Page 127 of Vicious Kitten

I grin back. “Love you too, my fiancé.”

“What? Fiancé?” Marcus snaps, and I chuckle while Rhys rolls her eyes, sliding off the bed.

“Not for another five years, Daddy.” She pokes her tongue out.

“Hang on a minute.” Marcus says in confusion. “Fiancé? You can’t marry him.” Marcus complains, and she smiles up at him.

“Why not?”

“Well… what about me?” The puppy dog eyes Marcus sends our girl’s way is worthy of an award, and I can’t help but laugh.

“Oh, I’ll be marrying you too, Marc. We are all going to live happily ever after together.”

Even with all the bruises marring her creamy skin, Kitten looks downright mischievous. I can’t wipe the smile off my face as she leads Marcus from the room as he tries to explain to her that she can’t marry more than one person.

I just shake my head. Doesn’t he know that if there’s one person on this earth that can find a loophole, it will be our girl?

Chapter Forty-One

Rhys

People are staring. They can’t fucking help themselves, and all it does is fill me with more happiness. They can stare all they want. They can frown and whisper about how unacceptable it is that I walk around holding the hands of two guys at once, while another sweeps in for a kiss every now and then, and another moves up behind me to whisper in my ear before sucking my lobe into the heat of his mouth.

What a scandal.

It’s laughable to me because I simply don’t care. I’m so in love with these guys, and they love me back just as fiercely. Nothing else matters but the way we feel for each other. Even our parents have come to terms with the situation.

Shaun’s parents were the first on board, already aware of the arrangement, accepting us as a part of their family, although his dad stays relatively quiet about it. My parents are still supporting me and have accepted me for who I am, welcoming my guys as a part of our family. Marcus’ parents have taken some convincing, but after they had us over for dinner last week, they’ve seen firsthand how we all just work, and Garrett’s mum said she didn’t care how Garrett lives his life as long as he is happy.

Simon’s mum already had a glimpse into our relationship the day we spoke in British accents while we ate pizza with her. She obviously didn’t realise how serious things were, and when Simon announced that we were in an official group relationship, she demanded he end things with us or she would cut him off financially. He moved out that day into the staff quarters at Shaun’s house and has been learning the ropes over this last week on the ins and outs of working on a small vineyard.

Of course, Ty still isn’t here with us, something that I really hate, and I’m counting down the days until we can stop hiding his involvement.

“So this is all of your work?” Simon asks as we stand in front of the display of black and white photos lining the wall in this part of the local gallery.

The school shows off students’ work for a week at the end of each school year, and this time, my work has its own display since I’ve been given a creativity award for my Beauty in Darkness portfolio.

I smile with pride at the pictures I created, which hold a very haunted vibe. “Yes, it’s my work, although some of the photos were taken by Garrett.”

The big guy in question wraps his arms around me from behind, pressing his lips to the top of my head. I sink back into his hold, keeping my hands locked with Shaun and Marcus, who are at my sides.

When we went camping, Garrett used my camera to take some sneaky pictures of me. On display, I’ve included the one of me asleep with Garrett’s face near mine, which was the night he shared the tent with me so I wouldn’t be alone. He took a selfie of sorts, taken with an SLR camera.

There’s also one of me on Simon’s back, which was when he was pretending to be a horse as we hiked back to camp. There’s one of me and Marcus out in the water at Ebony Falls. It’s an intimate picture that only I know the story of, when Marcus was trying to calm me down after my panic that there were wildebeests lurking under the water.

Garrett even managed to capture one of Shaun and me sitting next to each other with the glow of the campfire lighting up our faces as we stare into each other’s eyes.

Unbeknownst to most people, there’s even one of me and Ty. You can’t tell it’s Ty, though, with the way I cropped most of him out, only leaving his lips and chin as he presses a kiss to my forehead. That picture was taken on Garrett’s phone the night Marcus broke into Ty’s lake house and busted us. Garrett showed me it just last week and said he took it for me in case I ever doubted Ty’s love for me again. In the original picture, you can see the love in his expression, andthatversion is for my eyes only, at least until I’m eighteen.

“It’s incredible, Kitten.” Shaun praises me, and my chest fills with warmth.

“Rhys?” My mum’s voice gains my attention, and I turn to look at her as she approaches us with someone at her side.

My heart stops and then flips, and I’m certain my cheeks have flushed red as I take in the sight of Tyler right next to my mum. A lump forms in my throat. I haven’t seen him in the flesh since the day I left the hospital a few weeks back. My only visuals of him have been on our daily FaceTime calls.

“Breathe, Rhee,” Marcus whispers next to me as we all turn to face them as a group.

My hands are trembling, I realise, and my mum gives me a look that tells me not to leap on Ty in front of everyone.

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