Page 78 of Surviving Midnight

Fuck, I love that woman.

Which is why I check my phone, make sure the tracking app she finally let me install is working, then shoot a text to my asshole best friend.

ME:Coast is clear. You on your way?

JACKAL: Be there in five. Just picked up the goods.

I hop out of bed,take a piss and get dressed then pad toward the living room just as the doorbell rings.

“Really?” I pull the door open to find Jackal standing there with a shit eating grin. “Had to ring the bell?”

“That’s what it’s there for, right?”

I roll my eye and let him in. “You want a beer?”

He flops onto the couch, his arms draped over the back. “Before noon?”

I arch a brow.

Jackal laughs. “Make it two.”

With a slight flutter in my chest, I rummage around and grab a six pack. Jackal will have at least three while he’s here, he’s so big and drinks often enough it won’t affect him at all, and I might have one and a half since my nerves are starting to take hold.

“You talk to Spider... you jackass,” I grunt as I walk back to the couch to find Jackal down on one knee, a small velvet box in his hands, open and aimed at me.

“Cy... Zak...” He grins like a bastard. “Dude, brother, will you marry me?”

I smack the side of his head and snatch the box, my best friend cackling as he gets back on the couch.

Dumbass.

With another grunt, I drop the beer right over his dick then drop on my ass next to him. My eye locks on the box in my hand; the soft red cushion, the gold embossed letters staring back up at me, the tiny little thing taunting me with what it all signifies. I pluck the small white gold circle from its place nestled in the pillowy fabric, hold it up to the light and watch the way the early afternoon sun catches and glitters against the chocolate diamond.

Princess cut.

Solitaire.

One karat.

I wanted to go bigger but I knew Theo wouldn’t want that. She’d want something simple, but I wanted her to have something elegant, classic. Timeless. Beautiful. Just like her.

I wanted her engagement ring to reflect just how gorgeous she is, inside and out, without being flashy or understated. And this ring, the one I snuck out and ordered the morning after Theo said she was going to marry me one day, is fucking perfect.

“It’s real nice, man,” Jackal says with a genuine smile. “Blondie is gonna love it.”

I nod on a shaky breath then tuck it back into the box. “I hope so.”

He hands me a beer then taps his bottle to mine. “She will. Not that it’ll matter because that chick is crazy about you, but she’ll love it and she will wear it with pride.” Then Jackal chuckles. “After she cries her eyes out and gets so flustered she ends up hurting herself.”

I laugh and slide the box into my pocket. “Yeah. Better make sure she’s sitting down when I ask.”

“You gonna do it at the party?”

“Don’t know yet.”

Jackal arches a brow and takes a pull from his beer.

“Not sure I want an audience.”

---