Skyla bounds out with the boys running between her legs, a lethargic Tobie latches onto me, and I scoop her up and let her melt over my shoulder.
Ellis Harrison, stoner extraordinaire, jumps down next, his glassy-eyed stare somehow managing to unnerve me.
Ellis blinks a smile. “You’re looking at your worst nightmare.” A dirty grin glides easy on his face. “New year, new life, new bullshit? Not gonna happen. The new year only brings one thing. A holy countdown. The Barricade loses its legs.”
A huff of laughter pumps through me. “You almost sound lucid, Ellis.”
“I’m sober, Wes, and I have you and your brother to thank for it.” He takes off without his precious G by his side and I can’t help but smirk.
“You’re welcome,” I shout after him.
“Shut up, Wes,” Skyla scowls as Logan shuttles the boys to his truck and wrangles them inside. Her eyes, those crystal clear haunting orbs, scour me with such a vitriolic hatred I’m forced to look away. I don’t hate Skyla. I don’t think I ever could. I hate what she stands for. There’s a big difference. “Wesley”—her voice pulls out with a wobble, a desperation I have never heard from her before—“don’t let him touch my babies.”
A chortling laugh erupts from behind as Chloe steps into our midst with that familiar musk scent she wears like a calling card and, of course, miles of dark thick hair just as wicked as she is.
“Oh, Skyla. How desperate you are to ask the enemy for mercy. Celestra deserves better than that.”
“It deserves better than you.”
“Why?” Chloe’s eyes ignite like infernal flames. “Because I got to do what you wished you could have? You would have sold your people for less than a song. You’re no different than me. Gage and your children, they are mine. The universe owes me that much after the hell I went through to land Gage Oliver by my side.”
“Enough,” Gage says as he steps over.
Skyla leans in, that look of hatred magnified by the power of ten. “Enough from you, Gage Oliver. At least Chloe is true to herself. Not even while we were fighting side by side did I consider her a friend. I never thought I’d say it, but Chloe Bishop is far more honest than you’ll ever be.” She takes off and Chloe scoffs.
“ChloeOliver!” she shouts after her nemesis as Skyla piles into the truck and Logan and her take off with the fog swirling in their wake. Chloe gives Gage’s tie a quick tug. “I’m gonna skip ahead. Rumor has it, there will be a very naughty Mrs. Claus waiting for you in bed.” She gives a hearty wink before heading up the street.
“Sounds as if someone is getting lucky tonight.” I can’t help but glower over at him. “It wasn’t good enough to escape hell for eternity, you needed to seek it on earth.” I shake my head at him. “Screw you for letting Skyla go and bringing all of this unnecessary misery on everyone. Make no mistake about it. She will bring down hell on us. And fuck you for inviting Coop.”
His cheek flinches as if I struck him. “New Year’s Day.”
I slam my hand into his chest. “That’s right, buddy. You get a do-over. A true blue vow exchange in front of your mother and every other wicked celestial entity. I may have stood in your place the first time—you may have pressed cobalt blue contacts over my evergreen peepers, but next week, it is all you, buddy. I get to marry Laken and I am damn glad about it. But you”—I shake my head at him—“you just can’t seem to stop falling deeper into the flames. Go home and make your soon-to-be bride happy. Try to find some joy out of this nightmare you’ve embroiled yourself in. Good news, Chloe is limber as hell.”
Laken and Coop step outside and Coop gives us both a curt nod. “I look forward to the wedding.” His lips expand in my direction, and something inside of me unsettles.
Laken pulls him into an awkward embrace with Charlie sandwiched between them.
“We look forward to seeing you there,” she whispers.
He looks my way and his eyes hang on mine a moment. “Good night, Wesley. Laken.” He nods before disappearing into the night and a chill runs through me. Coop thinks he has the upper hand, and if I don’t watch this new Dr. Feel Good act of his, he just might.
Laken makes her way off the porch as she heads toward home.
“I’ll be right there,” I say as I stall at the foot of the driveway. I look back to Gage. “Let me be the one to remind you that you, in fact, are in charge. You could have it all, Gage. You with Skyla. Me with Laken. The only thing stopping you, rooting you to the ground like a lead weight, is your noble heart. Cut the cords. Take what’s yours in the here and now. No matter how hard you wish she would fight, you will not let her win. That’s not noble, Gage. That’s just cruel.”
I take off and catch up to Laken, kiss her precious face as we get home, get our children to bed, and then I make mad love to the girl I love, precious and achingly slow, the mother of my child, the mother of my children. Laken. She is my entire universe, my queen, my goddess, our bed, my altar.
And I worship.
Oh, how I worship.
9
The Prophecy
Skyla
There was a time when I would anticipate seeing Gage Oliver’s face when he walked through the door, when I heard the jiggle of our bedroom door and I knew it was him on the other end, our reunion just moments away. All day I would fantasize about the things we could do alone in the butterfly room, the things my tongue would do, where it would roam.
