Axl kept hold on them.

“I don’t hold you up, baby,” he said softly.

She tipped her head to the side. “You don’t?”

“No.”

She looked beyond him.

“Well,” she said to her sculpture, studying it as if attempting to decipher it. “I suppose one take is that he’s holding her up. Another is he helps her soar.”

Good Christ.

Good Christ.

He bent and put the dogs down.

They scampered.

Welly right to Hattie.

Molly disappeared behind some chunks of stone.

Hattie kept talking.

“Sadie saw it today when she brought her guys to do some crating. They helped me mount her. She weighs a ton. Not literally. But close. She looks strong, but she’s hollow. Though, only in the literal sense, not figuratively. Figuratively, she’s just delicate.”

Jesus.

She was killing him.

“Please come here,” he said.

She didn’t come there.

She went on, “She wants it for the show. Sadie does. I said I have to ask you.” She looked at him again. “Is it okay it’s in the show?”

“That’s your call,” he told her. “Now, please come here.”

She looked back to the piece. “I think, if Sadie has the space for it, it should be in the show. Kind of before, with all the other stuff, and after. You know, a then and now. That’s its title, by the way. ‘After 2.’ There’s after Dad. And now after you. The title isn’t original. But it is apropos.”

After you.

“Baby, please come here,” he begged.

She came there.

He pulled her in his arms and shoved his face in her neck.

“It’s not for sale,” he declared to her skin.

“No. I called Dad. He told me he’d keep it in his backyard until …”

She didn’t finish that.

He did. “We get our place and it has its place.”

“Yes,” she said softly.

He lifted his head. “Until then, as you know, I don’t have a backyard. My place butts the fence and the fence butts the alley.”

“I know, but as much as I love your pad, Axl, you can’t raise kids in it. They need their own space. And we’ll need our own space. And your place will really only be just our space until we find a different space when the concept of ‘our’ expands.”

Their kids’ll need space.

And they’ll need space.

His throat felt tight.

“Right,” he pushed through it.

“My mom’s backyard isn’t big enough for it either. Your mom has no backyard. So it’s Dad’s. For now. He sounded kinda excited about it. Even though I made sure he knew eventually, it’d be moved.”

“Right.”

“I’m supposed to get you a plaque,” she said confusingly.

“What?” he asked, not following.

“Evie and Ryn told me when I showed them this today,” she tipped her head to the sculpture. “Now that it’s official, you know, you and me, you need a plaque for your workstation.”

He felt his lips curve up because this had become a thing.

Evie started it with Mag. Got him a #1 BOYFRIEND plaque to sit at his workstation. It changed when they got engaged. It’d no doubt change again when they got married.

Ryn did the same, and the plaque Boone had declared him her hero.

“They suggested, ‘Axl Pantera, The Wind Beneath My Wings,’ ” she told him.

“Please, fuck, do not give me a plaque that says that.”

She grinned up at him.

Her grin faded and she traced his cheekbone with her thumb, murmuring, “I’ll figure out something.”

“Baby,” he called, and her gaze went from her thumb, which was now at the corner of his mouth, to his eyes. “I love it.”

“Good,” she whispered.

“And I love you.”

“Good,” she repeated, still whispering.

“Thanks for adding Jordan to my house.”

Her warm brown eyes melted.

“You’re welcome.”

“Wanna move in?” he asked.

She did a slow blink.

When she was done doing that, there was no describing what was in her eyes.

It was just a feeling.

And that feeling had a focal point in the left side of his chest.

And then she said, “Absolutely.”

And when she was done doing that …

Well, that was when he kissed her.

While he was doing it, Molly started yapping.

And Welly used the distraction to pee in the corner.

* * *

HAWK

Hawk folded into the backseat of the town car next to Cisco.

“Joe,” Cisco said the minute he closed his door.

The car started moving.

Hawk had taken in that Cisco had come prepared for this late-night meeting.

Gone was the man’s usual suit, he was in jeans, boots and a sweater.

They were nice jeans, boots and sweater. Hawk knew they cost more than he would ever pay for clothes (not more than his wife would pay for his clothes, which was why he had jeans, boots and sweaters in his closet much like that).

But Cisco wasn’t going casual because the workday was done.

He wasn’t feeling anything hindering his movements tonight.

“Don’t got a good feeling?” he asked.

“I never enjoy a chat with Brandi,” Cisco replied.

They agreed on something.

“You get why she wanted this talk, just you and me?” Hawk went on.

For the first time since he entered the car, Cisco turned his head to look at Hawk, “I have no idea.”

“Credit where it’s due, you’ve been solid through this, man,” Hawk said to him.

Cisco turned again to face forward. “I had motivation.”

“The women.”

Cisco didn’t reply.

Hawk faced forward as well and murmured, “Heard rumors.”

“Never believe rumors.”

These ones, considering Cisco’s recent behavior, Hawk was prone to believe.

“It’s happened in Denver before,” Hawk stated.

And it had.

Twice.

When Darius Tucker and Shirleen Jackson exited the game and went legit.

And when Marcus Sloan and Ren Zano did the same and became partners in a legal operation.