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“We have one,” Hawthorn replies, pulling back and flipping his middle finger playfully in Kip’s direction. “And on that note, I think I’m going to take my fiancée home, because this power suit is turning me the fuck on.” He laughs.
“We’ll swing by and pick you guys up at seven,” Gulliver says.
“I wish we were going to be there to see their faces,” Davis pouts. “Please, Pen, let us come watch you guys obliterate your parents.”
“If it were up to me, I’d let you come,” I tell him.
“No, it’s just the four of us tonight,” Gulliver snaps. “It’s time to go and see good ole Mom and Dad,” he laughs.
Hawthorn holds out his hand, and I place my palm against his, loving the warmth and comfort a single touch from him can elicit. Lifting our joined hands into the air, he motions for me to twirl, and I giggle, twirling beneath his arm as he walks us toward the exit doors.
“Come on, Princess, let’s go back to the castle and chill out for a few hours before we have to face the evil beasts,” he says playfully.
“Take me home, my Prince.” I laugh, pushing up onto my tiptoes to claim his lips with mine.
Instead of taking control of the kiss, he lets me take charge, mirroring my actions and letting me kiss him however I want. Starting off slow, I move my lips against his, tasting his skin before I part his mouth with my tongue. Sweet heat fills me as I deepen our connection, caressing his tongue with my own. I lose myself in the way it feels to be in his arms, to be pressed so close together that I can feel his heart beating against my chest. My eyes are closed, but it doesn’t matter because, in his arms, nothing and no one else exists.
It feels like a lifetime ago that I thought love was just a feeling other people got, one that I’d never have the opportunity to feel. My life was planned out, each step orchestrated and considered before any action was taken. Sex, marriage, touching, kissing—I was taught that it was all just a tool, a means to an end, but my mom was wrong, so truly wrong. If I hadn’t woken up and seen how evil I and my parents were, I could have been forced into a loveless marriage with a man who saw me as nothing more than a very expensive meal ticket.
I gave up a fortune for my freedom, and I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat if it meant I got to keep this man forever. Hawthorn groans, and all thoughts of my parents and how my life could have been blow away into the ether, where all bad dreams end up.
Heat courses through me as he curls his arms a little tighter around my waist, forcing my body so close not even a hair’s breadth separates us. His tongue becomes a little more demanding, stroking and teasing me, taunting me to up the ante or allow him to take over.
I could fight him for dominance, but why would I? He doesn’t want me to cower, he wants me to allow him to help me fly. Hawthorn Benedict saved me. He rescued me from my life, from my demons, from my own self-loathing. He is my everything, and after today, he’ll be the only thing that matters.
Tonight, my sweet revenge will be reaped, my vengeance complete, or as complete as I care to get it. Tonight, we bring our parents to their knees and show them how wrong they were to have written us off. Tonight, we show them how much they’re missing out on by not loving us the way a parent should.
Instead of devouring me, Hawthorn pulls back, waiting as my eyes refocus on him. “Let’s go home.”
Nodding, I let him guide me out of the hotel, into his car, and then into our bed, reminding myself how unbelievably lucky I am to be so loved the entire time.
* * *
Fitzy looks from me to my sister and back again, his lips spread into a wide grin as he takes in the outfits he’s put together for us. “Yes,” he cries “Perfect, you’re both perfect.”
Looking at my sister, I nod. “He’s right, you look perfect,” I tell her, admiring the little black dress she’s wearing. The fabric is fitted to her body with exaggerated, voluminous long sleeves that cinch in at the wrists.
“So do you,” she says, smiling as she takes in my red dress, demure at the front but completely backless, the silk dipping down to barely an inch above my butt crack.
“Oh, my girls, together and ready to go take down their evil parents,” Fitzy coos. “I’m so proud.” He laughs, opening his arms and beckoning us both forward for a hug. “Make them pay,” he whispers, pressing a kiss against my cheek, then Izzy’s, before he pulls away, smiling like a proud parent.
“Time to go,” Gulliver says, poking his head around the doorway.
“We’ll be right down,” Izzy tells him, as Fitzy blows us both a kiss, then follows Gulliver from the room. I had planned to get ready at home, but Fitzy insisted on dressing us for what he keeps calling the final showdown together, so Hawthorn and I came to Gulliver’s house. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she says the moment we’re alone, fidgeting with her clutch as she nervously bites at her lower lip.
“Are we actually doing this?”
“It doesn’t feel real, does it?” she says quietly.
“No, it doesn’t. I wanted this. I was so lonely and sad, and I wanted revenge because they deserve it, but…”
“But they’re our parents,” she whispers, as if she doesn’t want to admit it out loud.
“Yes.”
“If it was just for what they did to me, I’d say we’ve done enough. But a few bruises are nothing in comparison to what they did to you. They stole four years from us, so let’s steal four years from them. After that, we’ll see,” she says, her voice strengthening with every word.
“Four years,” I say, nodding. “Four years, I like that.”
