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“Such a troublesome girl,” I scold, slapping her ass. “Why couldn’t I like the easy one? But no, I wanted this one.”
“Decent men don’t do this,” I tell her. “But that’s why I wanted this one. She’s a devil, just like me.”
“The only one who can bring Ivar Torrance’s father to his knees is Ivar’s mother.”
“You know she can’t prove herself if you don’t give her a chance,” Winter points out. “She had a chance.” After a short pause, Winter adds, “Yeah, so did we.” Her voice is somber as we both stare out the windshield. “Thank goodness we gave each other another one.” •
Winter chimes in. “His bite is worse than his bark, but he only bites me,” she assures the new kids.
He may very well be her step-brother at some point, but I’m blood.
because she’s the best of us. Still innocent. Still pure, no matter the ugliness that comes into her life. But no longer vulnerable. There’s not a time when she isn’t here for us, and I’m not sure if we’d be where we are without her.
“Choices drive our lives,”
“But then…I might never have become friends with you,” she tells me. “My path with you and the guys might never have crossed, and I wouldn’t have a family.”
“I need Will back, Rika,” she whispers. I lift my head, resting my chin on her chest and seeing her eyes glisten. She purses her lips to keep her emotions in check, but eventually, she explains, “I love you and Banks and Winter and the guys, but…Will gets it.”
“You know…” I approach him. He lifts his head, listening. But I don’t continue. I take a breath, let out a sigh, and…shoot out, shoving him hard in the chest. His eyes go big, he flails, and the next thing I know, he’s lost his footing and tips over the side of the yacht. “Shit! Fuck!” rings out as he plummets. His body hits the water ten feet down, a big splash as he disappears under the surface.
“I was there when she was five and eight and thirteen, so you remember where you and she started the next time you want to imply you have any more responsibility or love for her than I do,” he bites out. “My woman. Sit down.”
We’re not criminals, and I have to constantly remind myself of that. We don’t break laws for personal gain. We do it for fun.
Why should I have to change my name? Who made that rule anyway? My father was a good man who left no sons to carry on the name. He deserves this.
“Fuck your power, your schedule, your assistant,” he tells me, “your fucking little entourage everywhere you go, your plans, and your chess games. I gave you too much power.”
I sniffle, my hands shaking. Oh, my God. He left. He walked out. I close my eyes again. “We’re killing him,” Damon growls, and he’s probably talking to Kai. “Right now.”
“And if I could go back, I wouldn’t have wasted a moment.”
“We will have kids. If you want them. But I will never not have you.” He shakes me. “Do you understand?” A sob lodges in my throat. “Do you understand?” he growls again. “A world where there is no us can’t happen.”
“I can’t follow the rules,” he says, “and with you, I don’t have to. I’m not alone. I can’t go back to being alone.” He hovers over my lips, our mouths open and hungry. “I can’t fucking breathe without my little monster.”
If I couldn’t have Will handling shit out there, then I wanted one of the girls. Michael and Kai stressed me out more.
While driving, we think, even for just a moment, about jerking the steering wheel into oncoming traffic or leaping off the balcony of a ship and into the abyss of the black water below. They’re passing thoughts and little dares we allow our psyche, because we’re tired of not living and we want the fear. We want to remember why we want to live.
“That’s what binds us,” she told me. “Who?” “Our family.” Our family? “Kai, Banks, Michael, Rika, Will, Alex…” she went on. “You and me. We all hear it. L’appel du vide. The call of the void.”
