Page 166 of Knot All is Crystal
But the image projected behind him changes when Maverick points across the crowd and gives someone a thumbs-up.
It’s an image of a snake twisted into a circle, with a cherry bomb in the middle of it, in classic Americana style. Underneath it are the words “Manson’s Marvelous Tattoos”.
Trina and Win turn to look at me with twin smiles. “Congratulations, Gage,” Trina says, taking my hands in hers. “They’ll have to work on that name, though, ouch. Win and I are moving out of the city, so the place is yours now.”
“Wait,” I stutter, taking a step forward. “You’re leaving?”
“You’ll be just fine on your own. You’re not the kid I picked up off the side of the road anymore.” She pulls me into a massive hug. “I reached out to Crystal when we decided to sell. I thought you wouldn’t want to give up the place where you met both of the loves of your life.”
I rub my chest, struggling to maintain my composure.
I lose the battle, my tears pooling in my eyes. I hug Trina and Win tightly as Mav finishes up his set. Manny and Puck bump me with their shoulders, never too far from me, as emotions threaten to pull me under.
How did I get so lucky to have a family like this?
When the night is over, and all of us are talking way too loudly in a twenty-four-hour breakfast restaurant, wedged between my Alpha and my Omega in a booth, I finally get the chance to thank them.
But the words don’t come.
Instead, all I can say is, “We have the best fucking life.”
“And to think,” Maverick says, kissing me on the cheek, “it started with me going to a brothel and you stealing a phone number.”
“When you say it like that, it makes Crystal being on my medical care team not sound as scandalous,” Manny remarks around a mouthful of hashbrowns.
“Any way you slice it, me being the second in command to a crime boss after I handed her over to him sounds bad, so…” Puck trails off as we all burst out laughing.
* * *
Crystal
I closethe book Eve loaned me last week with a smile. Monster wrestlers. Who knew it’d be so much fun?
Well, I guess Eve knew. That’s why she recommended it.
I open up my laptop and click into my email. When I saw the notification that it was the one I had been waiting for, I did what anyone who had been anxiously awaiting something would do.
I ignored it and read an entire romance novel in one sitting.
But now I have to see. I have to know.
Should I get my pack to support me in case it’s not good? Absolutely.
Will I?
Hah. No fucking way.
I scan over the first few lines, and my breath catches.
I go back and read it again.
And again.
And again.
“Holy shit!” I yell, jumping out of bed. “Holy fucking shit!”
Heavy footfalls precede four very anxious men who fall over each other to get into my room. Maverick is shirtless, and Gage is in just his boxers, which are tented something fierce, and his face is red.
