“Shit, that’s weird,” Gray said with a laugh.
“Soweird,” Holden agreed.
“Not as weird as seeing you cuddle with Shiloh, though,” Axel said. “That shit had my head spinning.”
“For real, though,” Gray said.
Bailey’s lips smiled against mine, and in that moment, I understood all too well why he’d never wanted to leave. His brothers, his family, had the kind of love that stood the test of tough choices, of conflicting goals. They didn’t have blood to bind them, but something even stronger.
They had loyalty.
Theychoseto be brothers every day, and it showed.
“Now, Flynn,” Gray said. “Do we need to have a talk about what will happen if you hurt my little brother?”
“Oh, shit,” Axel crowed with a shit-eating grin.
I smiled, because if they were threatening me, it meant they were accepting me as Bailey’s boyfriend.
“Let me have it,” I said. “Because if I ever hurt Bailey, I give you permission to bury me six feet under.”
Nova laughed. “That’s drastic.”
“He loves me,” Bailey said, wearing a smug little smile. “It’s the only birthday gift I need.”
“Oh good, we can all return what we got, then,” Emory teased.
“No way!” Bailey yelped, making grabby hands.
Emory held out a wrapped rectangle, looking a little shy. “It’s just something I threw together. It’s not much.”
Bailey tore the paper off like it was Christmas morning, then gasped as he revealed a photo frame containing a sketch done in colored pencil. Bailey stood in front of a car, smiling up at the big, crude man beside him.
Me.
“It’s gorgeous. You’re officially my favorite,” Bailey said.
“Hey,” Shiloh protested. “If you’re finishing school, finals are coming up. Who’s going to help you study?”
“Okay, you’re cool too,” he said with a grin. “But what do the rest of you have for me, huh?”
Dalton arrived just then, dropping a heavy hand on Bailey’s shoulder. “Pretty sure you got my gift last night.”
Bailey looked up at him, chastened. “Yeah, thanks, Dalton. I really appreciate it, even if the officer did call me spoiled because of you.”
Dalton laughed. “Well, kid, maybe you deserve some spoiling.”
“Don’t tell him that,” Holden complained. “He’ll be impossible to live with.”
“He’s a major brat sometimes,” Gray agreed.
“Hey,” I said, wrapping a protective arm around him. “Don’t say that.”
“Thank you, Flynn.”
“Only I get to call him a brat.”
He gasped, clapping a hand over his chest as his brothers laughed. “Rude.”
