Page 25 of Avalanche (Endless Winter #3)

He pauses, his gaze dropping briefly to the ring in his hands before looking back up at me with a shuddering breath. With a look that is completely open and vulnerable, like a door flung wide open to his soul.

“Lily Dean, will you marry me?”

I stare down at him and feel time stop around us.

I think about those words I whispered against his lips only yesterday, with the taste of Antoine shared between us, when Liam and Matty had both been buried deep inside of me.

I think about that 4am conversation with Seth, and how he described loving as spinning out of control.

I think about every moment I’ve spent with Matty since we met, of each adoring look and little gesture, of each shy smile and spreading blush.

I stare at the ring in his hand and the spinning stills.

It’s still there, the fear, the desperate need to cling on to this thing the six of us have created, but it’s on the outside now.

Like Matty and I are in the eye of a hurricane.

I look at that ring and see it for exactly what it is: a promise.

A commitment. A rock in the wild uncertainty swirling around us.

Just a piece of paper , Seth had said. And that’s true.

But not for Matty.

Matty isn’t offering me a piece of paper. He’s offering me his heart.

“Yes.” The word comes out breathless, catching against the raw ache in my throat. “Yes.”

Matty’s smile lights up the whole room.

He slips the ring from its box, holding the golden band between two large fingers.

“Can I?”

I nod furiously and hold my left hand out to him. He takes my hand in his and slides the ring on. Carefully, slowly, his brow dipped in concentration.

“It fits,” he rasps.

“Yeah.” My smile stretches my cheeks, happiness threatening to burst out of my chest, pulling like the strings of an instrument wound too tight. “Yeah, it does.” I lift my hand, splay my fingers, admire the way those five stones catch the light. “It’s beautiful.”

“It was my grandma’s,” Matty admits, rising to his feet. He takes my hand in his, staring down at that little band on my finger like he can’t quite believe it. “My grandpa gave it to me when she passed away.”

A noise escapes me, something like a sob but happier, and I find myself pulling Matty against me, burying my face in his smooth dress shirt, my hands sliding against the fabric of his suit.

“You recorded that, right?” Eddie whisper-shouts from the kitchen.

“I’m recording right now,” Liam grumbles from beside us. “I recorded the whole thing.”

I turn, grinning like an idiot at the sight of him squashed into the corner between the couch and the door, his back pressed against the wall as he frowns into his phone, trying to get the right angle.

“Good thing she said yes,” Antoine points out. “Would be an awkward thing to record if she hadn’t.”

“Of course she was going to say yes,” Eddie replies, waving one hand dismissively. “She loves us. Don’t you Lily?”

My breath stutters, my mind snagging on his words. She loves us .

Us. Not him. All of them.

“Yeah.” I release my grip on the back of Matty’s suit jacket, pulling back so that I can see that look on his face. The one that says he loves me without any words. The one that he’s worn since the day I met him. “I do.”

“Congratulations.” Seth clears his throat, then comes forward to clasp Matty on the shoulder.

The two of them share a look, a silent conversation that I don’t understand.

“I’m really happy for you.” Seth’s words sound more like a warning.

Matty dips his head in a silent thanks that seems more like a promise.

“And you,” Seth adds, giving me a look that is part gentle softness and part question. Is this what you want? I can practically hear him saying. “I’m really happy for both of you.”

I smile up at him with a wild grin that pulls at my cheeks. Surely, he can see how happy I am. Surely, he can see how much I want this.

“And now bubbles!” Eddie announces, holding out two wine glasses filled with champagne. Matty and I take them, stepping apart from one another.

I feel suddenly shy, standing in the middle of all of them, with this ring on my finger and Eddie pressing a glass into my hands and everyone looking at me.

Matty must feel the same way because he cradles his glass close to his chest, staring at it in silence for a long moment as pink spreads down his throat, dipping beneath his collar.

“They helped me,” Matty admits sheepishly, edging closer to me until his shoulder is pressed against my own.

“Shit yeah we did,” Eddie grins, lifting his glass in salute. “We cleaned and everything.” He tilts his head towards Seth. “He picked up the flowers and champagne.” Another nod, this time at Antoine. “And he put together the cheese platter.”

“It was nothing,” Antoine says dismissively, but there’s no missing his smile, or the fond flash of his green eyes as he looks between me and Matty.

“Speaking of,” Liam interjects, pocketing his phone and striding into the kitchen, cutting through our little awkward cluster. I find myself sighing in relief as all those watching eyes turn to follow Liam instead. “I’m absolutely starving. Can we eat now?”

Antoine rolls his eyes, then follows his boyfriend into the kitchen, rushing after him with instructions for the plates lined up along the kitchen counter.

Eddie ushers me and Matty to the table. Seth sticks close to my side, a wary expression tucked beneath his smile as he takes the chair beside mine.

“Cheers, Missy.” Eddie leans across the table to clink his glass against mine.

“Thank you,” I tell him, and I mean it. “For all of this.”

I know, I just know that he was the one behind this. It was Eddie who dragged Matty out into the icy darkness last night and it was Eddie who brought Matty back from that darkness. I bet it was him who got these guys together too, who convinced them to help Matty with this whole crazy proposal.

“I just wanted a reason to make Matty buy some nice champagne,” Eddie says with a shrug, then flashes me a teasing grin. “And maybe not get left out next time you decide to have an orgy?”

I give a snort of laughter, my smile tugging almost painfully at my cheeks. Liam reaches over to whack Eddie in the back of his head.

“Stop being a vulgar cunt,” he reprimands.

“I thought we weren’t supposed to use that word,” Eddie retorts, scowling and scrubbing at the back of his head. “And it’s no reason to get violent.”

“You shouldn’t be pressuring her,” Matty frowns, staring between the pair of them with his brow knotted in concern. He never likes it when they argue, even if I’m convinced by now that’s just how they communicate. That it’s almost affectionate.

Matty turns to me, worry written in those bright blue eyes, his big hand finding my knee beneath the table. “You know you never have to do anything, right?” His cheeks flame bright red, but he powers on. “You don’t owe any of us anything. Ever.”

Something sweet and sharp presses behind my ribs, expanding until I think I might burst. I bite the inside of my cheek, momentarily too overcome with emotion to trust myself to speak.

“I know,” I finally say, my throat tight. “I know.”

I lean forward, pressing my lips to his, breathing him in. He tastes like champagne and love, and for a moment, I think I might melt into his arms completely.

I want him so much. I want all of them.

The suddenness of it hits me so fast, it feels like the room is spinning around me. I pull back, panting against Matty’s lips, staring into his heavy-lidded eyes.

“I won’t leave you out this time, Eddie,” I murmur, never taking my eyes off Matty’s. “Don’t worry.”