Page 103 of Zero Pucks

“Hmm. If you want.”

“Rest in peace, little note,” I said, then touched it to the nearest flame. He kept his hand on my wrist in case I couldn’t see well enough not to get too close, and he stopped me before I got burned.

“Now this,” he said. The folded-up paper was the license. We’d have another one someday. I was going to propose. I wanted a real ring on his finger. I wanted to call him husband and not only mean it but make sure it stuck.

“Kiss me,” I said as my hand closed over his wrist. He turned his head and caught my mouth, then guided our hands toward the flames. I felt a small pang as the heat licked at my skin, and then we let go.

“Fresh start,” he murmured.

“Fresh start.”

I let myself feel a sort of angry stabbing in my chest when I held the wedding invitation up to my eye to read Killian’s and Delia’s names on there. That one took longer to catch. My brother had not skimped on quality for their invitations, I’d give him that. Not that Dalia would have let him.

I dropped the photos of them into the fire right after.

“Tell me when they’re gone,” I murmured, resting my head against Amedeo’s shoulder.

He held my hand and squeezed it. After what felt like a short eternity, he said, “It’s all ash now.”

Last was the photo of Bryce—the piece of shit who had tried to ruin my beloved. The sorry, sad sack of shit, pathetic excuse for a human who used Amedeo as an emotional punching bag to try and make himself feel better for all of his failings.

It hadn’t worked.

He’d left scars, but he hadn’t been able to change the gorgeous shape that Deo was.

“Hold me while I do this,” he asked.

I shifted behind him, using my hands to lift my legs so I could bracket him with my thighs. He leaned forward, and I heard a soft whooshing sound, then saw the flames brighten for a second when the photo caught.

“Does it feel different?” I asked.

He sighed as he settled back against me. “No. I didn’t think it would though. I’m already so happy.”

I understood exactly what he meant. I would forever have a gaping void inside me that Killian had left by being a shitty brother, but it didn’t hurt the way it used to. And I knew that whatever I’d felt for Delia back then, if I hadn’t gotten in the accident, we would have ended in a messy divorce and me paying millions in alimony.

I wasn’t the one losing in this whole thing.

I’d won so much I almost felt sorry for my brother.

“I love you,” I said into the quiet.

Amedeo pressed back harder against me, dropping his head on my shoulder and turning his face to kiss my jaw. “I love you too. Do you think it’ll feel like this forever?”

I was only twenty-eight. He was just a little older. We hadn’t lived long enough to be able to tell, but I thought I knew the answer.

“No.” He stiffened against me, and I held him tighter. “I think it’ll get better. Every year, I’ll be more grateful that in one of the weakest and worst moments of my life, I found my other half. Someone who would have been my best friend if he couldn’t be my husband.”

He laughed.

“Though we’re going to do it right this time, aren’t we?”

Deo twisted in my arms and rested his hands on my shoulders. “Boyfriends first.”

I grinned at him. “Boyfriends first. Seal it with a kiss.”

He leaned forward, and after drinking in the sight of him, I closed my eyes and let my lips fall against his. Exactly where they belonged.

EPILOGUE

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