there in a show of eagerness. Then she parted her lips and invited me in with a breathy sigh. When her tongue swept past mine, it felt like a fresh slate, a clean canvas to paint new memories on.

Davina scooted forward, until her ass was teetering on the edge of the bathroom counter. She wrapped her legs tighter around me, desperate to be closer, and the heat between her thighs sent all my blood south.

She pressed herself against me, seeking friction with a slow and rhythmic motion, which really didn't help matters, but I wasn't about to complain.

I could hardly focus on necessary words, but her name managed to fall from my mouth a moment later, scratchy as fuck.

"Davina..."

"Mmhmm." She ripped her towel off and threw it on the floor. "I'm right there with you."

I carried her into the bedroom immediately, smiling as she buried her face in my neck and laughed softly between the kisses she left there, her body like a live wire tangled around me. She'd never been so giddy at the prospect of sex before, and while I'd like to say her energy was contagious, the shift in gears only made me weaker, tightening my chest with an ache of yearning.

The moment I set her down on the bed, she laid back and nestled into the sheets. The chill in the air had goosebumps spreading over her skin as she laid there naked, waiting for me.

I wanted nothing more than to cover her body with mine and lend some warmth, but I also felt compelled in that moment to move slowly, to bask in everything and take my time. Davina didn't seem to mind.

With her lips parted slightly and her eyes at half mast, she watched as I worked my way up her body, using my mouth and hands to worship every inch of her. The uptick in her breathing and the soft moans she let out made my heart stutter in my chest, her legs trembling as I tasted her, her voice raspy with desire when I made her come on my tongue.

She let out a breathy sigh as I glanced up from my spot between her thighs, surrounded in her sweetness, watching her chest rise and fall. A lazy smile danced in her eyes and she shivered a little.

With heat radiating from her body and a blush of pink coasting along her skin, I was certain she wasn't cold anymore, but I pulled the comforter along with me as I crawled on top of her, covering us both up.

We were cocooned in our own little world, all warm skin and tenderness, about as close as two people could get. Davina wrapped her legs around me. I held her tight in my arms.

"This feels different," she whispered, setting her gray eyes on mine. The depth of her gaze swirled with something wild and calm at the same time.

"I know," I said, pressing a soft kiss to her lips, the tip of her nose, her forehead. "I think it's supposed to."

"Me too." She nodded, before summoning me with an arch of her hips.

I answered the call immediately.

"Fuck, I missed you," I muttered as I slipped inside her.

She inhaled a slow, languid breath, spreading her legs wider to take all of me, matching my rhythm as I started to move. But that was nothing new. We were always in sync when it came to the mechanical logistics of fucking.

What caught me off guard was the next part.

The part where she let go.

For the first time in so long, Davina made eye contact without hesitation, and her limbs curled around me with a new enthusiasm. Her body was relaxed and pliable in my hands, unhurried in her show of surrender.

Every time I thrust inside her, she was carefree with the sounds she made, allowing them to flee her mouth a bit louder than usual, full of desire as she pulled me closer and closer. She wasn't simply seeking release. She was seeking connection, and I was all too happy to give it.

In return, she gave me her everything. All of herself. All of the emotions and feelings she'd been denying us both. All the affection she'd been holding in her heart vibrated like electricity in her fingertips when she touched my skin, holding onto me for dear life.

"I love you," she whispered as I moved inside her, and my chest radiated with another shot of happiness, accompanied by every promise I'd ever made to her. The ones I'd kept and the ones I still had to make good on. Everything felt possible in that moment.

"I love you too," I declared against her lips before stealing a kiss. Then another one. And another one.

She never turned away, only eager to take more and give it back in abundance as we moved together in perfect harmony, dissolving the tension and turmoil that had been haunting us for so long. And after we came, I breathed deeply for what felt like the first time in forever.

***

"So, what happens now?"

As we laid there in the aftermath, Davina's trepidation returned with a tiny shake in her voice, her fingers drawing anxious lines over my chest.

I was pretty sure it didn't have to do with us or what we'd just done, but it never hurt to ask.

"You mean for us? Life in general?" I pulled her closer to me. "Or for the next twenty-four hours or so?"

She snuggled into my side, then laid her head down on my shoulder and answered, "All three."

"Alrighty, then..." It would seem she was covering all her bases. But at least one of those was easy to answer. "Well, as for us, you're mine now. And you don't get to run away again."

Her body vibrated with laughter. "That's it?"

"That's it. That's the whole plan. You good with it?"

"Yep," she said right away. Lifting her head, she smiled up at me. "Next?"

Her enthusiastic response made me smile, maybe too much. I couldn't help it.

"Hmm, life in general," I started, hesitating a little on that one. I scrubbed a hand over my mouth, considering the answer that made the most sense in the here and now. "We take it one day at a time and figure it out together." I looked down at her again, finding her eyes still on me, shining with interest. "Does that sound okay?"

"Yeah," she nodded, her voice going soft on me, that little shakiness returning before she spoke again, letting me know this last one was her biggest concern. "And the next twenty-four hours?"

With all the things unraveling, I shared her concern. "I'm waiting on a couple calls."

"From who?" she asked.

"Dante, first and foremost." My fingers ran through her hair, seeking distraction. "He's taking care of the situation at your house and getting intel on Alex's brother. He met with Giovanni Amato earlier. When we get the all-clear from him, we can go back home."

She took a calming breath, dropping her head to lay back down on my shoulder. "Do you think it'll take long?"

"No, I don't."

"Why?" Her fingers were on my chest again, drawing more of those anxious lines. It was a relief, honestly, to see her let the emotions play out instead of stifling them. "Those two had everyone fooled for so long. Alex's brother must be good at what he does."

That might've been true in the normal world, but it didn't hold much water in ours. "It doesn't matter how good you are. There's always someone better, more powerful. And if you've got a target on your back like he does, things only move faster."

"Do you think he's nearby?" Fear spun a web in her eyes as she glanced up at me again.

"It depends," I answered honestly. "If he knows his brother is dead, he's probably long gone by now because whatever plan they were cooking up has been foiled and they've been found out. But if he doesn't know yet, he might still be playing like a member of the team."

She nodded, letting that marinate for a moment before asking, "Who else is calling you?"

Fuck. That was a question I knew was coming and the one that had me hesitating the most.

For weeks, I'd been ultra-careful about the side mission I was on with Parisi as we tracked down Rob and Ginny. Since I couldn't risk anything getting back to Dante or The Amato Group, I still wasn't sure how much I should say, especially since this shit with Alessandro Leone, that lying motherfucker, could be connected.

Given Mr. Amato's stark opposition to Bluejay, I never imagined Rob's case would share a common thread with someone from that organization, but it did. The missing piece, discovered only recently, was in the form of a little blue bird. I hadn't seen it coming.

It was all too new, too up in the air, still delicate. But I knew I had to give Davina something if I had any hope of gaining her trust.

"Parisi," I finally muttered, watching her eyes narrow with curiosity. "We have some loose ends to tie up that unfortunately might be coming together right now, timing being as bad as it is."

"With Rob Wakefield?"

The mention of his name caught me off guard, but not too much. Not from her. Davina was good at Nancy Drewing her way through something she was personally invested in. She'd been snooping at my place, I knew that much. She also got bits and pieces from working at the department. God only knew what she'd gathered from her brother. Heck, even coffee shop gossip could get you somewhere in a place like Fairhaven.

I studied her eyes, searching for clues as to how much information she already had and what she'd put together, before finally answering. "Yes. Rob's been leading the department on something of a wild goose chase. But we got a new lead recently."

Thanks to this whole situation with Alex.

But I didn't say that. And Davina surprised me by not prying. I guess trust given was trust earned.

Sighing, she laid back down on me, sliding her hand from my chest up to my hair, running her fingernails over my scalp. It felt so good, I swear I almost fucking purred. I could get used to this newfound level of physical contact.

"You know," she began softly, "our lives didn't used to be so serious, Spence. Once upon a time, things were downright fun. Easy."

"I know."

"Do you think it'll ever be like that again?"

"Probably not," I answered honestly. The truth was the truth, even if it hurt. That was becoming a new theme.

"We can still make the best of it though, right?"

I smiled. "Of course."

Her hand floated down to my jaw and she turned my head to face her. "Promise we'll make the best of it together?"

I couldn't ask for anything more.

"I promise."

Just then, my phone went off. I sat up, reached for it on the nightstand, my insides shifting as I went into business mode.

It was a text from the captain.

Parisi: Your intel did the trick, kid. We have him in custody. Everyone's safe. We land in Brighton at 6pm.

I released a gigantic breath of relief. "Thank God."

Davina sat in the middle of the bed with the comforter wrapped around her. "Everything good?"

"Yeah." I gave her a reassuring smile. "Everything's good."

And then a call from Dante came in.