Omens (The Triad 3)

SCARLET

SIX WEEKS LATER

“Can you believe we’ve already been gone for a month?” I asked Seb as he lazily swam over to me.

We were in the pool on the private island that they had rented out off the coast of Spain. The view was breathtaking, I had never seen anything like it. Just ocean for as far as I could see. It led straight into the sun as it began to dip below the water.

“It has flown by,” he said as he reached me, wrapping his warm arms around my body. Tristan and Elliot were inside, getting dinner ready, while Seb and I had some alone time in the pool.

We had been getting pretty good at the whole relaxing thing lately, and sharing had gotten much easier with Elliot not throwing a fit every time he saw me with one of the other two. Don’t get me wrong, he still had his caveman moments, and I still loved those. But everything was just easy now, and I couldn’t help but relax and lean into it.

“Where are we off to next?” I asked him. They planned for us to be gone for three months, letting Motshan and Niamh run things with Simon while we were gone. So far, everything had gone smoothly. And I loved that my boys trusted Motshan enough to let him help run their businesses so that we could have some time alone.

And we would do the same for Mots when he felt that he could step away.

But we had planned to move to a different location every two weeks, letting me experience as many different places as we could. But they kept each location a secret until it was time to head out.

“I can’t tell you that, and you know that, princess,” he murmured, nibbling on my ear.

“What if I told you that if you told me a secret, I would tell you a secret?” My stomach was flip-flopping as I thought about telling him my secret. I hadn’t told Tristan or Elliot yet. I wanted Sebastian to be the first to know. And I had been waiting for the right time, but I couldn’t figure out what the right time felt like.

“Depends on how good of a secret it is you’re keeping,” he said as he spun me around. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he walked backwards to the wall of the pool, sitting down on the bench.

“I personally feel like it’s a really good secret and is totally worth the location of our next place.”

“Okay, then,” she said, kissing me softly on the mouth. “You tell me your secret, and if it’s good enough, I’ll tell you where we are going next.”

I leaned forward, whispering in his ear.

“I got my IUD taken out before we left.”

He grabbed my face, pulling my face back so that he could look at me. His eyes had absolutely lit up, and I didn’t think I had ever seen him that happy. He kissed me hard and then stood up quickly, causing me to fall off him and fall under the water momentarily. I came up laughing as he was hollering and jumping around.

“That means,” he said, picking me back up and holding me close against his tanned body. “That means I can finally come inside of you again!” He yelled so loudly that Tristan and Elliot both walked outside.

“Why are you talking about coming inside of her again?” Elliot asked, looking us over. I was still laughing and clinging to Seb while he did a little happy dance.

“Our girl is off her birth control!” he sang into the sky. “It’s baby-making time!” he shouted again, this time in the direction of the other boys.

“Did I not tell you it was a secret?” I teased him, playfully slapping him on the chest. His answer was to kiss me hard, forcing my mouth open to his own.

“Next stop…Italy,” he whispered into my ear, holding up his side of the bargain. I kissed him on the cheek and winked at him, promising I would keep that secret to myself even though he hadn’t kept mine.

I moved to the side of the pool, lifting myself out so I could be more on Tristan’s and Elliot’s level while I talked to them. I had meant to tell them both myself, but I hoped they were okay with it. All of them seemed eager for me to get rid of the damn thing, so I didn’t think it would upset them.

Before I could get a word out, Elliot charged me, picking my wet body up and spinning me around.

“Thank you,” he said, kissing my cheek before sitting me back on my feet.

“For what?” I asked as Tristan took his turn hugging me.

“For trusting us. For choosing us,” Elliot answered.

“So you’re okay with it, then?” I asked them, hearing Sebastian climbing out of the pool behind me.

“We’re more than okay with it,” he said.

“We wanted this,” Tristan said, smiling down at me. “We’re thrilled.”

“Now we get to practice making a baby for the rest of our vacation!” Seb cheered, grabbing me from behind and jumping back into the pool with me in his arms.

I came up laughing, pushing him away and trying to get the hair out of my eyes at the same time.

“Food is ready, by the way,” Elliot said, smiling as he walked back inside.

Nothing could stop me then. I swam away from Sebastian with him hot on my heels as we climbed out of the pool and raced inside, leaving soaking wet footprints in our wake.

“A towel!” Tristan shouted after us. “Just…for Christ’s sake, use a towel on these hardwood floors!”

Elliot grabbed me as I ran around the counter, tossing me over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. I let out a scream as he carried me to the other deck, where there were a couple of towels hanging over chairs. He threw one at Sebastian and then sat me down, wrapping me up and wringing out my hair.

“You’re both trying to put him in an early grave with these fucking floors,” he said before pulling a chair out at the table. “Sit down, baby girl. Tristan and I are going to bring out all of the food.”

I sat down in the chair, looking out at the mixture of greenery and beach that this deck afforded. Seb came outside, sitting down next to me and taking my hand.

“I could get used to this,” I told him, sighing and closing my eyes as I laid my head back on the chair.

“May as well. We will take you anywhere you want to go, anytime you want to go. This is your life now,” he said. “And even when we have seven little babies running around,” he said, throwing a wink in my direction when I peeked open my eyes to give him a warning look. “Even then, we will pack everything up and take you away. You deserve the world, and we’re going to give it to you.”

I was still getting used to them—to everything they offered me. I was getting used to accepting the love and affection they gave me every day. It was hard to think that I could deserve something like this after the way I was raised, being taught that I wasn’t worth the bed I was sleeping on.

But my boys had changed all of that for me. They had given me a gift I didn’t know I needed. And I thanked them every day for that. I knew they were going to be the best fathers any kid could ever want. And it didn’t matter how many we had, each and every one would be loved and cherished just as much as they loved and cherished me.

And I couldn’t fucking wait.