Page 18 of Before. Then. Now.

“I know it gets cooler up here than back home, but dang, girl, that was arctic,” Love Bug praised as she slipped the strap of one of her pieces of luggage over her shoulder.The two girls walked up the steps of the ridiculously large house Aunt Emmie and her friend Anya Vitucci had built for all our families to stay in when we visited for holidays, or just because.

There was plenty of space for all of our extended relatives, but if we were going to make Creswell Springs our home base, as I hoped to, we were going to need our own house.Our own space for our many…needs.

Which was my secret reason for our spring break visit.It had been chaotic trying to keep the surprise to myself, but I was so close to being able to reveal it.

As the girls walked by, Lyric held out his fist.“That’s my girl.Don’t let any little pricks disrespect you, kid.”

Grier bumped her fist against his, a ghost of a smirk teasing her lips, her dimple appearing for all of a half second before she marched into the house with Love Bug right behind her.

Luca elbowed his brother hard in the ribs, making him groan in discomfort.“Don’t say prick around the girls.”

Lyric rolled his brown eyes, annoyance flashing over his handsome face.“For fuck’s sake, brother.You gotta calm down.Love is a teenager.She probably hears all kinds of foul language at school.Besides, prick isn’t even that bad.Remember how we were around Vi and Shaw at that age?”Both men tensed, going on a little trip down memory lane that had the potential to make either of them homicidal, thinking of anyone acting the way they had around our girls.

Shaw and I tried to hide our laughter behind coughs, but the guys were so lost in their thoughts for a moment, I doubted they heard us.Lyric shifted his head to look straight at his sons, leaving the past behind where it belonged.Mostly.“I could have called them fucking assholes, and no one could say I was a liar.Both of you walk over to the shop and assist your mother with whatever she and River might need help with.I find out you didn’t make it over there or didn’t help them, you’ll spend the next two weeks regretting every bad decision you’ve ever made in your short lives.Which, I can promise you, I’ve been keeping a tally of.”

“Can we go too?”Ethan ran over and stopped at the bottom step, his twin right beside him.They looked up to Ian and Isaac, which would have been adorable if my eldest set of twins weren’t so diabolical on their own.Add in Ian and Isaac influencing them, and that was a recipe for nuclear destruction.“We promise to help Aunt Mila.”

Luca shared a look with his brother, an entire conversation taking place without a word having to be uttered.Lyric nodded, and Luca glanced over at me.I shrugged, leaving the decision up to him, and he sighed.We didn’t have to worry about things like we did back in Santa Monica.Or even West Bridge.Creswell Springs was safe.

Well,safer.But it wasn’t the current residents I needed to worry about.It was the chaos my horde of heathen children left behind them wherever they went.But we didn’t have to deal with paparazzi stalking us here.My kids could walk down the street to their cousins’ house without needing a bodyguard.We could be ourselves here, because the town was protected in a way that was perhaps morally gray to most people.And that was oddly comforting to me.My family was safeandhappy here, and it had a little to do with the Angel’s Halo MC—and the mafia royalty who lived next door.

Now that Luca was retired and getting restless after a few years of just soaking up the joys of life, we needed a full-time residence.For all of us.Lyric and Luca’s connection wasn’t the only thing I’d considered when choosing our forever home.Creswell Springs could give us everything we’d ever dreamed of.

Luca grunted and gave our sons a firm nod.“Fine.But I find out either of you has caused any trouble and we’re gonna have issues.You feel me, boys?”

“Yes, sir,” they said in unison.

“Go on, then.”

Lyric slung his arm around Luca’s neck, half dragging him down the steps to where Jagger was still unloading.“Come on, slacker.Stop expecting Jags to do all the heavy lifting.Did you let yourself go?Your muscles don’t work anymore?”

“Fuck you, asshole,” Luca grumbled, the curse words flowing freely without Love Bug’s “innocent” ears close enough to hear.

Shaw released a light laugh while she watched the boys chase after their cousins as they walked in the direction of WomanLand that Mila co-owned with her sister-in-law River.It was a few miles away, but Ethan and Elijah needed the extra exercise to burn off some of the energy they’d bottled up on the plane ride.

“I love coming here,” my bestie murmured.“Everything is different.West Bridge has those small-town vibes, but it always feels like it’s missing something.”

She was right.

It was missing something.

Us.

All four of us, finally together as a family like we should have been all along.We couldn’t be us there, though.Not fully, like we could in Creswell Springs.

I touched my chest, remembering that spot that had felt so empty for such a big chunk of my life.It hadn’t been empty in a long time.

And now, it never would be again.

CHAPTERSEVEN

violet

A scruffy cheekrubbed on the inside of my thighs while Luca’s wicked tongue made a meal of my pussy.I scraped my nails over his scalp as I twisted my fingers around his hair, fighting back the scream that would be loud enough for the entire house to hear.

His hungry slurping only heightened the intensity of my rapidly approaching release.

“You aren’t leaving this bed until you come one more time,” Shaw warned, grasping my right wrist and pulling it away from my husband’s head so she could nestle in and lazily lick over my engorged nipple.

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