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Sloane
The seasons changed, and once again, my life changed with it. Things slowed down, and my safety, along with my family’s, got safer. I had a family, and it went far beyond the reaches of Bruno and me. We didn’t just have a family. We had a universe of people and love around us, and with that love, came protection. Bru got to spend the rest of his junior year without living in fear, and I got to do the same with my senior year. We got to go to prom.
And my little brother kind of killed it in a tuxedo.
“Stop messing with it. You’re going to fuck it up,” he growled, hitting my hands off his tie. He’d tried to do it himself, but it was all messed up so I was fixing it. His eyes lifted. “Sloane, it’s fine.”
“It’s not fine because it looked like shit before.” And if he hit me again, I’d fuck his hair up, which was something else he’d spent like a million years on.
Bru growled again, but he did let me fix his tie to my liking. He was letting me do a lot of things these days, and soon, we wouldn’t even be at the same school. I’d be graduating and moving on, so we needed to cherish this time together.
I think he knew that, which was why he let me fawn all over him. He’d moved back in, finally home and where he belonged, and it seemed so long ago our lives had been upheaved.
We got reminders, though, sometimes, like last week. We’d both been allowed to skip school to take a day trip. The pair of us had arranged a final resting place for Marilyn and Godfrey Sloane, his parents and mine for a time. They’d been that in every sense of the word when it counted and had paid the ultimate price trying to help me.
I could never forget that, so many sacrifices made for me. I’d finally started to talk about those things in my own therapy sessions, and sometimes Bru came with me. He had his own for his own things, stuff that had happened, and with a trusted family counselor. He got to share what was on his heart, and I’d seen the light return to his eyes in the passing days since. My brother had made a mistake by going over the Legacy families’ heads and trying to do things himself. He’d acted impulsively, but with the help of those same families, he gratefully wouldn’t have to pay for that mistake for the rest of his life. They’d taken care of it. Taken care of us, and Bru had gotten to walk away from that night with Callum like we all had.
I couldn’t be more grateful.
Of course, those specifics had stayed with the families, the parents. They’d done things behind the scenes to make sure my brother had a life, and as far as I knew, the world believed Callum Prinze to be a missing person. He’d gone on a trip and never returned, and though I didn’t condone what Bru had felt he had to do, I couldn’t bring myself to ever chastise him when it came up. He’d wanted to protect me, and if the tables had been turned, I didn’t know what I would have done. I know I would have protected him too, though, and done whatever I had to do to make sure that happened.
I suppose, I know what I would have done.
“Not bad, I guess,” Bru said in the mirror, admiring my work. He was rocking Armani today, and I’d heard Ares had a similar tux. I hadn’t seen him yet. I’d been trying to help Bru make sure his tie didn’t look like crap. Bru’s gaze hit me in the mirror. “Nothing like you, though.”
My eyes lifted, my black dress long and with a shimmer. The slit basically hit my hip and was held together by a single strand of delicate rhinestones across my thigh. The dress itself was backless too, and the dark prince would probably have my ass tonight for being so revealing. I cared less about that and more about pissing him off, though. He’d told me I had to wear black tonight because he was a control freak and said we had to match each other.
Not liking being told what to do, I’d found the most scandalous dress I could find, and Bow had nearly fainted at the shop when I’d picked it out. She’d called me trouble and told me I was looking for it. Apparently, wearing black was just what Legacy did at these things, and Dorian would get me for being defiant.
I’d like to see him try.
“You look truly gorgeous, sis,” Bru said. He eyed my necklace, the one Ares had given me. I never took it off, but I never went anywhere without my own personal Court ring either. Yes, Dorian had convinced me to join, and Bru had too.
Bruno and I had the same rings.
The dark prince had rubies in his for the eyes, but Bru and I had had black diamonds put in ours. The diamonds were our thing and something we shared, just like I had with Ares and our necklaces. My necklace looked even more fancy these days since that was where I now wore the dark prince’s gift. He’d given me that ring with rubies for eyes, and I wanted it close to my heart.
That was the place it should always be.
I touched my ring with black diamonds to Bru’s. I did have that bond with Ares and our necklaces, but I also had a bond with Bruno.
“Thanks, dork,” I said, referring to his earlier compliment, and he smiled.
“No problem, dorkette.” He nudged, and I’d give him a noogie except for the fact that he had spent so much time on his hair. He smiled, and I hugged him, telling him he looked beautiful too. This got me another nudge, but we both looked up when a knock hit Bru’s door. He told whoever to come in, and the room filled quickly.
“Are you guys ready? We need pictures.” Her camera recording, the mayor of Maywood Heights made it into the room. She was all grins, her husband’s hand in hers. Ramses wasn’t without his own phone, taking impromptu pictures of Bru and me like paparazzi.
He even made sound effects.
The gesture was as completely nerdy as it was wonderful, and Bru and I made a show of trying to hide our faces.
“Please. Please. No pictures,” I stated, joking and being overdramatic about it. Ares brought up the rear behind the parental units, and when he closed the door, his eyes expanded in my direction.
He shot a finger at me. “You’re wearing that?”
“Tried to tell her,” Bru said, looking at me, and I lifted my eyes.
“Well, I think she’s beautiful,” came from the smallest paparazzi in the room. Brielle took my hand. “Truly lovely, honey.”
