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Aside from the stunning two-story library Wells crafted me—fit with French doors, a rolling ladder, a Juliet balcony, and all the coziness a massive, country-chic reading room should embody—the kitchen is my favorite room in the house. Liam and I worked tirelessly with a decorator to create the same vibe as we had in Ohio but with two large islands—one with a bar top for eating and one for prep work; it’s far more functional and capable of being home to many.
While we still have a chef who preps a lot of freezer meals for us, the guys and I do quite a bit of cooking. Our time has been so special in this home, even amid the difficult days. They’ve come through for me, shining brighter than the glint on the stainless steel fridge in a time that’s been as dark as the black siding on the island. The kitchen is a beautiful representation of who our family is and who we will grow to become.
I hold up a bottle of Grey Goose vodka, and the girls both murmur approval, so I snatch the pitcher of lemonade from the fridge and grab three glasses. I’ve already gone to battle with Celeste about alcohol today, using Wells not wanting us to be intoxicated at our own party as an excuse. A fraying thread of truth. His penance for making me lie was to join me in sobriety. Liam ran to the store this morning and stocked him a pantry full of Skittles and Tootsie Pops. We’ll have to see how long that holds.
“I could work on persuading Axel if you’d like.” Celeste indulgesin a hefty swig of her drink while waggling her dark brows, ready and willing to sink her teeth into a juicy Noire.
“Off-limits,” Rena snaps, finger pointed in warning, fiery green-hazel eyes aghast.
I cackle with a clap of my hands. “Look who’s cockblocking now.”
“Different,” Rena spits defensively. “Axel is the closest thing I have to a father.” She turns toward Celeste, her eyes more pleading than angry now. “You wouldn’t want me seducing your dad, would you?”
“Fair point,” Celeste concedes with a shiver. “My parents are happily married, but the thought is enough to drive the point home. Nauseating.” Her eyes crease with a cautious tease. “What about the younger ones?”
Always on the prowl. It’s her way of hiding from all that scares her, but I’m not sure she’s conscious of that.
I slide a vegetable tray onto the counter, along with some other munchies that are prepped for later. The main food tables are outside and in the morning room, but Celeste might need something to curb herhungerwhile the alcohol flows.
Rena mellows, propping her temple against her fist while lazily hunched over the island beside Celeste. “Ryker is off-limits too, for countless reasons.Andhe’s a gigantic pain in the ass. It wouldn’t matter about the rest. None of them do relationships. Only sex. Phenomenal role models and probably the reason I’m not allowed to date.” She flaps a hand while raising her glass to her mouth. “Anyway, what I don’t know won’t ruffle me.”
Celeste twirls a strand of her long, dark hair, but it’s her nefarious expression that catches me. No doubt her mind is in salacious places. “I don’t do serious either. Not like our girl here, who seems to benailingdown four cocks.”
I choke on my lemonade, coughing and sputtering and wishing the burn in my chest were from a sip of Wells’s scotch. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Ivy,” Celeste scoffs, “you’re clearly holding out. This is some why-choose shit if I’ve ever seen one.”
“You’re fucking high, Lettie,” I snipe, lobbing a dish towel across the island at her. “Have youmetmy husband? He’d shoot them for even imagining it.” The weight of how that would even work crashes into me with an agonizing throb between my thighs. “And I have no idea how any woman manages that in real life. Four men? Wells is on top of me constantly, day and night. I canalwaysfeel him, like a phantom limb, and that’s when he’s holding back, concerned I need rest.”
Rena returns my earlier favor and comes to my rescue. “It’s true,” she says, plunging a carrot into some ranch dip. “They’re always fucking. She’d be incapacitated attempting to satiate one more, let alone three. And Wells is too tightly wound around Ivy for that to ever work. He scowled a death stare at Ryker for an entire meal because he thought Ryker’s hug with Ivy lingered too long.Ryker, who is utterlyobsessedwith his best friend.”Crunch.She holds up a ring-adorned index finger for us to wait while she chews, her bracelets jangling with the command. “These guys do all orbit around her, but that’s Ivy. She’s got some bewitching voodoo spell she refuses to share. My brothers think the sun rises and sets with her too.”
Celeste laughs, scooting her stool closer to skim a hand over my outstretched arm while addressing Rena. “I get it. I’ve been hooked on the captivating Ivanna Kingston since the second grade, but Wells doesn’t seem to care when Ty hugs or kisses her hair. No scowling when Liam calls herour girlor when Gage carries her off, feet dangling, to sample a cookie he wants to bakewithher.” She casts a dubious stare at me. “Those guys worship you.”
I guess I knew this was coming. There’s probably some underlying hurt there too. Celeste has always been my ride or die, the center of my tiny world, but that world has expanded beyond anything we could have comprehended. Shaded in deeper, darker hues.
My teeth notch into my lip with a shred of nervousness. “And I worship them, but my husband is theonlyman who I’ve ever had sex with, and that is the way it will always be.” It’s not that I can’tsee the beauty in a polyamorous relationship. I’m sure that can be amazing. It’s just not who we are. And I love who we are.
With a deep breath, I paint her a fuller picture. “Ty, Liam, and Gage are a huge part of me though. My family andmore. My heart. It’s difficult to explain, but knowing you’d die for someone, wading through carnage together, and being a life preserver when they’re drowning in that bloodbath—it’s a bond that surpasses the traditional sense of family. We’re forever linked.”
Celeste chugs the last of her cocktail, and I see the questions coasting over her flawless face, the proprietorial resentment. “And they’dalldie for you?”
“Absolutely,” I reply with confidence. “And I would for them.Anyof them.”
It wouldn’t even be a consideration, but maybe that’s not a conviction until your heart is thudding with the bleakness of a loved one’s demise. I would have died to save my parents. I didn’t want to, but I was willing to risk my life. And all four of my guys risked theirs for mine. In this cutthroat reality engulfing us, that’s what you do for family.
I grab her hand, clasping our fingers and glancing between her and Rena. “Like I would for both of you. Although I appreciate the lack of death threats you and Rena bring to my life.” A bemused chuckle puffs out of my heavy lungs. “Who would’ve thought wild Lettie Carver and the Noire princess would be my taste of normalcy?”
A mist of melancholic tears coats Celeste’s gorgeous brown eyes. “In spite of all the pain you’ve endured, especially after losing your dad, you look happy, Ivy. Glowing even. But … you’re different.”
I squeeze her hand with a sigh, realizing there will be some growing pains here. “My mom keeps saying that too. Iamdifferent. My life is weird. But it’s a different and weird that I’m proud of. A transformation my father would’ve been proud of. You heard how much Wells loved and respected him in that eulogy, and it’s clear myfather felt the same about him. It wasn’t only Wells though. My father loved all of them. I have no doubt he knew who they’d become to me. In this whole mess of my fucked-up life, those four men are my greatest gift. My beauty in the broken.”
She dabs at a tear attempting to escape. Celeste is no stranger to pain, and I’m guessing it’s her absence in both my hardships and healing this past year that hurts. We’ve always weathered those together. Hopefully, in time, she’ll view the guys as an extension of our bond rather than a replacement.
“It’s a lot to wrap my head around,” she admits, “and I can’t stand Liam, but I’m happy for you.”
That makes me laugh, remembering how trying Liam can be at first, although I always found his taunting to be the rugged edge of charming. “He’s a dick sometimes, but we all have our demons. That’s how Liam masks his.”
“Ty doesn’t seem to have any demons,” Rena muses, and I don’t miss the wistful flutter of her lashes.
