Broken Empire (Boys of Oak Park Prep 3)

“Oh my God, these are fucking delicious,” Leah groaned, her eyes rolling back in her head as she took a gigantic bite of frosting off the top of her cupcake. She polished off the rest of the frosting and then set the untouched cake part down on a napkin, flipping open the bakery box lid again.

“Uh, no. No seconds till you finish your first.” Finn gave her a narrow-eyed look as he slapped the lid back down.

“Yeah, but I already ate the good part.” She batted her eyelashes at him, flashing a hopeful smile, but he just arched a brow.

“Here, I’ll trade you.” Maggie held out hers. “I don’t really like frosting, so you can have all the frosting and I’ll have all the cake.”

Leah shook her head. “It’s insane that you don’t like frosting. I would say we can’t be friends anymore, except now we have the perfect symbiotic relationship.”

Dan chuckled as the two of them organized their cupcake eating, draping his arm over the back of Maggie’s chair.

I glanced toward the door to make sure no nurses were nearby, since they hated when I did this, then crawled up onto Cole’s bed beside him. My cast was clunky and awkward, but when I settled next to him, he wrapped his arm around me, tucking me against the side of his body and pressing a kiss to my hair.

Finn picked up the large pastry box and carried it over to us, flipping it open like he was presenting jewels to the Queen of England.

“Birthday girl gets to have as many as she wants. And if you want to lick the frosting off of every single one, I’m not opposed.”

His expression was both teasing and heated, and a flush worked its way up my cheeks.

I bit back a

smile as I sat up to pluck two little cakes out of the box, presenting one to Cole. His hand brushed mine as he took it, and he let the contact linger, holding my gaze for a moment. Then we both settled back against the angled mattress, peeling the wrappers down as conversation carried on around us, rising over the low sound of shouts and explosions from the TV.

Mason and Elijah sat in chairs against the wall, their heads bent together as they talked. Elijah’s grandparents were still alive, thank fuck, and they’d flown up from San Diego to take care of his younger siblings—but I knew it hadn’t been easy explaining to the two younger kids what was going on.

“Happy birthday, Tal,” Cole said softly, drawing my attention back to him.

He hadn’t taken a bite of his cupcake yet. He just held it in one hand, staring at it like he wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. When he felt my gaze on him, he looked up at me, shaking his head.

“Sorry it’s not a better one.”

I huffed a soft laugh.

We’d been finding little patches of normalcy and happiness where we could, finding ways to stay positive and keep moving forward, but beneath it all, there was the undeniable fact that our lives right now were extremely fucked up.

Leaning closer to him, I let myself fall into his enigmatic, ice-blue gaze, losing myself in their depths for a moment. Then I shook my head, glancing back around the room.

“It is a good one. It’s everything I need.”

Epilogue

Two Years Later

There are strings attached to everything.

It was a lesson I’d learned over and over again after Leo Parker had died and I had moved to Roseland to live with my grandparents. I had learned not to trust those strings, not to trust the mysterious, dark corners they disappeared into.

But not all strings were bad.

In fact, some of them were lifesaving.

There were four threads that traveled from my heart to the hearts of four men, that bound us together as surely as any physical ties ever could—that connected my soul to theirs. And I wouldn’t sever those bonds even if I could.

“Mmm. Morning, Legs.”

An arm wrapped around my waist under the covers, tugging me back against a hard chest. Finn’s breath stirred my hair, and I tilted my head to bring my lips to his. Our kiss was soft and sleepy, and when he rolled me over onto my back and draped his body over mine, I melted beneath him.

“What time is it?” Elijah asked, a yawn in his voice.