Beautiful Thorns (Boys of Bellerose, #4)

by Jaymin Eve

The toxicity of our relationship would be disturbing, if part of me didn’t absolutely live for that shit.

I couldn’t lose him. I couldn’t lose us. Not when we were almost back to the happy again.

He’d been my savior from day one, and even now, in what might be our last moments, he was throwing himself in between danger and me. I couldn’t lose him. I couldn’t lose my guardian angel when I’d only just gotten him back.

He was the one who stood in the shadows so the rest of us could exist in the sun, and in truth, I wanted to live in those shadows with him.

It was fucking ridiculous that any one woman could have four true loves. Four men that filled her metaphorical life-well with love and music and laughter, but here the fuck I was.

Then I think we start talking about the bigger picture—how to extract us out of this violent conflict. All of us. Ricci included. He’s one of us now.”

I should have known it’d be Billie who brought us back together. We were all hers now, the boys of Bellerose indeed.

“As for you, Billie Bellerose,” Rhett continued, ignoring Grayson. “You’re—” “Our heart,” Jace said softly, cutting him off with an intense stare in my direction. “You’re the one who reminded us all what it feels like to love… and be loved. You’re the sunshine creating a rainbow out of our miserable, wet day.”

I’m all in, Rose. All the fuck in. And I will wait as long as it takes for you to believe me. The love between us never went anywhere, but it was the trust that ended up damaged. And whatever the fuck it takes, I will rebuild the trust between us.”

“I will be there to celebrate every high in your life, Rose, and when there are lows, I will lay in the ditch with you and protect your soul and heart with my own. No grief or loss will you face alone, and if there’s a chance for me to take the burden, I will do so with zero regrets. My heart is yours. My love is yours. I am yours.”

“There’s always been an us,” he told me, his thumb caressing my cheek as he wiped tears away. “And there always will be. We were a forever from the first moment we met.”

Jace had been my first in all ways. First love, kiss, sex. Angelo had been my second in all things.

I got to go to the docks and get punished by Gray. This was turning out to be a great damn day.

I’d be devastated if this was a false lead. All the buildup and then no climax. Those were the kind of bullshit plotlines sadistic writers used to draw out a story and fuck with their audience, not real life.

There was no replacing a first love, no matter how fucking hard you tried.

“You are our heart and our soul, and neither of those are weak. In fact, they’re the strongest parts of us. Not shooting him even though you thought it was expected of you is strong. Your moral compass is strong. Without you, the rest of us would just be fucking savages. You make us better. You are our strength.”

the universe brought us all together because we’re just fractured parts of one heart.”

“A king is nothing without his queen, you know? We stand together, or we fall apart.”