Camryn

When I woke up the next morning, my back was killing me. I opened my eyes, realizing that Derek and I hadn't made it to the bedroom at all. We were still curled up on the couch and he was sound asleep with his arms and a leg draped over me. I had no hope of wiggling out from under him without waking him up.

"Derek..." I whispered, prodding at him a little. Riley knew what was going on, but that didn't mean I wanted her to walk out into the living room to see us tangled up together in the same clothes we'd been in yesterday. She'd already proven how observant she was.

Derek groaned, shifting his weight even more on top of me.

"Derek." I said a little louder, shaking him.

His eyes shot open, and it took him a minute to figure out where we were. "Oh, fuck." He rubbed his head. "We never made it to bed."

I shook my head. "Why don't you try to go get some more rest? You couldn't have slept good on the couch?"

"Are you coming with me?" His sleepy grin was too damn cute. It was almost enough to convince me to go back to the bedroom with him. Neither one of us would get any rest if I did that, though.

"I think I'm going to make some coffee and sit on the deck." I said, finally able to get up.

"Then I'll join you." He smirked, standing up and stretching. His t-shirt rode up on his body and the very tip of his abs peaked out from underneath it, his shorts dangerously low. He really wasn't making it easy on me this morning.

I was attracted to Derek in every way, and after our talk last night, it only amplified things. He was so damn understanding and patient about everything, it almost didn't seem real. I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. For him to decide this was all too much. That he wanted someone else, and this was just some silly fling because we were all each other had for weeks at a time. Sometimes, it felt like that was all it was. All it would ever be.

But then there were times I let myself fall into a dream of what life together would be like. What it would be like to be loved by him forever. So purposefully and so intentionally and so completely. Nothing exhilarated or scared me more.

I went into the kitchen, but Derek swept his arm around my waist and turned me towards him, pinning me against the counter with his hips. He kissed my neck roughly and then his lips met mine in a hungry and passionate kiss. "Why don't you go sit outside and I'll make the coffee?"

"Okay." I agreed, stealing one last kiss. I turned towards the door, but something on the TV caught my eye.

"ROBBY HASTINGS: ARRESTED FOR MURDER," it said on the banner across the screen.

My eyes widened as I saw a video of him being led out of our house early this morning and thrown into the back of an FBI car. Derek saw it the same time I did, and he grabbed the remote and turned it up.

"Early this morning, Robby Hastings was arrested for the murder of his wife, Camryn, and their five-year-old daughter, Riley. A knife containing the blood of both was found inside his locker at the NYPD police station. Because of the nature of the crime, the FBI was brought in for an independent investigation and Hastings was almost immediately arrested. He'll have a bail hearing in the next few days, but the charges against him are very significant and his bail is expected to be set high. Our team caught up with Senator Sid Hastings, who is maintaining his son's innocence."

"Am I hearing that right?" I asked, my voice shaky.

"We got him." A smile spread across Derek's lips.

"Do I even want to know how you got a bloody knife into his locker?" I turned to him with a smirk.

"Nope." He chuckled. "Not unless you want to go down as an accomplice. Several laws were broken."

"Got it." I didn't want to tear my eyes away from the screen. I could watch him being loaded into that police car a hundred times before I got tired of it. Robby was finally paying for what he'd done to us.

"So it's for real this time, right? He won't get out?"

"The judge will set bail, but the fact that they brought the FBI in means no one can cover for him anymore." Derek put his arms around me and pulled me in close. "How do you feel?"

There was no way I could put it into words. I was overcome with emotion. "I just... I don't even know what to say."

"That's okay." He kissed my cheek. "Let's just enjoy this for now. Robby is finally going to get what's coming to him."

I wanted to believe him, and most of me did. But always in the back of my mind, I would doubt it. He would find a way out, he'd find a way to get to us. I pushed those thoughts to the side, though, determined to live in this moment with Derek.

I went out onto the deck as Derek made our coffee. It was taking a long time, and I glanced back over my shoulder to see he was talking to Will in the kitchen. His brow was furrowed, and he had a concerned expression on his face that made me uneasy. They both glanced my way, and I tried to look away, but I was sure they'd caught me watching. After a few minutes, Derek came out and handed me a cup of coffee.

"Can I take a rain check on our coffee date?" He said, frowning.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, concerned about why he was having a sudden change of heart. Something was going on.

"Yes. I promise everything is fine. I just have a few things to take care of with Will. I'm sorry."

"It's okay." I sighed, knowing I wasn't getting the full story. Honestly, I needed a bit of time on my own today to digest everything and it was perfect with Mrs. Leonard coming over to hang out with Riley.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, and then you and I can celebrate Robby's arrest properly." He smirked, pressing his lips to mine and slipping his tongue inside of my mouth.

"Like with cake?" I teased.

Derek rolled his eyes. "Only if I can eat it off of you."

"EW!" Riley's voice came from behind us and we both backed away quickly. "That's called cannibalism, you know."

Derek's eyes widened as he looked back at me and whispered, "Why the fuck does she know what that is?"

I shrugged. "National Geographic."

"I didn't say I was going to eat her, Riley." Derek chuckled, the blush on his cheeks deepening. "I said I was going to eat something off of her."

"That's still disgusting." Riley crossed her arms.

"You're right." I smirked, elbowing Derek in the ribs. "It's totally disgusting. How about some pancakes for breakfast?"

"Okay." Riley agreed, skipping into the house as if nothing ever happened.

"She is so sneaky. I had no idea she was out here." Derek said, completely embarrassed.

"It's okay." I gave him a quick kiss. "She's probably completely forgotten about it by now. I'll see you a little later."

"Be good while I'm gone."

I rolled my eyes, heading into the house. I was going to have a fun time explaining all of this to Riley this afternoon.

Derek

I hated leaving the girls, even for a few minutes. I wanted to be able just to hang around the house playing games and doing nothing with them. I wanted boring. After the last few weeks, boring sounded great.

Instead, I was on my way to Jason, hopefully for the last time. Will had broken him down and he was on his last leg. It would be my final opportunity to get information out of him, and Will said he was doing a lot of talking.

The warehouse they moved him to wasn't far away and I could already see Mark's car in front of it when we got there. It was brisk and Will and I hurried inside.

Jason was sitting in a folding chair in the middle of the room with pools of blood all around him. He was barely conscious, completely defeated and flat. He didn't even glance up when we walked in.

"Probably don't have much time." Will reminded me. "And he can't feel much pain right now, so none of that will be useful." He nodded towards the table of tools they'd been using on him for days. Usually this was something I enjoyed, but not since Cam and Riley had come into my life. It hit a little too close to home, and I liked the hands off approach I was able to take with Jason. Will and Mark got everything out of him that I needed. This was just for fun.

I walked towards him and, for the first time, he glanced up.

"Come to say goodbye?" He smirked, nearly all of his teeth knocked out.

"What did Hastings promise you, Jason? Why run the risk if you knew it was my money?" I bent down in front of him.

"I didn't. Not until we got into the second account." He sputtered. "We went through with it, but when we got the money to Robby, I told him it was your shit."

"And what did he say?"

"He was scared shitless at first, but then he didn't really care. He said you wouldn't notice because you were out of town with the wife and kid."

I frowned. The wife and kid? He knew I didn't have a family, so if he told Jason I was with the wife and kid... he had to have been talking about his own. He knew I had Cam and Riley.

"You're sure that's what he said?" I asked, fear creeping up in my chest.

He nodded. "Didn't say much else."

Robby knew I'd helped Cam escape, which meant he knew they were alive. It had to have been him with the pictures all along. And even though he was in jail, I knew he wasn't going to give up that easily.

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***If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence of any kind, please reach out to someone in your community. In the US, that number is 1-800-799-7233**