Forever Us (Always and Forever 4)

“How about we make that now?” I ask, reaching into my jean pocket, removing the simple gold band, and slipping it on my pinky finger. “Marry me, Lana. Give me the best thing a best friend can, and pledge this beautiful heart, body, and soul to me. Give me fucking everything,” I whisper. Water pools in her eyes, gathering then falling perfectly.

“Yes, make us that forever thing you’re always boasting about.” She winks, and her eyes pinch with her broad, dimpled smile.

“I can do that.” Winking back, I take the gold band from my pinky and slide it onto her ring finger, the bandage around her palm not in the way.

“You mock the sun. It appears duller whenever you’re around. You outshine it,” Lana whispers against my chest. Nestling into me, her bruised cheek seeks the warmth of my hot skin under my thin shirt.

“Did you plan all this? This whole fucking time?” I implore.

“Plan what?”

“To come and fuck me all up and be my everything?”

“Yeah, you’re kind of a sucker when it comes to me,” she banters.

“Well, good thing our egos are big enough for the both of us, smart ass.” Reaching under the blanket, I grab a handful of her ass, and all she does is giggle carelessly.

Lana’s right. That sound, that looming unknown, is gone. Our haven has come.

It’s been two months since my nightmare officially ended. Kingston and I sold the house faster than we bought it. I couldn’t have that place be our home. It will be in the past, along with Joel and everything he ever did to me.

We settled into a new home, just down the road from Shayla and Trey. Funny how the boys gave us a ton of crap and pleaded their case, saying Shay and I would be together more now. But, they ate their own words when they ended up seeing each other more and more. You can never break up a bromance that strong.

We leave for Portland tonight to get married at Kathy and Pops’s estate, and I’m a ball of nerves. The move and the wedding planning—fast wedding, might I add—have been the perfect distractions. I don’t want to think about Joel anymore. I don’t want to think about him, even after his death. He’s gone, and I’m no longer afraid of the things that go bump in the night.

Defeating the enemy. That’s my new story, and I will never regret protecting my children, or myself.

When I pulled that trigger, I felt the dark demon in me leave; it left this earth with its keeper. Call it vengeance, call it vindication, call it whatever you like, but I call it freedom. If Joel wouldn’t have come for me seconds before I pulled the trigger, I wouldn’t have shot him. I would have told him all the ways I hated him, and then I’d let the justice system take him away again and deal with him, but he didn’t listen.

He looked down the barrel of the gun and thought he would still win and remain untouchable. But the little bubba in my belly and my son just down the hall, screaming for me, were my only concern. Them or Joel. My choice was my motherly right.

“Lana, you bride-to-be! You ready or what?” Shayla bursts through our front door and shouts at the bottom of the banister. I finish packing up the rest of my suitcase, adding in my makeup bag and personal care products.

“Up here!”

A few seconds later, Shay enters the room twin-free. “Yay! Wedding weekend!”

“Where are the babies?” I avoid wedding talk for now. I’m already a wreck and don’t need to add to it.

“Kathy stayed behind so they could nap. I will pack them in the car once we get back to my place.”

“Perfect, Kingston said he will meet us at your place with Prince after his haircut.”

“Did he take him with?” she asks, plopping down on our fluffy bed.

“Yes, I had to work this morning, and he wanted some daddy time.”

I zip up the bag, and Shayla picks at the bed with no more questions. She’s stewing and I know it.

“Ask,” I push her.

“What?” She plays dumb, but I don’t buy it.

“You want to see it?”

Biting her lip, her brows draw in, indicating pain. “You don’t have to show me if you don’t want to.”

“It’s fine. You don’t ever have to be afraid to ask.”