Page 135 of It Must Be Fate

“Two and a half.”

“Six…”

“Two and a half,” she repeats.

“How do you even define a half here?”

She lifts a shoulder and shrugs. “It’ll be a discretionary half. If he messes up, we’ll discuss if it’s big enough of an offense to count as a half or full strike.”

I cross my own arms. “Two.”

“Three,” she counters.

I growl at her. “That’s not how bartering works.”

She smiles sweetly in response. “It is in my world.”

“For fuck’s sake,fine. Two and a half, as ridiculous as that is.” Six shrieks happily and throws herself into my arms, her warm body coming to mine as her forearms close around the back of my neck. “Don’t be so happy, wild girl. If he hits two and a half strikes, I’ll kill him.”

“You won’t. And he won’t.” She pecks a quick series of kiss against my lips. “Thank you, baby.”

I grumble a reply as the doors open and the cops walk in.

Releasing her back to the ground, we go about negotiating his release and discussing Ares’s guardianship process.

In a month, Astra, Suki, and Rhodes will begin their first year at Royal Crown College, the private university Rogue and Bellamy opened four years ago. They created it when their oldest son first set foot on the grounds of RCA, in anticipation of his graduation one day and the continuation of his higher education.

Set on the other side of the pond from RCA, nestled in the woods only a few hundred feet from the main campus and now sharing some of the same facilities as the secondary school, the college has already earned a prestigious reputation.

Being accepted and enrolled into the start of this year would be impossible for anyone else, not just because of the timing but because students require a near perfect GPA to even be considered, something I’m sure Ares hasn’t maintained, but I’m not worried.

I know Rogue will have the board make an exception for us.

One thing’s for certain — the page is turning and it’s the beginning of a new chapter for our children.

It’s about to get interesting.

***

The end… for now.

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