Gage swallows hard, his Adam’s apple goes for the ride, and something in me cinches. I know that look on his resurrected face. “I invited him. He said he was going to be alone tonight. I guess I have a heart, after all.”
“You don’t have a heart, Gage. You plucked it out and shoved it up Chloe’s vagina.”
I make my way over to Coop just as Demetri heads our way with that plastered-on smile.
“Logan Oliver. Holiday greetings.” Demetri looks to Gage. “I’m sure you’ve congratulated my son on the new offspring.” His lips twist my way. “I suppose this secures the win for you. I’m sure Skyla and you will be procreating soon enough. You’ve always felt the need to keep up with my son. Hoping for twins?”
Gage growls at his father. But, in all honesty, I’m a bit amused. It’s almost as if he’s goading Gage. Demetri knows I don’t give a shit about anything he has to say.
Skyla comes up with Laken and Wes just as Michelle helps Chloe over.
I glance to Skyla and my heart breaks when I spot that crestfallen look on her face.
Chloe chokes and sputters. “She’s killing me, Gage.” She points a crooked finger at Skyla. “She’s commissioned that cursed bird. I can’t keep a damn thing down. Do something, Demetri—God knows Gage still has his head up her ass.” A horrible moan comes from Chloe before she begins in on a violent retching session.
Demetri steps forward, but Gage holds his arm out.
“No,” Gage belts it out with fury. His eyes sharpen over Skyla’s, ripe with anger. “Enough, Skyla. Call off that damn bird, or I swear I’ll have it on a spit and delivered to Tad with a bow on it. Both Holden and Serena will be on the menu if you don’t stop this petty madness right now.”
Chloe pulls it together long enough to admire Gage, her champion.
But Skyla—her skin is white with shock, the false bravado she strode into the room with has dissipated, and she looks frightened, embarrassed, fit to kill out of sheer desperate need to hold onto her sanity.
Kresley bops over with a tiny prince in her arms, an exact replica of Nathan and Barron at that tender age. Kresley’s face has been fully restored and she’s a stunner with a nose that’s about three times too small for her face.
“What’d I miss?” She knocks her hip to Wesley’s and he takes up Eli in his arms. Wesley’s super sperm have yielded him an embarrassment of riches as far as children go.
Laken clears her throat. “Actually, you’re right on time. I have an announcement.” She looks to Demetri, then to Wes. “Wesley—we’re going to have another child. August—again.”
“A baby?” Wes lands his mitt over Laken’s stomach. “You and me?” he asks as if they’ve never had one before and I go to shoot Coop a knowing look, but he’s gone, just a ghost of himself standing there like a placeholder. Coop looks as if he died a year ago the exact day Laken went missing.
The crowd breaks out into an awkward cheer as Emma and Barron head over in time to hear the news. Soon enough, Emma is popping the bubbly and our small destructive circle disbands.
Poor Coop stands stunned near the bar, refilling his glass like he means it.
I swat Gage on the arm. “You piece of shit. Now I see why you invited the guy. Your wickedness really knows no bounds.”
Gage lifts an arm. “I swear I didn’t know.”
Ellis and Giselle walk in and the room explodes with the appropriate holiday greeting.
Ellis heads straight for Skyla and the two of them join Coop. I can’t help but note how divisive the room feels, how empty and lonely despite the body count.
“Can I ask you something?” I look to Gage, this seemingly innocent looking version of him, the exact replica of the boy I knew and loved. “Are you ever going to drop this act? Are you ever going to allow any of us to wake up from this nightmare?”
Gage inspects me a moment as if weighing his answer. “Yes, Logan. I am. In about a hundred years give or take a millennium.” He takes off for the bar as I reflect on that clusterfuck of words.
“What do you want?” Skyla growls up at him as she pours herself another drink.
“Visitation.” Gage barrels right in with his answer—no lube, just bend over.
Skyla nearly shoots the champagne from her nose. “Good luck with that, buddy.”
“I don’t need luck.” His lips bounce a short-lived smile. “I’ve retained Olivia Harrison’s services.” He nods to Ellis at the mention of his legal eagle mother. “She’s drawing up a visitation schedule. I get the boys on weekends.” He takes a breath as if it took something out of him to say it. “I want fifty-fifty come summer.”
“Gage,” Skyla wails, her voice fragile and pleading.
“It’s not happening.” I wrap an arm around Skyla and she bears her weight against me as if she needed me to hold her up. “We’ll fight it. I’ll invert every bank account I have to make it happen.”
Gage gives a single nod, his dimples dig in, no smile, and it’s as if he’s already gotten what he was after—Skyla in my arms, the two of us a united front—against him of all people. My God, it’s as if his every breath is monstrously calculated.
Emma calls us to the table and Laken helps Skyla to the restroom as the two of them leave the room.
Ellis shoves Gage hard in the chest. “Screw you, Oliver. I don’t care if you are G’s brother. If this is the real you, I have never known you. You don’t touch those boys. They belong to Skyla. You forfeited them the day you married Bishop.” He takes off for the dining room and it’s just the monster and me. Coop watches from the corner, his fingers curled around the champagne flute as if it could be transformed into a weapon at a moment’s notice.
“Well done,” I say, looking into those familiar cobalt eyes. “She’s almost there. You keep this up and she’ll be in my bed by midnight. Don’t worry. I’ll fill her stocking for you, Gage.”
He shoves a hand against my chest so hard it qualifies as a heart-stopper.
A dull laugh rumbles from me. “It’s nice to see it works both ways. You get a rise out of Skyla. I get a rise out of you. That tells me you still care, buddy.” I lean in and look around those blue eyes of his. “It tells me you’re still in there somewhere, lurking like a stranger in your own skin. One of these days I’m going to put the puzzle together. I’m going to figure out what makes this new version of you tick.” I shake my head at him. “Let me in, Gage. I can help you figure this out.”
“And then?” He knocks back the rest of this drink. “You going to help me win back Skyla?” He smears it with the necessary amount of sarcasm.
“No.” A slow spreading grin takes over. “I made that mistake once, and I will never go down that road again.”
Gage offers a slow blink as if accepting this on some level, as if it were the very last thing he ever wanted to hear and I’m betting it is.
“Merry Christmas, Logan. You get Skyla.”
“Merry Christmas, Gage. We both wish we still had you.”
8
Wesley
A father—again.
The smug grin just can’t seem to leave my face. Kresley looks pissed but happy enough that I’m holding Eli. He’s her world; he’s mine, too. And as much as I wish she were nowhere near our lives, I will respect the fact Kres is his mother. As much as I’m painted as an abject monster, it is ironically through Kres in which I’ll prove them all wrong. We will be one happy family even if it kills me.
That’s why the house across the street seemed so perfect. In addition to being far more house than Laken and I can hope to utilize, there’s a small cottage tacked onto the back of the property. I didn’t dare bring it up to Laken, but should Kres ever get the boot from the Oliver house, she’s welcome to the cottage. Bonding with my son is of the utmost importance. I will never do to him what my own father has done to me. No. I will be the anti-Demetri.
“You’re staring at me.” Demetri nods with that placating smile stuck on his ridiculous face as the clank of forks hitting porcelain li
ghts up the room. Emma has pulled out all the stops for tonight’s Christmas feast. Here we are, the entire motley lot of us gathered around the dinner table breaking bread together as if no one was wishing anyone here dead.
“You’re a good-looking guy.” A dull laugh pumps from me as I offer up my own shit-eating grin. “I’m just admiring my handsome lineage. Wondering if I’ll see your face in my new child.”
Skyla chokes a moment. “God, I hope not.” She bats her lashes toward Laken. “Don’t let Wes scare you. Since this one will actually belong to him, the odds are good he or she will look like Tobie or one of my own cherubs.”
“Skyla!” Laken laughs it off and I’m glad about it. Skyla is out of her freaking mind tonight. A loose cannon that shouldn’t be anywhere near a formal dinner party. I glance to Coop as he continues to glare my way.
“What’s the matter, Coop? Fly in your soup?” I give a sly wink. Skyla might have a thorn in her side with Chloe, but Coop is one hundred percent mine. I’m going to have one serious talk with Gage. I have no clue why Coop is here. And I’m not buying that whole poor Coop was about to curl into a corner and play with his new toys all by his lonesome. Gage is sending me a message. He’s in charge and he’s choosing to wield his prowess with me first. Wrong move, dude. Wrong freaking move.
Coop growls in lieu of a response. “Laken?” He produces a smile just for her. “I meant what I said. I’m more than happy for the two of you. My heart is settled just knowing you’re where you want to be.”
Her mouth opens as she looks to me. “Thank you,” she whispers, her cheeks piquing with color as if his kind words were nothing but coals heaped over her. Killing her with guilt. Killing her with kindness. Good strategy. It won’t work. Feast your eyes, Coop. This is the last dinner invite you get with Laken and me in the room.
Demetri raises his glass to Gage. “Son? I have a feeling your kind parents feel remiss to have not been present during the union to your beautiful new bride. I’m willing to open my home if the two of you are up for a vow renewal.” He takes a sip from his wine and it looks like blood staining his lips.
“Yes!” Chloe gasps. Her color has come back just enough to remind us she’s remotely human. After Gage threatened Skyla with the boys, I saw both her and Logan head out for a moment. Calling off that damn hex, I suppose. Too bad. I was rooting for the bird. “We’ll do New Year’s Day. My family would love to be present as well. We can invite our friends and have a reception. Only the finest food. I’m sure Lizbeth—”
“Will not be participating.” Skyla shakes her head to my brother, her face red with fury. “Gage? No.”
Gage swallows hard. His desire to please Skyla far outweighs his desire to watch her squirm at every turn. But he’s not through with her yet. This new leg of their relationship is still tender, green at the root. I give a subtle nod his way and he clears his throat.
“New Year’s Day sounds perfect,” he says while looking down at the prime rib glistening on his plate. The damn pussy hasn’t had a single bite.
Skyla lets out an exasperated sigh as Emma and Demetri lose themselves in an instant conversation, their voices pitching with excitement. Poor Barron looks on, confused as hell. His eyes are wide as he looks to Skyla, but she’s not paying him any mind. She’s too wrapped up in trying to figure out how to strangle my brother.
Skyla leans in toward Gage—both he and Chloe are just one seat away from the hurricane brewing inside of her. “How dare you take a giant shit over our lives then smear my face in it with so much hubris.”
Ellis grunts, “Tell him, Skyla.”
Giselle swats him.
My simpleton of a niece is fiercely loyal. I think we can use her.
Skyla’s lips twitch, unsure which direction to go in, her eyes still pinned on my brother. “I just might kill your wife and your child.”
His eyes dart to meet with hers, first time since we’ve sat down at this unholy coven.
A laugh bubbles from Skyla a moment, proud to have attained his full attention. “That’s right. I don’t have any regard for human life anymore. Just Factions. Turns out, I’m a lot like you.”
Laken clears her throat, straightens her spine as she takes up my hand, and a warm smile spreads over her face as if I had the power to put it there. Eat that, Coop.
“If you don’t mind, I would love to say a few vows,” Laken offers. Her other hand dips to her stomach. “Especially now with the new baby.”
“Yes.” Everything in me enlivens. “Laken, you were meant for me. I have never loved anyone the way I love you. It’s always been you for me as far back as Cider Plains.”
Eli yelps on cue and Kresley growls out an excuse before leaving the room with him.
Chloe nods my way. “You’ll do it with us. A double wedding. I couldn’t think of anything as romantic. But we’ve done it before, haven’t we, Wes? It’s the way we married.” Her gaze moves to Skyla. “You remember, don’t you? It was quite the spectacle.”
Skyla gives a silent nod. “Sort of the way this is now.” Her eyes widen as she looks to Gage, her pain so very palpable even I want to beg him to put her out of her misery.
We won the damn battle. Who the hell cares if she doesn’t put up a fight? If I were Gage, I’d take her back. Skyla would be up for it. They should be enjoying each other, living life and riding high. Skyla was so very willing to throw it all away and pass the Faction baton to Logan. Why the hell not?
A deep sigh expels from me. I will never understand how my brother’s brain works. He’s forever the shining knight even when it requires the blade to penetrate his own heart.
I pull Laken’s hand to my lips. “I love you so damn much. We’ll go ring shopping in the morning.”
Michelle Miller, Liam’s new nightmare of a wife, whoops up a storm. “And, of course, the entire bridal party will be taken care of by The Enchanted Closet. Not Em, though. She’s about to burst.” A nasty look of satisfaction takes over her features as she feasts her eyes on Skyla. “And we’d never leave you out, Mess. In fact, we’ll give you the pick of the litter. You’ll be there, right? I mean, Logan will be Gage’s best man. Obvs.” She winks Logan’s way.
“No.” Gage drops his knife with a heavy clink, his chest expanding with a breath. “It’s Wes. Small ceremony. No friends.” He glares at Chloe. “Just family.”
Chloe’s lips fidget as she bites down on a smile. Watch it, Gage. That witch gets exactly what she wants, and if Chloe wants friends at her wedding, then Gage be damned, there will be an entire fleet of them. She might have to purchase them for the day, but nevertheless, Chloe will inevitably get her twisted way.
“No friends?” Chloe balks. “But the kids are a must. That’s a hard line for me. Tobie will be there. Wes and Laken will have Charlie and Eli. Will we have our boys? I think we should each hold one as we solidify our family bond.”
Gage shoots a look to Skyla, his features slowly turning to stone. He never thought it would be easy. But he never thought it would be this hard either. Welcome to reality, brother. With Chloe as your bride, she will ensure every damn day is a freaking nightmare. Deeper and deeper you’ll spiral until hell sounds like a day spa you’d love to spend eternity in.
“Then it’s settled.” Demetri offers a weak applause. “Of course, the royal gentry will wish to be present. You are the king, and your kingdom has certainly come. New life awaits us in the new year, a coronation fit for the ages, a new kingdom, a new era. To the beautiful year ahead.” Demetri lifts his glass and half the table feels the need to join him. But Skyla and her loyalists sit this one out.
Emma’s eyes sparkle with tears as she looks to her son with something that supersedes love, obsession. “To my son, the king. You have arrived. Destiny has gifted you the world at your feet. I love you.”
“Hear, hear!” Demetri laughs as they imbibe.
Laken elbows me in the rib. “You’re not toasting.”
I come to, stunned that I’ve momentarily sided with Skyla�
�s dissidents. I’m quick to rectify the effort and knock back my wine as if it were a shot, quick and hasty.
Dinner wraps up, and soon we’re bundling Charlie for the trek across the street. I kiss Eli and offer Kresley a hearty embrace to appease her before Logan nods for me to follow him to the porch.
“What’s up, Oliver?” I say, adjusting the collar on my coat.
“You tell me.” His piss-yellow eyes glare my way. “You don’t want Gage up on that throne any more than I do. Give him the boot. Put him out of his misery. Take the helm. I’m rooting for you.”
I inch back, amused by his midnight soliloquy. “You’re dreaming. That boy wants to be there.”
“The hell he does.” He squints over at me a moment. “Maybe it’s you who doesn’t want to be there.” His chest heaves as if he came upon an earth-shattering revelation. “Leave the Barricade, Wes.”
“Not on your life. Not on mine. I’m the one that believes in it, remember? I penned the articles of confederation. I’m a founding father of the cause. I’m not going anywhere.”
He swallows hard, his eyes pinned to mine, wide and apprehensive as if I were his only hope.
Skyla bounds out with the boys running between her legs, a lethargic Tobie latches onto me, and I scoop her up and let her melt over my shoulder.
Ellis Harrison, stoner extraordinaire, jumps down next, his glassy-eyed stare somehow managing to unnerve me.
Ellis blinks a smile. “You’re looking at your worst nightmare.” A dirty grin glides easy on his face. “New year, new life, new bullshit? Not gonna happen. The new year only brings one thing. A holy countdown. The Barricade loses its legs.”
A huff of laughter pumps through me. “You almost sound lucid, Ellis.”
“I’m sober, Wes, and I have you and your brother to thank for it.” He takes off without his precious G by his side and I can’t help but smirk.
“You’re welcome,” I shout after him.
“Shut up, Wes,” Skyla scowls as Logan shuttles the boys to his truck and wrangles them inside. Her eyes, those crystal clear haunting orbs, scour me with such a vitriolic hatred I’m forced to look away. I don’t hate Skyla. I don’t think I ever could. I hate what she stands for. There’s a big difference. “Wesley”—her voice pulls out with a wobble, a desperation I have never heard from her before—“don’t let him touch my babies.”
All Hail the King (Celestra Forever After Book 6) Page 14
