Page 146 of Meant for Mayhem

The porch went silent, even the noise inside fading beneath the pounding of my heart.

Colton looked at me for a long moment, then shook his head. “You’ll regret this someday.”

“Maybe.” I’d spent years terrified of cutting off my family, and maybe some part of me always would be. “But that’s my decision to live with. Not yours.”

Cash muttered something under his breath and turned toward the steps.

Colton stayed where he was. “Shannon⁠—”

“No.” I held up a hand. “I’m done. Don’t call me. Don’t text me. Don’t come looking for me ever again. If there ever comes a day when you can talk to me without blaming me, threatening me, or telling me what I owe you, then maybe we can try again. But until then, I’m done.”

Cash was already halfway to the truck. Colton lingered for another few seconds before following him, his boots thudding heavily down the steps.

I held it together until the truck disappeared beyond the trees, then every part of me started shaking.

Mikko moved in front of me, blocking the wind as his hands closed around my upper arms. “Rakas.”

“I’m okay.”

“You don’t have to be.”

“I know.” A wet laugh escaped me. “Which is weird, because I’ve been saying I’m fine when I’m clearly not for decades.”

“You were incredible.”

“I think I might throw up.”

He pulled me against his chest. I buried my face in his shirt and held on, breathing in the familiar scent of him while the adrenaline slowly drained from my body.

Unfortunately for me, my new family was made up of a bunch of nosy assholes, so the peace didn’t last long.

“Shannon?” Stevie called through the front door. “Are we allowed to come out yet, or are you doing freaky sex things with your no longer fake husband?”

Mikko’s chest shook beneath my cheek.

I laughed even though tears spilled down my face. “We’re not doing sex things.”

“She didn’t deny the fake husband thing, though,” Daisy shouted from somewhere behind her. “Somebody owes me fifty bucks.”

I lifted my head, wiping my cheeks on my sleeve. Through the window beside the door, I saw Emmy, Daisy, Stevie, and Lori crowded together, with Beckett and Ty hovering behind them. All of them waiting inside, making sure I wasn’t alone.

My walls cracked wide open all over again, except this time, I didn’t try to hold it up. I let them fall, knowing everyone here would never hurt me.

Mikko brushed his thumb beneath my eye. “Ready to go inside?”

I looked through the glass at my loud, ridiculous, overprotective family. At Daisy smacking Stevie’s hand away from the doorknob. At Beckett arguing with Ty. At Lori standing in the middle of all of them, waiting for me with the same quiet love she’d always given me.

Then I looked at my husband.

“Yeah.” I slid my arms around his neck, then looked at the mistletoe hanging above us. “But we could give them a show first. Make them regret spying on us.”

His gaze lifted above my head, and one corner of his mouth tipped up. “We are under the mistletoe.”

“Is that why you let me handle that myself? So you could collect your reward afterward?”

“No.” Mikko pulled me closer, his expression mischievous. “But I do love watching you tear men down.”

I tossed my head back and laughed. “Shut up and kiss me, husband.”