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“Are you two fucking serious right now?”
“Someone mind telling me what the fuck is going on here with the Secret Service?”
“Tyler didn’t update you?” I ask, eyes bulging. “No, and I damn near had a fucking heart attack when they stopped me before they identified themselves. I thought I wouldn’t be able to get here in time. Since when are we in bed with the government?” “Since about ten minutes ago,”
“Long before the fireflies, and just in time to see you take your medicine.”
Sean looks over to me, his eyes shining with pride. “You did good, Pup.”
have done it without you.” “Yeah, well, it wasn’t easy—” he smirks and nods toward Tobias—“I had to keep him distracted with heart-to-hearts a few times a week. He’s a whiner, by the way; you might want to see about that.”
Sean joins me where I stand at the trunk, my eyes fixed on the woman who retrieved my heart, healed my soul, and saved my life a thousand times over.
“I’m in love with my wife, Tobias.” He turns to me, his expression genuine. “I’m convinced by my own experience that it’s possible to love more than once in a lifetime. And honestly, I never thought I would see her again after she left Triple.” “Neither did I.” “What made you go after her, finally?” “Because maybe you are capable, but I’m not. There’s no one else for me but her. Never before, never after.”
“The worst day of our lives was the day we broke your heart.”
“The second worst day of our lives was the day you broke our hearts—”
“But the truth is now . . .” Sean admits hoarsely, his teary eyes lifting to mine, “I just want my fucking brother back.” In a flash, I cup the back of his neck and press our foreheads together.
“Always brothers,” I whisper through a shaky breath as we clutch each other tightly,
“But you’ve got to let him go. He wouldn’t want you condemning yourself like this. We all deserve to see how the rest of this plays
out, especially you. You’ve got to let him go, man.”
“I gained everything, brother, everything. And I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. The hellacious road less traveled has been worth it, man. I only wish he was still with us.”
“Agree to disagree.” “I’m okay with you . . .” I look toward the direction Sean went, “having whatever friendship you end up having with him.” “Considering I’ve been talking to him daily behind your back, that means a lot, but I’m more concerned about your relationship with him. For a second, I thought you were wrestling until I figured out that hug was a way to keep your man chests from rubbing together.”
“And I didn’t have to lift a finger because I’m just a pawn, who managed to find a queen and make her fall in love with me. But what good is a pawn, who can check, without a mate?”
“Finish that sentence,” Tobias says evenly. “Please, finish that sentence.” Russell rolls his eyes. “Wouldn’t want you to wrinkle that suit, Hugo.”
We celebrate now, the new normal even as we tiptoe around the absence of a few irreplaceable Ravens—those who have passed and those who moved onto a different present as we all will when our time
Red-rimmed eyes lift to mine. “If there ever comes a time where I can’t . . .” “Stop. We aren’t going to do that.” “This is where you let me be realistic.” I concede due to the sheer determination in his eyes. “We do it together unless I become incapable, which brings me to my next point. You decide.” “Decide what?” “When to go back in, if we go at all.” “And what about what you want? What about my king?”
He nuzzles me. “Still in the making. For now, the queen is the one in control of the board.”
“And we know who shot JFK.”
“We loved with a love that was more than love.” —Edgar Allan Poe
“No man on earth has ever loved a woman more than I love you. I’ll prove this every day for the rest of our lives. I love you more than any cause, any ambition. The sight of your face over any other on earth.” I choke on every other word, frustrated by my inability to carry out my plan but too emotional to give a fuck. I’d humiliate myself a million times over because she’s shown me, repeatedly, the beauty in a bare, stripped heart. “You own me. You make me so fucking happy. You are my purpose now, and forever.”
“And I’ve earned your trust?” “Yes.” “Your loyalty?” “Yes.” “I’ve earned your faith?” “Yes.” “I’ve earned your heart?” “Wholly.” “Your body is mine?’ “Yours. Only yours,” she swears. I push the ring onto her finger. “Make me king?” One month later CECELIA
You will teach our baby to love like you do. “You love just as fiercely, Tobias.”
“I know what I’m holding. I know her worth.”
It’s an echo, this part of my heartbeat that thrums in my chest, an echo of a life I lived long ago and a man I loved whom I spent my rainy days with.
Though Tobias has told me stories, I didn’t quite understand it fully until this moment, the meaning behind every action, every detail, because I’m holding the original blueprint in my hand.
“You’ll never be alone again. You’ll never be alone. I promise you. It was never my heart, Tobias. It was yours.”
“Sorry to report school is still five days long.”
“You forced me to take all the credit for being the man behind the curtain, but that’s not how it started, is it, Dom? And I don’t think anyone would believe that it was the suggestion of a five-year-old boy who saw the world for what it is, that set it all into motion.”
Always brothers.
if you can hear me, save me a place in the passenger seat.”
“I’m tired, Dom, so help me watch over us, okay?”
but I can still feel him, and so I speak once more. “We did it, brother.”
She’s given me three children and fifteen of the best years of my life.
“And Jesus was just a carpenter and a messenger who washed feet. Look at what they did to him. Everyone needs protection. Go back to bed, Dominic.”
He jerks his chin, a gesture so familiar it gives me pause, and I swear I hear his predecessor laughing at me from wherever he is. But this version of Dom looks a hell of a lot like me with dirty blond hair, my eyes, and on bad days, my attitude.
Family first.
seat. “I guess what I’m really asking is, can you keep a secret?” LA FIN (THE END)
“Don’t be, and while I can’t solve that right now,” she whispers, “how about seven and a half months? Can you possibly wait until then?”
“Whoever you are, I love you, and I will love you no matter how much of your commanding mother resides in you.”
“Pup,”
His eyes filter the love he feels for me as I know my expression does for him. Whatever we were, we still are. So much love, so much
“He let me see him. Finally, he let me see him,”
“Have to say, Pup. Motherhood agrees with you. You’ve never looked so beautiful. Can I hold her?”
“She is,” I agree readily, “but I’m biased.” “So am I,”
“Shit, she’s got me already,” he says, “love at first sight. Just like her mother did so many years ago. Your uncle would’ve been just as screwed,” he tells Celine and chuckles, “as was your father the minute he saw your mother.”
“I’m so glad you’re here.” “Me too.” “Love you,” I whisper. “You too,” he whispers back, holding out his hand.
