She sniffs, her eyes full of fresh tears. “Cross … please?” Her hands reach to me to get away from Grave.
He lets go of her, pushing her into my chest. “Now I must do the same.” I shove her down to the floor onto Mitch. The fire catches on her clothes, and she screams as it attacks her like a wild animal needing to feed in order to survive.
The smell of burning flesh gets stronger. It’s a smell you’ll never forget. It lingers for hours. And we all stand around watching them burn, making sure nothing is left, knowing that my Queen is safe.
EPILOGUE TWO
CROSS
WE ALL SITaround the table at Grave and April’s, having Sunday breakfast. It’s our newest tradition as our family grows. The girls coming into our lives makes us more and more human. Less evil in our everyday life.
“Hey, Alexa,” Grave starts.
“Hmm?” She looks at him, slowing her chewing.
“Do you mind staying on at Crown? That is, until Lucky’s is back up and running, and I can find someone else to take over.”
She looks at me confused and then back at him. She swallows her food. “I don’t mind, but I don’t want to take that away from you.”
“You’re not.” He reaches over and takes April’s hand, bringing it to his lips. He kisses her knuckles, making her blush at the intimate act. “I want to come home and be with my wife after a long day at Kingdom.”
Alexa starts nodding. “Yes, sure, that’s …”
A silence falls over the room, and April starts laughing.
“No!” Jasmine breathes, her palms slapping the table. “You got married without us?” she asks in disbelief.
“No, but …” April holds up her left hand and smiles brightly, showing off the massive diamond that’s on her ring finger. “We have a wedding to plan.”
The girls start jumping up from the table, screaming and hugging one another. The guys laugh. Bones walks over to his brother and slaps him on the shoulder. “I’m proud of you, brother,” Bones tells him. Grave nods, smiling, but I can see him trying not to get choked up about marrying the love of his life.
A lot has happened over the past two weeks. We’ve started renovations on Lucky’s. We dropped the investigation and had Jeffrey sign off on the accidental report. Then Jasmine, Alexa, and I got into a very heated discussion when I told them I was paying for all of it. I didn’t want either one of them to worry about it. Jasmine had already put up so much for Kink, and Alexa only had enough set aside from selling the studio to do the small remodel. I told her to keep the insurance money, and I would handle it.
Ethan is in jail. Grave finally had enough and called in a favor. Ethan was picked up during a sting operation for distributing illegal narcotics to a minor. He’ll be away for a while. We’re just glad he didn’t kill anyone or himself. April tries to visit him, and he refuses to see her. She hates herself for it, but even more, she hates that he doesn’t want to be better.
“I love you.”
I look over my shoulder to see Alexa come up to me. Bending over the back of my chair, I wrap her arms around my shoulders from behind. “I love you too, gorgeous.”
Reaching up, I take her left hand and turn her palm over and kiss her tattoo on her inner wrist. I do it all the time out of habit. A reminder that no matter what, she’s by my side.
She kisses my cheek and skips off to go talk to Jasmine across the room, who is already scrolling through wedding pictures online with Emilee.
April plops down in Alexa’s vacant seat beside me. “Congratulations,” I tell her.
“Thanks.” She laughs excitedly, but stops suddenly, and her face turns serious. “I was wondering if you could help me out with something.”
“Of course,” I say, figuring it’s a gift for Grave with his birthday coming up.
“Do you have any openings next week at Tit for Tat?”
I frown because that was not what I was expecting. “I can make time.” Tit for Tat doesn’t have to be open in order to give her a tattoo. Hell, I did Grave’s in a hotel, practically sitting in the dark because he wanted to wallow in his pity.
She shifts in her seat. “I, uh, I love Alexa’s tattoo and Grave’s …” Her smile returns. At the mention of his name, he comes up behind her.
She lifts her hips off the chair and digs into her back jean pocket. “I drew something …” She trails off, holding the still folded piece of paper in her hand.
“It’s beautiful,” Grave tells her lovingly.
