Page 123 of When Kings Fall

Well, I was never going to turn that down.

Whenever the four of us came together it was so amazing. It made us all feel alive.

As did the fact that Mason was doing what he loved now, Colt was on the verge of skyrocketing to the next level with his music, and Levi and I were free of those awful shackles of our past.

I caught sight of Colt’s parents in the front row. His dad, Oakley, was head banging to the hard-rock beat, while his mom, Lena, was dancing it up. The two of them were so uninhibited and upbeat people. We’d had dinner with them a week before the show and it hadn’t been a nerve-racking thing meeting them at all. It had actually been fun. We’d had a barbecue in their villa-style home. They hadn’t batted an eye about the four of us being together, they’d just been happy that their son had a whole lot of love in his life. We were all getting together after the show for drinks too tonight and I was looking forward to it.

Speaking of parents, I was having dinner with my dad in a couple of days at one of his diner chains. We’d made a deal to do it every couple of weeks and it had been great. We’d basically been getting to know each other again as the people who we were today.

As Colt finished one song, then got ready for another, having some whispered words with his hired drummer and bass player, joking around and looking so happy, commotion from down the backstage corridor caught my attention.

A flash of purple hair caught my eye a moment before she came into view.

Yes! She’d made it!

“Chloe!” I cried, easing from the boys and running to her.

We ended up meeting in the middle and throwing our arms around each other.

“Sorry I couldn’t make it for the start of the concert,” she said, as we pulled back. “I really had to get my final dress done for the upcoming fashion show we’re putting on at school.”

“No problem, he’s only halfway done, there’s still a lot to see. And the important part is we get to see each other.”

We’d set things up now where we constantly kept in contact via video call and texts, while also meeting up in person every few weeks. Either she came to me, or I went to her in the City of Tolhurst. Sometimes the boys would spend time in the city while I was with Chloe, and then the four of us would head to Roman Knight’s mansion for a catchup dinner, which had also become a regular thing now.

“Nice seeing you again,” Levi said, coming to greet her with Mason staying closer to the stage so he didn’t miss a thing when Colt started up again and launched into another song.

He offered his hand and she took it, the two of them smiling at each other pleasantly and shaking firmly.

They’d buried the hatchet, thankfully.

He’d actually apologized genuinely and she’d admitted that things were better for her career aspirations being at the design school in Tolhurst. It had come out that he’d actually been the one who’d gotten her accepted too. There it was, him doing questionable things for the right reasons and having a heart about it all, actually caring even then.

Levi Knight was definitely a complicated person, but I was more than equipped to deal with it. The others had their things too and hell knew so did I.

But together, we were just right.

We functioned perfectly.

Powerfully.

And completely.

I brought Chloe back to my spot that viewed the stage, with Levi following over, then we all stood together in perfect harmony as we watched Colton continue doing his thing, his lyrics rolling through me with that powerhouse voice of his doing them so much justice.

“I remember the nights I couldn’t sleep/ The nights I was screaming out your name/ The memories made me weep/ They had me twisting the sheets in fucking pain/ Whiskey eyes pulled me through/ Your memory took the chill out of the night/ Even in my worst nightmares, I’d see you/ Like a dark angel, you shone the way with your light.”

The fact that it was about Levi and me just added a whole other beautiful element to it all.

Next on his set list was our song, Vicious Things.

I couldn’t wait.

Having our love come to life in song like that, it was another level.

And I’d cherish every moment of it.

It was all so amazing.

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