He’s black and blue, which pains me to see, but he doesn’t seem to mind. Especially not after he told me how much money he’d bet on himself, and with the odds, what he’d won.
Legend will be his, free and clear, next week. Well, almost. He’s making Q a full partner.
“Only so I don’t have to feel guilty about him working all the damned time.”
But I know it’s more than that. Gabriel wants to share his good fortune with his best friend, and I’m fully in support of it.
Bump asked yesterday if he could go back to Meryl’s center to see the kids, and that’s where we’re headed tomorrow.
I had a nightmare after the fight, mostly about Lucy. When a ghostly Rolo entered my dream, I woke up from a dead sleep. Gabriel held me and promised it would get better, adding if it didn’t, he’d insist on taking me to see Kitty at the gentleman’s club since it worked for Bump. His joke did make me feel better, but I passed on the titty bar all the same.
Instead, I made an appointment to go back to Dr. Grand’s office, but this time to see someone specializing in trauma. In the meantime, I’m writing in my gratitude journal twice a day, because I have even more to be grateful for now. I won’t take waking up in the morning for granted. A brush with death will do that for you.
“Are you saying that because you want to get back to the store so you can help rearrange everything because Crey’s wife is coming?”
Holly Wix called me last night, and she’s coming in on Wednesday for her first appointment at Curated. To say I’m nervous is an understatement.
I whip my head around to look at him. “Miss a breakfast picnic with you to rearrange things? Never.”
He chuckles as he sets the basket on the ground. “I almost believe that.”
I come toward him and slide my arms around him, gingerly, because of the bruising. “You know there’s nothing I’d rather do than spend time with you. Always. Nothing will ever change that.”
“Good, because this would be pretty awkward if you said otherwise.” Gabriel peels my arms away from him as I stare in confusion.
“What do you mean?”
His answer is to walk another dozen steps away from me and take a knee . . . on a rug?
“Is that the rug from your office?” I stare at it in confusion, wondering how the hell I didn’t see it as we walked up.
Gabriel’s lips curve into that incredible half smile of his as I close the distance between us.
“How . . . what . . .” I can’t put two words together in a coherent fashion, so I go silent and wait for him to explain.
“I was going to wait until we were done eating, but I can’t. I can’t wait another fucking second to ask you this question.”
When he pulls a ring from his pocket, my jaw nearly hits the very carpet that Bump rolled me up in to kidnap me.
“Oh my God,” I whisper.
“I know we were never supposed to meet, but fate intervened. You brought me back to life, Scarlett. You showed me what I have and what I’ve done isn’t who I am. You’ve made me a better man in every respect.”
“Oh my God, Gabriel.” Tears stream down my face as he smiles up at me with two black eyes.
“I want to wake up beside you every morning. I want to leave you notes that you save and reread. I want to give you babies with golden hair and gray eyes, and live a messy life with you. Scarlett Lourdes Priest, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
I drop to my knees in front of him, throwing my arms around his neck. “Yes. Absolutely, yes.”
“Thank God,” he whispers against my hair. “Because we’ve got a hell of a future ahead of us, ladybug. I know it.”
I nod against him before wiping at the tears. He reaches for my hand, and I finally see the ring as he slides it on my finger. It’s stunning.
“When did you . . . How did you . . .”
“I picked it out before the fight. Just needed the cash to buy it. I knew there was no way I could lose, because I couldn’t wait any longer to do this. Q went to the store last night to pick it up.” He glances down at the rug. “He and Bump helped me with this too, in case you’re wondering.”
I laugh and stare down at the delicate band with its massive stone, the oriental rug beneath us, and then back into his shimmering blue eyes. “Just so you know, I would’ve said yes, even if you’d proposed in the bathroom with a piece of dental floss.”
Gabriel winces as the smile stretches his face wide. “You deserve to be treated like a queen, and that’s exactly what you get.”
I shake my head. “Not a queen. A Legend.”
THE END
Are you ready to go back to New Orleans and the forbidden criminal underworld controlled by its ruthless king, Lachlan Mount? Good. Because I couldn’t stay away for another second. If you haven’t met Lachlan Mount yet, keep reading after the first chapter of Creole Kingpin, for a sneak peek of Ruthless King.
The Anti-Heroes Collection wouldn’t be complete without this intense story of second chances and redemption. It is unforgettable. Keep reading for the first chapter of Creole Kingpin, coming March 10, 2020. You can preorder it now by tapping on the title. Whatever you thought about Magnolia before, I promise this story will suck you in and won’t let you go until the very last page.
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Sneak Peek of Creole Kingpin
Chapter 1
Magnolia
“One card. You know the drill. I’m feeling strong energy coming off you today, Magnolia.”
I pause midstride between the Saint Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square as Madame Celeste waves me over to her rickety card table. She has a shop a few streets over, but she sets up out here more than I think an elderly woman should. But then again, what the hell do I know? It’s not like I could stop her anyway. Stubborn woman. I guess like recognizes like.
“You’re only saying that because I didn’t stop to say hi. I’m in a hurry,” I tell her, my eyebrow popping up. Celeste and I go way back. She’s been a fixture in the Quarter for as long as I can remember.
“There’s always time for what the cards have to say.”
My heels click on the stone pavers as I close the distance to her table. “I have an appointment, Celeste. I can’t fuck around today.” When something gleams in her otherworldly pale blue eyes in response, I huff out a breath. “Fine. Two minutes. One card. But I can’t be late.”
She holds out the deck, and I knock the top and shuffle quickly.
“Your life is about to change, chère.”
My brow creases. “You haven’t even flipped over the card,” I say, giving her my best side-eye. Despite my words and the warm, sunny day, chills skitter up my spine, unleashing a raft of goose bumps along my exposed skin.
Celeste smiles, revealing the gap between her two front teeth. “I don’t need the cards to feel the winds of change. You’ve been out of sorts for too long, Magnolia. The universe feels your energy and the questions you’ve been asking. Your answers are coming. All will be revealed.”