21. Lennon
LENNON
I fit in his arms like I was meant to be there.
—Lennon’s Secret Thoughts
W hen I wake up the next morning, it’s with my head resting in the crook of Maddox’s arm and him at my back, with his hand possessively wrapped around my stomach. I don’t remember falling asleep last night, but I do know we were each on our own sides of the bed. Pregnancy has had my emotions in overdrive for weeks, but last night... I have no words for how confused it left me.
Should I still be angry? Hurt? Over it all?
What am I supposed to do with the information this man laid bare at my feet?
Is there a right or wrong answer? Because honestly, I’m over it all. I don’t want to hold a grudge. I don’t want to be mad. I want to choose happiness. I want to choose love and forgiveness. I was never given those options before. I was rarely given any options before. But now... Now the decision is mine to make, and I want to choose him. This. Our family.
Warmth radiates from Maddox’s bare chest as he shifts his hips, and his deliciously hard dick pushes against my ass, and suddenly, I’m wide-awake and very aware of my choices.
He tugs my chest back, and his lips brush the shell of my ear. “Sleep, principessa . It’s going to be a long day. You need your rest.”
“Yes, but the rest of today is for show.” I press my lips to his. “Right now, it’s just us.” I wiggle my ass back into his hips, needy for this man who will be my husband in just a few hours.
His lips skim over my shoulder as he pulls down my panties. “Whatever my wife wants.”
I hum. “I love the sound of that.”
“Getting your way?” he asks as he shoves down his boxers.
“No,” I murmur and moan when his hands are back on my body. “Your wife.”
Maddox growls possessively as he lifts my leg, opening me up to him from behind. “I love you, Lennon. Only you.”
His words wrap around me, soothing my soul and setting it on fire.
One hand gently wraps around my neck and holds my face. “Tell me you’re with me, baby.”
“I think I’ve always been with you, even when we weren’t together.” I close my eyes as a tear slips from the corner. “I’ve always loved you.”
“That’s the first time you’ve ever said that,” he murmurs against my mouth as his fingers slide over my clit, teasing me with his touch.
“It won’t be the last.” I keen against him. “Now please, please, please, make me come.”
He takes my lips in a deliciously decadent kiss.
Pushing his tongue into my mouth as he surges up with his cock, owning me.
Body and soul.
“Jesus, principessa . You feel so fucking good. Like you were made to take my cock,” he groans, grinding into me. Taking what’s only his to take and giving me everything I ever needed.
“My fucking wife.”
“Only ever yours,” I whisper as the rest of the world ceases to exist. “Only ever us.”
* * *
M eatball barks outside the bedroom door, yanking me back to reality the second time I wake up today. My face is plastered against Maddox’s chest, and oh God , there’s drool. Fucking pregnancy.
“Knock, knock.”
I lift my head and look at my dark prince. His eyes are closed, but his face is tight with annoyance. He’s not sleeping. At least, not anymore. “Why is my sister here?”
“How should I know?” I ask, realizing we should probably put clothes on.
Damn it.
“I can smell the sex out here, people. I know you’re in there.”
Oh. My. God. Kill me now.
“Go away,” Maddox yells before he kisses my head and grabs his boxer shorts, then winks. “You know she’s not giving up.”
His words sound annoyed, but his smile is everything.
I hope our baby has his smile.
He crosses the room and cracks the door. “What are you doing here, Caitlin?”
“It’s your wedding day, big brother. Now get pants on and get out. You’re getting ready at Mom and Dad’s while we beautify your bride. Grace and Everly are downstairs with a glam squad, and the photographer should be here soon.”
I roll out of Maddox’s side of the bed, looking like what I’d imagine a small beached whale looks like, but manage to avoid being seen. “Just let me shower, and then I’ll be down.”
“Just shower. We’ll set up in here,” she yells back before I close the door.
I turn on the water and step into the shower before Maddox joins me with a grin. “I figured we could conserve water.”
“I like the way you think.” I hand him my shampoo with a genuine smile.
Something I never thought I’d have on my wedding day.
* * *
“S top fidgeting, Lennon.” Grace lectures as the makeup artist applies my lip stain. “You don’t want pink teeth, do you?”
“I’m pregnant, and the baby is practicing his jetés on my bladder. What would you like me to do?” I grouse, having been stuck in this chair for what feels like hours. “I have to pee.”
“Have you no social graces?” a voice asks from the door, and I push away from the chair and throw it open. “Princesses do not pee. They relieve themselves of the royal piss.”
I throw my arms around my brother and cry as he lifts me from the floor. “Atticus... You’re here.”
He puts me back down and runs his hands over my bump. “We are. We just got in. We needed to make sure it was as close as possible to the wedding, so we didn’t blow it in time for Dad to cause a scene.”
“We?” I look behind him and absolutely destroy my makeup in one giant sob. “Rhys... You can’t be here.” I take both their hands and ignore everyone in the room as Grace and Caitlin shoo them out. “You?—”
“Would never miss your wedding day.” Rhys wraps an arm around me and rests the other on my belly. “You look beautiful.”
“Well, she doesn’t now. Stop crying, Lennon,” Caitlin laughs as she hands me a tissue. “Blot. Don’t wipe.”
“Guys, this is my Maddox’s sister, Caitlin. And you remember Grace.” I listen to Cait and blot while she blushes. I’m betting she had a poster of one of them on her wall at some point, based on the look on her face. This is hilarious.
“It’s nice to meet you, but now you have to calm her down. We’re leaving in less than an hour, and you need touching up,” she scolds. “Back in the chair.”
I do as I’m told but can’t stop staring at my brothers, unsure they’ll ever understand just what this means to me. Just what this will show the world. “Grandfather is going to be furious with you.”
“Let him be,” Rhys says, unbothered. “I’ve done everything he’s asked my entire life. I’ve dedicated myself to Mornea and him. But this is for you. If he has a problem with it, the crown can go to Atticus.”
“The fuck it can,” Atticus argues, looking horrified. “Hell no. The only thing I’d want that crown for would be a threesome on the throne.”
“Haven’t you already—” I start before he wraps his hand around my mouth, shutting me up while Rhys glares.
“Oh, I think I’m going to really like your family.” Caitlin smiles. “Now get off her and let her get ready, or you’re going to make her late for her own wedding.”
“Ohh. She’s bossy.” Atticus smirks, and it’s my turn to glare.
“She’s married,” I warn. “To your future brother-in-law.”
Atticus looks around, and Gracie shakes her head no.
“Got any hot bridesmaids who aren’t married?”
God, I missed my brothers.
* * *
Maddox
“S top fussing with it,” Mom warns as she watches me through the reflection in the mirror before moving in front of me. “Let me.”
She pulls the tie apart and fixes both ends around my neck. “You know, as a mother, they always tell you that a daughter is yours forever, but a son is only yours until they take a bride.”
“Ma...”
“Shh. It’s my turn.” She goes about tying my tie, like she’s done it a thousand times. Hell, she probably has. “People always like to say things like that. They love to say that you only have eighteen years to raise your child and to jam absolutely everything you can into those eighteen years. Basically, they like to scare you.”
She adjusts the knot and the length, then runs her hand down the front of my shirt, pleased with herself. “But I’ve never scared easily.”
“Sounds familiar.”
The look she gives me has me shutting up immediately. For a tiny woman, my mother never needed to yell to get her point across. She just needed to look at you, and you knew. Right now, I know.
“I didn’t jam everything into eighteen years because, no matter where you go in your life, you’ll always be my son. A parent’s job is to raise their children, so they’re no longer needed. Our whole job is to make sure, one day, our job is obsolete. And your father and I have tried our best to do that with all of you. You, in particular.”
Dad walks in and hands me a glass of whiskey, and Mom gives him the stink eye. “It’s just one, Snow. The boy’s gotta take the edge off. The whole world is going to see this tomorrow.” He looks back at me. “Now, ask your question.”
I learned the art of reading people from my father.
Maybe one day, I’ll be as good as him.
I think about not asking, just to prove him wrong, but my need to know is too strong. “Why me in particular?”
He wraps an arm around my mother’s waist and pulls her into him. “Because you are the oldest, Maddox. It’s a different throne, but you’re still my heir.”
“I never thought the family business was an option though,” I admit. Not that it was something I ever wanted.
“Because we never wanted it to be. But here’s the thing...” Mom adds. “Children rarely do what you want or expect of them.”
Dad gently kisses her head. Growing up, my parents never shied away from touching each other. They still don’t. “We raised you to be able to handle anything life could throw your way. And you’ve proven you’re capable of doing that without us. You’re a good man, son. Be a good husband and a good father. Whether that’s here or wherever Lennon needs you to be. Because believe it or not, it appears there’s a family more demanding than the Kingstons.”
“Just remember to be happy, Maddox. Life goes by so quickly. One day, you’re newlyweds, with your entire lives in front of you, and the next you’re grandparents, watching your babies have babies.” She steps out of Dad’s hold and presses a kiss to my cheek. “Choose happiness, Maddox. Make it your mantra.”
“Is that what you did?” I ask, a little taken off guard by all of this.
Mom’s smile is a little evil as she looks at my father. “We did. But it never hurt that your father knew I was a better shot than him either.”
“Nothing wrong with a little fear.” My father laughs and taps his glass against mine.
“Hey, Madman,” Callen pops his head in the door. “You ready?”
I swallow my drink.
“Yeah, man. I’m ready.”
Ready to make this woman my wife.
Ready to choose the happiness I’ll fight the rest of my life for.
* * *
M y cousin’s daughter appears at the back of the aisle with Meatball at her side. His blue bowtie matches the blue sash tied around her little white dress, and I say a quick prayer that he doesn’t knock her over as she drops rose petals along the pale-blue silk runner covering the aisle. Once Caitlin and Lennon had the brilliant idea to include Meatball in the wedding, I couldn’t talk either of them out of it.
“Can’t believe the dog is in your wedding,” Callen laughs from next to me, and the bishop stares, unimpressed. Like my family hasn’t basically funded this church since before my father was even born. He wanted Lennon and me to wait a year and go through classes to get married, but one big fat check later, and our date miraculously opened. Imagine that.
Once Rosie and Meatball are at the front of the aisle, she moves to sit with her father, and Lucky whisks Meatball away to sit with a friend outside, so my lazy dog can be in the pictures after the ceremony... if he can manage to stay awake that long.
The music changes, and Caitlin walks down the aisle with her eyes locked on Callen the whole time. Sometimes I still wonder how I missed what was happening between them. Then I feel like an ass for the part I played in the hell they went through.
But then the little brat winks at her husband before moving to the side, and I know my best friend is calculating how quickly he’ll be able to get her out of that dress later, and fuck feeling bad, I kinda want to kill him all over again.
Grace Wilder walks toward us next, and I smile.
Caitlin might be my sister by blood, but Grace and the group of women sitting on my side of the aisle, together with their husbands, well, they’re my family by choice. They’re the people Callen and I grew up with. No other seven people in the world will know what it was like. Not their husbands or our wives. The group of us have an inseverable bond. We might not all see each other as much, now that we have kids and spouses. But somewhere deep down, there will always be a place for us in each other’s hearts. And thanks to Gracie, I met my wife.
The stained-glass double doors at the back of the cathedral open again, and the packed church rises and turns as the musicians play “Cannon in D,” and my beautiful bride is escorted in by both her brothers. Her smile is a work of art. One I’ll never forget. One I’ll do everything in my power to make sure she wears every day.
She’s breathtaking in a beautiful, curve-skimming white silk dress that clings to her bump, letting the whole world know our son is here with us today. Her hair is pulled back away from her face, and a veil that seems ten feet long trails behind her.
And it feels like a hundred lifetimes pass before she finally makes it to me.
She turns to Atticus, who lifts her veil and kisses her cheek, whispering something I can’t hear that makes her laugh before she turns to Rhys, who kisses the top of her forehead and turns to me with her hand in his. He gives it to me. Gives her to me. Even though the look in his eye says he’d rather die than do it. “Keep her safe.”
“With my life,” I answer and take her hand in mine. “You are breathtaking, wife.”
Her cheeks flush the prettiest pink when she smiles. “We’ve got about an hour before you can call me that, husband.”
I gently brush my lips over hers. “Then let’s do this.”
“So romantic,” she teases softly as we move to our places.
The bishop clears his throat, and I grin.
“We are gathered here today...”