She yelps, cutting off mid-sentence when I tickle her sides.

“Trust me, Tink. There’ll be so much more.” I kiss her lips, gliding mine across them. “Even if I have to buy you a muzzle.”

She laughs loudly, her forehead falling to mine.

For the millionth time today, she sighs, and it’s the very reason my heart beats strong.

“I love you, Brielle Bishop. More than the stars love the darkness, and you love me, too.”

“More than you’ll ever know,” she whispers. “I could lose my sight overnight, and I’d still have more than I could ever ask for in you.”

If bones break from the depth of words spoken, mine would be in pieces beneath her.

My fucking queen.

I said I never wanted to be a king, and I meant it, but fuck me if I don’t feel like one now.

“You are in my eyes,” she breathes, and my features tighten. Slowly she starts grinding her sweet spot over me. “You’re the one and only, all-ruling, all-consuming, king in mine. Of mine.”

“Damn fuckin’ straight.” I rasp, growl, and groan. And then I flip her on her back, slide inside and hold there.

She gasps, smiles, and tugs my lips to hers.

My fucking girl.

Mine.

“Close your eyes, baby girl,” I whisper a gentle command. “Let me show you how touch is a fuck-ton more powerful than sight could ever be.”

Her moan purrs through my veins, stealing my sanity as I’m about to steal hers.

It’s almost noon when we finally make it from the shower and down the stairs.

We’re naked and starved, and normally, there would be some fresh cut fruit left from Zoey’s snack or leftover whatever Cap whipped up for breakfast, but there’s nothing quick to grab.

I look around and realize how quiet the house is with everyone gone.

I catch Brielle staring at me, and she gives a soft smile before glancing at the clock.

“Wanna go to the store?” I say and she slides closer, wrapping her arms around me, and my fingers glide into her hair. “We’ll hit a drive-through, and then grab something to cook for tonight’s FaceTime dinner with my brothers?”

She lifts her chin, so I give her what she wants, meeting her lips with mine.

“Or we could have dinner with them,” she says quietly, knowingly. “How fast can Mac get the jet-fueled?”

This girl, she gets me to the core, and she should, it’s made up of her.

I shoot up straight, my phone already in my palm. “Thirty minutes, tops.”

She laughs, tilting her head. “Go pack a bag while I grab mine from the porch?”

I grab her, kiss her, and then we kick our asses into gear.

Chapter 41

Royce

Zoey’s running straight ahead, tipping her toes in the water when we creep around the side of the beach house.

As the wave rolls up, I watch Cap move closer to her, even though the water won’t even make it to her ankles from where she stands.

Brielle laughs at my side and shoves me forward.

My eyes meet hers, and she shakes her head, nudging me again. “Go on, Uncle Bro. I don’t see Maddoc playing in the water. I’d say there are some serious uncle points to be scored right now.”

“I fuckin’ love you,” I growl and run forward.

My brothers do a double take, spotting me coming and first, it’s confusion, then grins that take over.

I reach my niece, toss her in the air, and when she lands in my hands with a laugh, her tiny hands wrap around my neck. We run into the open ocean with matching screams of excitement.

“It’s coldies!” she shouts with a smile, and I plant a wet kiss on her cheek.

“It is, huh?” I grin, hugging her tight.

Her eyes shoot wide and she kicks her legs. “Papa, oh no!”

I spin to find Maddoc and Captain running this way, my dad now hanging between their arms.

They’re laughing and shouting, and they don’t stop, going down with him.

When they pop up, they make their way toward me with wide smiles.

They shift, standing silently beside me.

My dad shakes his hair out with a smile, a heavy dose of pride clouding his eyes when his hand clamps onto my shoulder. He gives me a good squeeze, steals his granddaughter and off they go in search of seashells.

My brothers and I, we share a look, but nobody says a thing, all of us breathing a little lighter now that we’re together.

I knew they were feeling it too, the heavy of the last few weeks.

These are times we need each other most.

It’s always like this and always will be.

We don’t like to be separated, and we have no reason to be.

We’re brothers. Best friends.

Our girls may be our other, better, more than necessary halves to our souls, but in order to be completely whole, this is what we need.

Each other, if for no other reason than to simply stand here, like this.

The three of us by each other’s sides.

The kings to our queens.

The boys of Brayshaw.

I look to Brielle, standing on Raven’s left, Victoria smiling up at them from her seat in the sand.

My girl lifts my nephew in her arms and hugs him tight to her chest, her eyes finding mine from across the water.

It’s then I make a silent promise, one she understands if her smile tells me anything.

She knows and trusts that if her sight grows dark, I’ll light her fucking soul on fire.

The flame will grow so wide, so bright, everything inside her will burn brighter than the sun could ever glow, then the stars could ever guide.

I will be her light.

And she will be my everything.

She doesn’t know it yet, but her cousin, Ciara, is on her way to town.

Come to find out, when Brielle left, her aunt went a bit wild as her paydays stopped coming, and Ciara was forced to deal with the fallout.

She didn’t call me, but I could sense my baby girl loved her cousin, even if she was an asshole to her most of the time, so I made sure someone was looking out for her.

Sensing my thoughts, Captain asks, “Maybell get the room ready for the cousin?”

I nod, not taking my eyes off our girls. “Yeah, she’ll share with the crazy, Valine, chick. Maybe they’ll both learn to chill the fuck out.”

We laugh, knowing it’s not likely.

Brielle says something to the girls, and then she lowers herself into a seat as Raven and Victoria make their way to us, warm smiles on their faces.

They felt the same loss my brothers did without me here, without us here, and they’re happy we’re whole once again.

I see everything so much clearer now, our purpose. And not just the three of us, but all of us as a unit.

Our girls and their roles alongside us, the power they hold on their own, it’s unmatched.

And Brielle, she was the missing link.

She is the pull, the venom others can’t wait to drown in.

Victoria, she’s the preface, the discoverer. She sees what others can’t.

Raven, she’s the endgame. The heavy push to the edge.

Together they can stand as a team with unbreakable strengths and equal roles, and that’s without us.

With us?

Now that’s an entirely different story.