I can see the emotions overwhelming Emmett as he scans our faces. We have nothing but pride and love for him, and we let him see that. “Family fucks up sometimes, Em, that doesn’t mean we walk away or give up. We’re always here for you. You just needed to go a different path, and that’s okay.”
He swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he looks into my eyes. “I’ve missed you all so fucking much. All I wanted to do was share this with you, and before I realised it, I pushed you away when you were the only faces I wanted in that crowd.”
“No more drama queen walkouts, okay?” Liam jokes, tears in his eyes. “There’s only room for one drama queen in this family.”
“Hey,” I protest, and Liam winks at me.
“I meant Blake, Angel.”
Blake smacks him, and we all laugh as we move back slightly. “Kathy invited us.” I gaze over at her then and smile, and when I look back at Emmett, he throws her an appreciative glance, they even share a secret smile, and I almost giggle. “So, Adonis,” I tease, and he groans. “How about we buy our star something to eat and you can tell us everything we have missed.”
“I’d love that,” he replies, his smile almost breaking his face. “It’s good to be back.”
“Always family.” Blake nods. “No matter where.”
“No matter where,” I agree.
Our family is whole again, and I know…
I know no matter the paths we take, we will always be together. Always be The Wild Boys.
For the first time since my brother’s death, I’m whole. My heart is healed and happy. I’ve lost people along the way, but I’ve also gained more than I could have ever imagined, and listening to the laughter of my loves and my best friends, I know it was all worth it.
We didn’t get back until super early in the morning after going out with Emmett for a meal. We spent hours just talking, and it was like old times again, in fact, it was like no time had passed. Kathy came, of course, and by the end, we were all a bit drunk, so when we got in, I passed out in my clothes, the guys snoring around me.
When I wake up, my phone is vibrating with a message from Emmett in the group chat.
Emmett: Tell me you guys are as hungover as me?
I smile, I can’t help it. It’s a mundane message, but so normal, like we used to be, and I know it means he’s back—in our lives at least, because it’s clear his place is at Kathy’s side running his own show.
I slip from the pack of snoring strippers, and after taking a shower and brushing my teeth to make myself more human, I head downstairs to the kitchen and brew some coffee. I check my emails, and my eyes widen when I see one from our advisor. Our offer has been accepted! Already!
I must scream, because the guys come rushing into the kitchen, their eyes blurry, their faces panicked.
“Angel?” Liam asks worriedly, looking around for the threat.
“Baby Girl, what?” Blake queries when he sees no one.
I can’t speak. I’m too excited, so I basically throw the phone to them. Blake scrubs his face and reads it before stopping and reading it again. His gaze lifts to me, shocked and happy, as he passes the phone on. Without a word, he strides across the kitchen and picks me up, swinging me around while I laugh.
“Wait, does this mean what I think it does? I haven’t had enough caffeine to adult,” Liam grumbles.
“We got it!” I scream, my head tipped back as Blake kisses my neck and laughs with me. “We got our house!”
“We got it?” Liam repeats and then screams and throws himself at Leo. They go down together, Leo laughing as Liam peppers kisses across his face. “We got it!”
Blake drops me on top of them, and the others pile in on the kitchen floor, all of us hungover but laughing and overjoyed.
We got it…
We got our future.
Two Months Later…
Moving was crazy. It took a while for the mortgage and all the paperwork to go through, and we finally got the keys yesterday. We took Kathy and Emmett to see it, as well as my mum and Kingston’s mum. They were overjoyed for us, and we opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate. Then, this morning, we got up at four AM to move.
We are all packed, and we hired a van, which Liam drives. One of the pluses in being in a relationship with five men is there’s no heavy lifting. They move all the big furniture and boxes and leave me to do what I do best—organise, and of course, take breaks to stare at them shirtless and sweaty as they lift heavy objects. Emmett helps us, while Kathy and I sit back with a coffee, watching and sharing smiles.
Once the house is packed up, we hand the keys over to the letting agent and get on the road, driving the ten minutes to our new house. It has wrought iron front gates and a large driveway with a foundation in the middle. There is a pool out back and a guest house, which we are turning into a studio for the guys, with an office next door for me.
The house itself is a beautiful red brick with columns and big bay windows. It has eight bedrooms, four baths, a giant living room for movie nights, a big kitchen for hangover mornings, and everything we could ever need. It’s a new build. A millionaire sold it after he went bankrupt, so we got a good deal, and now we can make it our own.
By the time we have everything inside it’s almost six PM, and after ordering pizza, we open some wine and bid Kathy and Emmett goodbye as they head off to get ready for their show tonight. Drinking and unpacking does not mix, and somewhere through it all, the house’s speaker system turns on and blares, another benefit of the house—built-in speakers.
After all, music is our life.
It pounds through the property, and we have no close neighbours so we crank it up louder, and then unpacking is forgotten as the guys start to dance and drag me along with them. We move through the house and into the foyer where Liam flips from the third to bottom step and laughs. Buzzed from the wine, my cheeks heated and heart full, I let them twirl and grind on me.
“So Sorry Mama” comes on, and Liam tips his invisible cowboy hat as he starts to square dance, making me laugh so hard, I almost cry. Then they all join in and dance for me, ripping off their clothes like they are on stage. I grab my wine and cheer them on, sitting on the stairs in the foyer as they put on a show for me.
Blake shakes his hips my way before leaning forward, throwing me over his shoulder, and starting to dance again as I spank his ass and laugh. When the song ends and flips onto the next fast beat, he pulls me over in a fancy dance move and lets me slide down his body. My breath hitches at the feeling of his hard, sweaty chest against mine as my heart races. He smirks down at me as he pinches my chin, tips my head back, and kisses me hard. “Want to christen the house, Baby Girl?”
Leaving me panting, he steps back, his hands hooked in his jeans as he gives me a dark, hungry look. “What do you think, guys? Shall we get started on breaking in all these rooms?”
“Hell yes, strip for us, Angel!” Liam cheers.
Grinning, I shake my hips to the music as it pounds, winding around as I slowly unlace the top of my sunflower summer dress. They all stop to watch me, their eyes hungry, their bodies hard and sweaty. I spin, letting the material flare out to show my lacy thong before I grab the bottom and then slowly, teasingly, pull it up.