It was a tight race, but at the end of a very long day, Athena Holloway had been reelected for another four years.
Which was why this impromptu party in the Rose Garden was even possible.
It was still chilly for February, but the sun was out today and the warmth of it shown down on the table at the small group that had gathered started to chatter amongst ourselves after Farrow’s long-winded toast.
“Of course we had to, Carter,” Lennon told her brother from her place across the table from him. “Six months is a big deal!”
“That’s right,” Athena said from the other head of the table, watching her family with warm eyes. She had softened exponentially after the election, but I still tended to tread lightly around the woman—and it would probably take me years to get over that feeling. “And it can only get better from here.”
Luckily for me, I had the rest of my life to get used to it because I wasn’t going anywhere and neither was Lennon and there was a pair of tiny matching clover tattoos just behind our ears to prove it.
I nudged my foot against hers and she slanted a sly smile in my direction.
“Speaking of getting better,” Carter said, putting his fork down. “I was thinking about traveling a bit.”
The table froze for a moment and I glanced at the rest of my pack who had the look of:‘here we go again,’on their faces.
Over the past four months we had quickly grown accustomed to what we dubbed the ‘Holloway Debates’ which were basically arguments dressed up very fancily.
Lennon leaned into me, bowing out of whatever was about to happen. Clearly she had already spoken to her brother about it and knew this topic was going to come up.
“Where to?” Athena asked calmly, sipping on her drink.
Carter pulled a brochure out of his jacket pocket and handed it to her. “I want to go back to school again and finish my music degree.”
That seemed to surprise not only his mother but also his grandparents at the other end of the table because they exchanged a look.
“But this is in London, Carter,” Athena said, sounding worried. “What if something happens?”
“My sponsor will be there,” Carter said with a shrug. “Besides we have the house there too and Uncle James.”
“Uncle James is a monarch who is incredibly busy,” Athena told her son dryly.
“A monarch?” I whispered to Lennon, confused.
“King James of England,” she whispered back as if that explained literally anything.
I shot Brooks a‘what the fuck’look but he was engrossed in the conversation happening in front of him.
“What if we went with him for the first couple of months,” Maverick suddenly offered.
We all swung around to look at the alpha as if he’d grown a second head.
Athena looked at him, a single blonde brow raised. “Why would you five do that when you are just starting your life? You also have a wedding to plan and your company that you’re getting off of the ground…”
The wedding had been one of her non-negotiables when it came to accepting us into the fold. She’d given us eight months to plan an end of summer celebration that would basically be America’s version of a Royal Wedding.
Never in a million years did I think that I would be getting married at the White House—then again—I also never thought I would ever get married either.
Then there was our company.
There had been no realistic way for us to continue our jobs with the state department or the Secret Service. That had been a pipe dream from the moment we had started a romantic relationship with Lennon.
Thankfully, rather than quit or be fired, Athena had allowed us to enter early retirement with benefits and Maverick and Zeke had cashed in on some of their investments so that we could start our own security company.
Well, all of us except for Brooks.
His heart had never really been in it anyways and he much preferred being with Lennon, especially because the bullet wound on his side was taking longer to recover from than we initially thought.
