Total pages in book: 170
Estimated words: 168980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 168980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)
He is.
“You are,” I tell him.
Akara inhales, “I was never planning on leaving tonight or tomorrow. I should’ve been clearer earlier—I thought I was, but I didn’t say everything I should’ve.”
I breathe easier, calmer, especially seeing Banks’ soft, almost-there smile that rises and rises. “What should you’ve said, Kits?”
He edges forward. “That I’m staying. That I never stopped wanting to be with you and Banks. That it’s too painful to be without you. That I can’t live without you, Sullivan Minnie Meadows, and I’ve felt the truth in that. That for as much as I will always protect you, I can never stop loving you, and whatever happens tomorrow, I’m not leaving. I’m never leaving you.”
“Not for anything?” I ask, hope surging. We’ve drawn closer.
“Not for anything,” he promises, his hand skimming the edge of my cheek and jaw.
“Even if it’s the stupid thing to do?”
“Even if it’s the stupidest fudging thing in the world—I’m stupidly in love with you.” He presses his forehead to mine. “You are my heart when I forget I have one and my happiness in every day. I hope I can be the Kits you’ve hoped for, the Kits who keeps you whole—”
“You’re the Kits I love the fucking most,” I interject. “You don’t need to keep me whole. Just be happy with me. With us.”
Tears slip down his cheeks as he brings me closer and kisses me tenderly. I clutch the back of his neck, feeling our lives flash through our history. Friendship. Flirting. New fights. New roads. Kissing. Love. And still, this is my favorite time with him.
Now.
On a new adventure.
A bigger one.
We pull apart, and Banks is practically grinning. “I feel like a proud Mother Goose.”
I laugh, wiping my wet eyes, and Akara shakes his head with a growing smile.
“Just so we’re crystal,” I say, “we’re all together again?”
“Yes,” Akara says.
Banks nods, then looks me over. “Where’s your head at about the public?”
“I—”
Akara’s phone rings, and with the sip-in-snow party from hell, plus the revelation about Orion’s dog collar, the interruption isn’t surprising but actually welcome. We all want answers and resolutions.
“It’s Connor Cobalt.” He waits to answer. “I’m going to call a security meeting soon about the leaks. We’ll table this? Later but soon.”
Later but soon. I nod heartily. “Sounds like a plan.”
Late-late night back at the penthouse, all of SFO are still absent at a mega-security meeting involving Triple Shield and Kitsuwon Securities. Leaving me alone with my three cousins.
Underneath galaxy lights in Luna’s bedroom, Moffy, Jane, Luna, and I camp out on a fuzzy midnight rug in a circle, a bowl of M&Ms and Chex Mix between us.
Usually when we hang out all together like this, I feel our youth. But tonight, I feel our twenties pass between us. What we’ve dealt with isn’t kid stuff.
Moffy had his sex life blasted.
Jane had a cheating rumor blow-up.
Luna had her private fanfics condemned.
And I had my health, love life, and sex life totally fucking exposed.
“I think we’ve come out completely and entirely unscathed this time,” Jane says into a sip of coffee, hands wrapped around a pastel pink mug. Wavy hair tied in a cat-printed ribbon. “Don’t you feel it, old chap?”
Maximoff smiles. “I’m feeling partially charred.”
“A teeny bit scratched,” Jane agrees.
“Semi-crispy,” Luna sing-songs.
“Fucking burnt,” I finish.
We all share soft smiles that fade into seriousness with incoming texts.
I pop M&Ms in my mouth and read mine. “Akara says the perp was…Tatiana Grace? Who’s that?”
Jane goes eerily still. “Merde.”
Maximoff glances from his phone to Jane. “A cat sitter?” He reads his texts. “Farrow said it’s bigger than that.”
Luna munches on Chex Mix. “I’m lost.”
Our boyfriends are texting us updates as the security meeting unfolds, and Luna is the only one without a bodyguard boyfriend.
“I interviewed Tatiana,” Jane explains, her face pinched in hurt. “Thatcher said she’s the one who physically attached listening devices to Orion and Arkham’s collars. She confessed after they showed the cat sitters the devices tonight.”
During every sweep of the penthouse, we always took the puppies out with us, so surveillance teams never found the bugs. Uncle Stokes even brought Orion and Arkham to his house during the holidays.
Jane breathes, “I must’ve…I must’ve been distracted by my cats during the interview. I didn’t see her touch the dogs, and Thatcher wasn’t with me.” She buries her face in her palms.
Moffy wraps an arm around her. “It’s okay, Janie.”
“She seemed sweet. She’s a single mom living around where Thatcher grew up.”
A pit is in my stomach seeing Jane take the fall. “I’m sure she was, Jane. Hey, it’s not your fucking fault.”
“It could’ve been any of us,” Luna whispers, so softly that I strain my ears to pick up the words.
No wonder her life leaked the least. She’s a whispering badass. “I need whispering tips, Luna.”
“You just talk like this.” Her voice grows so quiet and calming, she could sell ASMR videos.