Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 114936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
“Guess what?” Cartier bounces around the table. “Keaton is giving me his sperm.”
Silence.
Lilith starts laughing, Kyrin is groaning, rolling his eyes, and Luna calls out, “Sperm!”
Shaking my head, I find my place beside King and on the other side of Cartier as she wriggles under my arm. This is what Midnight Mayhem was always supposed to be about. About family and a safe unit. A place where we can all rely on each other no matter how much we fight.
Kissime is at the end of the table near Kenan and Rose, and Maya has Val on her lap. Saskia and Killian are arguing about their wedding date, and their little spawn of Satan is already crawling through the grass to chase his cousins.
I’ve loved Cartier from the second I met her, but I fell in love with her gradually as time went on. Her laughter vibrates over the table as her little head tips back and she pops a bunch of grapes into her mouth. No one has run Midnight Mayhem the way she has. The organizing, the treatment of the crew, the time slots. She was born to do what she’s doing, but she was also born to—
I lean back, tapping Kyrin’s back.
He looks over his shoulder, leaning closer so he can hear me.
“Gonna ask her to marry me. You good? Or you wanna fight it out again?”
The corner of his lip twitches upward as he tosses his fork onto the table and rolls up his sleeve. “Come on, motherfucker. Let’s go.”
Love isn’t just a word. It’s an energy that surrounds the people who you not only love, but who love you back. You give to take back.
A hundred-dollar bill slams onto the table in front of me, and I look up to who it is that has dropped it.
Eli grins down at me with his wide-ass smile. “Hundred on Keaton.”
I scoff on a laugh. “You’re so loyal. Truly.”
Another hundred-dollar bill drops. “Me too!” Lilith chuckles into the side of Eli’s neck, smiling against him. Since Eli is still a King, he spaces out his time between here and Riverside. Thankfully, it’s only a short drive, but the man can’t stay long away from his family anyway.
“Well—” I pause when metallic tasting lips touch mine.
“—you better be dropping another hundred on me, baby, or we’re gonna have a problem.”
I smirk against his mouth, licking the drop of blood off his chin. “Hundred on Kyrin…” Before Keaton can do anything but narrow his eyes, he’s being pulled back by Kyrin and the fight continues.
Chuckling, Eli turns in his chair, looking over my shoulder at them. “This will never change, right?”
“God, I hope not.”
We both laugh as he hooks his arm around my shoulder and pulls me in to place a soft kiss on my head.
My life is full of messy people who don’t always make the right choices. They screw up as often as I do, fight, fuck, and argue. You see, love isn’t supposed to be perfect either. Love is supposed to be whatever the fuck you want it to be.
This is family. It’s love. It’s hate. It’s an unimaginable amount of patience. It’s peace with a little havoc, fury with a smidge of mischief, screaming when being silenced, and finally a little chaos when we reign. We perform crazy acts in front of strangers, dress up like little monsters after the clock strikes twelve, but at the end of the night, when the curtains close and the show is over, we’re just this.
Midnight Mayhem.
Well, friends… the time has come. Walls will be crumbled around my feet like I’ve always wanted. Needed. Do I? I’m confused. I was met with the love of my life, reunited like a flame to the midnight sky. I thought about this much, if not often. When I first sat in the back row of a Midnight Mayhem show, I knew there was only one way to end this. Stuck in a battlefield of need, want, and what I should do… I didn’t know what way to turn. What way was right.
But now I have him back. My Koko. He is mine, and I am his.
He grips me around the backs of my thighs, lowering me down on top of him. “You ready for the final show, baby doll?”