A helpless sound slipped out of me.
He shifted, drawing me back down, his arm locked me. He kissed the top of my head. “I love you.”
“Say it,” I whispered, “in Crow.”
He did.
It rolled over me in syllables I now understood, warm and rough.I love you, you’re my home.
My nerves still hummed, but less frantically. The idea of him quietly plotting my cycle points in an app still made my brain spin… but under the mortification, something else sat there. Something which felt suspiciously like safety.
“I’m still mad about the app,” I muttered.
“Expected,”
“And I’m not a walking period chart.”
“Never said you were.”
“And if you ever say ‘oh, that’s just your hormones talking,’ I will stab you.”
He laughed under me. “Deal.”
I sighed before snuggling a bit closer. “Thank you. For… noticing. Even if it’s weird.”
“Baby,” he murmured, hand spreading over my ribs, “you could wake up one morning and decide the only thing you want to eat is toast cut into hexagons, and I’d have the kitchen learn geometry by noon. Tracking your cycle is the bare minimum.”
A startled laugh escaped me. “That’s absurd.” My eyes burned again, but this time the tears didn’t fall. I laced our fingers together over my stomach.
“I’m not going to break up with you again, I’m in this. All the way. So… don’t break my heart. Don’t switch me off.”
He kissed the back of my head. “That isn’t possible.”
Emotion swelled so big it hurt. He felt it. Of course he did.
“Don’t cry, baby,” he whispered. “Don’t do it. It’s okay. I’m here.”
I nodded, pressing back into him.
His breath evened out against my neck. “I miss this every night you’re away from me.”
My face heated. He exhaled slowly, chest vibrating against my spine.
He reached for the remote with his free hand, thumb brushing the side of my waist as he did. The screen unpaused.
Vince’s hand settled at my hip again, thumb stroking small circles.
As if he hadn’t just somehow got me to fall in love with him more.
40
Vince
Three Weeks Later
Kingston was home for a week. Finally, beside us instead of trapped in Harlan. We’d planned a night of drinking, gambling, drugs, and—for them—women. Let the boy breathe. Let my brothers forget he hadn’t come home with them from the Academy.
Nik and I never said it out loud to them. It guttered us when the four left for the Academy. But it ruined all of us, when Kingston, didn’t come home with them when they graduated. He had to return to Harlan. No amount of bargaining with Marcel would do.
