Page 113 of Trick Knot Treat

He takes my hand, whistles to Spectre, and leads me up to the beach car park where a car is waiting for us. When he opens the door, I slide in, and Felix smiles at me.

“Hello, Omega.”

“Hello, Omega.”

“We have a surprise for you.”

“What kind of surprise?” I ask, sliding across the backseat until I’m in the middle and can see them properly.

“You’ll find out.”

We drive back to Clint’s house, and I get out of the car before I can say anything to the others. Spectre takes off around the back of the house.

I catch sight of the candles and pause. There’s soft music playing, and the scent of my matches is mixing with the eucalyptus.

“What’s that?” I whisper.

“Go find out,” Felix whispers in my ear, and suddenly, there’s a brilliant and beautiful crimson rose in front of my face.

I stare before reaching out and taking it gently. “For me?”

“Yes, for you.”

My hand trembles, and I think it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Felix takes my wrist and tows me around the back of the house.

My feet stop working when we get there, my mouth falls open.

The backyard is awash in candlelight, there is so much of it. Rose petals and flower heads lay on the grass. There’s a round table covered in white with domes covering dishes. Soft music is playing, and there’s a giant red ribbon wrapped around Clint’s neck.

“Happy We-Like-You-A-Lot-And-We’re-Sorry Day!” he shouts.

“Clint!” Jace snorts a laugh and elbows him.

“What?”

When I can get my mouth shut, I will think of something to say, but this is just so wonderful. I’ve never seen anything like it. My eyes fill with tears, and I blink them quickly away.

“We made her cry.”

“We’re assholes,” Jace answers Clint.

I sob a laugh. “Happy tears. No one has ever done anything like this for me before. It’s so beautiful. I just…I feel like I fell into a romance movie, and this is just incredible.”

Clint hesitates and then bounces towards me, cradling my cheeks so he can kiss me.

“Sorry. I don’t ever want to make you sad.”

I wrap my arms around his neck and press my face to his chest. He pulls me up off my feet, and then I’m sandwiched between the stepbrothers.

They hug me for a long time, then set me down.

“It was Felix who is the brainchild behind this,” Clint murmurs.

I whirl and see him standing there. He’s mysterious and so handsome, his eyes stare at me like he expects me to disappear, but he wants me to stay here forever. There’s a sad smile on his lips, and he’s half in the shadows.

“Felix?” I whisper.

He steps forward, and I break out of my frozen state and rush him, throwing my arms around him.