“Are you saying you don’t want me to propose?” His smile lights up the whole room.
“I’m not saying anything.”
“Which would you rather me be doing?” He playfully hooks a finger in my waistline.
“Don’t fucking start,” I say and realize only then that everyone is looking at us. “You love making a scene.”
“Only for you.” He opens the box to reveal the most beautiful band I’ve ever seen. “Archangel, I’ve been in love with you as long as I can remember. This last year has been the happiest of my life, and I need you by my side. Will you be my husband?”
“Yes,” I barely get out without losing it.
He takes out the ring and slides it onto my finger. The fit is perfect.
I haul him to his feet and grab his face so I can kiss him. “Fuck you,” I whisper into his lips as everyone claps.
“Tell me you didn’t like sticking it to both of them.”
“Mark is going to fucking fight you.”
FIFTY-ONE
WOLFE
Mark charges at us, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone that mad. I knew he and Steph would be annoyed, but this is different. He looks like he’d murder me if he could.
“A word?” he says through his teeth.
I gesture for him to lead the way, and he stalks off.
I follow him through the kitchen and out back, Archangel with me.
“She told me she found you two in bed together, and that’s why you broke up. She said you’re not even gay, that you just let him get him off because you couldn’t go without for a week at a time. It destroyed her so much that it took until she met me before she could even touch another guy.”
I just start laughing. The story is even more wild than I could have predicted.
“This isn’t funny. It’s fine that you’re gay, but leading her on and then trying to say you let Wilder blow you because it’s better than you actually cheating is despicable.”
I scrub a hand over my face. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“Start with a fucking apology. Not that anything you can do will repair the damage of rubbing your years-long affair in her face at her wedding.”
I laugh harder, holding a hand over my mouth.
“You two are unbelievable.”
“He never cheated on her,” Archangel says when I don’t defend myself. “We never touched each other until last year. We were only friends.”
“Stop lying. Just tell the fucking truth. She is your sister. You owe her that much.”
“I’m not lying.”
I wrap my arm around Archangel’s back. “We don’t owe him an explanation. He can believe his wife. I don’t care. It doesn’t affect me.”
“Because you two know how guilty you are.”
“My sister is a liar.” Archangel glances at me, making sure I won’t stop him. But I’d never get in the way of how he wants to deal with his family. He gets in Mark’s face. “Like we already told you, she cheated on Wolfe with about half of the hockey team before you. Wolfe walked in on her with Kozlovsky.”
Doubt sparks in Mark’s eyes as he looks between us. “I don’t believe you,” but I can hear the doubt in his voice. Cracks are forming in Steph’s narrative.
