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Soft laughter bubbles in her throat. “Me neither.”

The tip of her nose crinkles up. “Your mother said it’s not good to see the bride before the wedding.”

Mother, why do you have to meddle?

“You’re not sleeping somewhere else,” I state, unwilling to compromise on that.

“I don’t want to upset your mother. It’s just one night,” she says but frowns, not seeming to like the idea either.

“I’ve spent way too many nights without you. That will never happen again.”

She fidgets with the lapels of my shirt. “Mika will pick you up shortly for your bachelor party.”

Snaking my arms behind her back, I drag her up to my chest, holding on her ass. “Fuck that. I don’t want a party that says it will be my last good night before I marry. That’s shitty when all I am looking forward to is spending the rest of my life with you. I’ve had my fair share of parties, giving in to the nightlife and everything it offered, and it wasn’t much.”

Her face blooms with the biggest grin possible. I love to see that look, and knowing I am the reason makes me feel so damn proud.

“Hmm, what about we do something together, the four of us?” she asks, locking her arms around my neck.

“I am on board with that.” As long as she’s in my vicinity, I don’t care about where we are and what we’ll do.

She plants a kiss on my lips before she slips out, heading to the main house to meet with my sister, but I call her name, stopping her.

Sliding my hands in my pockets, I cock my head. “We can move there.”

She offers me a secretive look, placing a finger on her lips. “Shh, this is our newlywed house.”

One day, my sister will hopefully move out, not for our sake, but for hers. I know my mother feels alone in that mansion.

On her way there, Mika drives down the paved road. When he stops the car, they talk for a while. They’re brother and sister and similar in so many ways that I could have come up on my own that they’re relatives.

She kisses his cheek, which is new, but that only means she trusts herself more around him. Then he drives toward me. Parking the car, he gets out, emotions clear in his eyes.

“She seems happy,” he says. “She informed me of the change to your bachelor party plans.”

“Brother, hopefully you’ll see it one day. Men like us, we’ve done it all, tried it all, so when you meet your other half, all youwant is to spend time with her, show her the world. I don’t miss my life before her.”

He slaps a hand on my shoulder, giving it a little squeeze.

We move to the porch, and he drops on the seat next to me. Calla decorated the porch with a chaise lounge. She can paint the whole house pink. It’s her house and all I care about is that she’s happy, but the addition is nice as we enjoy our nights sipping glasses of wine and talking.

Mika and I have known each other for a long time. We were loud when needed, silent when we had to fill in the gaps. Through it all, he’ll always be my brother, so him not confessing to me what’s bothering him doesn’t sit well. But I know that pressuring him will only make him deny that there’s something wrong which will only add unnecessary strain.

I go inside and bring us two beers from the fridge, then I tell him about the meeting with the Syndicate.

“Doesn’t matter. If they want to end up dead, let them come for us,” he says in time for my fiancé and my sister to walk over to us.

“So, we decided where we’re going. To the pool at the Vintage,” Calla says, and my sister bounces up and down, not containing her excitement.

“The fuck we are,” Mika says, glaring at Dahlia, who glares right back.

“Hey, don’t ruin our bachelor slash bachelorette party,” Calla warns, thrusting her finger at him.

He turns his head to me, raking a hand through his hair. “Are you okay with that?”

“What my woman wants, she gets.”

“Whipped idiot,” he grumbles while I grin proudly.