“I spent a long time thinking a life like this wasn’t meant for me,” he shares between kisses. “Something steady and good. Then you walked into my world, and somehow, you made me want things I stopped believing I deserved.”
Emotion tightens painfully in my chest as I turn in his arms to look at him. Moonlight catches across his face, softening the rough edges of a hardened man. Damon brushes a strand of hair back from my face, his gaze impossibly tender. “I’m going to spend the rest of my life loving you,” he promises softly. “Giving you every beautiful thing this world has to offer. And if I’m lucky, you’ll let me stand beside you while you take it all.”
I slide my hand over his jaw gently, holding his gaze as warmth floods every place inside me that never felt good enough to be loved. “You already have, Daddy. You gave me you.”
FIVE YEARS LATER
Chicago stretches endlessly beneath a sky painted burnt orange and deep violet, the last warmth of sunset spilling across the rooftop deck of our home while laughter and conversation drift through the early-summer air.
I don’t know what warms my heart more tonight. Watching my gorgeous wife walk across the stage this afternoon to receive her PhD, or sitting here now, surrounded by all the people I love most in this world.
Probably both.
Definitely both.
The long patio table stretching across the rooftop is crowded, with half-empty wine glasses, beer bottles, candlelight, and the kind of comfortable chaos that only exists between people who know each other well enough to stop pretending to be polished. Music hums softly throughhidden speakers while the city glitters in blurred streaks of light.
Reese is laughing at something Hawk muttered beside her. Jagger is attempting—and failing—to keep baby Noah from grabbing handfuls of mashed sweet potatoes directly off Blake’s plate while Theo and Amaya argue loudly over which movie they’re watching downstairs later. Mattis sits quietly near the fire table beside Abby, one arm draped over the back of her chair, while Gunnar demolishes what has to be his fourth burger of the evening.
Looking at them still does something strange to my chest. Because six of us sitting around this table—me, Hawk, Jagger, Gunnar, Abby, and Mattis—are tied together by one of the darkest moments of my life. The ones that leave scars buried too deep to ever fully remove.
There was a time when survival felt like the only thing any of us were capable of.
But now…
Hawk has the love of his life in his arms. Jagger has a not-wife-on-paper and three beautiful children, who he still looks at some days like he can’t believe they’re real. Abby laughs again, and Mattis smiles without forcing it. Even Gunnar has people waiting for him at home.
Somehow, all of us have managed to build lives from the wreckage, beautiful and rich ones. Not because they’re perfect, but because they’re full.
These people are my family. Not by blood, but by choice, survival, and love. Over the years, their families have becomemine, too. The realization still hits me unexpectedly: that as a man who spent decades running and thought he was only built for war, I somehow ended up here instead. At a rooftop dinner party—of all fucking places—with children running through my house and my wife laughing softly while candlelight catches in her dark eyes.
My still chest tightens every time I look at her.
Mackenzi sits beside me, one leg crossed underneath herself, wearing a cream-colored dress that’s currently wrinkled from Noah falling asleep against her earlier. Her graduation hood still hangs over the back of her chair because Blake insisted we leave directly from the ceremony to celebrate “Doctor Bradenburg-Wolfe.”
The thought makes me grin slightly into my whiskey.
Doctor.
I still remember the first time she fell asleep across my chest, surrounded by research articles and highlighted textbooks, while insisting shewasn’t tired.
Now, she’s officially earned the title she’s been seeking, and I swear I’ve never been prouder of another human being in my life.Except my son.Even now, hours after the ceremony ended, I keep replaying the moment she walked across that stage with confidence, a brilliant smile blooming across her face when she found me in the crowd.
Suddenly, Gunnar pushes back from the table with a grunt. “Need another beer.”
“Need to start making those old man noises a little quieter,” Hawk teases.
Gunnar flips him off casually while heading to the stairs as Reese snorts into her wine glass.
The conversation continues easily around the table, Theo telling Blake about a fight he got into at soccer camp, while Amaya dramatically corrects every third detail. Noah finally settles against Jagger, who has sweet potato fingerprints across his shirt.
The rooftop door suddenly slides open again. “Look who I found,” Gunnar announces. Gabriel stands beside Gunnar, his arm slung loosely around his shoulders, while Kylie follows behind them, smiling warmly, little Cooper in her arms.
“There he is,” Jagger calls.
Gabriel grins. “Sorry, we’re late. Someone refused to nap.”
Cooper immediately spots me. “Pop-Pop!” Laughter breaks across the rooftop instantly as the little boy sprints directly toward me with both arms already outstretched. There are very few things in this world better than hearing that kid call me Pop-Pop.
