Chapter 35
Presley
SIX WEEKS LATER
Dawn had become an oddly familiar companion lately.
It seemed to gently pull me from a sleepless rest, where I was asleep but not. Then I’d rise and find my way outside.
I had started gathering new flowers for him. To place over his grave, because it had become the only way I knew how to communicate when words didn’t seem to come. It seemed I had said everything that needed to be said.
Now, as I checked the greenhouse for weeds and ensured the health of the plants, I knelt on green grass that was lush and full. I wiped off a few pieces of dirt and moss from his headstone and began talking like I always did.
“I think they’re going to kill each other.” I plucked a petal and inspected it.
“Gio is insufferable when his pain meds wear off, and now that he’s starting physical therapy, he truly hates his brother. I suppose it doesn’t help that King is the one in charge of getting him back in shape.”
My mouth twisted into a smile as I thought over how the brothers had recently started squabbling more. Gio wanted to be able to hold a gun again, and his brother promised he’d make sure he was able to by four weeks post op. We were at week six, and he still couldn’t.
His shoulder was still in a sling, and his doctor had told him to take it easy. Start with small things, but I had a feeling he wouldn’t approve of Gio being taken out to the shooting range. But that wasn’t the only thing the doctor wouldn’t approve of.
“He hasn’t even really been cleared for sex, and yet he’s been engaging in rather problematic behavior in that regard as well. He really is the worst patient ever.”
I thought back to last night and how after his sponge bath, we were in the living room watching a movie, and he’d slid the band of his sweats down revealing how hard he was. He taunted me to crawl on top.
“Come on, Elvis. You afraid you’ll break me?
We’ll go slow. I swear.” He’d started slow, but after a few strokes, he lost control.
Kingston had walked into the living room and cursed immediately, and not because he was excited or turned on.
He knew how dangerous it was for his brother to be ignoring every single piece of medical advice that had been given to him.
“He’s sort of come back with this new lust for life,” I said to the headstone, while plucking at a few more petals.
He was less jealous than before and more excited about various sexual things he wanted to try.
Like being eager to have Kingston tell him how to fuck me again.
He went feral when he was being told what to do to me, and I, in turn, loved every second of it.
Especially after the back and forth of how little he previously wanted to share me.
This side of him was a welcome reprieve.
“My parents want to leave the manor,” I admitted sadly.
This was something I hadn’t talked about openly with anyone yet.
Oddly, it felt good to get it off my chest. Things had been about Gio’s recovery and how Juan was dealing with resuming his role as leader of El Peligro.
It wasn’t going super great, as one of his decisions revolved around what to do with Scotty’s dogs.
Most of them were sedated and taken to an animal rehabilitation center.
More than likely, they’d be put to work with the police force, but I had to stop asking.
It was too painful to say goodbye to that last piece of my past, knowing I’d never see any of the animals again.
A deep throbbing emanated throughout my chest as I pictured Reaper’s eyes and how I’d never get to see that deep-set brown color again.
Aside from his master, he was a good dog.
He was kind even when Scotty had tried to make him cruel.
Shifting to my butt, I pulled my knees up under my chin and stared up at the glass ceiling. It was starting to rain, which felt sort of like Adrian was talking to me. I had to move on from the dogs, or I’d cry again.
“Dad feels like he’s wasted a lot of his life hiding away.
He hates what he put me through and what he robbed Mom of because of our lack of socialization.
She hadn’t seen her father, and now he was gone.
Mom wants to travel. She has old friends she wants to go spend time with, and she’s encouraging my dad to go see his mom, too. ”
Honestly, I wanted them to be happy, but it broke my heart a little that they were leaving. I had the twins and the farm, and a deconstruction process ahead of me, which would require a lot of time and a few crash outs over how I had been raised to be this person, and now I wasn’t anything.
“I don’t know what will become of us.” My voice was quiet, but I should have known a twin would be wandering around and would overhear.
Gio slipped inside, hair soaking from the rain, and soaking his sling too.
“You’re not supposed to be outside like this,” I scolded, but I wasn’t sure that was true. Movement and fresh air were both good for him. With the number of times he took that sling off, I was glad he was at least wearing it.
Gio took a seat next to me and leaned in close. “Well, my hot nurse wasn’t in bed when I woke up, so I went looking for her.”
“I just needed to vent.” I plucked up a flower and gently set it against Adrian’s stone.
Gio quietly replied, “You’re worried about what will become of us?”
“No,” I answered honestly, but added, “I just worry that I wasn’t enough… Dad was supposed to escape his enemies, and I somehow was supposed to help set us free from this life, and yet we’re still stuck in it.”
Gio’s head lifted, his blue eyes so gray in this lighting that it made my belly flip.
“There is no escaping it, Elvis. You were sold a lie. The grand ideas of men who sought to rule an empire while claiming to run from one. You were a pawn they manipulated into believing you could also become a queen.”
“You guys always call me a queen.” I nudged his shoulder while his words seemed to expand in my chest.
Instead of nudging me, he carefully held my face until I was looking at him. “You’re our queen, yes. Queen of our hearts. Queen of the farm. Queen of the remote.”
I tried pulling away as I laughed, but he held me firm.
“You were never supposed to be the solution to their problem, Pres. Outrunning your dad’s enemies was never going to happen.
We’re going to have people who want to hurt us and even come after us for the rest of our lives.
There will be more complications, and fuck, there might even be more guys who try to be your new husband, by way of an alliance.
You didn’t fail just because those possibilities are still there.
You endured some of the toughest training anyone goes through, much less a child, and you’re sitting here as a barely-there adult, thinking you failed? ”
When he put it like that, it did sound a little insane.
His lips gently caressed mine. “You did not fail, you survived. And I’m so fucking glad that you did.
You broke and proved in the face of all that stood against you that you could still be whole.
You defied the very gravity under your feet and grew wings.
So when you ask what will become of us, I can’t help but smile, Elvis. ”
My eyes felt a little misty as he talked. “Why can’t you help but smile?”
“Because you already became it. All of it. You did all that you should do, and now you just get to live. It’s not what will become of us; it’s what’s left to become.”
I tilted my head, so we kissed, and when it turned heated, where he pulled me into his lap, we finally broke apart. “Fucking you outside where it’s raining and cold is where I draw the line.”
He laughed and helped me stand. “Fine. Come inside and let me feed you then. Besides, Kingston has a surprise for you.”
I was told to shower and eat something warm.
Taking my time with my morning routine, I did exactly that while the boys prepared whatever the surprise was for me. Hours seemed to pass when I finally heard them call from downstairs, “Pres, come down here!”
Elated, I grabbed my phone and jogged down the steps, only to freeze on the bottom one.
He sat there, patiently like the best boy in the whole world, and even began to whine the second he saw me. My eyes instantly filled with tears.
“What’s going on?”
Kingston cleared his throat first, brushing his hand over the top of Reaper’s head.
“He belongs with you. Always has. If Gio or I can’t protect you, we want to know you have an extra pair of eyes on you.”
Wetness tracked down my face as I got to my knees in front of Scotty’s most favored dog. His brown eyes shifted as he watched me, and then he began licking my face.
“But what about you?” My voice cracked, even as my fingers sank into Reaper’s glossy fur. There was no way Kingston would be okay with living with the animal he’d witnessed rip someone’s throat out. It had caused him so much trauma.
Kinston knelt down next to me and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “He’s a lot like you, Pres. Forced to become a weapon when all he wanted was to be a friend. I think he’d probably love being on the farm, don’t you?”
A sob crept up my throat as I leaned in and pressed my head to Reaper’s neck. “Thank you for this.”
Reaper licked the side of my face before Gio called for him to follow him outside.
That’s when Kingston wrapped me in his arms, and he let me sob into his neck.
I cried for my life, the fractured pieces that still weren’t whole.
I cried for Scotty, and the person I had grown up thinking he was.
I cried for how different things were going to be, and while it was a good thing, it undoubtedly would be hard.
“I love you.” I kissed King’s throat.
He hummed while brushing my hair aside. “I’ll keep finding ways to prove that I love you, too. One day you’ll wake up and completely forget that I was a total piece of shit. One day you’ll wake up and you’ll know you’ve always been mine.”
A laugh tumbled out of me. “You’re such an idiot. I already do wake up knowing I’ve always been yours. I wake up feeling loved and cherished and like this was what you both had been trying to tell me all those years.”
“Well, good, that will save us some time.”
“Time for what?” I asked, searching his face.
His smile was perfect when he whispered, “Our next surprise.”
One Week Later
“This house is so freaking cute, I’m obsessed.” Carter gushed over the details of the kitchen while munching on an apple. She’d decided to come visit now that things had somewhat calmed down. I knew her parents had settled in New York, but Carter hadn’t decided where she wanted to land just yet.
She’d mentioned wanting to be closer to family, so perhaps we’d be seeing more of her.
Alex walked in, holding a basket of eggs.
“Okay, some of these have actual poop on them, and I’m not sure we’ll be able to use them.”
Carter’s mouth twisted. “Ew, that’s disgusting. Farm life could never be for me.”
I giggled while I took the basket from her. “We’ll just wash it, and it’ll be fine.”
They both watched me as I filled a bowl with water, and I knew they were going to ask about them.
“So, Pres,” Carter started while glancing at Alex, then back at me, “I couldn’t help but notice those two new tattoos on your finger.”
“Oh, those?” I twisted my left hand, inspecting the ring finger.
“The vines and a cluster of stars?”
Two separate tattoos for two separate brothers. I shrugged. “Reminded me of them.”
The twins suddenly came inside, with Reaper happily trotting after them.
Alex spun around first, and I caught how her eyes dropped to Gio’s hand. I should have known she’d see past my vague answer.
“I knew it!” She grabbed her brother’s hand and inspected the ring finger. There on Gio’s ring finger was the same cluster of stars inked into his skin that matched the design on mine.
Carter’s eyes went huge as she made some sort of excited squeal. “Let me see yours, Kingston!” She grabbed his hand and inspected it just like Alex had done with Gio.
“He has vines on his finger that match yours!”
“Does this mean?” Alex searched between the three of us.
“There’s nothing legal, but yes. Your brothers each asked if I’d promise to be with them for the rest of their lives.”
“More importantly.” Gio walked over to me and pulled me against his chest. “She agreed.”
“That’s so sweet.” Carter sighed, emotionally.
Alex moved Gio aside and pulled me into her arms and squeezed. “You’re my sister officially now. I couldn’t care less about a legal document. They branded you on their skin, you made it permanent, Pres. We’re family now.”
My chest practically exploded with happiness as happy tears welled in my eyes.
Kingston rumbled somewhere close to my ear. “I’ll still call you my wife, though, whenever I want.”
If we didn’t have company, I’d challenge him and his brother on saying exactly that while they both fucked me.
“But how cute would a ceremony be?” Carter whined. Alex began talking to her about ideas, but I pushed out the noise. I didn’t need one; I just needed them, and that would always be enough for me.