He and I need to talk tonight. I think I’m ready to take our relationship to the next level, and I think I’m ready to make sure he knows just how much I fucking love him.
* * *
Byrne Family Group Chat
Declan: Family meeting. I should be home at five-thirty. No kids.
Rowan: Got you. I’ll be here.
Clara: I’ll see if Liv can watch the kids.
Nix: Okay, but what do I do? My kid can’t exactly go anywhere?
Kieran: He obviously doesn’t mean the one still in utero, Brave Girl. We’ll be there.
Sully: Who’s the random number in here?
Lee: That’s my brother’s number.
Flynn: Um, why?
Mac: Don’t ask stupid questions, Flynn. We raised you better than that.
Flynn: I’m not. I’m just saying I thought this was afamily group chat.
Jake: And wow, would you look at that? My sister is in here. Looks like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. *middle finger emoji* I’ll see you this evening, Declan.
* * *
Today’s been long, and although I never left the office, I’m drained from catching up with our guys as well as leaders of other families. The bratva gave me the biggest headache though. They’re demanding answers for this bloodshed on their streets, but I don’t even have answers for our own streets, much less theirs. A cartel family just came into the city a few months ago and has been making a little noise, so before I left I made sure to set a meeting with their head for next week.
Pulling up to the estate, I almost forgot that I called this meeting and now have to go exhaust myself more by spilling my biggest secrets to my family. I saw the texts earlier. Flynn’s an idiot, but he isn’t wrong. We don’t let casuals into the group chat. It was a deliberate move by me, but that’ll be addressed as well.
Finding everyone on the back patio isn’t surprising at all. Everyone’s sitting around the glass table having casual conversations. Well, I guess this is a better time than any to throw down where we stand. Without second guessing myself, I walk over to Jake, who’s in the middle of a conversation with Kieran and Mac. I take his chin with my fingers and tilt his head up, sealing my lips to his. He instantly opens up to me and my tongue strokes over his. I can feel his body melt as we both smile into the kiss. It isn’t until I pull away that I hear the whistles and cheers of my obnoxious family.
“About damn time.” Kieran calls out.
“Jake’s in the family chat because he’s family. Understood?” I level a glare at each of my brothers, who all nod in acknowledgment.
Without another word, I take my seat next to him and grab his hand.
“Okay, so we need to talk about what happened the other week– what really happened.”
I spend the next forty minutes going through every detail aside from the biggest one. Once I’m done, the questions start all at once, but Rowan quickly throws his hand up silencing everyone else.
“Declan, that’s not all. Finish it.” The way he looks at me tells me he knows, but there’s no way he does. If he did, no one would be left standing.
Jake squeezes my hand three times, giving me the courage to keep going. Fuck, this is going to suck.
“Uh– yeah–so, I have to throw fights sometimes, like I said. When that happens, I’m knocked out in the end.” I let my sentence hang in the thick tension surrounding us all.
“Okay, and what happens then?” Sully asks with a hint of panic in his tone.
“I wake up either in her office or in the back alley. The location just depends, but every time I’m bound and her men stand above me. Uh– they masturbate while standing over me. She tells me that it’ll stop if I fuck her. That isn’t true, though, because I’ve tried it a few times over the years just to get this shit to stop. She stopped for about two months and then it started again. It feels so stupid. I can physically take them without a problem, but I can’t because I’m bound, and she’ll seriously kill one or multiple of you guys. She fuckingshot at Jake. She isn’t playing.”
The table is deathly quiet as everyone takes in this new information. Jake’s firm grasp on my hand never leaves.
A couple of minutes pass before Nix stands up and waddles over, “Can I please hug you Dec?”
