Page 166 of Only Fools Rush

Fuck.

Two seconds ago, I was thinking about this whole fucking thing being blown to smithereens because we just couldn’t figure out how to trust one another. But now? As that ring sparkled in the light?

It represented a future. One I never thought possible for myself.

“It’s beautiful, Cas,” Wynn said as he bent over the box. “It will look stunning on her.”

He handed the box to Ciel then stepped back. “I know we’re stuck now if we want the Vero Family men. More and more will turn to our side the more the word spreads. I know it, but I won’t give it to her unless…”

“Unless what?” I asked, the words barely a whisper.

“Unless the five of us want that, too.”

I gulped. Did I want that future?

He definitely wasn’t offering that ring as a joint symbol of marriage between all of us, whatever the hell that meant, butfuck. He wouldn’t give it to her if we said no.

“You’re asking for our blessing,” Ciel said.

The bodyguard nodded. “I guess so. Yes. I am.”

If he gave her that ring, if I said I was okay with it, that was committing.

“What’s the alternative?” I asked.

His ring on her finger.

My pulse was skyrocketing. My vision was a little spotty. Had I drank too much scotch? Or was this something different?

“I don’t give it to her, and we back out of the engagement,” he said. “We might lose the men, but we get to keep her. I don’t want it if it means she’s unhappy.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “If it meansanyof us are unhappy.”

“You’d take it back?” My lips felt fucking numb, but I glanced at Obi, and he stared at the sparkling ring like he’d seen a ghost.

“I know how much you all mean to her.” He looked to Ciel then. “I know how much she means to you, too. I know we agreed on a partnership before, but that was business. This discussion isn’t that. This is a relationship. So, I guess I’m trying to say, I’m in. On this.”

Ciel smiled, clasping his shoulder. “And you’re not going to hide shit anymore?”

The bodyguard shook his head. “No.”

“We need to be able to call each other out,” Wynn added. “And be honest with her and with each other.”

“Baby steps, Wynn,” Cas responded.

I laughed, deep and heavy. “Yeah, Wynn, let’s temper our expectations a little. I’ll agree not to kill him, but everything past that is going to take time.”

The bodyguard met my eyes and gave a slight grin.

He still drove me up the fucking wall, and we had a long way to go in terms of our viewpoints of Leona’s choices, but it was progress.

“Are you guys fine with this?” Caspian asked, gesturing at the ring box still in Ciel’s hand. “And for the record, it changes nothing.”

“I want her to have the choice,” Wynn said. “Even if she says no, it still changes nothing else.”

“Yes, I’m fine with it,” Ciel replied. “But you have to start believing that you’re one of us. You’re a Shadow, Cas, just like she is. We’re in this together.”

The bodyguard’s crooked smile brightened his eyes. “Thanks, Ciel. Ryuji?”

I stiffened. I didn’t want Leona to leave, and I didn’t want to leave her.