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“Yes, and I can incapacitate a man in twelve different ways, Tia Tesa,” Melly says with affection.

Greg smirks in a way that looks a lot like his daughter as he takes a sip of his beer. “If he tries anything you don’t like, Orion knows a few pig farms he can feed him to.”

Orion snorts in amusement, not because he’s wrong, but because Melly rolls her eyes.

“I have the world’s weirdest family,” she sighs. The doorbell rings and she brightens. Even though it’s Halloween, Melly isn’t wearing a costume. Instead, she’s wearing ripped up tights, a short skirt, and corset top. In other words, she’s dressed for some fun.

“I know you can take care of yourself, but can Turner and I fuck with him a bit?” I ask with a feral smile.

“If he can’t deal with you, then he doesn’t deserve me, now does he?” She winks.

“Hear hear!” Lennon cheers. Derek wraps his arms around our girl’s waist, well acquainted with our antics. It’s loud and rowdy in the house when I open the front door. We’re still touring and making music, but I’ve heard that Carlo doesn’t have decent taste in music.

It’s just another reason why he’s not good enough for Melly.

“You here for our girl?” I ask menacingly as Turner stands next to me.

“Who… who are you?” Carlo asks with wide eyes. This is a fairly new relationship, so he doesn’t know who we are to Melly. I’m certain she only told him to pick her up at our house because she knew she’d be here chatting with us.

We tend to rotate where we have our Halloween party, and this year it’s at our home. There’s spooky decorations, a twelve-foot skeleton, and we are definitely feeling the spooky vibes.

Did I mention that Turner and I are wearing black and white paint that makes us look psychotic? Good times.

“We’re your worst nightmare,” Turner says, lifting Sally up to his shoulder. She may be Sally 4.0 by this point, but he’s never had the heart to change her name. He’s sentimental like that.

“Look man, I don’t want any trouble. She told me to pick her up here. If the bitch was hooking up with y’all, she shouldn’t be fucking with me,” Carlo stutters, falling down the porch steps.

Idiot. Looking over my shoulder, I see Melly mouthing the same word in Spanish.

“You’re too stupid to live,” Turner mutters. “Get out of here while you can!”

Our whoops and hollers scare him away, and Melly sighs as she stares at us. “I need a drink and some time in the rage room to work out my sexual frustration,” she grumbles.

Nothing like establishing good anger management?

I think our biggest adventure has been becoming parents and raising kids. Not only our own, but Tesa and Tori’s too. We’re lucky to have our own village.

We haven’t seen Layla yet tonight, but I’m sure she’s chasing her own brood. She’ll pop by soon enough. Our family has been buying up the land around us, making our own compound of houses. I’m not even sorry.

Closing the door as Carlo leaves in his screeching hatchback, I prepare to reenter the fray of the party. Life is loud and busy, but I would prefer that to the silence that comes when the house is empty.

Unless I get to make my girl scream because we’re home alone. I’ll take that any day. After the darkness, I hope for the light, and I’m lucky enough to find it in the love of family.