Monsters' Gift (Crude Hill High #2) - Sam Crescent Page 0,77

us all in the best possible way. She’d come back to us, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that she would forever belong to us.

There was no way this couldn’t not work. Staring at my family, and Emily, Gael, River, and Vadik, they were mine as I was theirs. Nothing would ever tear us apart, and I certainly wouldn’t let it.

The moment we found our parents, I was going to finally fucking end them. Only two left, and then, the rest of our lives.

Chapter Nineteen

Emily

I couldn’t remember a time I’d ever been this happy. As I stared across the room at Caleb, I felt the smile on my lips. This happiness didn’t grow on trees and it wasn’t inbuilt into anyone. This came about because … I was finally happy here with my four men. It helped having Ashley around, but Gael had told me on more than one occasion that Earl wanted to leave. He was tired of sticking around, and part of me couldn’t exactly blame him. Who would want to stay in this shitty town?

I paused in my reading and wondered if I wanted to leave. Growing up, all I envisioned was leaving town, getting out of here, but in truth, that was getting away from the lifestyle of everything we knew.

Tapping my fingers on the book, I glanced over at Caleb. He was writing something down.

“Did you ever think about leaving town?” I asked.

He looked up. “Why would I want to do that?” he asked.

“I don’t know. This isn’t exactly the best of towns.”

He chuckled. “It’s our home, Emily. Here, we don’t have to hide.” He put his pen down. “I have thought about it, though. Getting up. Leaving. Not looking back. I do think about it regularly.”

“What stops you?”

“I’m not one of these men who can pretend for shit,” he said. “I don’t want to rub shoulders with a society I don’t trust or believe in. To me, they’re the ones living a lie. Here, we’re the truth. It’s cold, fucking harsh, but it’s the truth.”

“Wow,” I said.

He got up from his seat and moved around the desk, coming straight to the sofa. A petty part of me wanted to scootch on over to stop him, but I restrained myself. I played the good girl role and watched him.

Caleb sighed as he sat down. “We’re all killers here, Emily. You know what we have to do. The deals we make. The risks to our lives every single day and we do it willingly. Out there, living a nine-to-five job, pretending I don’t know about this, I couldn’t do it. I was born and raised to be who I am today.” He reached out, stroking a curl back. “I thought you understood?”

“I do. Of course, I do. I don’t want you to change. I’d never want that. I just figured you’d want something else.”

I waited as he seemed to think about my answer.

“I guess I’m kind of boring. There’s nothing in this world I’ve ever wanted more than to have you.” He leaned in close and kissed my lips.

“Well, you’ve got me. Let’s hope you never, ever get bored.” I laughed, only partly joking.

“Marry me.”

This made me stop, and I stared at him as if he was completely crazy. “What?” There was no way I heard that correctly.

“Marry me, Emily. Make all of us happy men.”

“How does me marrying you make them happy men?”

“You want us, we want you. I’m the one who appears in charge. It always looks good on paper.”

“Do the others know that you’re asking me this right now?”

“Of course.”

I turned to see River entering the office. He held a knife in one hand and a half-eaten apple in the other.

Gael and Vadik were not too far behind him. They were also eating. Vadik handed Caleb a sandwich, while Gael gave one to me.

“Eat up. You’re going to need your strength.”

I stared down at the sandwich, not knowing if I had the appetite for it. Could I eat it?

Of course, I took a large bite. The largest one of all, chewing on the food, but I didn’t swallow. Just kept chewing.

“You can answer me whenever you like.”

“I didn’t think we were ever going to get married. There are way too many people at this party.”

At least Vadik laughed at my reasoning.

“It makes perfect sense to us. You’ll wear a ring of all of our choosing, but you’ll also be wearing something all of us pick out.” River reached into his