Page 14 of Reclaiming Kendall

Ry had left early to take me home, and I'd unknowingly walked straight into a nightmare. The thought of Gramps hits me so hard seeing that picture that I have to close my eyes to keep the tears from spilling over. One of them sneaks out anyway, and a finger wipes the next one away. Peeking out from under my lashes causes even more to spill over, but the sad understanding expression on Goose's face about rips me in two.

I choke down the sob trying to come out as silently as I can and decide I need a distraction. After such an amazing surprise, the last thing I want to do is have a breakdown on my men.

I focus on Goose's face. Jesus. I really need to start calling him Grant in my head, or I'll never break that old habit. That single thought helps bring me back down. Turning away from him and the wall of memories, I go to the last door in the room only to find a closet bigger than my room downstairs. Someone has moved all of our stuff up here from the other closets. We've all got our own shoe racks built into the walls, and it's not hard to tell which side belongs to whom from their styles. Though, Teagan's would be a dead giveaway considering his old jersey hangs in the front of his section.

"Ryleigh tried to throw that away," Teagan's smiling voice sounds out from behind me. "She fought me tooth and nail until I told her why I was keeping it. She hung up on me and probably threw up."

My laugh echoes around our humungous space, and I turn around to face him, lifting a hand for a high five in the process. His smile lights up his face as we clap them together and then he pulls me to him. I let him lift me off of my feet for a kiss, but he puts me down quickly after.

Keeping a hold on his hand, I bring us back out into the bedroom as I look each of them square in the face, "This is one of the greatest things I've ever seen in my life. Every single space in this room is greater than the last until it repeats in a circle, so none of them are my favorite." The last bit is added in as Teagan opens his mouth to no doubt ask me that very question. It's confirmed as he shuts it just as quickly.

"Was it worth the wait?" Lucas asks with an eye-crinkling smile, knowing good and damn well it was.

I shake my head, but that cheeky smile never wavers, "It was even better. Thank you. All of you. Not just for the thoughtfulness of every inch of this space, but for being so willing to make it shared between all of us. After being in Fiji, I was really not looking forward to coming home to being separated again."

"We figured it would be that way," Goose, I mean Grant, admits.

"Most of this was done weeks ago when you were out of the house," Mav adds.

Then Teagan bounces in, "The only thing left was to move all our shit up here, which we got Ryleigh to do. She threw in the extra touch of the little photos. We didn't know she was going to do that."

"It was a nice surprise," I marvel. "I can't wait to see the rest of our wedding pictures."

"Yeah," Lucas says, going to stand beside them. His finger reaches out to point at one, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm seriously glad she chose this one of Mav with cake on his face."

My head tilts back with my laugh as the other two chuckle at the murderous look on Mav's face. They're all standing close enough to touch, so it's easy to close that little bit of distance between us and wrap my arms around his waist.

"You’d better be glad I love you," he half growls.

“Yes, you do,” I smile while looking up to lock eyes with him. He closes the distance between our faces to capture my lips with his own. A sound slips from the back of my throat, and it seems to spur him into action. Securing my body against his, he lifts me until my legs are wrapping around his waist.

A small giggle escapes me, “We’ve got to call Ry and thank her for taking care of everything while we were gone.”

Teagan pops into my line of vision, “We can do that later, sweets. I vote we put our new bed to the test.” His eyebrows waggle above those sexy brown eyes, and I laugh again right before Mav drops us to the bed. It’s as soft as it looks, but that’s as far as my assessment goes before my attention falls to my three other men now surrounding Mav and me.

The next day as we unlock the doors to my little photography shop, Ry blurts, “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

I laugh as I open the blinds on the windows, “Well, do you want me to lie to you, or do you want the truth? You can’t have both.”

“Shit,” she sighs dramatically as her ass plops into a rolling chair behind the desk. “I seriously cannot believe you met Abilene Wilson.”

“Yep,” I comment while going through the stack of messages on the desk. “She was really down to Earth, too.”

“And you say she’s really got a thing going like you guys do?” she asks curiously.

Were it anyone else asking, I’d put a lid so tight on this jar that nothing would ever be getting out. However, it’s Ryleigh. I know for a fact she’d never go blabbing to the tabloids or anything for a quick buck, so I nod, “Yes ma’am. I don’t know who was more shocked, me or her. I mean, it’s not every day you meet a celebrity. More than that, I always thought we were just freaks of nature. Never in a hundred years, did I see us running into more people that have what we do.”

She reaches over to turn the computer monitor on and shrugs, “My brother is a freak of nature, but that aside, I’d be willing to say that it’s more of a natural occurrence than you realize.”

Whatever she’s about to add is cut off by the shrill sound of the office phone ringing. Plastering a smile on her face, she cheerily answers, “Kendall Michael’s Photography.”

Before the wedding, hearing Grant’s last name attached to mine gave me nervous butterflies in my chest. Now, it makes me so happy that I wouldn’t be able to describe it if my life depended on it. When we moved back here, I wasn’t sure what I’d do for work. I’ve got my Bachelor of Arts in Photography, but I didn’t think we were financially ready for us to support my own business. Even as I protested, the guys put it to a vote, and I was out-numbered. Besides, Mav and Teagan run all our financials, so it’s not like I could really put up much of a fight with them.

They bought out this little shop in the middle of one of the largest shopping centers in town that had been vacant for six months, according to the real estate agent. Then we’ve slowly morphed it into the growing business it is now. One of the parts we truly got lucky on was not having any competition. The closest photographer that offers the services we do is about four towns over. We do it all. Babies and their cute squishy faces, to toddlers, all the way up to high school senior pictures. Then we’ve got group or family photos that we do about once or twice a week. My favorite, though, are the on-site shoots. I love getting out and capturing people in natural settings like weddings and such.

Ry is still taking classes for business management and has been a fucking godsend around here. Teagan handles the books, but Ry keeps everything straight for him, and as acting secretary, has saved my ass on more than one occasion.

“Hey, I’ve got Mrs. Allen on the line,” Ry announces, pulling me out of my head. “She wants to know if we could squeeze her daughter in for senior pics this weekend at the park.”

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