Page 47 of Stars Like Confetti

I took a sip of the drink. The cotton candy dissolved on my tongue, giving a sweeter flavor to the tinted liquid inside. "You have a real family here don't you."

"We," Theo corrected. "We have a real family."

Chapter Twenty-Four

Theo

The floor thumped beneath me with the pulsing bass from the music. The vibrations traveled up my legs to my hips, which swayed to the beat. I was technically working, but that didn't mean I couldn't have fun. I tucked my Loops deeper in my ears to dampen the noise. It was my first day back after camp, and the time away from the music had made me more sensitive to it.

Kaylee approached the bar, looking hot as ever in a leather corset and miniskirt. The neons of the club bounced off the vibrant pink of her hair.

"Hey!" I called, finding a quiet corner of the bar to lean across and let her kiss my cheek. "Good to see you! Where are your Little ones?"

She gestured over her shoulder, where her two Middles—Shane and Adam—writhed against each other, sweat glistening off their skin. "Those two have been inseparable lately."

I smiled. "What about the others?"

How Kaylee was now managing five Littles and Middles, I'd never know.

"Sienna's having a rough day," she explained. "Me and Dakota are keeping her occupied in the nursery. Taylor is trying out some DLC in the video game room—whatever that means." She glanced over her shoulder again. "I only came down here to check on those two and saw you behind the bar."

"What are you drinking?"

"Just a club soda for now."

"Sure thing."

I filled a glass with ice and sprayed some club soda in with the drink gun.

"How's Shea settling in?"

That brought an involuntary smile to my face. "Like he's belonged here all along." And he has. But I didn't dare say that part out loud. My friends were already accusing me of getting sappy enough—I couldn't let them be right.

Even more than they already were.

"I'll say," came a voice from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder—Jordan, but he wasn't looking at me. I followed his line of sight… right to my boy on the dance floor.

Shea glowed under the lights, and it was as if the mass of sweaty, writhing bodies parted just for him. And like he knew I was watching, his eyes found mine. A slow, seductive grin curled his lips and he leaned back onto Tyler's chest. Tyler's hands were on Shea's hips, and Shea wound an arm back to curl around the other boy's neck. Tyler looked my way too, but I knew his eyes were only for Jordan.

Shea's hips rocked to the music, his smooth stomach wiggling beneath the raised hem of his shirt and drawing my attention right to it. His low-rise jeans sat just beneath his belly button, and the fresh piercing there glittered under the lights. He ground against his friend, knowing full well that I was watching, and that I knew exactly what he was doing.

The original plan was to take a few more days off, but after the paperwork nightmare the day before, I needed to return sooner than I thought. Not to mention the influx of emails begging for another camp made me want to work it out as soon as possible.

Shea was reluctant to even separate from each other, much less leave our bed. I'd laid there in the early hours of the morning, watching him sleep. Golden light splayed across his chest and stomach, exposed where the blanket wriggled down in the night. I counted each soft rise and fall of his breaths, wondering how I got so damn lucky to not only love him once, but twice.

Loving him before had been new and exciting in the way that young love could be—all butterflies and stolen touches—but loving him now? I'd underestimated truly how much my boy could shine. His smile before was stunning, but his smile now was electric, true and lit up his eyes in ways that nothing could all those years ago. Loving him—truly loving him in whatever shape or form he appeared in was easy. So why hadn’t I made him mine yet?

We had years of love under our belt. When he was taken away, our relationship was far from over. We just pressed pause and now that he was out of his parents' control, we could have the true blockbuster happy ending that we deserved.

Why the hell was I dragging my feet in taking what I deserved? At giving Shea what he deserved.

"Fuck it," I muttered, signaling to my other bartenders to make sure they had things covered. I let myself through the partition, crossing the floor to Shea like a string tugged me the whole way. The crowd parted and gave me a clear path straight to him. Tyler saw me coming and tried to move, but I shook my head. If my boy wanted to have fun, then I was going to be included.

I slotted in between Shea's legs, blanketing Tyler's hands with my own. Shea's hips rocked forward against mine and for a moment, I'd forgotten my own name, let alone what I charged over here to say.

Then Shea's arms wound around my neck, he arched his back to press us together, and he stole the two words I'd wanted to say right out of my mouth.

"Marry me."