Belladonna (Billionaire Boys Club #1)

Chapter 53

                        Lucas:

"Angel!" Oakley spreads his arms wide in the air. "Wonderful to see you, my boy!"

"Oak!" Angel returns his enthusiasm. "Heard about the wins! That's my brother."

They do the usual guy-shake, whatever the fuck you want to call it. Angel more or less jumping onto him and bouncing right back up.

Those two idiots are like fucking testosterone fused kids. They're way too similar and have enough combined energy to fuel the entire fucking planet.

"Everyone!" He announces as he sides up to Reyes and throws an arm over her shoulder. "Meet...                my girlfriend."

"Your what?" Madden quirks a brow.

"Yeah, your what?" Althea looks up at him."

Damn. Went straight for it, huh?

The guys blink at him before bursting into fits of laughter. Even Mads and Cass join in.

"I'm fucking serious!" Angel reasons. "Shut your immature asses up."

"Dude," Darius starts. "Come on. You?"

"People can change, Dare. I'm a better man now."

"Okay." He scoffs.

"Tell them, gorgeous." Angel turns pleadingly onto the girl under his arm.

"Tell them what? I don't even know what you're talking about."

"We've been through this."

"We have. And if I remember correctly, the conversation did not end with that conclusion."

"Well, of course it didn't end with that." He shoots her a suggestive smirk and she knocks his arm away, only for him to grab her hand instead.

She looks away, trying to act annoyed but the quivering of her lips says otherwise. "I'm not your girlfriend."

"Yes, you are."

"Do you need us to hold him back?" Oakley asks her.

"No." She tells him before returning her attention to her not-boyfriend. "I said you're on probation, remember?"

"Probation is bullshit!" He stomps his foot like a toddler having a tantrum.

I feel Della shift in my arms and I look down at her to see a questioning expression on her face.

I lower my face to hers and touch the underside of her nose with mine, directing her face back to the squabbling.

She purses her lips, clearly unhappy with my lack of explaining on Angel's part, but she turns back anyway. Even though she does so with her arms folded and a little frown on her pretty face.

And she thinks she isn't cute.

I release a small chuckle at her antics and place a soft kiss onto her hair.

She relaxes almost immediately and I tighten my hold.

Reyes glares up at Angel with defiance. "Well, tough cookies. Sit down. And if you complain one more time, I won't sit with you."

He groans but drags her along to an empty chair and drops into it, their still connected hands causing her to fall right into him.

He wraps his arms around her and although she attempts to struggle them for the first few moments, it doesn't take long for her to concede, settling against him.

"Well," Darius quips. Setting down his empty soda bottle.

No drinking during the season.

"Hasn't this been interesting."

"That, it has." Mads looks over at me.

Just like Angel and Oakley, me and him are the most alike.

Since the day we were born, silent cooing babies, up until now. Both with strong minds and relentless determination. A fire raging in each of us that blazes so bright, we sometimes don't know what to do with it. It burns us from the inside out.

I still have it. I don't think it will ever go away. But I've found the thing that makes it feel less of a Vesuvius eruption in my chest.

The girl cradled in my arms. The light to my darkness.

I'm still not completely sure of how she did it, but she has found a way to calm that inferno. To keep it at bay and ensure I don't go up in flames.

The mere idea of that was laughable to me. Especially, if it was because of a girl.

I guess I was kind of wrong, actually. Because my Principessa is not just a girl.

She is the girl. The most beautiful thing I have ever known and the most incredible thing I will ever have.

She isn't just a prize. Or a goal. Or a temporary fix.

She is everything.

My everything.

We exchange a deep look. Silently conversing what he won't ask me aloud in front of the others.

Is this it? Is she it for you?

I've never been a liar. But especially not to him. Not like he'd sense the dishonesty from a fucking Mike away, anyway.

Which is why, when he sees the certain, unbreakable finality in my gaze, his eyes fill with understanding and he nods his head.

Not in permission or basic acceptance. But a comprehensive empathy I think only he out of the rest of us is able to grasp.

It's something only me and him can discern.

Unlike Angel's deep adoration and care for Althea, as much as I'd like to think it isn't, it's different.

He's always been a lover. An optimist who knows he was able to find that connection with someone. He just chose not to for a while. Then when she came along, he knew. Knew what it was. And despite carrying on with his playboy persona for a while longer, it didn't matter to him. Because he knew that eventually, it would be something.

Me? I've never felt that way. It's not like I was ever unbelieving of it. I've watched my parents since I was a baby. I just never thought that I could have it. That I was capable. Deserving of it.

And hell, I might well not fucking be. But now? The thing that's changed?

I don't give a fuck.

I don't care if I'm being selfish. I don't care if I don't deserve this. Lord knows I don't deserve her.

But I. Don't. Give. A. Fuck.

Not a flying, twirling, shitting one.

I fucking love this girl.

And god, if that doesn't break me a little.

But that doesn't matter either. Because I know she loves me too. And once she's fully mine, which she will be, that broken piece of me will mend itself into something better. Stronger.

I just have to actually fucking do it now.