it echoes through

ten; love burns

The next morning, for the very first time, all four members of the Holland crime family woke up with a girl they cared about–more than anyone alive–by their side. Sam woke up with Skyla's small breaths fanning on his bare chest, and in the next room–Harry turned over to find Caitlyn's arms firmly around his waist. Harry couldn't even remember the last time that happened, the last time she hugged him in her sleep, as if on instinct.

On the other side of town, Harrison was running his fingers through his soulmate's ginger hair–thinking over and over about last night, about how for a millisecond, he felt the need to be closer to Y/N, the need to touch her again. It was just one accidental brush of the knee, they've touched before, but this time his body reacted differently, almost as if his own force of gravity had changed. He dreamed about her that night, about sitting next to her on a beach–listening to her reading a book–while the ocean in front of them turned into a field of purple cyclamens. Harrison woke up in a confused daze after that, but once he saw Clarissa's eyelashes flutter softly next to him, whatever worry or confusion he felt was gone. Everything felt clearer next to her, and he couldn't remember what the flowers in his dream looked like anymore. Instead, he saw–in the back of his mind–a bright red diamond, the one that only he could see, the way Clarissa looked like to his soul.

"Morning, my love," he whispered to her, as she started blinking the sleep away from her eyes.

"You had a bad dream?" She asked softly, eyes swimming with concern at the small shake in his shoulders.

"It's fine, it's gone now," he smiled at her, before planting a kiss on her forehead.

A few rooms down, you grumbled out loud as you felt hands running across your body–kisses planted on your chest, a tingle in your heart beating fast. You groaned out, opening your eyes to be greeted by Tom's back, a space between your two sleeping bodies enough to fit both your dogs in there. Usually, the puppies could only dream of cuddling with you two–Tom usually kicked them out to have you all to himself–but now, there were miles between you.

"You okay there?" He asked, his back still turned. You let another rumble, and Tom turned around, his phone in hand. "Bad dream?"

"Constantly," you breathed out, rolling your tired eyes at the ceiling. At that Tom put his phone to the side, and brought you closer to him, so close your head was on his chest.

"Want to tell me about it?" He tried, as his hand stroked your cheek. Somehow, with something as simple as that, Tom was still able to comfort you, to give you a sense of peace, and so you nuzzled your head closer to his neck and let out a simple, "no, want to forget about it."

"Whatever you need, princess," he mumbled, before planting a kiss on the top of your head–hands now rubbing up and down your back.

"Did you just demote me?" You asked seriously, small smile still on your lips as you looked up at him.

"Of course not, forgive me," he chuckled, shaking his head before adding, "my queen."

"That's better," you grinned at him, almost childlike, before placing yourself back where you used to belong, where you knew you belonged; right atop his heart.

"My weather app just said it's going over 25 today," Tom let out plainly, but you were too busy drawing figures on his chest to ask any follow up questions to that piece of information, before he went on to say "do you wanna go to the beach today?" He asked slowly, almost shyly. You kissed his skin once and then twice before saying you would love to. "Do you want to go just us?"

Thirty five minutes later, and after a quick trip to the shops for a swimsuit, you and Tom were walking hand in hand towards the sand. There were a lot of people, and it was quite crowded, but one part of the beach was more secluded–thanks to a pay for entry policy, and then you each grabbed a sunbed with no one else around you. Tom bought you a cold drink, and a beer for himself, and stayed quiet as you read your book through your sunglasses, then ran into the ocean and shook himself off like a dog on top of you.