Until the End (Sea Breeze #9)(38)

“Shit. We’re throwing a Marcus-has-left-town party,” Dewayne drawled.

Marcus laughed and rolled his eyes.

“I always knew you’d be the first one to move out. When you admitted that you loved Trisha Corbin, I knew this was it. You’d move into your own place first and get married first. Hell, if you’re fast you might have a family before Preston,” Marcus said, smirking.

“What? I ain’t having no family,” Preston said, snapping his attention back to Marcus, who looked amused.

“Dude. You can only sleep with so many hundreds of women before you knock one up. It’ll happen,” he replied.

Preston scowled. “Don’t speak that shit. I’m always gloved.”

Everyone laughed at that. Getting smiling, happy Preston to scowl was always fun.

In a few months our lives would all change. We didn’t know what the future held, but we had each other. This was my family. The one I had leaned on since I was a kid. I could have taken a much different road in life, growing up the way I did, but having these three guys who gave a shit about me changed that. Somehow we had stayed out of real trouble. Marcus had always been there to remind us to keep it clean and stay out of jail.

I was going to miss times like this. But I had Trisha, and my future would always have her in it. That made the future exciting instead of terrifying. Since the moment she sat at that lunch table, laughing with the three people in the world who I considered family, I had known she was it.

She was my future.

Trisha

Krit pulled up to an apartment complex and put Fandora’s car in park before looking at me. “Before we get out, I want to talk to you,” he said.

When he had woken me up this morning and asked me to get dressed and go somewhere with him, I hadn’t imagined this was where we would be going. I knew he wanted to move in with Legend, who was a year older than me and seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. But if he was showing me the place to talk me into letting him move out, he didn’t have to do that.

If he wanted out, then I was ready to let him go. I’d survive somehow. I was sure Fandora would kick me out, but I could figure somewhere else to go. I didn’t want to hold Krit back because of me. He hated living there. He hated her.

He didn’t deserve to live in hell to keep me safe. He looked like a man, but he was just a boy with so much potential. “Yes. If you want to move in with Legend, then yes. I want that for you,” I told him before he tried to sell me on the idea.

Krit frowned and tilted his head to look at me. I waited on him to say something. When he finally looked pissed, I wondered if I had said the wrong thing. “You mean that shit.” He shook his head and let out a hard laugh. “Dammit, Trisha. Do you think I’d do that to you?”

I realized I had made a mistake. Crap. I had to fix this.

“I just meant . . . I just want you to be happy, Krit. I thought bringing me here to an apartment meant you were going to try to talk me into letting you move out. I don’t want to hold you back. I want you to have it all. You deserve happiness.”

He ran his hands through his shoulder-length hair and slammed them on the steering wheel. “What about you? You’ve sacrificed more than anyone. You took f**king beatings to keep me safe as a kid. If I moved out and left you to that bitch, what would that say about me? It would make me a motherf*cking ass**le who didn’t deserve to live. So, no Sis, I’m not asking you to let me desert you. I would sacrifice my soul to protect you. Don’t you know that? I only love you. I have never and nor will I ever love anyone else. Bitches can’t be trusted. You’re the only woman on earth I could love.”

Tears burned my eyes and I blinked them away. “I’m sorry. I thought . . . I just . . . I was wrong. I know you want to keep me safe. We’re family. We have each other. Always.”

Krit nodded. “But you have Rock now. And I am thankful you have him. He’s a big dude with scary-as-hell arms and a chest like a wall. He can keep my sister safe, and he loves you. Like I’ve never seen a man love, ever. That makes him worthy of you. He has the world’s finest treasure and he knows it.” He let out a laugh and shrugged. “I might need to correct something I said before. I think I love him, too. I love him for loving you the way you deserve to be loved.”

This time I let the tears burning my eyes free. I sniffled, then brushed the tears off my face. “I’m sorry,” I said, smiling. “You just don’t normally say things like that, so I wasn’t prepared for it emotionally.”

He smirked. “Before we can get any mushier in here, I just want to tell you that I am thrilled about what you’re going to see in a minute. It’s every dream and wish I’ve ever had. It makes me so f**king happy. Not just for you but for me, too. So know that when you start worrying about me.” He opened the car door and stepped out before giving me a chance to ask him what the heck he was talking about.

Krit closed the door and walked up to the entryway to the stairs, then looked back and waved for me to come on. I had no idea what he wanted to show me, and my mind was envisioning a million different scenarios. I made my way up to him, but he didn’t say anything. He just nodded and turned to the stairs. “Second floor.”

We walked up the one flight of stairs, then turned right and walked down three doors. Krit stopped outside 204. Then he knocked.