Page 93 of Obey

Lily’s grin widens. “It could’ve been in the middle of summer.”

Sally shudders. “New Valence in summer? Not ever happening.”

“What, you don’t want to go camping there?” Lance asks, gently rocking his son. “It could be Daniel’s very first vacation.”

“Not on your life,” she declares. She takes the baby from him and presses him against her chest. “You want to traipse about the swamp, you do it without us.”

“Nobody wants to traipse around the swamp!” I interrupt. “That’s the point! Well, the point was ‘thanks for supporting us,’ but you fuckers all ruined it.”

Lily laughs, saying cheekily, “You’re welcome, Knives. We’re always so happy to be of service.”

Evan kisses the top of Helios’s head. “Just be glad Silvano and Kyran aren’t here. They’d have done worse.”

There’s a knock on the door, and Maddox squeezes my hand before heading over to it. Under the pizza boxes is a delivery driver who looks ready to drop the whole stack, and he takes them.

He brings them over to the dining room table, setting them down near the fucking kitchen box and the one I’d left beside it.

“All right. Toast to Knives and me, then eat up,” he declares.

We lift up our fancy beers, say cheers, and start drinking. The mood gets lighter after that, with conversation flowing easily. I even discover I get along with Helios, although Evan keeps glaring at me while I chat with him.

Like I don’t have my own boy.

Everybody leaves a few hours later, after devouring the pizzas and probably making a mess of the new place.

Maddox and I sit on our properly placed couch and clink our beer bottles against each other.

“To our new home,” I say, smiling at him.

“To our new home,” he repeats with a grin of his own. “And to you. That was a pretty good speech. Really cheesy and everything.”

I groan and poke him in the side. “Just wait. When I’m not exhausted I’m gonna tie you down and make you regret poking fun at me.”

“So you’re saying I should poke fun at you even more,” he jokes.

“No. I’d just tie you down and leave you there,” I retort.

“Cruel,” he says with a swig of his beer. “But also somehow fair.”

I down half the bottle, then grab Maddox so I can kiss him. He returns the kiss eagerly, and if I weren’t tired, I really would start something now. Unfortunately, between all the beers and the whole move, I don’t think I could get it up.

“Hey,” I say when I break the kiss. “Welcome home.”

His smile makes his whole expression light up. “Welcome home, Nayeem.”

I smile back, pulling him against me. “Don’t think this means I’ll go easy on you from now on. I’ll put you through your paces. Really make you work for it.”

“Make me work for it?” He arches a brow. “I think you’ve got that backwards.”

“You’ll be begging to obey by the time I’m through with you,” I counter.

He bursts out laughing, and I pull him into another kiss.

I never expected that I’d be here, with Maddox, in a house we’d bought together—all my teenage dreams, finally come true.

But here we are, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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