I immediately look at Sunny and forget everything I wanted to say to them.
BANG!
The gun goes off again.
My lips part. “Wow …”
She chuckles. “See? Even you are impressed.”
“What do you mean?” Sunny muses, tilting her head as she approaches. “I’m the one who’s lucky to have him.” She puts her index finger underneath my chin and makes me look up at her. “My sweet, sweet Xavier …”
I’m so fucking obsessed with her touch that everyone else here fades into oblivion.
“Are you mine?”
“Yes,” I croak, my voice skipping a note.
My own family chuckles. “I know that look,” my dad says. “Xavier’s down bad.”
I smirk. “And proud of it.”
Atreus
I never imaginedit’d be this fun to be part of her family.
Who would have thought a Foley could ever belong in their midst? Not me, and certainly not after all the warnings my dad gave me about this bunch.
But I’m glad I didn’t listen to him.
He was just angry for losing out on his spot in the Skull & Serpent Society because of the stupid shit he did when he was younger. And you know what? Our parents’ mistakes don’t have to define us.
I grab my glass and hold it up. “I want to propose a toast.”
Everyone stops talking, and Sunny briefly stops shooting at her targets.
“To Sunny. For being herself, through and through. For teaching me what true justice means. For showing me a new meaning in life. For letting me see that not all things are black and white, and that family history does not define who you are. For showing me that patterns don’t have to be repeated. And … for being a fine-ass killer lady.”
Apollo starts a cheer with his fist in the air. “That’s what I’m talking about.”
“Fine ass is true,” Orion muses to himself, penning down more words in his newly acquired notebook.
“And the rest too,” Xavier says, winking at me.
“To Sunny,” her dad, Nathan, says, and he raises his glass.
All of them toast with one another, and the sun in the sky isn’t the only thing spreading the warmth. There’s just something about this that makes me feel like I finally found a place to call home.
“Thank you,” I say, when the cheers have died down, and I home in on my beautiful girl. “Thank you for being mine.”
Who would’ve thought we’d be right back here in these same woods, shooting the same gun I shot when I found my little stalker?
Life has a way of circling back.
She approaches me and straddles my lap, and I gleefully squeeze her ass as her mouth hovers over mine. “You’re going to get punished so hard later for embarrassing me like that.”
I nip at her top lip. “Why not now? In front of all of them?”
Her tongue darts out to lick mine. “Don’t tempt me.”
