Page 36 of Pucking Possessive (Kings of Castlebrook #2)

LILAC

T he start of summer feels like waking up from a year-long nightmare and finding out the sun still remembers how to shine.

We’re at the pond. The hidden one the guys skate on in winter, frozen thick enough to hold half the team. But today, it’s warm and bright, the midday sun seems to catch on the water like scattered glass.

Earlier, Callum had been tangled in a web of nylon and fury trying to set up our tents.

While Hayden insisted the instructions were wrong and Tristan threatened to pack everything back into the SUV and leave us all behind.

He didn’t mean it though because he stood ten feet away sipping orange juice and muttering things like, “You two have the collective IQ of a shovel.”

“Why do these poles even bend ?” Hayden had growled, waving one like a sword.

“Because they’re supposed to arc, genius,” I remember Tristan said completely deadpan.

“That’s not helpful if they arc into my face!”

Eventually, the tents stood, barely, and the arguing faded into teasing and jokes, everyone settling into the relaxation of being able to have this family vacation with the family that we built ourselves.

I don't have blood family anymore, and these people I’m with today mean so much to me.

I haven’t spoken to my parents since they sent me that email.

I’m sure they think Adam is in hiding, tail tucked and trying to outrun his debts.

They’ll never know how he died, and I don’t think I’d tell them even if I was given the opportunity.

I really love this place, and I can’t wait to see it in the middle of winter. Our tents are set up on the banks, logs arranged in a circle around an unlit firepit, a couple coolers are already cracked open and spilling with drinks. Life is so good.

I look around and just take everything in. This is where Madi told me Hayden proposed to her. She said he did it right on the ice, months ago when the whole pond was frozen and snow dusted the edges like powdered sugar.

Us three girls are sitting on a thick picnic blanket. Madi brought it, so of course it’s white with little light pink bows on it. She curls her legs beneath her as she leans away from the firepit to grab two small light pink boxes adorned with little satin bows out of her bag.

She hands one to Winter and the other to me.

“What’s this?” I glance at Winter to see if she knows what’s up, but she looks as confused as I do.

“I don’t have sisters, but I think if I did, I wouldn’t love them as much as I love you guys,” Madi says cheerfully. She brushes her long, blonde ponytail off her shoulder and claps excitedly. “Come on! Open them.”

I get a little emotional at what she said and lean in to hug her before I open the box. I look at Winter and say, “On three?”

Madi counts us down and we pull the bow. When the boxes pop open, it reveals matching glass barrettes in the shape of a bow. They’re light blue, beautiful, and completely Madi’s style.

But I still don’t know what the occasion is.

“Will you two be my something blue?” she asks suddenly, glancing between Winter and me, and she’s blushing.

I blink. “Wait, like… for the wedding? Did you and Hayden set a date?” I don’t let her answer my rambling questions because Winter and I are lunging in to hug her. We all three tumble over.

“Of course I will! Oh my gosh, this is so exciting!” I tell her.

“You’re going to be the most beautiful bride,” Winter tells her.

“Hayden wants to invite the whole world to the wedding so everyone knows I’m off the market, but I really want it to be just our little group,” she says, grinning. “I want to be a young mom and Hayden wants to get married yesterday. We’re not waiting, so I want to start planning something now.”

Winter snorts. “Hayden probably just wants ‘Lockwood’ on your diploma.”

I giggle. “I hate to say it because I know he loves you more than anything, but that’s literally probably something he’s thought of.”

Madison sighs, shaking her head. “I can’t even argue with you.”

The bow is perfect. The box is perfect. And the thought of being in her bridal party makes my chest swell.

“Hayden didn’t have these made for you guys,” she jokes, pointing at the box. “So there’s only two in the world. Not a thousand.”

We laugh and pull her into a group hug. There’s giggling and happy squeals and so many questions like where, when, what color dresses.

“I think we’ll do it right here,” Madison says eventually, glancing around the pond. “It’s special for me and Hayden… but also for all of us. I think it would be nice.”

Winter nods. “Is Callum going to be the flower girl? Because I feel like that would be the best choice. We can get him a fanny pack and some glitter to throw.”

Madison laughs. “Don’t mention that to the guys because I fear they’ll be all for it.”

The guys wander over to see what the big fuss is about. Probably because they heard us having fun and they get cranky when they’re not in on anything we’re doing.

I hold up the little blue box and beam at Callum. “I’m going to be Madi’s bridesmaid.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Callum asks Hayden, clearly not understanding how surprises work.

Hayden crosses his arms. “It’s my personal business.”

We all burst out laughing, because of course he thinks anything involving Madison is his sacred territory.

Tristan smirks. “He wants a wedding because he knows she’s going to wake up one day and realize he’s an absolute psycho.”

Hayden doesn’t miss a beat. “She already knows that.” His expression is completely serious, and it only makes us laugh harder.

Callum throws an arm around my shoulders. “Don’t worry, man. If you have a daughter, Lilac and I will have a son so we can be in-laws.”

Hayden’s face twists in what can only be described as horror. “I will fight you in the street if your hypothetical kid so much as looks at my hypothetical daughter.”

Callum grins like he’s enjoying himself way too much. “He’s probably going to be just like me, and your daughter is going to look just like Mads. So he’ll probably be obsessed with her and kill a bunch of guys for asking her out.”

Hayden is screaming so many expletives that are strung together, I can’t even make them all out as he takes off after my man.

Callum yelps and bolts, and the two of them are suddenly sprinting around the lake like idiots while the rest of us double over laughing.

We hear Hayden’s voice echoing across the pond. “No one is asking my daughter out on a date! Not until she’s at least fifty…or I’m dead…and even then I don’t like it!”

Callum, still running, yells back, “He’ll probably scale the side of your house while you’re cuddling with Mads and spend the night in your daughter’s room without you even knowing!”

Hayden gains on him, probably fueled by pure rage at this point.

“STOP SAYING MADS!” Hayden screams.

Callum just cackles like a maniac as he rounds the pond, locking eyes with me as he blows a kiss. I grin, shaking my head at him.

He’s completely ridiculous. And I love him more than anything in this whole world.

Tristan watches them with a flat expression. “I hope they drown each other.”

Winter laughs. “They’re your only friends, you need to be nice to them.”

Tristan scrunches his nose like the concept personally offends him. “You’re my friend. They exist around me.”

Madison smirks. “I think that’s fair, considering you don’t acknowledge that most people exist.”

Tristan raises his glass in salute to her, like she just said the most profound thing he’s ever heard, then casually wanders off toward the grill.

He flips the burgers like nothing in the world could possibly rattle him.

Not screaming, not sprinting grown men, not hypothetical marriages between future offspring.

I wrap my arms around Madison and Winter, pulling them close as we all watch Callum take a running leap straight into the pond with a dramatic splash.

Hayden follows seconds later, still yelling, “Come back here and fight me!” like the man’s going to wrestle him underwater or something.

“Think they’ll ever grow up?” Madison asks, laughing as she leans into me.

“Absolutely not,” Winter replies dryly. “I think in twenty years they’ll be having this same fight and Tristan will still be insisting that he’s not associated with them.”

I let go of the huddle, walking over to the picnic table and grabbing our cups. I hand one to each of them, then lift mine toward the sun.

“May we be that lucky.”

They smile and clink their cups against mine.

“To the next twenty years,” I say.

And I mean it.

Every chaotic, ridiculous, perfect second of it.

By the time the sun starts to dip behind the trees, the pond reflects streaks of orange and rose gold across the surface. The fire is crackling strong, sparks flying every now and then as someone tosses on another log.

I’m curled up in Callum’s lap around the fire, my back pressed to his chest, his arms wrapped around me like he’s trying to keep me from floating away. It’s the kind of warmth that has nothing to do with the flames and everything to do with who we’re with.

Winter suddenly yells from the back of Hayden’s SUV, “SCORE!”

We all turn as she triumphantly lifts a half-smashed bag of marshmallows over her head like she’s just won an Olympic medal.

“I told you we brought them!” she beams.

There’s a collective cheer as everyone scrambles to grab sticks and start roasting.

“I’ll go get the graham crackers and chocolate!” Madi announces, already halfway to the cooler.

Everyone’s a little chaotic now. Callum is helping me sharpen a stick, Tristan is rearranging the firewood like we’re in some survivalist competition, and Hayden is inspecting the marshmallows to see if they’re up to his liking.

I lean my head back against Callum’s shoulder and let myself soak it all in. This moment. These people. The soft buzz of contentment that comes from knowing the worst is behind us and we’re still here. Still family.

“I love you,” I whisper to him.

He kisses the top of my head. “Yeah? Good. Because I spent a long time loving you in secret, bambi.”

Hayden pulls his marshmallow out of the fire, and it’s blackened, flaming, really, but he acts like it’s perfectly fine and slaps it onto a graham cracker with reckless confidence.

“That is not toasted,” Tristan says, watching in dismay.

“It’s got personality,” Hayden defends.

“It’s got a death wish,” Tristan replies.

Before I can make a joke, Callum shifts beside me and starts to stand.

“Where are you going?” I ask, confused but moving with him.

He doesn’t answer right away. Instead, he clears his throat and raises his voice just enough to catch everyone’s attention.

“Hey,” he says, pulling something from his pocket. “Can I say something real quick?”

The conversations hush, the crackling fire filling the silence.

Callum drops to one knee, and I swear that I feel my heart stutter in my chest when he opens the box to show me a sparkling diamond ring. It looks antique, nothing like the one that’s already on my ring finger.

“I know we did the whole fake thing,” Callum starts, his voice steady but thick with emotion. “But it’s never been fake for me. You’re my best friend, Lilac. You’ve always been my best friend. And now I want you to be my wife. For real this time. No pretending. Just us.”

Winter and Madi let out synchronized swoons, hands over their hearts.

I’m already crying when I drop to my knees in front of him, throwing my arms around his neck.

“Yes,” I whisper. Then louder, “Of course. Of course I’ll be your wife.”

“I love you,” he tells me, slipping my ring off and letting me look at the new ring. “This is Grandma Grey’s. Caiden called in a favor for me. She wants to meet you, and I think, me too, I guess.” I can hear the boy who came to live at my house when he was ten years old in his voice right now.

“I love you more, cowboy,” I whisper, cupping his face. “It’s perfect, and of course she wants to meet you. I can’t wait to tell her everything I know from the last decade. I want her to know how good you are. How good you’ve been to me.”

We’re in our own little world for a second until I hear Madison groan, “Hayden, don’t. Hayden, no. I will leave right now if you don’t sit your butt down.”

I look over just in time to see Hayden glaring at Callum across the fire.

Oh no.

“I PROPOSED HERE FIRST,” he yells.

Callum looks baffled. “What’s your deal?”

“Put the ring on her finger!” Hayden demands.

Callum laughs. “I was going to.”

“Then do it! Put the ring on her finger! ”

He slides the ring onto my hand, and the second it settles, Hayden starts power walking around the fire pit like he’s storming into a board meeting.

Callum grabs my face and kisses me. “I love you. And I gotta go if I’m gonna be alive for our wedding.”

He takes off running.

Hayden bolts after him.

“WHY ARE YOU CHASING ME?” Callum shouts.

“ I PROPOSED HERE! ”

“ YOU PROPOSED BY THE POND. I PROPOSED BY THE FIRE PIT! ”

Their voices trail off into the distance as they vanish into the trees.

Tristan doesn’t even flinch. “It’ll be a good story to tell at their hypothetical kids’ wedding, I suppose.”

And that’s it.

The moment we’ll be laughing about for the next twenty years.

I hope we never stop.

A few months ago, none of this felt possible..

And now… it’s everything to me.

This little messy, dysfunctional group. This found family of ours. We made it through things we don’t talk about out loud. We clawed our way through, and somehow, we ended up here with glitter jokes and bridal boxes and water fights.

I don’t take it for granted. Not even for one minute.