He opens the box and sitting pretty inside is a diamond ring with ruby stones around it.
“I promise you a life worth living, Amelia. You make me the man I was meant to be. You’ve given me something more precious than I could ever repay in our daughter but if you say yes and marry me, I’ll never stop trying.”
“Yes.”
I don’t need to think it through. This is the final piece of the puzzle falling into place. Every shard of pain I’ve felt has truly been healed and I bite down on my smile when he slides the ring onto my finger and leans over our daughter to kiss me.
“I think she needs to go to bed so we can celebrate,” he says arching his brow.
I love it when he does that, making me hot.
“You always have the best ideas.”
While he scoops Elsa up into his arms, I collect all the blankets and make sure everything is in place for the morning before I shut off the light.
I store the blankets in the closet and join Darius as he tucks Elsa into bed. Kissing her goodnight and backing out quietly, Darius takes my hand and locks us in our room. It’s no longer my room alone. He lifts my left hand and presses a kiss to the ring.
“Sometimes I think you can’t get any hotter, but then I see this, and it proves me wrong.”
“Does my dad know you was going to ask?”
“He gave me his blessing three months ago. Now no more talking.”
He pushes me back and I land on the bed with a soft thud. All I wanted was him to fall with me and now I get more than I hoped for. We’re falling and there’s no landing. We’ve got the rest of our lives to freefall with each other, always together andenjoying what may come our way. After everything we’ve been through, there’s nothing we can’t overcome. I’m no longer the lost lamb, I know what I want and where I’m going, and no one will ever bring me down or get in my way… never.
Darius
I don’t know where to look. My daughter, my woman, or the diamond on her finger telling every fucker she’s mine. I always thought money was the answer to everything needed to be happy. I was wrong. Don’t get me wrong, money is essential to pretty much everything in life but the shit that truly counts are the things that don’t cost a penny. I have everything I never wanted and if working a desk job is the price I have to pay to keep them, it’s what I’ll do.
I can’t go back to a life where everything costs something when everything I have now is priceless. The fear I had when I ran the streets holds nothing to the fear I hold when I think about losing my girls. Elsa’s excitement this morning as we sat around the tree opening presents filled the house and all I could do was sit watching. Amelia made today one of the best days of my life, bar the day our daughter was born and last night when she agreed to be my wife. There’s a power in being complete with the one you love, it’s nothing I’d ever find on the streets. I’m grateful to her in ways she’ll never be able to comprehend.
My phone rings and I debate answering when I see it’s Jermaine calling. He knows I’m out, but I know him, he wouldn’t reach out if he didn’t need me.
“Yeah?”
“Yo, Dar, we’ve got trouble coming from the Rathbones.”
Closing my eyes, I force myself to take a deep breath.
“I’m out, Jer, you know this.”
“I hear ya, but this is like nothing we’ve seen before. We’ve lost six guys in the last four nights.”
Shit. Six guys?
My first instinct is to demand to know the details but over my shoulder, my girls sleep on with the lights from the Christmas tree casting colorful shadows over them, and I squash that shit down.
“I can’t help you.”
“Come on, Dar, just for tonight. I know it’s Christmas and you’ve got your family, but we’re gonna hit them hard, it’ll be like old times. A one-off.”
“Nah, man, I can’t be dipping my toes, bro.”
“It’s not just the Rathbones, there’s a Motorcycle Club reaching out, wanting a meet.”
It’s not worth losing my family. I have no doubt Amelia would walk away if I ever went back. My only job is to kill her fears, not rival street crews.
“I put you in my place because I know you’re the next best thing. I’m sorry, I can’t.”
