Page 63 of The Kingpin's Omega Lover
“Yes.”
“Maybe. I love the concept of the charum, of that perfect, fated half of myself out there, waiting for me. I love the idea that my other half is you.”
“But you don’t believe in it.”
“I don’t know, and that’s the truth. I’ve never been a spiritual person. I see the love between Bishop and Kensley, and I knowthey have an intense bond, no matter what they call it, because I believe things I can see and touch and understand.”
“You can’t see and touch love.”
“Yes, I can.” Malori’s hands skimmed up his ribs and around to rest on King’s chest. “I see it when you smile at me. I see it in how you protect me. I touch it when I hug you and hold you and make love to you. I understand your love, because it’s this tangible thing right in front of me. I don’t need to call you my charus to know your love is real and soul-deep.”
King brushed his lips over Malori’s as love and joy threatened to overwhelm him. “I accept that. The emotions matter, not the label.”
“Exactly.”
Junior’s screech of disapproval startled Malori right out of King’s arms. “Damn it,” Malori said sheepishly. “I came in here ten minutes ago to get him more juice.”
“Then we’d better bring him his juice.” King walked to the refrigerator and found the carton of apple juice. His proximity to food reminded him it was lunchtime. His admission of love to Malori had helped settle his unhappy stomach enough that he was considering ordering delivery. Maybe pizza. They all deserved a little junk food today.
“Hey, King,” Malori said as he twisted the lid back onto the full sippy cup.
“What is it, angel?”
“What’s your middle name? Do you have one?”
King put the apple juice back in the fridge. “It’s Thornton. Why? Learning security questions so you can hack my accounts?”
Malori chuckled. “No. Thornton. Thorn, for short. I like Thorn.”
“For what?”
“For our son. I can’t keep calling him Junior. He’s Thorn now.”
If King had possessed the physical ability to melt into literal goo, he would have. His depth of love and devotion to not only Malori, but now also to little Thorn, did something to King that hadn’t happened in a long fucking time: he cried. He pulled Malori back into his arms and held him tight while tears of pure joy ran down his cheeks.
Six months ago, he’d stormed a large, rural farmhouse in search of his kidnapped brother, and he’d walked out with a wounded soul cradled in his arms. A wounded warrior of a soul that had scraped and battled and never given up on what he wanted. And King had been given the miraculous chance to fall in love with that man. To create a family with that man, and now they had a son.
And hopefully, maybe, a daughter.
But for right now, King basked in what he had in his life. His lover, his son, his best friend, and his brother. And as he hugged Malori tight, King vowed to the Creator and the universe that he would do everything in his vast power to keep his family safe.
No matter what.
EPILOGUE
Next Spring
Malori steppedthrough the wide bedroom doorway and out onto the tiled veranda that overlooked their private lagoon. Warm, salty air caressed his cheeks and bare chest. He closed his eyes and smiled up at the mid-morning sunshine that always filled the bedroom at this hour.
Well, not always. Three months ago, they’d battened down the hatches for a tropical storm, which had darkened the sky for half a day, and they had relied on the generator for about eight hours until power was restored. But most of the time, Malori basked in the sunlight, fresh air, and absolute freedom that was home on Capablanca Island.
The veranda surrounded the entire single-story house and had four separate access points, which made it feel like an extension of the home. They ate dinner outside most nights, at a long table directly off the dining room. Malori glanced to his left, but the section outside of Bishop and Kensley’s bedroom wasempty. They weren’t up yet, which meant little baby Rook was still asleep.
Malori’s experience with newborns was limited, so all four grown men in the house were getting a crash course in all-hours crying.
He walked across the width of the veranda and stepped onto the soft strip of sand that led to the lagoon’s warm water. Malori didn’t know how King had found and purchased this spectacular piece of land, only that it had fulfilled the promises King made of a safe, happy life, far from his known enemies.
The bounty of fresh fruit and daily morning swims were bonus features.
