Theirs to Claim | 18+

C h a p t e r 74

"He likes you, okay?" He chuckles, kissing my cheek before resting his chin on my shoulder from behind. I can't help it as I happily snuggle into him, rolling my eyes at the fact he just spoke about himself in the third person.

"Does he have a name too?" I tease, splashing water when both Caleb and Alec grab my feet. I thought they were trying to tickle me again but when they just propped my legs on their knees, I sighed as they started to massage me.

It felt as close to heaven as things get and I nearly wanted to give into sleep from all of the tension being loosened from my body. The key word being nearly, because I was much too happy right now to cut this short.

"He responds to a lot of things as long as it comes from your mouth." Xavier winks, nipping my ear when I laughed at his horrible innuendo. Shaking my head, I relaxed into his chest until I was able to look at the stars above us, a faint fog created from the clouds. We were far enough out to miss the busy lights of the city, though.

I only realized how far we'd strayed from my initial question when I realized it had partly been an evasion tactic on their part, and while I wasn't mad in the least, I was persistent.

"For real, though." I say, closing my eyes as I let the hot water surround me up to my neck. "Why did you have to go to France last minute?"

It wasn't a planned trip and it wasn't for Rush either. I'm starting to come to better terms slowly about the whole Mafia thing, but whether it was ideal or not, it was a huge part of their lives. I can't change it, however that doesn't mean I don't want to learn still.

They'd promised me that we could talk when I was ready, and I think I was now if even just to be able to understand them better.

I could feel the intensity of Caleb's stare especially at my question, and based on the small pause of silence, I knew they were all choosing their words right now.

"How much do you want to know?" He breaks first, staying true to their agreement. I knew if I directly asked, Alec and Xavier would answer too, but I didn't care who it came from as long as it was the truth.

"I don't want you to shelter me." I shake my head, tucking a slightly dampened piece of hair behind my ear as I readjust myself. "I meant it when I said I loved you. That includes these parts too."

Even if I feared it would one day be the cause of a lot of complications for us.

I watched as Caleb nodded once—the act so small you'd only be able to notice if you were looking for it—but he nodded nonetheless.

It was clear all of them wanted to protect me, and I loved them for it, but we all knew that wasn't their decision to make. Them choosing to talk told me they respected that.

"When you search our names, you'll hear about Rush and the strains of hotels and casinos we own, but those provide very little to our actual worth." Caleb started, moving up from my foot to my leg to massage. "It's the hotels that house some of the most wanted criminals as a hideout and the casinos meant for dealings where the players spend large and go home with larger."

My mouth stayed shut as he spoke, simply listening even though I wasn't sure what this had to exactly do with France.

I could tell it was important, however, just by the way Xavier's thumb continued to run over my hip as a nervous impulse he needed to relieve.

"I've always been good with numbers, and that's why I can understand cheats without a second glance just through observance. Either way, people have to pay up at some point and that's when Alec tries to talk. He reads people and when he finds they're ingenuine, stubborn, or straight up crooked, Xavier comes into play."