11. THE REED LAND // CAROLINA BEACH, NORTH CAROLINA
THE REED LAND // CAROLINA BEACH, NORTH CAROLINA
Now playing: Whatta Man - Salt-N-Pepa ft. En Vogue
The living room was officially a disaster zone, and I was seconds away from declaring martial law.
I leaned against the hallway wall, arms crossed over my chest, watching the chaos unfold with a level of grumpiness bordering on legendary.
This house, the one I had spent months trying to convince myself I actually belonged in, had been transformed into a cross between a frantic backstage locker room, and a sorority house on move-in day.
My sisters were everywhere. April was in the kitchen, engaged in a high-decibel debate with Heather about which cooler held the superior ice.
Sarah was frantically dismantling the sofa cushions in search of her favorite sunglasses, the ones Evan had definitely hidden just to watch her spin.
Josie was vaulting over the back of the furniture like it was an obstacle course, and Lena and Cadence were huddled in the corner whispering over a phone as if plotting a heist. The general volume sat somewhere between a sold-out stadium and a jet engine.
I loved them, I really did, but for the last three hours, I hadn’t had a single second of uninterrupted silence with my fiancé.
Every time I tried to catch Silas’s eye, a Donovan-sister or a Reed-teenager would pop up like a heat-seeking missile, asking for sunscreen, a specific towel, or my opinion on the wedding cake flavors we hadn’t even discussed yet.
The imposter in my chest was having a field day.
You aren’t a family man, Kincaid. You’re an athlete who lives between hotels. You don’t fit in a house full of laughter, love, and family.
A warm hand slid around my waist, and the scent of cedar and expensive coffee filled my senses. I didn’t even have to look to know it was Silas. I’d know that touch even in a sensory deprivation tank.
“You look like you’re contemplating arson, Kincaid,” Silas murmured against my ear. His voice was a low, vibrating rumble that sent a shiver straight down my spine.
“I’m contemplating witness protection,” I grumbled, turning in the circle of his arms. I grabbed the front of his shirt, my knuckles brushing against the warm skin of his chest, and hauled him toward our room. “Bedroom. Now.”
Once inside, I kicked the door shut, twisting the lock with a satisfying click that was the most beautiful sound I’d heard all day.
The noise from the living room died down to a dull, muffled roar, though I could still hear Evan shouting something about first-dib rights being protected under the Constitution.
“Cal,” Silas pouted, though he didn’t pull away.
He leaned back against the door, his chest heaving slightly under his thin cotton shirt.
He looked too good, hair tousled, skin glowing in that effortless way that usually made me want to bite him.
“We have to go. They’re already loading the bags, and if we’re late, April will start doing that high-pitched whistle through her teeth that makes my ears bleed. ”
“Let her whistle,” I rumbled, stepping into his space until there wasn’t a whisper of air between us.
I was agitated. My skin felt too tight, my nerves frayed from the travel and the crowd.
I needed a moment to ground myself with his touch before I had to spend hours playing the part of the well-adjusted civilian on a public beach.
My hands framed his face, thumbs tracing the sharp, beautiful line of his jaw. The silver ring on my finger caught the sunlight, and seeing it there, the symbol of the promise we’d made in the garage a few hours ago, sent a jolt of possessive heat straight to my groin.
“I haven’t had you to myself since we were ambushed in the ring, Si. My patience is officially at zero. I want to be inside you, or get you inside me, and I want everyone in that living room to vanish into thin air.” My lips brushed against the sensitive skin right below his ear.
Silas let out a shaky, wrecked breath, his hands coming to rest on my hips while his fingers dug into my swim trunks. “Cal, don’t. We’re about to be stuck in a car for an hour with the others. If you start this now, I’m going to be a walking, stuttering disaster on the boardwalk.”
I smirked. “Good.” My tongue darted out to lick the shell of his ear.
I felt his shiver, a lengthy and violent tremor that went through his entire six-foot-plus frame.
His grip on my hips tightened until it was almost painful.
“I want you thinking about this while you’re out there playing the perfect man for my sisters.
Smiling for our families as you remember exactly whose hands were on you. ”
I moved my mouth down to his collarbone, biting gently, marking the territory I’d claimed nearly a decade ago and only recently just recovered.
Silas let out a soft, choked moan, his head falling against the wood of the door.
My hands wandered, one sliding down his back to pull his hips firmly against mine, the other dipping slightly under the waistband of his shorts, my palm skimming the heat of his skin.
“You’re a dick,” he whispered, his eyes fluttering shut as I kissed the pulse point in his throat. “Possessive, beautiful, but an absolute dick.”
“I’m your fiancé.” I dropped my tone into that dark, gravelly register that made his knees go weak and left him with one last lingering kiss. It was deep, slow, and dirty, as I tangled my tongue with his until he clutched my shoulders like a man lost at sea.
I stepped back and smoothed my shirt. “Alright. Let’s go to the beach.” Silas stared at me, face flushed and pupils blown. He looked as if he wanted to either powerbomb me through the floorboards or drag me back to the bed and skip the beach entirely.
“I hate you,” he breathed, each lungful rasping against his ribs. “I’m telling Lena you’re being an ass.”
“Go ahead. She’ll just tell you to get a room, which is exactly what I just did.” I laughed, unlocking the door and swinging it open.
The hallway was a blur of neon swim suits, oversized cooler bags, and enough SPF 50 to coat a small navy. Leading the charge toward the front door was Josie, who was waving a set of keys in the air like a championship belt.
“Nobody, and I mean nobody.” She grimaced, her nose scrunching. “Wants to ride for an hour with you two freshly-engaged idiots. The PDA index in this house is already in the red. I have the keys and the okay from Taylor to drive his Tahoe since he’s out of town anyway. We’re taking the big one!”
“Taylor gave you the keys to his baby?” Silas asked, coming up behind me, his voice still a little breathless.
“I didn’t ask. I informed him via text.” Josie smirked, her Cadence-side coming out in full force. “And, since Taylor isn’t here to defend his property, I’m the captain now. Evan! Sarah! Move your asses!”
“SHOTGUN!” Evan roared, sprinting toward the front door with a beach bag over his shoulder like a deranged tourist.
“Like hell you are!” Cadence yelled, sprinting past him and swatting the back of his head with a loud thwack.
“OW! That’s assault! I’m being bullied by a child!” Evan’s voice trailed off into the yard, followed by the loud thump of the SUV’s hatch opening.
Silas and I stood in the door, watching the herd scramble toward the driveway. It was a beautiful, chaotic kind of mess.
We headed for my heavy-duty black Silverado. It was the only thing I owned that felt as solid as the life I was trying to build. With our own small cooler and Silas’s surfboard in the back, we pulled out of the driveway behind the SUV chock full of screaming siblings. And Evan.
“Can you believe it? We’re actually doing this. We’re actually engaged. My family is currently in a car with your sisters, heading to the beach to celebrate us. Seven years ago, I figured we’d both be either dead or in prison before we ever saw this day.”
Turning my hand over, I squeezed his hand, my fingers interlocking with his. “Did you ever honestly expect us to make it here? To the part where the fighting stops?”
“In my head? Always. Every time I closed my eyes in that house, I was here. In reality? No. I spent seven years convinced I’d destroyed the only good thing I ever had. I thought the Reed legacy was going to be the only thing I had left to hold onto.”
I felt a pang in my chest. The old, familiar ache of shared trauma.
“I spent those years traveling, trying to pretend I didn’t care.
I became Deadlock because it was easier than being the guy who got his heart ripped out by his best friend.
The night we finally fixed it…in that hotel room…
I was so sure you were going to walk out again.
I was waiting for the ‘but’ or the ‘I can’t do this.
’ When you didn’t, I felt like the world finally stopped spinning for the first time in a decade. ”
“I couldn't have walked out,” Silas said firmly, his voice cracking just a bit. “You were always the finish line. Every road I took led me back to you.”
We sat in silence for a while, holding hands, the hum of the tires on the asphalt the only sound. It was wholesome and sweet, and I felt a peace I hadn’t known since we were kids training in Florida. But then, Silas shifted in his seat.
He let out a small, mischievous huff, and I could practically feel the shift in his brain. The innocence in his eyes, replaced by something a little more reckless.
“You know,” Silas started, his voice dropping an octave and gaining a dangerous edge, “I still owe you for that stunt you pulled in the bedroom before we left. Teasing me while the whole family was on the other side of the door? That was low. Even for you. You left me in a very uncomfortable state.”
I chuckled, thinking he was doing his usual all-talk, no-action routine. Silas was great at talking a big game in the car where he knew we were safe from interruption. “Oh? And what are you going to do about it, Reed? Give me a stern talking to? Maybe put me in a time-out?”