Page 88 of The Devils of Saint City

Yeah, this is a family establishment, blah blah blah. People need to suck it up and realize there’s more than one kind of family.

“You, my love, get to give Cheese a bath when we get home.”

Our Yorkie is a little shit just like we are, but she’s a good girl. She also hates Manson with a passion — but I think it’s just because they haven’t spent enough time together yet.

“Damnit,” he breathes, but the soft expression he’s wearing tells me he isn’t all that upset about it. “She hates me.”

“She loves me,” Ash teases, taking a slow bite for himself to hide his grin.

He’s not wrong. Manson was the one that wanted her, and yet it’s Asher’s legs she chooses when we’re all lounging on the couch.

Spoiled girl. Takes after her mother.

“If it helps, I’m willing to reward you for it. Both of you, actually. I think you’ll be alright.”

Manson perks up happily, but Asher simply leans into my foot more with a narrowed gaze. “Reward, hmm? What kind?”

He isn’t in control here. I am. It’s just... a little hard to remember that sometimes when he’s looking at me like that.

I’ll never get used to it.

“You’ll see. It’s not appropriate for me to say out loud here.”

Something tells me the people in the booth next to us might be okay with three people being gross together, but not if I start talking about them fucking me in the ass at the same time. It’s the one thing we haven’t tried yet, the one thing I’ve been terrified of.

Somehow, I swear Asher reads it on my face.

His grin matches Manson’s, and the way he shovels a bite much too big into my mouth confirms it. “Eat up, my lady. We still have a bookstore to go to, and I may not last that long.”

“You will. You’re a good boy, Ash.”

The look Ash shoots at Manson makes both of us laugh.

God, there’s been so much laughter lately. None of us are perfect — we fight and get snippy and make mistakes, it’s not all good times and better sex — but learning to just talk to each other has changed everything. Looking back, all the miscommunication seems stupid, but I get it. We were all trying to protect ourselves. We were all broken, traumatized in our own ways. It’s so hard to let yourself be vulnerable. Almost impossible to let anyone in. So, we skirted around the truth, outright lied, did whatever we had to in the name of protecting ourselves.

And then we realized we didn’t have to. I’m safe with them, they’re safe with me.

Even the scar Asher once gifted me is invisible now, covered up by a stunning tattoo of the night sky. If I look close enough or touch it, the ridges and bumps of the scar are still there... but the ugliness is gone.

And that’s us, too.

We’ll always be a little rough, a little callus. But we’re beautiful now, together.

“Come on. I miss Cheese already, let’s take the rest of this to go,” I urge. “We’ll order books online.”

“That’s my girl,” Ash praises, shoving a bite into Manson’s mouth roughly before standing up. “Little shit better not be on my pillow again.”

I’m absolutely sure she will be, so I act like I can’t hear him as we head back to the house. I’m impressed Asher no longer needs a GPS to get around even though it’s only been a couple of months. I think I’ll need one forever. Saint City was laid out sosimply, but this town is like a giant maze with back roads and so many trees, it’s like a forest.

But it’s home. Nobody knows us here. There’s no danger, no killing, no one looking at me like I’m the daughter of a killer.

Just... peace.

Peace that almost immediately ends the second we get into the house.

I shouldn’t have teased them about a reward.

Cheese runs out of the bedroom to find both of them tugging at my clothes, and if it wasn’t for the bark she tosses their way, I don’t think they would have even noticed. “Shh. Not now, Nacho.”

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