Page 98 of Fallen Flame

I nudged him with my shoulder. “Oh, come on.”

“What?”

“You noticed.”

He shook his head. “Honestly? No.”

I raised an eyebrow. “No?”

“They’ve always just been Drew and Demi. I’ve known them too long. They’re family.”

I laughed. “You’re hopeless.”

“So I’ve been told.”

He thought for a second. “Scout noticed, though.”

“Oh?”

He nodded. “There was a time he had a thing for Demi.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh.” I smiled to myself. “That’s interesting.”

“He was never exactly subtle, though.”

“I’ll have to remember that.”

Oliver chuckled. “Don’t go causing trouble trying to meddle with those two.”

“I would never,” she gasped.

He gave me a look. “Lark.”

“I would only cause a little trouble.”

“I believe that.”

I laughed and settled back against him.

The room grew quiet again. This time it wasn’t because either of us had run out of things to say. It was because something inside him had finally eased. The doubts were probably never going to disappear completely since some scars didn’t, but tonight, as I lay wrapped safely in his arms, I hoped he’d remember one thing the next time those doubts tried to creep back in.

Family wasn’t always the people who shared your blood.

Sometimes they were the people who looked at you, chose you, and never once let you question that choice again.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Lark

One week later, the clubhouse looked less like the headquarters of a motorcycle club and more like a poorly supervised daycare for grown adults.

The front door had barely closed behind me before Alice shouted from somewhere near the kitchen. “Don’t let Wrecker see the box!”

I stopped with my hand still wrapped around the doorknob and looked across the room. “Which box?”