Page 158 of Candy & Her Saints

Vito catches my eye and waves, before running between the peacocks and the crowds toward me.

He’s dressed in the Dough Knot apron over black t-shirt and leather trousers. His olive skin is flushed in the heat.

“Hey, viper,” I call, as Vito leaps up the steps toward me.

Vito must have been worked off his feet keeping the bakery going without me. Despite the shadows under his eyes, however, he’s acting as he always does like he’s not long term sleep deprived.

“Looking good, sis.” Vito’s vibrating with excitement. “Do you know who I just saw? Those fucking hockey legends, the Blades. Then by the wine tastings, the movie star Omega, Jex, who has such a peachy ass that I could bite—"

Thomas coughs discretely.

Vito ignores him.

“Your cake is some amazing shit. The way that you built a peacock out of curled up snakes, from the markings on the tail to the chest plumage…?” Vito shakes his head. “It’s like a reinvention of the Candy and Viper Cupcakes.”

“How could I forget you, when it came to this? It’s a twist on our bakery’s signature cake but with a nod to my new pack. I’ve called it Peacock and Viper cake.”

I hold up my tattooed hand, weaving it from side to side and hissing.

Vito holds his tattooed hand out next to mine, mimicking the move like we have since we were kids.

Thomas coughs again.

“Something in your throat?” Vito asks, casually. “Or is that an elite way of being pissed that I’m not following etiquette? We don’t need to follow formal greetings and all that shit anymore, peacock.”

Thomas pulls himself up to look even taller. “Don’t call me that.”

“We’re family.” When Vito slings his arm around Thomas’ shoulder, Thomas stills like he doesn’t know what to do with his hands. “You can call me viper.”

“Do I have to?”

“So, does Tom pass the brother-in-law test?” I ask Vito.

Vito narrows his eyes. “Pineapple on pizza?”

Thomas doesn’t hesitate. “Sacrilege.”

“Muse or Kylie Minogue?”

“Muse, obviously.”

Vito’s eyes narrow impossibly further like he’s winding up for the killer blow. “Night in with a book or a night out dancing?”

He’s got him.

Fiendish.

Thomas gives a slow smile. “Wherever my fated mates are.”

Vito’s expression brightens. “He passes.”

“I’m honored,” Thomas drawls.

I hope that Vito can find a pack that loves him in the same way that I have.

He deserves it.

He deserves the fucking world.

---