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“No, I swear I didn’t teach her… I don’t even know what she is talking about at this point.”
“Mmh mmh,” I hummed dryly, turning back to the mirror as he pushed himself off the door and held my hips, pressing my back to his chest.
“My Flower,” he sighed out as I gazed at him through the mirror. His eyes were closed and I wondered what was going on in his mind.
I still had butterflies whenever I looked at him and I realized that love was a really beautiful, yet powerful thing that could turn anyone into the best or worst version of themselves.
Our parents chose to be the worst, but Jayden and I chose to be the best. It was not a secret that we were living only for each other, and if the situation were to come up, we would die for each other.
“Did you pack my knives?”
His eyes snapped open, and I turned to him, biting back a laugh. “You are joking, right?” I shook my head with a small pout on my face. “Oh come on baby, let’s not do that. We’re going to Florida to have a new life, you can’t bring your knives. You have like thirty-two.”
“But I promised Gideon to help him whenever he needs me.”
“And I promised you that I would let you help him, right?” I nodded at his question. When he brought the idea of going to Florida, he also wanted me to stop being an assassin, but it was a part of me, it wouldn’t be easy to just stop one day.
‘We can take it slow,’he had said and I only accepted after he promised that I could help Gideon if he ever called me.
“So let’s not bring your knives, please?”
“But I want to, I can’t live without them,” I pouted again and he closed his eyes before exhaling.
“Fine then, let's take just five…” I furrowed my eyebrows in disagreement. Five knives out of thirty-five? “Ah okay ten, let's take ten and keep them home as your ‘collectibles,’ hm?” I sighed and nodded. The corners of his mouth rose into a beautiful grin and I stared at him in amazement.
He pressed his lips to my forehead and I closed my eyes to savor the moment. He moved back and stared into my eyes again. I smiled at him and he smiled right back.
“Flower…”
“Jay.”
“I love you.”
“And I love you.”
“I don’t ever want to do anything without you, please?”
“You won’t have to.” His lips curled into a smile at my unequivocally positive responses.
He joined his lips to mine and our lips moved slowly, communicating our feelings for each other. His tongue slid into my mouth and mine curled against his as we shared a heartfelt deep-seated intimacy.
We released each other and as I punched him in his abs, he winced. “You ruined my lipgloss.”
“Apply it again, duh. I’ll be waiting with the kids in the sitting room. I swear if you take more than five minutes, I’m throwing you over my shoulder till we get to the airport.”
“I’m not only good with knives, my hands are very trained too.”
He rolled his eyes, a smile still on his face. “Yes, Ms Alex. you’re never going to stop bragging about being an assassin, are you?”
“No, I’m never going to stop, so get used to it. Now get out of my room.” He winked and returned to the sitting room, while I faced the mirror and applied a new layer of lip gloss.
I heard Ariana scream before giggling and I breathed a laugh with a shake of my head. Jayden played all sorts of rough play with them, and they were up and down for it every time.
I thought of everything that happened so far and I smiled, arranging my things back in the drawers. I opened the middle drawer and looked at my knives, as I packed ten of my favorites into the mini bag I was holding. I caressed the rest of the knives that couldn’t come with me and a sharp one cut my hand, releasing a single bead of blood which I sucked into my mouth.
They had never failed me. They were my babies and I was sorry that I was leaving them behind because they no longer fit into my life. It was all for the best, I had a family now and I didn’t want to put them in danger. Starting a new life would keep everyone safe and that was exactly what I wanted.
One of the knives was a limited edition specifically made for assassins by a guy who lived in a small town and it had words embroidered on it. It was written in Italian, but the English translation was ‘Blood is thicker than water.’ I got the tattoo after I got the knife because I loved the play on words.
My mind snapped to the original meaning of the sentence.
The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, chosen bonds are more significant than the bond with families. Like Jayden, Kendal, Ariana, and I. Our families might have failed us, but we found and chose each other, and I would choose them all over again.
They were once total strangers who connected with me in different –yet same– ways and now they were people I would never trade for anything in the world.
Now they were home, my home.