Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 148704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 744(@200wpm)___ 595(@250wpm)___ 496(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 744(@200wpm)___ 595(@250wpm)___ 496(@300wpm)
This year has been hard for all of us, but together, we’ve pushed through, letting go of the bad and remembering the good alongside my parents, who moved closer to us after Memphis was laid to rest. There weren’t a whole lot of people who came out to celebrate my brother’s life, but everyone he loved was there and that’s all that mattered.
Nothing hurts anymore, he had whispered that night, and I hold on to that when the grief gets too great, as it does. Usually when we least expect it, but I find comfort in his last words.
My brother is in a place where darkness can no longer find him, and peace can hold his hand.
Crew clears his throat. “I think about how things were left a lot, about time and how we waste it. Thoughts and feelings and how we hide them for some fucked-up reason we’re convinced matters but probably makes no sense.” Crew allows the mic to lower a bit, and when it comes back to his lips, gone is the sadness that weighed his words, a smirk and teasing fire now replacing it. “That’s a mistake I’ll never make again, so baby, my Sweets…” He makes a show of looking at me. “Get that ass in here.”
Suddenly, I’m lifted off the ground, a sharp squeal leaving me as I lock onto the bodies beneath me—Julius and Willie, who I hadn’t even seen leave the ring.
They carry me like a queen on a throne up the four short stairs and lower my heels to the floor until I’m standing right in front of Crew, in the center of the octagon.
Screams and shouts and cheers surround us, drowning out my own thoughts and confusion as I laugh nervously, leaning into Crew’s chest.
“What are you doing?” I mouth, but he only winks.
Layla appears at his left side, Evie in her arms, Willie joining her, Drew and Julius on his right.
Crew’s arms are wrapped around me, and I stare up at his handsome face.
“This girl right here,” he begins again. “She knows I love her, that I’d do any damn thing she asks me to, but what she doesn’t know is that she’s going to marry me, soon.”
My body goes stiff, and while he doesn’t look at me, his smile grows. Crew speaks louder this time.
“Wanna know what else she don’t know?” he teases, and the crowd booms. He chuckles again, licking his lips. “She’s got the ring on right now, but she won’t find it until her sweet tooth kicks in and she tries to eat her favorite piece of jewelry.”
My brows snap together with confusion, my mind racing as Crew steps back and looks down at me. It clicks then and I gasp, my hands flying to my candy necklace and I swiftly pull it over my head.
Crew laughs loudly as I bring it to my face, but I don’t have to search.
It hangs longer than the rest, shining in the light of the ring.
A white gold band, a single, simple sapphire in the center.
A blue sapphire to match my blue shoes.
To match my new office at the bar.
To match my brother’s eyes.
To match the date added to Crew’s chest.
The month and day etched on the inside of the ring shaking in my grasp, a second date beside it.
My eyes find his, blurry and leaking.
Crew’s gaze is soft, and right on time, Willie’s got the wraps cut from around Crew’s wrists, and he takes my face in his hands.
“You made me an offer that day,” he whispers for only me. “Today, I make you one.” The mic is held in front of him by his brother. “I want to keep you, Davis Franco. Let me.” Crew’s eyes pierce mine. “Deal?”
I bite into the candy necklace, tearing the stretchy string and sending little candy rings all over, the one I wanted falling right into my palm. I press it to his chest, right over the first date that changed our lives forever, linking the three together.
Stretching up as tall as I can get, I meet his lips with mine, smiling as I say, “Deal.”
Epilogue
Five Years Later
Davis
Winding my hair up, I loop a hair band around it, high-fiving Layla as she slides up beside me, having done the same.
Julius walks backward toward the entrance, grinning as he shouts, “Doors are opening in three, two…”
Excited shouts and shrieks instantly fill the space, my smile spreading impossibly wider.
It takes a few seconds for our entry team to get things moving, and then duos and trios, and more are rushing through the short hall to get the first glimpses of the dance floor, a thick plexiglass over a layer of blue and purple glitters, the shimmers reflecting along the deep-navy walls.
Within minutes, the club is full, my dad’s eyes widening as he comes around the corner, his tool belt still hanging around his waist.