Page 54 of The Aftermath

“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.

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