Page 173 of Till The Sun Dies (Checkmate 2)

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Laine

Home Sweet Home

“Hold up, Twink. Stop here.” Reemerging from his make out session with Jess in the backseat, Kane taps the back of my head and points toward thewelcome to townsign on the side of the road. Used to this routine, I pull over and stop under the shade of a large oak tree as Kane jumps over the side of my Buick.

This isourtown’s sign, the first sign he marked as we left a little over a week ago.

Pulling the marker from his pocket, Kane runs toward the sign as Ang’s hand slides along the leather bench seat and twines with mine. Unbuckling my belt, I slide across and pull him into the kind of hug I wished a billion times over the years I could have had. I bury my face in his neck and ride the endorphins that being in his arms gives me. His scratchy jaw moves over my temple, then his lips press to my forehead until I sigh.

This is heaven to me. Finally, it’s my turn to be happy.

We’re on the edge of the town we both grew up in, the town everyone knows us as Laine and Ang, not LaineandAng, and though I worried his loyalty to the guys would make him queasy at the thought of touching me once we got back, he still holds me against his chest; he presses his lips to my neck and whispers his love for me.

Jesus, he loves me. It’s still surreal.

“Hey… Ang?”

He nibbles along my neck until he reaches my ear. “Mmm?”

“Can you ask me out when we get back home? Real life, real world; I want you to ask me out, I want our families to know, then I want you to pick me up, take me out, treat me to my first real date.”

“Yeah.” His thumb slides over my cheek. “I promise. I’ll call you up, ask like a gentleman…”

“Woah, call me up?” I sit back and study his eyes. “Call me? Are you leaving as soon as we get back to the house?”

He flashes a handsome grin. “No. I’ll probably just go to the garage, since asking you out implies a phone call, but I don’t wanna leave till you tell me I have to. The garage is my compromise.”

“Done.” Kane turns back with a snicker and pushes his marker into the pocket of his shorts. I glance back to the sign and squint to pull the small writing in focus.

#Checkmate

#FuckYouAlex

#JessiesGonnaMarryMe

#AngIsBoningTheTwink

Angelo growls when he reads what Kane wrote. Jess cackles, and my face burns, but when Kane skips over the side of the car and leans forward until our noses almost touch, he winks. “Just thought I’d get the word out, in case you guys forget how to use your words again. No way are we having a repeat of the vacation from hell.”

“Vacation from hell?” I turn back and restart the car, and when Kane doesn’t sit back, I smack his face and giggle when he squeaks like a girl. “I thought it was an awesome vacation.”

* * *

“Fuckkkkk.”Ang groans when we round the corner of Kane’s street and find several too many cars littering the road. Trucks. Cars. Even Britt and Jack’s Mustang. “This is gonna hurt.”

Even knowing the crowd is family and not an armored enemy, Kane grows restless in the backseat. His hand flexes, opening and closing as though to hold an invisible weapon, and when the lack of weapons sends him over the edge, he pulls Jess possessively against his chest.

“Her brother already gave you the green light,” he murmurs. “You got his blessing, so run with it and don’t fucking give it back.”

I turn to Ang. “Luc gave you his blessing? For what?”

“To date you.” The car slows to a crawl as I move it into the driveway. “He called a few days ago, said he trusts me, said if I wanted to tell you how I feel, I have his blessing.”

“Really? He said that?”

He grins. “Yeah, he really did. I think he might even be our most mature band member now.” He shakes his head. “It’s like the twilight zone.”

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