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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.
“My little Billie Jean. No words for your dad? Just worry for this punk-ass bastard?” That voice,
“That guy who took Angelo is Wilson.” There was an extended pause, so Vee continued, “The Wilson. The one who started the Wilson cartel and has been making unprecedented moves across the underworld for the past near decade. The Wilsons aren’t a family like the Riccis; it's an organization run by Wilson. That man who took Angelo.”
I should have known it’d be Billie who brought us back together. We were all hers now, the boys of Bellerose indeed.
Grayson nodded, unapologetic. “Because I love you, Prickles. You’ll always come first, so I’m asking you to go back to Naples with Rhett and Jace, so I can focus on finding your mafia prince. Honestly, I’d rather send you to a remote cabin in fucking Iceland or something but I know you wouldn’t go, so I’m scaling back to a reasonable request. I have security in Naples.”
“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 maturely choosing not to really think about it,” I finally said, “except when the most annoyingly intrusive thoughts force me to. But I have some questions for Bruce Wilson. Fucker doesn’t get the name Bellerose any longer. It’s mine.” “Ours,” Jace murmured, and I turned fully to face him, keeping just the one hand on the pool wall. “Ours? As in yours and mine?” “You are mine,” he said with a shrug. “So, logically, it stands to reason that what is yours is mine.”
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.”
“I’m sorry that I spent the next eight years feeling sorry for myself, and instead of growing into a strong man who was worthy of you, I ended up a pathetic mess who thrived in his pain.”
Jace placed his hand against my face, the heat of his palm burning through me to join the inferno roaring in my chest. “You have always been selfless, Rose,” he whispered. “Your lie was for me, and my reaction was for me. There’s been too much me in this journey so far, and I’m ready for there to be so much more you.” “What about an us?” I choked out.
“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.”
One of his arms loosened so he could cup my face once more. “Forever, Rose. That’s what I need from you.”
“I love you, Rose,” Jace whispered against my mouth, and despite all the bad shit that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, I found myself smiling. This moment would be actually perfect if Angel were here. “I love you too,” I replied. “Always have, always will.”
Then, to my surprise, he took a deep breath and the tension that had been holding his features tight relaxed. He stopped scrolling his phone and gave me all of his attention, the full force of his lethal blue eyes and charismatic energy. “Sorry, Rose. I’m in a shitty mood.”
“I’m so sorry, Jace,” I whispered against his chest. “It’s not fair, and I promise you, the true fans will understand. They will know your heart and the way you give so much of yourself to the music and, through the music, to them. You’ve always shared big time with the fans, and when this has been dealt with, we will find a way to make it up to them.”
His phone hit the floor with a crack as he closed his arms around me, holding on even tighter than I was. “The fact that you use we when referring to the future makes it a lot better,” he rasped. “We will deal with it, and I’m just so fucking grateful that I have you. We’re heading home to find Angel. To find the last of Bellerose and bring him back to us.”
“Love you, Thorn,” he said when he pulled away, leaving me a little dazed. “You’re the best fucking thing to stumble into my life. Ever.”
Motherfucker. “Love, there is very little in this world I can refuse you, but when it comes to your safety… I’m an unmovable boulder.”
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.
When Angelo released my head, I gasped for air, coughing while grinning like a loon. He bent down and kissed me hard, his tongue sweeping through my mouth and not flinching once at the fact that I’d just swallowed four different dude’s cum.
Rhett nodded, thoughtful. “Well. Let’s see how long it takes, shall we? Take your consent form and shove it up your ass. You’re not getting my liver, old man.” Gasps of shock rippled through the nearby staff, then Jeremiah started laughing. His laughter then morphed into coughing, which went on and on and then… stopped. The monitor beeped long and low, and medical staff leapt into action to try and revive the Father of Good, but Rhett just turned his back on them all. He knew, like I did, that it was too late. Karma had come calling, and that demon had just breathed its last gasp.
Giovanni was dead. His hierarchy had been dismantled, and the Siena mafia was scrambling.
“If it means never seeing you with blood dripping down your face again, Prickles, I would happily walk away from any and every fight.” He cupped my face in his huge hands, his dark eyes locked on mine. “You are the most precious thing in my life, Billie. I’m quickly coming to realize there is nothing I wouldn’t do to keep you safe.”
She turned around to flash me a wide grin. “Changing of the guard, baby girl. I used to date an Australian girl in high school who’d say, ‘We’re not here to fuck spiders.’ In other words, there’s no time to pussyfoot around. With Giovanni dead, we need to move fast.”
“Before we finish up tonight,” Jace said as the crowd grew quiet once more, wanting to hear his words, “there’s someone that we need to thank. Someone that you all know pretty well by now, thanks to the media’s obsession with our lives. Someone who co-wrote every single one of these songs. I know you’re all aware that Billie Bellerose is a fucking smokeshow. Girl absolutely slays me every single time she looks my way. But what you may not know is that she’s the most talented songwriter in the world. I’ll fucking take on anyone who wants to argue that fact. Can’t sing for shit, but she will
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On the motherfucking stage. I shook my head, desperately freaking out that I would throw up or do something embarrassing like fart the moment I went on stage. My stomach wasn’t feeling the most stable, in all truth, so this wasn’t even a weird intrusive thought.
But there’s no way to fight fate. Billie Bellerose, you’re our greatest love of all.
Before I could pussy out, I twisted the doorhandle and pushed the door open. Instead of revealing a storage closet, it revealed a newly constructed set of stairs leading down. I flicked on the lights, then stood aside for them to enter. “Why do I feel like Alice heading down the rabbit hole?” Rhett teased, brushing a kiss over my lips as he passed. I took up the rear, watching for their reactions as they reached the bottom. There was another door they needed to pass through, then it opened up into a huge space.
“Guys… I have something I’ve been wanting to ask you all for a really long time, but we’ve all been so busy lately that I just kept waiting for the perfect moment. But then I realized I needed to make our moment. And I don’t think I could think of any more perfect one than this, after your MSG debut as the new Bellerose under our own record label, in our very own recording studio.” I wet my lips, the excitement nearly bringing tears to my eyes. “I know it’s something we’ve kind of joked about before, but I can’t get it out of my head and… I just know I’m ready. We’re ready.”
front of them. My boys. “Will you…” Oh shit, was I brave enough to really ask for what I wanted? Yes. Yes, I was. “Guys. Will you… try triple penetration with me?”
My Boys of Bellerose. …and we all lived happily ever after. The End.
