Page 119

Dash looked like he’d either sucked on a lemon or he’d taken a bite out of a turd. I wasn’t sorry in the slightest. Why should I be the only one having to worry about this all the time?

The good news was Dash appeared to be even more disturbed by the entire thing than I was. That made me feel loads better.

“Ariel,” he muttered irritably. “My dad is celibate. I think he vowed to stay that way after I was born.”

My lips tipped up in a tiny smile that I couldn’t avoid.

Celibate, he’d said. I snorted. I wondered if he was just fooling himself and how much longer that farce would last.

Like he knew my thoughts, Tyson showed up with a brand-new bottle of bubbly. He placed it on the table beside my empty glass. He picked up the empty bottle on the table and leaned in to press his lips to my jaw. “You and me, girl, we’re gonna dance soon. Maybe after you finish this next bottle and you’re nice and loose.”

He nipped at my jaw playfully and then he was gone.

Clearly he hadn’t really been around me when I had been boozing it up before, or he’d know that another bottle of bubbly might actually put me to sleep. I didn’t need to be sleeping anytime soon, there was naked goodness to be had tonight and I didn’t want to miss out on the fun. Nobody had made me any promises about tonight, but damn it, I was a girl who knew what I wanted and I was going to get it for myself.

I poured myself another glass, using one of the clean ones around the table. Just one more, and then I’d cut myself off.

I spotted Quinton by the bar with Raven and Finn. Raven had a red plastic cup in his hand. All these fancy glasses on the tables so we could be classy enough to serve drinks in red SOLO cups. The whole thing was vastly amusing because Quinton stood next to him with his own expensive bottle of bubbly in his hands, having forgone a cup entirely. Finn had a bottle of beer in his hand that was currently raised to his lips, and he had a small, weird smile on his face.

It struck me then that everyone was relaxed and having a good time. After so long of living under the cloud of the Council, we were now finally able to breathe easy, and doing it on a day that could have been stressful and extreme.

We had all needed a day like today.

A good day.

No, an absolutely beautiful day.

A day we would all remember, or at least myself and my coven would.

I moved here as a broken girl with only an evil woman to call my family.

Now look at everyone I had to call my own, all the incredible, truly amazing people in my life who loved me. There wasn’t much more a girl like me could ask for or want.

I never thought to even hope to be happy because hope was the devil. Yet here I was, happy, and it was almost hard to believe.

“Do you ever feel like you’re living in a dream?” I asked Dash as I scanned the crowd. My eyes caught on Brighton and narrowed.

“Every single day since you’ve come into my life. Today more so than all the rest.”

My heart melted into a puddle on the floor.

I turned to face him, and he was already there waiting for me. His lips brushed against mine, and I nipped his bottom lip with my teeth.

He groaned as he closed his eyes. “I fucking love your sweet mouth.”

I just fucking loved everything about him.

“Let’s go dance before I take this too far and you end up on your back on this table with my face buried between your legs.”

Yeah, as much as I loved the sound of that, the kids didn’t need a show and my dad would kill him.

That, and sex in front of other people who weren’t my men wasn’t really something that ever interested me. And, given recent events, it likely never would.

I pulled away from him and nodded my head toward Damien and Julian. “I’ll meet you out there. There’s something I need to take care of.”

Brighton had a beer in his hands, and he needed someone to take it away from him and deliver a nice little talking to that he’d likely ignore but still needed all the same. I had thought Quinton of all people would have gotten that in hand, but apparently tough love wasn’t something big brother Quinton was capable of dishing out.

I did not appreciate that the job of getting that kid under control fell to me, but here we were, and we were a family for real now, so I had every right.