Page 51 of Fighting Shadows

“Oh my god,” Kathleen's hands fly up to cover her mouth, tears gathering in her eyes as I show off Chase’s new haircut, “he looks so grown up.”

Chase’s face transforms from worry to happiness in a second. He skips over to Kathleen and throws his arms around her. “I look just like Dominic now! Look,” he declares, spinning so everyone can see his new hair.

“That’s my favorite guy!” Dominic holds his hand out for a high five, but Chase strolls right past it and hugs him, too, “Autumn said she’s going to keep me!”

“Princess.” Zander's voice cuts to me, but I hold my hand up in protest.

“If you heard what he just told me, you would’ve said the same thing. He knows it won’t be for a long time, that we have to grow up a bit more and get stuff sorted first,” I tell them all.

“I’m good at waiting! Aren’t I Kathleen? I’m real good at it, and I won’t ever make you mad, I swear,” his little voice practically pleads with everyone, and I watch on in satisfaction as they all melt.

“So, I’m going to be your favorite, right?” Dominic asks, hauling Chase into his arms.

Chase pretends to think about it, his little finger tapping against his chin, “Nope. Ma- Autumn will be.”

“Ok, I can agree with that, but what about after her? Is it me?”

Dominic looks so hopeful that I can’t resist nodding my head in agreement when Chase looks over at me for approval. The smile that lights up Dominic’s face is so worth it, and I’m so in love with him at that moment that I consider whether having a kid with him right this second would be a good idea.

It wouldn’t; we still have our entire lives to do anything of the sort, but the temptation is strong.

“Who’s that?” Chase asks, pointing to Aidan and Noah, who stand to the side against the wall.

“They are our new best friends. Aidan is probably going to be your uncle when he gets with Brenn, and Noah is my new best friend,” Dominic declares easily.

It’s strange to me that he allows him to be around with no issues since Sebastian hates him; you can see it in the way he glares at him when he thinks no one is looking.

I know I need to talk to Noah about Chlo, tell him who she was, and show him where she’s now resting.

I hope he won't hate me for everything that happened to her; I know it’s not my fault, but some days, it takes me longer to convince myself.

Chapter 26

Atlas

‘Brother (Acoustic) – Kodaline’

“And this is your bedroom,” Zander blushes as he shows Autumn her new bedroom at his house.

It’s beautiful and matches her personality. The same painted galaxy decorates her ceiling as it did at her dad’s; this one has more glow-in-the-dark stars, though.

The dogs are bounding around us, never straying far from Autumn, as Parz nips at Nanook when he gets too close to her. He’s more anxious now. He was already glued to her side, but now he refuses to leave it even when one of us calls on him.

“It’s beautiful, Zander; I love it,” she exclaims, spinning slowly as she takes it all in. Her duffel bag rests on the bed, thanks to Brenn grabbing things while his Dad was out. Kelvin isn’t happy about Autumn’s decision not to go home, but I think he knowshe’s fucked up enough that he has to respect her wishes if he ever wants a chance at redeeming himself.

The room is decorated with deep green wallpaper and a white accent wall, so it isn’t too dark. The curtains behind the bed allow the moonlight to glow through, and her bed is big enough that it’ll fit two of us in without being a squeeze.

“Did you decorate our rooms too?” Tobias asks, a devilish smirk on his face as he does.

“You can decorate your rooms, you bastards,” Zander grunts, but none of us miss how pink the tips of his ears turn when Autumn asks where all the stuff in the room came from, “I um- I bought it for you over the past few months, I wanted this place to feel like home if you ever moved in.”

Autumn moves over and wraps her arms around him, “Thank you, Muffin-Man, I love it so much.”

“You’re welcome, Princess,” he says, kissing her forehead, “Do you want something to eat?”

“No thanks, I think I’m going to nap. I’m tired again already.”

“Okay, we’ll leave you to nap, but we’ll all be in the living room I showed you. It’s just down the stairs and to the left.”

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