Chapter 39
FINLEY
“No, you’re doing it wrong,” Kayla growls at me, snatching the hockey stick from my hands.
It’s more than twice her size, and as she wrangles it under her armpit, she nearly takes out her twin, Kinan, and their older brother, Kayden.
“Look carefully,” she demands, tossing her second-oldest brother the puck JJ gave her earlier. “Drop it when I’m ready, ‘kay, Keyv?”
“Kayla,” Kayden warns, flashing me one of his shy smiles. He’s got the dimple, too, and the freckle below it. “Stop bossing everyone around. It’s rude, dude.”
Without acknowledging him, she refocuses on the stick. When she nods down, Keyvan drops the puck directly onto the blade. I have no idea how she manages to maneuver the stick without knocking herself out every time she flips the blade to slap the puck back into the air.
The fact that her coordination is this good at five years old blows my mind.
“Stop showing off, squirt,” Jayden says, sweeping in behind her and scooping her overhead.
She’s wriggling, kicking, screaming, and cursing him to the depths of hell for ruining her attempt at beating her record, while he keeps tossing her up and teasing her.
Since we finished tea with Bibi, he’s done nothing but fool around with the kids. He even got Eli to join—or rather, Kayla didn’t give him a choice.
Where the younger kids are wild and boisterous, the older boys are as soft as Jayden, with competitive streaks that run deep. Especially Keyvan.
Kayden, on the other hand, carries himself with such quiet poise. He watched and studied every shot JJ and Eli took, then applied their technique to his.
Watching Jayden with him warms my heart. But seeing him with the little ones… My God, it does things to me. I’m jelly inside, and my ovaries are about to explode.
“If he carries on, she’s going to pee on him with all the laughter,” Eli says, embracing me from behind.
His body curls around mine, cocooning me in his earthy scent. I burrow deeper into his hold, coiling my arms around his at my waist.
“I don’t think JJ would care,” I say, tipping my head back to press a kiss to Eli’s jaw.
“No, he wouldn’t.” His chest swells on a long inhale. “He’d make a great dad.”
My heart wrenches at his wistful tone. When I glance up, his gaze lowers to mine.
“So will you, Eli.” The words tumble so easily and freely that it takes a beat to realize why he’s looking at me like I’ve hung his moon.
“Is that what you want, sweet girl?” he asks, brushing a gentle kiss to my nose.
“The idea is definitely growing on me. I mean, look at us—we’re nothing like the people who raised us. We actually fit in here. Don’t we? With these people and each other… and Bibi is right, Jayden’s heart, your heart… they’re so big…”
“So is yours, Fin. The biggest of all,” he sighs, rocking me playfully as we turn back to JJ.
Jayden is still swinging Kayla around while Kinan tries to help her twin escape. Just like us, The Sire and Brian watch on with his moms.
Slowly, it’s dawning on me that it’s not the world I’m meant to fit into; it’s me. It’s not the world that matters or that needs to accept me. Eli and JJ are my world, and they accept me.
Their love is unlike anything I’ve ever known. Unequivocal.
“This is all we need, isn’t it? Big hearts and good intentions. That’s all we ever needed, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, Angel,” Eli murmurs, kissing my temple. “I guess it’s why we gravitated toward each other.”
“Maybe heaven had this plan for us all along.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“And maybe one day, it’ll be our kid JJ’s throwing around. It’ll be our kid learning to take the perfect shot from the two of you or trying to teach me how to do that trick with the puck and the stick.”
“Poor kid will be trying for a long time,” he chuckles. “You’re great at handling sticks, just not hockey ones.”
“Elijah Benjamin Sylkes!” I choke on a gasp, swatting his arm. “Is that your attempt at a crude joke?”
Eli grins down at me. “It made you laugh…”
“It did.”
“Then yes, it was.” His teeth graze my nose.
“And technically, I am great at handling hockey sticks.” Rolling onto my tiptoes, I turn to face him and hover my lips over his. “Ask my hockey players.”
“Maybe later you’ll have to remind them,” he whispers, nipping my lip.
Coiling my arms around his neck, I nip his in return. “Maybe later I will…”
Cool lips find the curve of my neck as Eli hitches me up his body, and instantly, JJ’s strong arms cinch us all together.
“What are you two whispering about?” he hums over my skin.
The chill on his lips mixed with the heat of his breath sends shivers through me, trapped between their hard bodies.
“Our girl was saying how she’s going to show us just how good she can handle our sticks,” Eli retorts, the playful tease sparking a frisson of excitement through me.
“Not before my surprise,” Jayden says, giving my earlobe a leisurely suck.
My legs kick back between his, leaving me hanging off Eli’s neck and pinned between them.
“What surprise?” Eli and I ask at the same time.
“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise. Now, yalla,” he drawls out the Persian saying with a gravel that rakes right through me, curling my toes as Eli groans. “Let’s get ready. We have to be out of here before sunset or we’ll miss it.”
***
Jayden brings his momma’s Wrangler to a stop in the middle of a snow meadow. The sun is beginning to set, a fine gradient dividing the last light of day from the oncoming night.
The view is breathtaking. Above the clear hardtop, the moon glows fat and bright, like a perfect holiday card. The only thing missing is Santa and his reindeer streaking across the light.
“Come on,” JJ croons, excitement palpable in his voice.
I feel it crackle and pop across my skin, in my belly…
“The best part is coming.” He opens my door and helps me out into ankle-deep snow while Eli rounds the car to meet us.
After giving me a top-to-toe glance, Eli frowns. “You should’ve worn something warmer than those leggings and sweater.”
He’s already shrugging out of his jacket when JJ says, “I came prepared.”
I don’t tell them my wool leggings and undershirt are thermal, and that, together with the thick Christmas sweater his parents gave me, I’m roasting. I like the satisfaction that lights their faces when they take care of me, and I love being taken care of by them.
With a purposeful tug, Eli draws me to him, pulling his jacket tight around both of us as we trudge to the back of the black Jeep.
Jayden has the trunk open and is hauling out a thick roll, which he tosses onto the roof, followed by blankets and a large backpack. He’s so tall and sure-footed that climbing onto the roof looks like child’s play. He works fast, unrolling the sleeping bag and spreading the blankets.
“Ready, Lucky?” He grins down at me and offers both hands.
Without trepidation, I clutch them and climb onto the rear bumper. He pulls me up while Eli grips my thighs and lifts. Then he follows just as easily as JJ did.
They’re so agile and sprightly that I’m in constant awe of how gracefully they maneuver around each other. Especially when I’m in between them, and it’s like their hands and mouths have a sixth sense of where to go.
Like now.
Jayden sprawls along one side of the roof. Eli stretches diagonally with his head propped on JJ’s chest. I’m draped over both of them—tucked into Eli’s chest, legs tangled with JJ’s.
“You guys comfy?” JJ asks, pulling a weighty blanket over us.
“Super,” Eli replies, burrowing deeper into Jayden’s chest as I hum my contentment.
“I have snacks, saffron tea, and hot chocolate. The Sire made it with oat milk and cocoa powder, not the ready-to-drink stuff with dairy.” JJ pats the backpack.
“The tea was so good, and the nougat… the puffy finger cookie things…” I’m still stuffed.
“Zaban is Kailey’s favorite Persian treat. She’ll literally fight you for the last one. I remember her almost biting Isla’s fingers off when they were little because Isla tried to take the last cookie.” His chuckle is soft and a little nostalgic—the kind that makes your heart giddy.
“Your family is incredible.” Eli’s hum vibrates through both of us.
I snuggle deeper into him. Jayden wraps his arm around Eli until his fingertips find my hair and comb through the frizzy knots.
“They’re overbearing and nosy. Meddling is their pastime, and there are moments when we hate each other, but yeah, they’re awesome.” After a long inhale, he adds, “Like Mom told me earlier, we’re not everyone’s cup of tea. But when you fit, you fit for life. You’ll always have somewhere to belong.”
“Is that what she told you when you were making the tea?” Eli asks, lifting their laced hands onto my chest while their other hands keep playing with my hair and kneading my hip.
My eyes stay locked on the sky; it’s almost fully dark now, just a rip of light at its edges.
“Something like that,” Jayden says. “She told me to relax because you’re not going anywhere. You’re part of our family now.”
“Your mom’s right,” I murmur, sliding my arm across his chest to trace my fingertips along his jaw. “You’re stuck with us, Hotshot.”
“There’s no need for you to be restless and tense,” Eli adds.
“Hello… my family is feral and—”
“They love you,” Eli says simply. “To me, that makes them perfect.”
“Ditto.” I brush my thumb across Jayden’s lips, letting him suck it into his mouth with a playful bite.
I giggle, even as my insides wrench with too many emotions to catalog. I know, biologically, Eli and I have families, but the only thing binding us to them is shared DNA.
“Okay,” Jayden rumbles, excitement roughening his voice as he checks the time on his phone and opens a telescope app. “It’s gonna happen any moment now.”
A light dusting of snow falls over us, then tapers to a whisper. The breeze rustles the trees a few feet away.
When the flurry stops, the sky deepens; the stars sharpen—brighter than I’ve ever seen them, even in Havenview’s dead of night. The sky feels low and heavy with glitter, like we’ve slipped into heaven.
Then a bright flash tears across the dark. Another. And another. Stars rain down around us.
It’s epic. It’s…
“Wow,” is all I can manage as my emotions brim over, swallowing sense.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Jayden hums.
“Yes,” I reply as Eli sighs, sounding as overwhelmed as I feel.
We’ve seen shooting stars before, but nothing like this. Nothing this plentiful. Nothing this breathtaking.
“The Geminid meteor shower is my favorite. You can watch it all night without worrying it’ll be gone in a blink.
And if you ask me, it’s richer than the summer Perseids.
” He sucks in a quick breath and lifts his phone with the telescope app open.
Jayden zooms in. “This is the Gemini constellation. You have Castor and Pollux at the heads, and the twins’ arms wrapped around each other. Do you know their story?”
“No,” I murmur, while Eli shakes his head.
“They’re half-twin brothers from Greek and Roman mythology.
During a battle, Castor, the mortal brother, was slain, and Pollux was so heartbroken he begged Zeus—Jupiter, for the Romans—to make his brother immortal.
He had to sacrifice half his own immortality, so Zeus transformed them into the Gemini constellation.
” Jayden chuffs fondly. “Mom likes to tell us that story whenever Kailey, Isla, or I have a fight. To remind us that, as pissed as we might be in that moment, we would always be more heartbroken if anything ever happened to one of us.”
“Does it work?” Eli chuckles.
“A treat. Every single time.”
“But it’s a myth. It’s make-believe…” Faith has thrummed in my veins since birth, but that doesn’t mean I believe every story.
“Yeah, but listening to Mom usually takes the edge off.” There’s mirth in his voice as he zooms the app out to highlight the surrounding constellations—Canis Minor and Major with Orion to one side and Lynx to the other.
“It reminds me that, as much as I could kill them in that moment, I’d sooner kill for them every other moment. ”
He sets his phone on his stomach and pulls the blanket higher. One hand tightens on my hip while Eli’s mirrors it on the other side.
The damp from the flurry and the crisp breeze sends a shiver through me. I burrow deeper between them, clasping my hands over their entwined ones and holding on as tightly as I can.
And if there were ever a moment to prove nothing else matters but us, this is it.
They’re my home. My heart. My soul.
My heaven.