With a final look my way, Emilia reclaims her seat, and the headmaster steps up to the podium again and begins calling out student names. Each student walks across the stage, accepting their certificate and shaking his hand before descending the steps, and the next one goes up, until the headmaster calls out, “Hadley Davenport.”
Emilia grins at me, and I hear several whoops and whistles from my guys as I laugh and walk across the stage. Accepting my diploma, I glance first at Hawk, who is standing at the side of the stage, fist pumping the air and grinning as brightly as I am, before I turn to face the sea of students in front of me, seeking out West, Mason, and Cam. I then move to search the stands for Beck, and my mouth drops open when I find him standing front and center, clapping and smiling harder than anyone else. Standing right beside him, looking worse for wear, is my father—who is supposed to still be in the goddamn hospital. He’s got tears in his eyes, and an equally blinding grin on his face.
I move off the stage as Hawk’s name is called, and when he returns to his seat beside me, I lean in to whisper in his ear. “Did you know Barton would be here?”
He shakes his head. “No. He’s not supposed to be released until later this week.”
The headmaster continues through the list of names, and I clap equally as hard for all of my guys, until finally, the ceremony is over. Once we’re released, I go in search of Beck and Barton.
Spotting him in the mass of students and parents, I push my way through the crowd toward Beck, and when he sees me, his face lights up. As I approach him, I jump into his arms, winding my arms around his neck as I plant a kiss on his lips, no longer giving a shit who sees us. Beck handed in his resignation a couple of weeks ago, and school is officially over. Now is our time, and I’m never going to hide my relationship with Beck, or the others, from anyone ever again.
He returns my kiss with a passionate one of his own, and when we break away, I can see the same happiness in his eyes that he can no doubt see in mine. He slides his fingers through mine, holding my hand, and I turn to look at Barton, taking in the way he’s hunched over slightly, and leaning on a walking stick for support. He’s pale looking, with bags under his eyes, but the fact he’s even up and walking about is a huge improvement. Hawk and I have been to visit him nearly every day, and with each visit, he looks healthier and healthier.
“What are you doing here? We thought you didn’t get released until the end of the week.”
“I managed to talk them into letting me go early. I couldn’t miss your graduation.” He gets a nostalgic look in his eye. “I have missed so much of both yours and Hawk’s life. I wasn’t about to add this occasion to the list.”
I smile appreciatively. We’ve been talking a lot recently, all three of us spending time together, getting to know one another and establishing some sort of family unit. Given how he dove in front of that bullet for Hawk, not giving a damn about his own wellbeing, more than solidified the fact Barton had turned over a new leaf and wanted to put Hawk and I first. I feel nauseous every time I think about how differently things could have ended that day.
Given his heroic actions, I have been making a concentrated effort to open up to him, and we’ve had some in depth conversations about Maria’s involvement in my kidnapping, and I’ve shared some of my time in the compound with him. Mostly, though, I’ve just talked to him about Pacific Prep, and everything I have experienced this year.
“Dad!” Hawk has a wide grin on his face as he comes toward us and hugs Barton, careful to keep it light and brief so as not to hurt him. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
“Wild horses couldn’t keep me away,” Barton jokes.
We spend the next hour or so getting various photographs taken, until Barton holds up his camera. “Okay, one last one of all of you, then dinner is on me.”
He herds us all into the shot, Emilia on one side of me and Hawk on my other, with Mason, Beck, West, Cam, and Wilder surrounding us.
“Say Princes,” Cam shouts out.
Emilia and I share a wicked look, and as they all say Princes, we call out, “Pricks,” and cackle our heads off as Barton takes the photo and the guys start up a protest.
Epilogue
Local prominent businessman, Frank Hayes, who was recently arrested for the homicide of Lauree Hamilton, was found stabbed to death in his cell yesterday morning. There were no witnesses to the crime, and the prison hasn’t reported any suspects at this time…
I set down the newspaper, snorting out a laugh. Of course, Mason got a phone call from the prison yesterday, not that it came as a surprise to him. Once Cain confirmed he could get the job done, I told Mason what I had planned. The way his shoulders lifted, and he pulled me in for a bear hug, made me kick myself for not thinking of it sooner.
He would never have burdened us with his fears, but he was obviously worried about what his father might do in retaliation for us destroying Nocturnal Mercenaries.
“What are you laughing at?” Beck asks, walking into the kitchen carrying a large box. He sets it on the table and looks over my shoulder at the paper in front of me.
“Ah. It’s always nice to see the news reporting happy stories, isn’t it?”
He kisses my temple as I nod. “It definitely is.”
“What are you up to?” I ask, eyeing up the box.
“Just helping the guys move the last of their stuff in. Who knew the lot of them had so much shit—I thought it was only girls that got sentimental about every belonging they own.”
I laugh and shake my head. The five of us agreed to move into West’s house, opposite my dad’s, for the year. Of course, we’ve closed the door on the main bedroom suite, and won’t be setting foot in there until it’s been completely gutted and redone. Moving in here seemed like a weird choice at first, and I wasn’t sure how I really felt about it, but none of the guys seemed bothered about coming back to live on the little cliff they grew up on. Understandably, Mason didn’t want to live in his old house, and there was no way we were moving into Cam’s, so that just left West’s house. It’s only for a year anyway, before we head off to college, and this way, we are close by to help Barton if he needs it over the next few weeks—although he’s recovering well.