Raising a foster kid so well that he becomes as essential to your family as your own flesh and blood—I’m so proud of that. So proud of Kelly. I guess… when I see him, I see parallels with Storm. When he was young. When Rene and Bear took him in. I wished they’d been able to get full custody, and I wished, even more, that Jump and Darla hadn’t had to die, but life is what life is and now, I just know I did them proud.
Seeing him here, seeing what he’s achieved and knowing he’s going onto great things doesn’t take away my regret, but it makes me happy to know that his folks are looking down on him, as proud as we are, and undoubtedly relieved knowing that he’s loved.
It was a brilliant day, and I’ll write some more, but Storm’s just wandered out of the bathroom, and if he shakes that padlock in my face one more time… well, let’s just say I’m about to celebrate the only way him and I know how.
Forty-Seven
Storm
Fourteen years after August 8th
Say You Won’t Let Go - James Arthur
"Love isn’t the only thing I can give to you," I told Keira, grabbing her ass and hauling her into me.
She laughed, chuckling as I groped her on the dance floor, in full sight. But I didn’t see the harm in it. Most of the people here were doing the same, hell, even Cyan was with her groom.
I smiled at the sight of them both, the glee on her face, the outright love on it, and I shot her husband a grim stare, one that was a promise. A promise he already knew and understood because I’d threatened him last night in the Lockbox.
He nodded at me, and I nodded back, just as Keira grumbled, "Stop scaring our son-in-law."
Snickering, I peered down at her. "A man’s got to have his fun. It’s a rite of passage."
She rolled her eyes. "I’ll give you a rite of passage—" She leaned up on tiptoes and gave me a kiss that still had the power to knock me off my feet.
Twenty-five years.
Fuck.
Twenty-five.
It still seemed crazy how quickly the time had passed, and yet, I’d lived it to the fullest, Keira had too. We had four kids now. Cyan, Kelly, Phoenix, and Brook, and each of them were content to drive me crazy on the regular, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Brook had been a surprise baby, popping up after a birthday gift had gone awry.
I’d never thought I’d be having another kid at forty-two but hell, who was I to complain?
Shit wouldn’t have felt right without the little monster.
Speaking of, I recognized Brook’s particular wail from the other side of the fucking dance floor.
"Your spawn is causing hell," Keira muttered as she broke our kiss.
"My spawn?"
"It’s that damn dog. I swear, the next one I’m choosing. He gets all the kids riled up."
"If you choose it’ll be a chihuahua."
"What’s wrong with that? They’re not hell on four paws."
I grinned. "You know you love it."
"Do I?" she grumbled, but her eyes were twinkling with joy as well as the thousands of fairy lights that had been strung up all over the place.
She’d done Cyan proud with this reception, a feat that had taken all the Old Ladies, from Coshocton and West Orange, to pull off.
It was a kind of street party on our subdivision, except, in the road, there were dozens of tables and chairs, a dance floor, a bandstand, the gazebo where my eldest had said her vows with Digger as her officiant, much as he’d been ours, as well as play areas for the younger kids, and all other kinds of shit that told me my woman would have made a great wedding planner in another life.
When she’d told me her plan, I’d just rolled my eyes, handed her the checkbook, then let her get on with it. I was a smart man, and a smart man knew when to back the hell away and let his Old Lady have free reign.
Wasn’t like we couldn’t afford it.
I’d made a small fortune over the years, more than enough for us to retire to Florida or California when Brook hit eighteen, and I was looking forward to that as much as I loved my life as is. And if I didn’t have enough, Bear’s inheritance would have paid for this party ten times over.
God love a man who invested in gold.
I’d sold it and had made a steal five years ago when prices rocketed.
I twisted around when I heard a holler, seeing Nyx’s hellions mixing with mine, then Link’s and Sin’s joined the fray. I wasn’t sure what they were doing, didn’t really want to know. There were plenty of adults, I figured someone else could parent for once—wasn’t every day that I was father of the bride, was it? I deserved a night off.
Spying Rex dancing with his daughter, Cruz and Indy twisting around the dance floor, him with one kid on his hip, then Stone and her son shuffling around as well, I had to shake my head.
Somehow, we’d made it past our forties.
Somehow, we were in our fucking fifties.
When did that happen?
"You look maudlin."
"Not maudlin. Just…" I smiled. "Thinking. It’s been grand, hasn’t it?"
"What? The day? Yeah." She blew out a breath. "I’m so glad it’s over, babe. Fuck, if I had to worry about corsages and vegetarian entrées and making sure that Giulia didn’t have to sit next to whoever she’d offended last for one more day, I’m pretty sure I’d have gone crazy."
I smiled at her, though that hadn’t been what I meant, and instead, I murmured, "I got a present for you."
She froze. "You did?" Her eyes narrowed. "Does this end with me on my back?"
I snickered. "I’m more than willing if you are."
Her lips formed a pout. "You owe me one."
"And one you’ll get." I raised a hand. "Scout’s honor." I dipped my head and pressed a kiss to her lips. "Never left you hungry for long, have I?"
"Nope. You’d better not start, either."
"Greedy," I chided, even though it thrilled me to know she was still as hungry for me all these years later as I was for her.
The hunger never abated.
If anything, it increased.
My need and love for her expanded with it, growing and growing, filling me full. I’d never be satiated, not really, and I knew she felt the same way.
We couldn’t get enough of each other.
"It isn’t an orgasm, though."
"What is it?"
I wriggled my shoulders at her surprise, smiling at Little when he collided into us. Dude had only just gotten Cinnamon to agree to being branded. Because he was on cloud nine, he’d forgotten that he was a tank in a body and kept trampling on us all. His happiness was infectious, though, so who was I to bitch at him for standing on everyone’s fucking toes?
"Nothing special," I told my woman with a grin as her fingers traced the brand on my throat, one that matched hers, "but I wanted you to have them. Rex found them in that old warehouse they were selling. Bear had dumped a lot of boxes there after he sold the house."
"Ooh, I didn’t realize! He brought them down with him?"