Chapter 26
Angel
When the guys said we were going to dinner, I didn’t expect this. We’ve never gone to anything this fancy before. Not that I mind, and I especially don’t mind seeing Silas in a nice black button-down shirt, either. Generally, he doesn’t wear anything like that, and neither does Rylan. Hell, we even got Tamsyn to wear a dress, although she’s complained about it the whole time. It was nice though, seeing her being her normal self.
“You didn’t say we were five-star dining,” Tamsyn says what I’ve been thinking.
“You don’t like it?” Ry asks her.
“It’s not that I don’t like it. It’s just weird for us.”
“I second that,” I add.
“Damn, Silas. Looks like we need to take better care of our women,” Rylan says with a grin.
“Seems that way. Maybe they’d like it better if we made them strip out of their panties right here at the table so we can finger fuck them in front of all the rich people.” My cheeks heat at Silas’s words. They wouldn’t do that, would they? Who the hell am I kidding? Yes, they would.
“That what you girls are after? You want us to make you come while the waitress takes your order,” Rylan asks, looking between us.
“I think that’s exactly what they want. Or maybe that’d like a little knife play with the steak knives,” Silas suggests. The both of us squirm in our seats, and they know what they’re doing to us.
“Look at them, Silas. Look what we’ve created,” Rylan says, nodding toward the two of us. Silas chuckles as the waitress walks up and we all order. She spends a little too much time looking at the guys, and the jealous part of me kicks in. I cross my arms over my chest and just glare at the water in front of me while the guys talk.
“What’s your problem?” Silas asks, pulling my attention.
“Nothing.”
“Yeah, right. It really looks like nothing.”
“I’m fine.”
“She didn’t like how that bitch was looking at you two,” Tamsyn chimes in.
“Is that what you’re pissed about?” Silas asks me as he moves his chair closer to me. I shake my head, but it doesn’t matter; he’s already over here.
“Look at me, Angel.” I turn my head and look at him. “What more do I need to do to prove I love you?”
“Nothing. You don’t have to do anything,” I tell him.
“Then why are you jealous?”
“I’m not. Okay, maybe a little.” Silas moves out of his chair and walks around to the other side of me before dropping down on one knee and pulling a small box from his pocket. Tears instantly burn my eyes as I look into his.
“I know we’re married. I know you have a ring, but that ring symbolizes the past of the Kings. There’s nothing more in this world I want more than you. I want to keep you, Angel. I want to torture you, tie you up, and fuck you until you bleed for me. So now I’m asking you, will you marry me? Will you be with me for the rest of our fucked up lives?” Tears begin to fall down my face as he sits there and stares at me, waiting for me to answer.
“Yes. Yes, I love you, Silas.” He smiles, and it fills my heart with happiness. He reaches for my hand, pulls off the generic ring we all got, and slides on a new one. I laugh when I see the diamond surrounded by small red and black ones.
“You like it?”
“It’s perfect,” I murmur, grabbing his face in my hands and pressing my lips to his. Silas stands and pulls me up with him, kissing me for the whole restaurant to see.
“Now, don’t be jealous because I plan on tying you to the balcony back at the hotel and fucking you for everyone on the beach to see.” I laugh as he pulls away and goes to sit back down.
We talk, we laugh, and we make new memories while we eat. The night has been amazing, and I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing.
When we’re finished, the guys drive us back to the hotel and grab the urn of Levi’s ashes. The four of us walk out onto the beach and down toward the pier. Once we get there, we walk a little slower. I don’t think any of us thought it was going to be this hard to let go of him.
I cling to Silas’s hand as we make our way to the end of the pier. Ry sets the urn on the edge and looks out at the water.
“We went through a lot together, the three of us. We were raised to be what we are and we took it all in our stride. We made the best out of shit even when there wasn’t anything good to be had. When they wanted us to go one way, we went the other. But it was always the three of us. I don’t think anything in the world could have prepared us for this,” Rylan says before Silas walks up next to him, resting his hand on the urn.
“We did shit. Shit, we shouldn’t have done. We were wild and carefree. We walked our own line, our own path of destruction. We left piles of ashes in our wake. But we found a lot along the way, too.” Silas stops and looks over at me. “We found happiness, and we found love. None of that would have ever happened without you, brother. It doesn’t matter you’re not here with us physically because there’s always going to be a part of you inside of us. We’re still three fucking assholes in masks who like to scare girls,” he chuckles. Tamsyn and I hold onto each other neither of us wanting to say anything or get in the middle of this. This is their thing. Yeah, he was our friend, too, but Levi was their brother.
Silas picks up the urn and pulls the lid off. He lifts the urn and starts to shake some of the cremains out of it. We watch the ashes as they dance into the wind before Rylan takes over. He does the same and then turns to us. I walk over slowly, take the urn from him, and glance down at it.
“Thank you for everything, Levi. We’ll see you again someday,” I say before lifting it over the rail and shaking it. Then I pass it to Tamsyn. She’s too choked up to say anything, but she still pours out the rest. Silas moves to wrap his arm around me, pulling me into his side as Rylan does the same with Tamsyn.
“Shit, I didn’t think it would hurt this much,” Rylan says.
“Me either,” Silas adds. We stand here, just holding onto each other as the wind blows around us. Silas finally moves and pulls his phone out. He checks the time before looking at Rylan.
“What are you two doing?” Tamsyn asks him. Ry chuckles and shakes his head.
“Why do you assume we’re doing something?”
“I see the look. You two don’t share looks like that unless you’re doing something.”
“We’re not doing shit.”
“Yeah, I bet,” she mumbles. Silas drags me back into his side and presses a kiss to the top of my head.
“You ready for your surprise?” Silas asks me. I look up at him and narrow my eyes.
“I thought the ring was my surprise?”
“No. That was only part of it. You ready?” I nod my head, a little more excited than I should be. Silas smiles before leading us back off the pier and down the beach. We don’t walk very far when he tells me to wait a second. Then he walks off over to some people who are standing near the water. He shakes hands with the couple and the little girl before nodding his head. He finally turns and comes back to me with a smile on his face.
“Here’s the thing. I might have done something behind your back,” he announces, looking serious now. What the hell? What did he do? Then I glance over at the couple and back to Silas.
“Is that … is that your kid?” I snap at him. He laughs, a real laugh, too, as I shove at him.
“I don’t have kids, Angel.”
“Are you sure? How sure are you? Did you do a test?” He reaches up and rests his hands on my shoulders to stop me from talking.
“Angel, baby. Listen to what I have to say, okay?” I nod my head, unsure what the hell is going on with him. I wouldn’t be mad if he had a kid; I would have just liked to have known ahead of time.
“I don’t have a kid, Angel. That little girl over there, her name is Carly.”
“Okay?”
“Carly was adopted when she was born.” I don’t see where the hell he’s going with this if that isn’t his kid.
“Okay?”
“Baby, Carly is your daughter.” My mouth falls open as tears spring to my eyes and slide down my cheeks. My hand comes up to cover my mouth as sobs rip out of me. Silas pulls me into his arms and holds me tightly.
“What? How? What is she doing here?”
“I know this is a lot for you, and I know it’s a shock. When things started to settle down, I made some calls and pulled some strings. I know this doesn’t fix things, but I thought it would help. Her family is amazing. They’re good people, Angel. They’ve taken good care of her. They agreed to let you see her.”
“What? Why?”
“She was taken from you in the most horrible way. I told them the story or the basics anyway. They couldn’t imagine having that happen at such a young age. They only ask that you say you’re a friend of her mom’s. When she’s old enough, they’d like to tell her who you really are.” I gasp.
“They would do that?”
“Yeah, baby. When I said they’re good people, I meant it.” My hands begin to tremble as I think about everything that’s happening. I can’t believe she’s here, standing just feet away from me. My own flesh and blood.
“You did this for me?” I ask Silas.
“I told you I’d do anything for you. I mean it. You want to go meet her?” I look over at Rylan and Tamsyn and they both smile back at me. I turn back to Silas and nod my head, wiping the tears from my cheeks.
Silas grabs my hand as he carries my shoes as we walk toward them. When we’re close enough, the woman smiles at me before grabbing me and pulling me into a hug.
“I don’t know how to thank you for this,” I whisper in her ear.
“No. I need to thank you for a beautiful little girl.” We both begin to cry when she finally pulls away. I shake hands with her husband, and then they call her over. When she steps in front of me, they tell her I’m a friend. She beams up at me, and I can see myself in her eyes.
“You want to come look for dolphins with me?” she asks. I look at her mom, and she nods her head. Carly holds her hand out, and I take it slowly. She leads me across the beach and out near the water.
“Have you ever seen a dolphin?” I ask her.
“Once. Do you know that dolphins are my favorite thing? They love people,” she tells me, never letting go of my hand.
“I heard they did. I’ve never seen one before. Only on TV.”
“You have to see one, Angel. I like your name. Are you a real angel?” she asks. I laugh now.
“No. I’m not, but I have a good friend who is.”
“What’s her name?”
“He’s a boy. His name is Levi,” I tell her.
“I like that name too. When I pray before bed, I will say a prayer for Levi, too.” My heart nearly beats out of my chest. We talk about anything and everything. She’s really smart and tells me all about school and her dog named Fred. We laugh at his name because she tells me her dad chose it, and she didn’t like it, but now he looks like a Fred.
“This is a pretty dress.” She pulls at my dress.
“Thank you. I like yours too.”
“I love dresses. Dad said I’m a girly girl. Are you a girly girl?” I laugh.
“I am. I love dresses, too.” I hear her mom call to her, and she looks over her shoulder before looking back up at me.
“I have to leave. Fred probably misses me anyway. He kinda freaks out when I’m not there when it’s dark out. He hates the dark.”
“Well, then you should go so he isn’t scared anymore.”
“Do you think I can talk to you again? You’re nice to talk to,” she asks, beaming up at me.
“I’d love that. Just ask your mom first,” I tell her. She nods her head and finally releases my hand just to hug my legs. My heart melts inside of me. I want to hold onto her forever, but she has a family now. A good family.
“Bye, Angel!” She yells as she runs back up the beach to her mom. They give me a wave when Silas says something to them. The men shake hands before he turns and walks toward me. I can’t stop myself. I take off running, throwing myself into his arms. He catches me and pulls me close.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m better than okay, Silas. I love you.”
“I love you too, my little Angel. Now, are you ready to get dirty?”
“What do you mean?” He lifts me up and then takes me to the ground, pressing me into the sand.
“Now that there are no kids around, I figured I could fuck you on this beach.”
And that is the man I love more than anything.