Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
ASTON
The Rules According to Aston Cage: Make your own rules.
The Rules According to Loren Cage:
Rule #1: There is no such thing as forever.
Rule #2: Never lie to your family.
Rule #3: Only lie to your family if #2 is unavoidable.
Rule #4: Cage First. Always.
Rule #5: Never let the world see.
The Rules We Needed:
Rule #6: (Added by Aston) Remember who you are vs. who you need to be.
Rule #7: (Added by Aston) Break the rules.
Rule #8: (Added by Aston) Forever might never be enough, but it’s always worth trying for.
The Rule that Matters: Make your own rules.
“I still cannot believe you were in an actual fire.” Isabella held Blakely’s hands and from the look on Blakely’s face, my sister seemed to be squeezing her hands a little too tightly.
“You might want to let Blakely go so she can feel her fingers later.”
Blakely gave me a thankful smile, as Isabella released her.
“Sorry about that. But seriously, thank you for saving them. Even your ex. Because she sounds like a really nice person now that she’s doing better.”
Since the fire the day before, Isabella seemed to have been off kilter. Hell, everyone seemed to be. I had met with Blakely’s parents at the hospital so she could get checked out, and as many of the firefighters who had once worked with or heard of Blakely’s father had come to check in. Then, the Cages had shown up en masse.
In other words, we had taken a full waiting room, and had made sure that Blakely and Meredith were never alone.
The fact that Meredith’s parents hadn’t shown up because they were out of town, worried me. However, I had a feeling that with the way that Blakely and Meredith had bonded in an incident I never wanted to think about again, my ex wasn’t going to be alone for long.
I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about that, but in the end it didn’t matter. Because they were both fine.
“I just opened a door,” I said, though it was much more than that. I had ended up needing stitches on my hand from a cut I had hid from Blakely at first. Having to use a crowbar to pry open the door had scared the shit out of me, but I had heard them banging on it, and knew that they had no other way out.
So now my hand was wrapped up, and Blakely seemed in better condition than I was. Then again, I couldn’t help but hold her, wanting to make sure she was actually real.
I could have lost her when I had just found her. And I never wanted to have that feeling again.
“I’m really okay. And I could use something to drink. Since you blocked me on my way to the fridge,” she said, and Isabella rolled her eyes.
“I just need to make sure you’re okay and relatively unharmed. Of course, the bandaged one behind you won’t let me ensure he’s fine as well.” My sister glared at me, as Emily and Sophia pushed me down on the couch.
I let out a grunt and glared at them. “Really?”
Emily shook her head. “You won’t rest. You have stitches. You’re supposed to be resting.”
I held up my arm. “On my hand. Not my feet.”
“Just let them do it,” Kyler said from his perch on the armchair. “It’s really hard to fight against them. I just let it happen.”
“You should listen to him, he grew up with us,” Isabella said, and I met the gazes of the others in the room.
Somehow all twelve siblings, plus Blakely and Cale, had fit into my living room. We had invited Blakely’s parents as well, but they had declined, saying that it might be a few too many Cages all at once. I didn’t blame them, and it was nice to have the siblings all in one place. We really hadn’t been like this since everything had happened.
“Okay, so we’re not buying that building,” James said suddenly.
Blakely snorted. “That’s what Aston said. Though it was really cute, but clearly not taken care of.”
“We’ll find another place, and make sure it’s inspected before we walk into it,” Flynn said dryly.
“The problem is, it was inspected,” James growled. “They’re fired, don’t worry,” he added as I narrowed my gaze at him.
“It was an odd set of circumstances with the storm and everything, but the emergency exit? That’s a worry.” I shuddered and was grateful when Blakely sat down next to me.
I kissed her temple, and she wiggled closer. “I’m fine. I’m safe. Just breathe.”
“I’ll breathe later,” I grumbled, while Dorian and Theo came into the living room, their hands full of platters .
“We’re just going to eat in here,” Theo stated, as it wasn’t really a question since he was already making it happen.
Kyler hopped off the couch, and Hudson followed him, and soon we were overflowed with fifteen kinds of appetizers and finger foods.
“I cook when I’m nervous, just let it happen,” Theo said pointedly, as Emily rubbed her hands together.
“Having a chef in the family might be my favorite thing ever.” She looked up at him and beamed. “I know you’re busy, but I really would like to learn how to make a soufflé.”
Dorian snorted, as Theo just grinned. “Brother dearest over here is laughing because he cannot make a soufflé. But I can help. But can I ask why that in particular?”
“I don’t know, I just always wanted to make one after watching Dr. Who. And my favorite restaurant that I went to in Paris was all about the soufflés.”
Theo rubbed his hands together. “Oh, I know exactly what you’re talking about. And yes, we’ll make them.”
“You’re going to create a monster,” Isabella said, but there wasn’t too much humor in her tone. She kept looking over at Blakely, and then off into the distance. Something was going on with her, and we would figure it out. Once we could all just settle.
As I stared around at my family, everybody speaking to one another, as if we hadn’t all been forced together in an odd sense of genetics and circumstance, I realized that maybe all of us in one room wasn’t that bad .
Ford and Cale were in the corner laughing about something, as Sophia came up to both of them, and leaned into her boyfriend’s hold. The two of them seemed happy, and I liked the way that he treated my sister. Just like I liked the fact I could freely say sister and not feel like I was out of my element. At least too far.
I was never going to understand my father. And I knew that every single person in this room could walk away from what that man had built at any moment. But in the end, it had forced us to get to know one another. I knew that no matter how many forced dinners we had, it would be on our terms. As much as we could make it happen.
I wanted to get to know my family. And I did not want to be my father. I would follow the rules of the will, but those were the only ones.
And in the end, we were about to make rules of our own.
I knew that not everybody was happy with the situation, and there was going to be resentment bubbling up soon, and we’d deal with it. I wasn’t resentful of the people in this room. Not with what they represented.
My mother might change her mind at some point, and stop being so icy cold. But I did not care what my father thought anymore. Not when I had almost lost the woman that I loved, not once, but twice. And I never wanted to feel that again.
“You’re off in your head,” she whispered, and I kissed her temple .
“Just thinking.” I cleared my throat and held up my glass. “How about a toast?”
“Should we take a picture for the attorney?” James asked.
I rolled my eyes. “You know what, let’s do it, just so we can get ahead on the game.”
“I’ll send one from my phone too, just to annoy him.” Kyler grinned as he said it, and I had a feeling that the brother I knew the least was probably going to keep us on our toes.
We all held up our glass as they each took a photo, and then I cleared my throat.
“Okay, an actual toast. To the Cages we are, not the Cages he made. And to figuring out how the fuck to make this work, without His Lordship ruling over us.”
“Hear hear,” Dorian said.
“So eloquently put,” Isabella added.
We each held up our glasses, before taking a sip, and I looked down at Blakely and raised a brow.
“I’ll figure out a better toast next time.”
“I like that you’re already thinking of next time.”
“As long as you’re there, I can do it.”
My brothers made oohing and aahing sounds, with Dorian gagging in the back, but I just leaned down and pressed my lips to hers.
“I love you.”
“I love you too, Cage.”
“Please call him Aston, there’s way too many Cages in this room. You might get confused,” Dorian said with a laugh .
“I’m pretty sure I can’t confuse him for anyone. Just saying.”
“That was far too sappy,” Isabella said with a laugh that didn’t reach her eyes.
And as I held up my glass again, we all took a sip, and then I kissed Blakely on the temple again and settled back as my family figured out their new routines and did the one thing that we had never been allowed to do.
Tell our secrets.