Page 88 of Demise

“Thanks for coming.”

I drop my smile in faux concern.

“I didn’t have a choice. You were driving.”

He grins and shakes his head, leaning in to press his lips against mine. When he pulls away, his blue eyes are practically twinkling, his blonde hair holding several large flakes of snow.

Suddenly, his gaze becomes a little more serious as his fingers intertwine with my own.

“I know our relationship is unconventional, and you’re obviously in a different place with each of them than you are with me, and I don’t care, but I…I love you,” he says, forcing my heart to do a cartwheel, back flip, and beat out of my chest all at once.

“I’ve loved you from the moment I laid eyes on you. Each day spent with you, that love has grown more and more; all I see is you, all I breathe is you. You’re my entire fucking world. Nothing matters but you, and I hope you’ll let me prove it every day for the rest of our lives because I can’t picture a life without you.”

He lets out a short breath and shakes his head as his eyes come back to me.

“I’ve made mistakes, big ones. But even through all the mistakes in my past and all the mistakes I’ll no doubt make in the future, I’ll never stop loving you.”

I swallow roughly as I look at him. Is it crazy for me to feel the same way? Already? We’ve only known each other for a few months, and already I’m head over heels for this man when I have four others who also hold a piece of my heart. Yes, absofuckinlutly, yes.

“I love you too, Wes. I’ve loved you for longer than I think I even realized. The instant your lips touched mine, I knew that you were that missing piece to the puzzle. The one I didn’t realize was missing until you were right in front of me, and everything was so clear. You were always meant to be here.”

“And I always will be,” he says as he cups my face, bringing me in for a sweet and tender kiss.

I melt into him, lazily wasting minutes, or maybe it’s hours, getting lost in him. It’s never a waste when it’s time with him, though.

It’s been three days since Wesley’s and my food truck date and, honestly, I’m just now getting my appetite back. I was able to eat a small chicken salad for dinner, but that was pretty much it. There is no time to think about anything but the task at hand currently.

I woke up at four in the morning just so I would have enough time to put everything together. I’m just finishing the last swirl of icing on the cake when Ronan walks in, dressed and ready for the day. Meanwhile, I’m in my sleep shorts, tank top, my hair is in a messy bun, and there’s a streak of cake batter across my cheek.

Ronan’s eyes widen as he scans the living room and kitchen. It took me thirty-five minutes just to inflate all of the balloons with one of those helium tanks in the garage. Even longer, embarrassingly enough, to string together the happy birthday banner currently tacked to the wall and then this German chocolate cake…let’s not even talk about it. Why Asher has to love one of the most troubling cakes I’ve ever made is beyond me. Then again, I’m not exactly a world class baker, but at least I tried!

Ronan looks at me, a sweet smile melting across his face as he crosses the room.

“Baby, how long have you been up?”

I glance at the clock and grimace.

“Three hours.”

He shakes his head. “All for Asher’s birthday?”

I shrug. “It’s a big day. He has his ceremony tonight, and I can only imagine whatever that will entail will be…less than pleasant,” I say with a wince. “Then he has to go to a party at his dad’s house and pretend to be happy about officially becoming a member. I thought the least I could do was blow up some balloons and bake him a cake.”

He stares down at me as he tucks a piece of hair behind my ear.

“You’re really sweet, do you know that?”

Ronan lifts my chin, bringing my lips to his, when footsteps sound through the kitchen. I scramble away from Ronan, grabbing one of the confetti cannons I bought before handing him one. I get ready to shoot it when I see that it’s just Wesley. He holds up his hands in surrender, and I lower my celebratory weapon.

“What’s going on?” he asks.

“It’s Ash’s birthday. Here,” Ronan says as he hands Wesley a cannon before grabbing another one for himself.

Another set of footsteps come down the stairs. Wait, two. Excitement runs through me as I nod at the guys. They take up their aim just before Liam and Asher stroll into the room, both with a melancholy look on their face. As soon as the confetti cannons go off, Liam’s downcast expression falls away. He looks around, wide-eyed with excitement, as he begins bouncing up and down while Asher remains shocked.

“Happy birthday!” I smile before setting the cannon down and running over to Asher.

Confetti is still fluttering around us, even more going off when Liam gets a hold of one, shooting it off into the air.

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