Death Wish (Deception Duet 2)

“I missed you,” Scout rumbles. “You missed me, too.”

“Just your cooking,” I tease, smiling against his mouth. “We all basically suck at it.”

“Speak for yourself, woman,” Sully says with an annoyed huff. “I make a mean spaghetti.”

“Out of a can,” Sparrow chimes in. “You literally dump and heat that shit. It’s not rocket science.”

“Canned spaghetti sauce?” Scout curls his lip up. “Don’t worry, baby, I’m going to feed you all day every day.”

“She’s already spoiled,” Sparrow tattles. “Now she’ll never have to lift a finger to do anything.”

“Why do you think I chose to have three boyfriends at once?”

Scout smirks. “Marry me.”

Oh my God. These boys are insane, but I love how intense they are. They don’t do anything half-ass.

“I can’t marry the three of you,” I sass. “The law won’t let us.”

“Fuck the law,” Scout murmurs, his lips finding my neck. “Marry me so you’ll have our last name. So you’ll forever be ours.”

“I already am forever yours.”

“Me and Sparrow actually talked about this yesterday,” Sully reveals. “One of us will marry you, but you’ll belong to the three of us. We were supposed to flip a coin, but we didn’t get a chance to tell Scout yet.”

I glower at him. “You were going to try and win me on a coin toss?”

“Fuck a coin toss,” Scout says with a devilish grin that makes my heart flutter. “I asked first, so I win.”

“You proposed to me in the backseat of your brother’s car.” I huff, smacking at his chest. “Not exactly romantic.”

“It gets the job done.”

“Gross. I hate you,” I tell him. “I’ll marry whoever gives me the most romantic proposal. How about that?”

“Nah,” Scout barks out. “I called dibs on you first.”

“I’m not the last ice cream sandwich in the freezer, asshole! I’m your woman!”

We continue to argue, the three of them ganging up on me until we arrive at our new brownstone. Leo put us up in the perfect home with a great school district for Della. Better yet, it gets us out of the apartment Bryant owned. I’m not sure if we’ll stay here forever and go to college locally or if we’ll end up moving to Massachusetts for Harvard, but it’s nice knowing we have a place that’s ours and we can take our time deciding. Sparrow parks in front of our house and we all climb out. Scout stays glued to my side, a possessive arm wrapped around my shoulders.

“Landry Croft, honey, will you marry me?” Sully waggles his brows at me. “Is that romantic?”

“Slightly better than Scout’s,” I agree, “but still lame.”

Sparrow laughs at his brother who is now pouting. “Do I win if I have a ring?”

“I do love jewelry,” I tease.

“What the fuck, man?” Sully demands. “You seriously don’t have a ring.”

Sparrow holds up his phone, showing me a glittering ring he searched up on the internet. White gold with three massive diamonds on it. “Do I win?”

“This ring is perfect,” I murmur, grinning, “but until it’s sitting on my finger, I guess I’m still undecided on who I’ll marry.”

“I’ll drag you to the courthouse right now,” Scout growls. “Decision made.”

“Fine,” I grumble. “You can win, but I don’t want a dumb courthouse wedding. I want it to be epic and fabulous. A princess wedding.”

“Whatever you want,” Scout says, dragging me up the steps. “Now let’s get inside. There are two girls I’ve missed more than you.”

“Sparrow, you’re my favorite now,” I tease, letting him steal me away from Scout.

We enter our new house and Ty stands from the couch. He grins upon seeing the four of us. Della looks up, sees Scout, and bolts for him. He hauls her into his arms, squeezing her tight. I chew on my bottom lip, trying and failing to keep from crying at their sweet reunion. Heathen makes her presence known, meowing loudly and circling his feet.

Finally.

Everything feels right and in place.

After Della pulls away from Scout, she signs to Ty, You can learn how to make pancakes like Scout. He’s our maid.

Ty snorts out a laugh and signs back, Is that so?

She nods and grins at Scout before signing to him, Right?

He rolls his eyes at me and signs back, Yeah, but at least I’m not the dummy.

Everyone looks over at Sparrow. He shoots us the bird, which isn’t sign language, but still gets the point across.

All the guys, Ty included, have been learning ASL because of Della. It makes me happy that they accept her the way she is and want to communicate with her.

“Now that you guys are back, I’m going to bounce. I have a date.” Ty waggles his brows at me. “Call me later so I can tell Della goodnight.”

She hugs Ty, who took the news of having a new cousin well and actually wanted to be in her life, and then he’s gone. Scout takes her into the kitchen to get started on some pancakes per Della’s request. Sully tries to assist but Della makes dramatic signs, reminding him he’s a terrible cook. I can’t help but laugh.