Page 39 of Devil's Valentine

“Welcome home,” is shouted so loud that it rivals the roar of their motorcycle’s engines.

Ezekiel startles a little bit but then starts to laugh. He looks back at us with wide eyes and the biggest smile on his face that I’ve ever seen. Malcolm’s mouth drops open, his brooding stoicism dropping for a moment before he wrestles it back into place, but, even then, I can see the smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Lucifer and Cherise are the first to step forward. “Sir,” Malcolm greets the club’s President before looking toward Cherise and adding, “ma’am.”

“Well,” she drawls and tugs him against her and wrapping him up in a hug, “Malcolm, it seems that everything my Old Man told me about you was true. You are going to make a fine Prospect in a few years, and I can’t wait to watch you,” she looks at Ezekiel and pulls him into the hug, “both thrive with our family.”

“Prospect?” Malcolm seems stunned and blinks a few times at Lucifer as Cherise lets him go. “You really said that, Prez?”

Lucifer’s laugh is a booming sound that seems to spur everyone to step closer and swarm our group. I watch the boys closely, hoping they aren’t overwhelmed.

Clearly, I underestimated my family. Or maybe I underestimated my brothers.

They aren’t scared. They aren’t even intimidated, which wouldn’t be a wild notion considering the size of some of the men in the room.

My brothers are fucking shining. It’s as if being under the attention of this family and being showered in their love has lit up my brothers from the inside out.

Dean turns me and cups my cheeks. He’s not holding the box filled with macrons anymore, but I don’t even care. He wipes the tears away that I didn’t even realize were falling.

“I don’t like it when you cry, Sugar,” he husks.

“They’re happy tears,” I assure him.

He smirks and then looks around before nodding at someone. A spark whistle cuts through the din of the room and everyone quiets. My eyes go round as I watch Dean drop down to one knee right in front of me and my mouth drops open.

I whisper, “Are you serious right now?”

“Oh,” there’s a wicked promise in his voice, “I’m very serious.” He takes a deep breath and pulls a ring out of his pocket. It’s a simple setting, which I’m grateful for; I’m not the kind to go for flashy. “Scarlett, the day I met you was the first best day of my life. I fell in love with you with the moment I saw you and I never looked back. Now, you’ve given me something even more special. You’ve given me a family that is just for me, for us. I know the boys are your brothers and the circumstances were less than ideal because of their experiences, but the last two weeks have been the best in my life. The day they came home to us was the second-best day of my life. I’d like to ask for my third now, but it’ll only happen when you say yes to becoming my wife.”

“Yes,” I breathe out, my voice barely above a whisper, but loud in the charged silence surrounding us.

The crowd goes fucking wild. Dean slips the ring on my finger and then I’m in his arms and bent back over his arm so he can kiss me until the room starts spinning and only joy can exist.

When he stands me up, an Ezekiel sized weight slams into me, but Dean is there to hold me steady. He’s always there to hold me steady. My little brother wraps his arms around me and hugs me something fierce. Malcolm is right there, seeming to wait in the wings, but I’m not having it and neither is Dean.

“Come here, Malcolm,” Dean insists and holds out his arm.

My older little brother closes the distance, and we’re wrapped up together. A little family. But being surrounded by the much larger family of the DSMC, having them watch on and blessing us, makes it that much better.

“One day,” Dean whispers in my ear, “we’ll grow our little family.”

I give my man a cheeky smile and kiss the underside of his jaw. I make a vow right there and then, to him and to myself, “One day.”

Ezekiel and Malcolm run off to meet more of the family and we’re surrounded with congratulations of our own. I don’t know if my heart has ever felt fuller.

Hammer slaps Frenzy on the back and winks at me. “How does it feel to go from single to in love to having an Old Lady and now a family which includes two young men? You sure you don’t need help running?”

I know he’s joking, but I can’t help the way my body stiffens. Dean’s face morphs and he becomes Frenzy right in front of me, filled with rage and barely contained. Hammer holds up his hands, a huge grin on his face and not even a hint of fear.

“I get it,” Dean spits, “you’re jealous. I’d be jealous of me too.”

Hammer throws back his head and laughs before giving Dean a back slapping bro hug and planting a kiss on my cheek which has my man growling in warning. I can only roll my eyes. Dean knows I’m his and only his, just like I know the same is true for him.

He’s mine and only mine.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

As the party starts to break up a little bit and people start to drift outside and into the kitchen to finish up the last of the preparation, I look around the room and a feeling of rightness settles over me. This is where I belong. I don’t know if I would have found it if the Old Ladies hadn’t found Crescent Sugar or if they hadn’t pushed me that day to share with them what was going on.

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