Page 194 of Gathered Sparkle

Levi pauses halfway up, turning his head to glance back. “Yes?”

“How about you guys stay in your room for therestof the night?”

“Haven’t planned anything else, brother.” He winks, then tugs Ezra up the stairs again. “Come on, Ezy baby. Fuck me like it’s our last night on Earth.”

Ezra sputters, his ears going bright red, and a laugh bursts out of me at the sight.

God, I love this. Love that this is finally happening.

Levi’s laughter echoes down the stairway, followed by a muffled protest from Ezra. Then the door clicks shut behindthem, leaving the rest of us standing in the low light of the foyer, wrapped in silence.

Koen clears his throat and gestures toward the living room. “Come on.”

We follow him inside, and the room feels too quiet compared to the noise of moments before. Sylus plops down on one end of the couch and pulls me down next to him, his arm draping lazily over my shoulder.

Koen sinks into the couch across from us, stretching his legs out, one ankle crossed over his knee, while Ace and Nicholas each take one of the armchairs flanking the couches.

The room is bathed in a low glow, and the silence stretches long between us, not uncomfortable but thick.

I glance around at Sylus’s amused grin, Nicholas’s smile, Koen’s intense gaze, and Ace’s smirk, and I feel it—a warmth in my chest.

Love.

This is what love feels like.

For all the chaos and uncertainty, we havethis.

Anticipation thrums in the air, making my skin buzz, but I don’t know what to say. My mind scrambles for something, anything, to break the tension. “So… do you guys want to watch someMasterChef?”

The question lands awkwardly in the space between us. Sylus blinks, then bursts out laughing, his head tilting back. Nicholas chuckles, and Koen’s gaze softens with amusement.

“Seriously?” Ace asks, raising an eyebrow, though there’s a flicker of amusement in his eyes too.

I shrug. “What? It’s a classic.”

“Sparkle baby, we can watchMasterCheflater.” Sylus’s lips brush my ear. “But something tells me none of us came in here for the TV.”

The silence thickens again, and I meet Koen’s dark eyes. He doesn’t say anything. He simply watches me, and it only adds to the growing tension. In a good way.

Seconds stretch, and the heat of his stare crawls over my skin. My heart pounds harder, and I start to squirm.

Why does he have to look at me like that?

The corner of his mouth twitches like he knows exactly what he’s doing to me. “Come here.”

My body moves to stand of its own accord, drawn to him like always. But as I start to walk toward him, Sylus’s hands shoot out, gripping my hips and yanking me into his lap with a playful roughness that makes me yelp. His arms coil around my stomach, locking me in place, his chin coming to rest on my shoulder.

“Hey!” I protest, squirming in his grip, though I don’t really want to escape.

Sylus chuckles, his breath hot against my neck. “Boundariescheck.”

“What?”

“There are four guys here, Sparkle. Maybe we should make sure everyone’s on board, and you’re comfortable before we do… anything.”

Ace’s low chuckle rumbles from the side. “You’re talking to Trouble personified.”

“Yeah, I know.” I feel Sylus’s grin widen against my skin as he presses a kiss to the side of my throat, just beneath my ear. “This girl doesn’t have any boundaries because she’s a fucking freak.”

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