Page 96 of Ravaged By Lust

“It’s crazy seeing you both together,” Chloe’s brother says as he spies the two of us. A flash of guilt hits me when I think of how strong his reaction was when Chloe first told him about us all those years ago. Axel has certainly come a long way since then.

“It wasn’t very long ago when Chloe wanted to kill you,” Maddie adds. “Slowly.”

“We’ve resolved a lot these last few days,” I reply to the couple as I wink at Chloe. “A lot.”

She glares at my innuendo.

They invite us inside. The house is all set up for the party. Balloons and canapes are all prepared. There’s a mini stage set up in the living room.

“That’s where you’re going to sing,” Maddie tells Chloe, nudging her on the elbow.

Chloe stares at it. She can’t hide her nerves.

“You’ll be fine,” I whisper in her ear when Maddie and Axel move on. I reach down and squeeze her hand with mine for reassurance.

Soon the other members of Ravaged arrive. Drake and Caspian come together, both bounding through the door and lighting up the room in their different ways.

“Hello, all,” Drake greets with his cheeky grin. He takes a look at Chloe and me. He wants to laugh at finding us together like this, and I dare him to with my glare. He gets the message and keeps his little annoying mouth shut.

Caspian heads over to Chloe and shakes her hand in his gruff, formal way. “Nice to see you again, Chloe.”

“Nice to see you too, Caspian.”

He then wraps his arms around her in the biggest bear hug I’ve ever seen. Chloe laughs as the giant man squeezes the life out of her.

“This is why you’re my favorite, Caspian.”

Maddie and Axel offer us all drinks. The party is still a while away from starting properly, but it was good for them to invite us early.

It’s good to spend time with everyone. I watch my girl as we call cheers with our drinks and catch up. Chloe seems happy, and that makes me happy.

The conversation quickly turns to Astrid. Chloe has filled me in on Maddie’s plans.

“Do you think she’ll be okay with all this?” Maddie asks as she glances around at the decorations, now feeling the nerves.

“She doesn’t know it’s for her,” I say. “And that makes it hilarious.”

Chloe elbows me. “It isn’t hilarious, Bishop.”

“I fully agree with Bishop,” Drake adds. “I can’t believe we’re doing this. What do you think, Caspian?”

“I’m just here for free drinks.”

“And what about you, Axel?” Drake asks. “Surely you have some opinions on this crazy plan…”

My bandmate shrugs. “We’ll see what happens,” he replies diplomatically.

“I have no real expectations anyway,” Maddie says. “It’s just a party and they will both be here. That’s all. We can do nothing more than that. If they don’t want to speak to each other, then that’s perfectly fine.”

“What do you reckon she’ll do?” I ask Axel and Chloe.

“Mom is an independent woman who makes her own choices,” my girl replies. “We can’t force her or anything. She’ll walk straight out if she doesn’t want him.”

“And then we’ll be in trouble,” Axel adds.

“Yep, we’ll most certainly be in trouble,” Chloe says.

“What song are you going to sing?” Maddie asks Chloe.