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“Well, you’re my boys,” Kendrick reasons, nodding at me. “All of you. We’re a family. And family protects their own. Let’s go get our girl.”
“Now you have a choice. You can let me be—let me cope with the fallout of this ordeal and do what I need to do to convince myself she’s okay, too—or you can try to control the situation. ‘Try’ is the operative word in that sentence, because I’m done doing things your way when it comes to my girl.”
“Fair point. If I call you Daddy, will you go upstairs and sleep?” I tease. “If you call me Daddy, neither one of us is going to sleep anytime soon, and you know it.”
“It was easier to hate you than to admit I wanted you, too. You’ve been in my head since the moment we met, Jojo. I’m done fighting it. I know the deal. I don’t know the details yet, but I want in, too.”
Shit on a crumbly cracker.Of course it’d be the grumpiest among them to also be the most emotionally intelligent.
“Don’t forgive me yet, Mama. I’m going to fucking earn it. You deserve to be fought for, not fought over. You deserve to be vindicated—which is exactly what I’m gonna do. The motherfucking South Chapel Sharks need to know what happens when they try to take what’s ours.” “Ours?” I ask, hypnotized by his closeness, his presence, the intensity of his gaze. “Ours. We were a mess without you, Jojo. When I saw how the boys all responded, saw how they need you… I couldn’t keep denying that I need you, too.”
“I can take it.” He gives me a dark look, his head bowed. “I’ll do what it takes to help you, Siren. Even if it means being the bad guy in your story.”
“I won’t hold you captive, Josephine. But I’ll do everything in my power to make you stay.”
“Sorry, Hot Girl,” Locke mumbles, placing a soft kiss on my shoulder. “Your boyfriend’s worried my dick’s too big for you to handle.” Tipping my head back to look up at Kylian, I lick my lips. “Trust me, Daddy. It’ll fit.” “Daddy?” Locke gibes. “You’re a philosophy major, Nicky. Don’t tell me you’re not familiar with the teachings of Pascal. Daddy is a state of mind.”
I want Hunter to know. I trust Greedy enough. I need to give Kylian the facts. I crave Locke’s comfort. I hope Kendrick doesn’t overreact. I pray Decker understands.
I’m not broken, and I’m no delicate flower. I’m a survivor, and I came to Lake Chapel so I could finally start living.”
“I see you, baby. Always. You’re safe by my side. Nothing and no one is getting to you ever again.”
But Decker’s not studying my face the way I’m studying his. He’s looking at the back of my shirt. “I need to memorize exactly what it looks like to see my name where it belongs before we get back to the isle and one of my brothers rips this jersey off your body.”
We’re perfectly matched. Combustible in the best way. If only we’d stop resisting the pull. So in tune with one another I can’t imagine ever not having his fire in my life, yet so similar I can’t imagine not fighting him at every turn. Tonight, though, I don’t want to fight.
I thought I was cruising the lake with Decker Crusade, control freak, QB1, asshole extraordinaire. I had no idea I was getting on this boat with a top-tier groveler and hopeless romantic.
All I need to know is that I did the right thing. For him. For her. For us.
