Chapter 22
Gage
Laying on Les’ bed, I wait for her and Zane to come out of the bathroom. I can hear her sweet laughter floating through the door and lay here soaking it all in. I heard her screaming his name this morning, so I know he woke her up the right way.
Bringing Zane in was a gamble; I knew that. But after last night, I don’t doubt he’s where he needs to be. When those cops arrested him, my heart was hammering in my chest. I wonder what will happen to her if he’s ripped away from her again.
After Zane took her to bed, we all stayed up, talking about the difference in Les.
Not just from Zane being here, but from all of us.
Last night in the movie room far exceeded every fucking expectation I’ve ever had if we ever had Les again at the same time.
She responded beautifully, just like I knew she would.
Fucking Ryder was also a plus. The whole scene keeps playing through my head like a movie.
Even though Leo and I agreed that we could explore within the group, I made sure after we went to bed that he was still on board with it. His answer was hammering my ass into a new fucking dimension. Safe to say, he’s fine with it.
Les and Zane stumble out of the bathroom, Zane’s lips locked on hers, oblivious to me lying here. He falls backward on the bed with her on top of him, his head hitting my thigh. Zane jerks his mouth away from hers, looking upside down at me.
I grin. “Hey, Big daddy.”
“Ew. Don’t call him that.”
“Why? He has that daddy vibe.”
Zane snorts. “Just because I’m older than you fuckers doesn’t mean I have daddy vibes.”
“Hm,” Les hums, running her hands up his bare chest. “No, daddy vibes. He just has BDE.”
“BDE?” Zane asks with a frown.
“Big dick energy,” I answer with a laugh.
He grins down at Les. “Is that right?”
“You know you do,” she says with a roll of her eyes. Sliding to her feet, she looks at me. “Is everyone here?”
“Yeah. That’s why I came to get you, but I didn’t want to interrupt.”
She walks to the side of the bed, laying her lips on mine. My hands go to her towel, and she swats them away. “None of that,” she says with a laugh, taking a step back.
“Come on,” I whine. “Just a peek.”
She lifts a black brow. “It’s never just a peek with any of you. You’re like animals.”
“You have no room to talk, Beautiful,” Zane replies, sitting up on the bed.
“Whatever,” she quips, flipping her hair over her shoulder and walking toward her closet. When she gets there, she turns with a grin, pulling the towel from her body.
I will never get over how gorgeous she is.
Naked, she walks into the closet, shutting the door behind her to get dressed, leaving Zane and me to stare at where she went.
Zane chuckles, standing up. “That girl is fucking trouble.”
Just to fuck with him, I reach out for his towel, and he steps back, glaring. “Come on. Just a peek.”
“No,” Zane says, pointing a finger at me. He walks backward to the door, not taking his eyes off me until he’s on the other side.
“Come on, Zaney!” I yell when he closes it.
“Fuck you!” Zane yells back, making me laugh.
Les walks out dressed in black ripped skinny jeans, one of her favorite silky tank tops in dark green, holster in place, with her favorite boots in her hand. The ones with the spikey heels.
“The queen is back?” I ask with a smile. It’s damn good to see.
She shrugs. “Yep. It’s time to remind people who I am.”
Following her to the bathroom, I watch as she blow dries her hair into soft waves, lines her eyes in a cat eye, and puts on lip gloss. She steps back and looks at herself in the mirror, taking a deep breath. I slide my arms around her waist, setting my chin on her head. “You look gorgeous.”
Smiling, she slides her hands over mine. “Thank you.” She takes another breath. “I’m nervous as hell.”
“I’m sure that’s normal. But you have us. All of us,” I say, spinning her in my arms.
“I love you, Gage Lawson,” she says, sliding her arms around my neck.
“And I love you, Alessa Lawson,” I say with a grin.
She rolls her eyes. “That will never happen.”
“We could always take your last name,” I muse. There are too many of us to hyphenate her name.
“Are you talking about marriage right now?”
“That’s the next step, isn’t it?” I ask, kissing the frown line between her eyes.
“Gage. I can’t marry all of you.”
“Why?” I ask seriously. “You don’t want to marry us?” Do I have everything wrong?
She pecks my lips. “It’s illegal to marry multiple people.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“What is with you this morning?” she asks with a laugh, stepping back.
“I just thought,” I blow out a breath, “Never mind.” I don’t know why I’m getting so worked up. I have everything I’ve ever wanted; why am I pushing? She obviously doesn’t feel like this is going the way I thought it was. Spinning on my heel, I leave the bathroom.
I get two steps into her bedroom before she grabs my arm. “Talk to me.”
“No. Forget it. It was a stupid thing to say.” I smile, but even to me, it feels forced. I go to walk away again, needing to leave this room before I fucked up even more.
“Gage,” she says. The tone in her voice makes me wince internally; she sounds pissed.
Reluctantly, I turn to face her. “For one, nothing you say is ever stupid. Two, I just mean that I can’t legally marry all of you; I never said I didn’t want to.
” She walks to me, grabbing my hands. “Three, you just surprised me. We’ve never talked about this before. ”
“Don’t you know by now, Pretty girl? I want everything with you.
All of us do.” I take a deep breath. “You’re everything to me.
Everything I’ve ever wanted. Everything I’ve ever needed.
There hasn’t been anyone I’ve ever loved before you, and there is no after.
You’re it for me.” I reach up and thumb away the tear rolling down her cheek.
She wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me down to her height. I’ve never been one for words; they never come to me when I need them. They end up being a jumbled mess in my head. But with Les, it’s as easy as breathing to tell her how I feel.
“You’re it for me too,” she whispers into my neck.
“I never thought I would get a love like my parents had, but now I have six.” She pulls back so I can see her eyes.
“It’s all because of you. You made this possible.
If I could run to a chapel right now to make you guys officially mine, I would go in a heartbeat. ”
“God, I love you,” I declare, crushing her to me. I feel like an idiot for freaking myself out. Sometimes, old things my dad used to say will pop into my head, telling me that I’m not worthy of love.
“I love you too.”
I hug her a little longer before stepping back.
“I have something for you.” I jog from the room, making her laugh.
Jerking the wrapped present off my desk, I jog back to her room.
After I hand it to her, she lays it gently on the bed, pulling the paper off slowly.
I’m practically bouncing on the balls of my feet as she pulls it from the box.
She turns around with a smile, more tears in her eyes. “You got me another one?”
I take the leather jacket from her hands, helping her slide her arms in.
Sweeping her hair out from the collar, I kiss her neck.
“I know you love your other one, but I ordered this a couple of days ago.” Her favorite was lost to Jay’s shithole somewhere when he took her.
This one is soft, buttery black leather, fitted to show her curves and to hide her holster.
She turns, attacking me in a hug again. “I love it.”
I’m glad she loves it; I looked forever to find the perfect one. The next thing I buy her will be shiny and shaped like a diamond.
I just need to talk to the other guys.
When we finally make it downstairs, everyone is waiting for us in the dining room.
Ryder is the first to notice Les dressed like herself; then, all eyes shift to her one by one.
Ryder strides to her immediately. “There’s my girl,” he says gruffly.
I don’t think anyone but us will realize this is a big moment.
She hid from us for weeks; now she has her confidence back.
I’m hoping we helped her with that. But in reality, Les doesn’t need us to show her who she is; she has confidence in spades.
She smiles, then kisses him deeply, causing Micah to groan like he’s in pain. Les flips him off behind Ryder’s back but doesn’t pull away.
They finally break apart; both are breathing heavily.
He lays his forehead against hers for a second before standing up straight.
Leading her to the head of the table, he pulls the chair out for her before taking his spot to her right.
One by one, we sit in our normal formation around the table, with Les and Micah at the head of the table on each side.
Alexey and Dmitri lean against the wall to her left.
Zane is seated by Ryder, and it just feels right.
“You know why I called you here,” Les starts, gathering her courage. “We figured out Viktor is Jay’s resource.” She looks at Alexey and Dmitri apologetically. Viktor may be a piece of shit, but that’s still their dad. “The cops were here last night.”
“What the fuck for?” Micah asks, sitting up and bracing his arms on the table. He cuts his eyes to Zane before looking back at Les.
She narrows her eyes. “Before we continue, let’s get one thing fucking straight.
” She looks around to make sure everyone is paying attention.
“Zane is one of us now. He’s not a cop or a detective anymore.
He’s just Zane. Got it?” Micah grits his teeth but jerks a nod.
No one else seems to have an issue anymore.
“They arrested Zane for the murder of Jay.”
“How the hell can they arrest him for murder if Jay isn’t dead?” Alexey asks.