I cut him off. “I don’t need to have fucking experienced it to know that you wouldn’t want to do that to your own kids. To Huey. To us. Six months ago, you’d have been holed up at the therapists every day, rather than succumbing to the call of the fucking bottle. Come back to us, man, before it’s too fucking late.” I checked the mirrors and pulled back into traffic, and then flicked him one last irritated look. “I’m going to get them back, River, so get your shit together or I’ll make them happy without you. You have one shot at this kind of happiness. Don’t blow it by letting your demons win.”

He was silent the whole way back to the house, and as soon as I slowed to a stop, he was out of the car and slamming into the house. I’d pissed him off, but I’d do it a hundred more times if it shook him out of his spiral.

I grabbed our bags out of the back, walking slowly into the house. My body ached after a hard hit in Chicago, and I was just fucking exhausted. Dropping our shit in the foyer, I dragged my feet into the kitchen. I needed a beer, despite my spiel in the car. I shuffled my ass out to the hot tub and stripped down to my underwear. Climbing in, I settled in front of a jet so it could pound the aching muscles in my spine.

Tomorrow, Operation Get Nova Back would begin. I just needed to know if the guys were with me or if I was going solo. The idea of giving up my best friends for the girl I loved definitely hurt, but the idea of her never being mine again hurt more.

The patio door opened, and Devan strolled out. He looked tired, his shirt unbuttoned, and he’d lost his suit jacket already. His hair was rumpled, as if he’d been running his fingers through it constantly.

“You look like shit,” I told him, noting the beer in his hand too. Maybe it wasn’t just River using alcohol as a crutch. Maybe we were all doing it, to a lesser extent.

He tipped his bottle at me. “Cheers, brother. Appreciate the compliment.”

I lifted my chin. “Get in. You look like you could use the soak.”

He didn’t argue, stripping down and climbing in. We’d gotten a huge hot tub, because none of us found sitting too close to each other in the hot water particularly appealing.