Page 114 of Mark

She runs her finger down the crease between my eyes. “So serious,” she whispers. “Sorry I took what you said wrong.”

“No, I’m sorry I made it sound serious. I was just teasing.”

“You can put me down now,” she orders, smiling. I do, but then retake her hand. “What about you? Do you want kids and marriage?”

“Hell yes. I want at least one before I’m thirty.”

“Seriously?” she asks. “Or are you pulling my leg?”

“Dead serious. We always knew our family was different. Our great grandparents were our grandparents. My nan, she’s actually my aunt Harlow’s nan. Granddad, my dad, and uncles lived next door to them. They got together, then married. Dad said nan adopted them into her family way before then though. She would always cook them meals or pop round. My aunt Kayla’s dad was there for us, but their relationship wasn’t like ours with our parents. No one would ever talk about why. Wecalled Denny’s dad Granddad, but he passed away far too soon so we didn’t have him long. Our uncle Liam isn’t biologically our uncle either. He’s a family friend Uncle Max and Myles grew up with. But our dads, they only had my granddad and nan. They had no parents, no uncles or aunts. Our kids though, they’ll have grandparents, they’ll have cousins, aunts and uncles,” I explain, taking a breath. “So yeah, I want kids. I want marriage. I want my parents to see, to be there. If you think Lily’s story was bad, my dad and uncles’ is much worse. So us kids agreed that we would make their life full, just like they made ours. We want them to be able to look around at the end and say, look what we did. Look at our family. Because they only had each other and our granddad for so long.”

“That’s… that’s beautiful. You’re lucky to have them. I bet hearing me moan about mine drives them up the wall.”

“Never. They aren’t the sort of people who think people should be happy because they had it worse. They’ve never been like, back in my day…”

“I’m pretty sure your uncle Max told that teenage girl on the boat that she was lucky her mum only smacked her hand because he would have gotten the belt in his day.”

“He doesn’t count,” I reply, dropping the towels. “This is as good a spot as any.”

I help her down on the towel before dropping down next to her. “You mean it’s far enough away from where your family are.”

“Yes. Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”

Screams echo in the distance and both Freya and I sit back up, looking in the direction we just came from. “What is that?” she asks, shielding her eyes from the sun.

My jaw drops. “I think that’s my uncle Max.”

“Is he… is he being chased?”

The screaming continues, but this time, we can make out words. “I will not be your man-bride,” Max roars.

“Oh my god,” Freya whispers.

Two women are chasing him, barely concealing their bodies as the fabric of their costumes shift from the running. Behind them are over a dozen police officers.

“Max, you made a pledge,” the woman cries. “We are your people. You have the jewels.”

“You want to use me for my sperm,” he roars. “I won’t go with you.”

I see Dad and Myles running behind the police, trying to catch up.

Max spots us and his eyes widen. “Run. They will come for you next!” he yells as he runs past.

“I think we should go back to the boat,” Freya whispers, gathering the towels. “I’m not going to risk being injured or arrested because of your uncle.”

“Let’s go!”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Mark

The sounds of machines whirling, arcade games pinging, and children’s cries of laughter echo around the large hall.

I tune them all out, my focus solely on the mission in front of me. Freya is beside me, Hayden and Clay are standing on the other side of the table, and Liam is standing at the head of the table. This is it. All bets are on, and it’s the moment of truth.

My dignity is on the line.

“And go!” Liam yells.

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