The Perfect Fit

by Sadie Kincaid

you’re going to love me even more when I tell you what I managed to score for tonight.” “No.” I hold out my hands and shake my head. “No more edibles. Last time I thought I was the king of the fairy underworld.

She’s a woman full of sharp contrasts—compliant and defiant, confident but unsure, sweet but a little dangerous too. West might have been right—maybe she is perfect.

“Who hurt you, buttercup?” he asks, cutting through the silence like his blade sliced through my skin. A lone tear rolls down my cheek. “Someone who should have protected me.”

“Who hurt you, Zeke?” “Someone who should have known better.” He lets out a deep sigh, and I think that’s going to be the end of the conversation, but he keeps talking. “He was my foster brother and the first guy I ever loved. At least I thought I loved him, but I had no idea what that really meant back then. He was nineteen, and I thought the sun rose and set with him.” He gives a self-deprecating laugh. “How old were you?” “Fourteen.” My heart breaks for a young adolescent Zeke. “What happened?” “Turns out he was just experimenting.” He snorts. “With his sexuality. With his fetish for cutting things open.

“It takes a whole lot of trust to allow someone to slice you open with a knife. Thank you for giving me that.”

A second later, West walks in. “Was that—?” “Yep.” “What the fuck happened?” I look down at Snowflake. “I sent her a dog.” Irritation darkens his handsome features. “Jesus Christ, Xander. What the fuck were you thinking?” My body shakes with pent-up rage. “Don’t you Jesus Christ me, West. At least I fucking tried something, asshole.

“Panty hose? Yeah.” Reaching down, I untie them from the dog’s neck and wrap them around my fist, then lift my hand to my face and inhale, desperate for her scent. They smell of dog and laundry detergent, but I hold onto them anyway. “Um, Lily doesn’t wear panty hose. Those are probably Jen’s.” “Ugh!” I fling them away, and West laughs. I have no idea how he can laugh when I’m as miserable as Scrooge before the ghosts’ visits.

“I’m already bleeding. Every single second without you is torture. I need you to make it hurt so I can feel something real. Mark me so I can remember that you belonged to me once, even if I didn’t get to keep you.”

you are the best person I’ve ever known, and having your love, even for just a little while, is the single greatest accomplishment of my life. But now you know that the people I allow to see me at my worst are the people I love the most.”

“From the first moment we met you, we all knew you were something special.” West runs his fingers over her hipbone. “The perfect fit.”

I pull Lily onto my lap and bury my face in her hair. Ludovica eyes me suspiciously, and while I’m mindful that she’s the head of the Mafia and I currently have my hands all over her daughter, I gotta say, I don’t give the smallest sliver of a fuck.

She is fucking ours, and I would die for her happiness as easily as I’d take my next breath.