His Dangerous Ways✔️

Chap. 49 Yes

"Hey, she was my Kit Kat first," he argued as he plopped down on the bed on the other side of me and wrapped his arms around me as well. "Sorry but I have first dibs and priority."

"Wait, there's a group hug and no one told me?" Mason's voice questioned as I saw him standing in the doorway. "Move over!" He announced as he charged toward the bed and jumped in, landing right next to Liam before he wrapped his arms around us all.

I laughed.

I knew it was going to be rough but I had my true family around me so I'd be okay.

***

My eyebrows furrowed as I looked at the math sheet in front of me. I usually picked up math like no one's business but something about it wasn't clicking. I chewed on the back of my pencil as I looked at the video tutorial that I was listening to. No matter how many times this monotone man explained this to me, my brain just couldn't pick it up. Frustration boiled in me. This was my last sheet of homework and the fact that I couldn't get it over with made me want to scream.

"Come on," I mumbled to myself as I tried to force the dots to connect, but they refused to.

It was moments like this I wished Liam and Mason weren't making out in their room so they could help me with this mess.

After a few more moments of my pencil not producing answers, I paused the video that I was watching on the new phone River had gotten me before I climbed off of my bed and walked to the bathroom. I needed to relax my mind and I knew exactly how to do it.

I turned on the hot water for my bath and sat on the edge of the tub while I waited. River didn't like it when I bathed on my own, but since I hadn't heard from him in a while, one bath couldn't hurt. Once I was satisfied, I stopped the water and stripped until I was bare. My bullet wound was healing nicely, though it still caused me discomfort now and again. But when I slid into the warm water, all I felt was relaxation and relief. I found myself closing my eyes as I sank in until the water was less than an inch below my chin. It felt nice like I was in my own world.

I let my mind wander wherever it wanted. Dance. School. The boys. River.

"Whatcha thinking about?" River asked, causing me to jump before I registered who it was.

"River you cannot scare me like that! I have PTSD, I could've like killed you or something!"

He smiled and kissed me. "I'm glad you didn't. But for real, I wanna do something with you tonight. Just the two of us."

"River, I don't feel like getting all dressed up and going out," I whined.

He raised an amused eyebrow. "Who said anything about getting dressed up or leaving?"

I sighed. "Alright you got me. What do you have in mind?"

"That, my beautiful Caterina, remains to be seen, but for now," he said as he grabbed my towel. "Let me take care of you."

"River-"

"I wasn't asking," he said, signifying the end of the conversation.

I rolled my eyes but I didn't put up much of a fight. We remained in a comfortable silence until he was done, though I refused to let him help me. I had to be independent sometimes. I dried myself off and River watched my every move before I made my way to my closet and pulled out one of River's sweatshirts and a pair of leggings.

"All right, River. Take me away. I am ready to be pampered," I announced as I opened my arms, signaling for him to pick me up.

He rolled his eyes but picked me up nonetheless. "I spoil you, you know that?"

"I know," I said as I placed my cheek on his bare chest as he began to carry me out of our room and toward the stairs. It didn't take him long to lead us to the living room and once we got there, my jaw dropped. In front of us was a beautifully crafted pillow and blanket fort. "You know me so well."

He smiled. "I know." He gently set me down and I wasted no time crawling into the masterpiece. To my surprise it was structurally sound and big too. In the middle of the fort was River's laptop and an arrangement of snacks.

Once River laid down, I nestled into him and got comfortable as he balanced the laptop on his lap and logged onto Netflix. "Your pick m'lady."

I wasted no time taking his laptop and typed in my choice. He chuckled. "The Emperor's New Groove. Gotta respect a girl with solid movie opinions."

We started off watching the movie and laughing at all the corny jokes, but by the time the ending credits rolled on, I was straddling River and our lips were locked in a tedious battle. River's hands were gently feeling me up beneath my sweatshirt and my hands were gripping his neck. "I love you," he muttered into my lips.

"I love you too," I said as I pulled away, my breathing a bit heavy as I looked him in his eyes.

"I want you to be in my life and share all of my firsts and forevers with you. And I'm going to make sure that you can't leave."

"River, what do you..?" I started as he reached behind himself and pulled out a tiny black box. Even though he'd told me he was going to propose, I pushed myself off of him and stood straight up, causing the fort to collapse as I gasped, "Oh my gosh, River!"

He chuckled as he pulled himself from under the fallen blankets before he properly adjusted himself on his knee. "Caterina Hardwick-"

"Wait, River, you can't! You said you wanted to wait for the perfect moment and look at me! I look homeless and gross. This won't be a cute story to tell the children-"

"So you want children, aye?" He teased with a grin.

"River," I whined. "I'm serious."

"And so am I," he urged as he took one of my hands and held it. "Every waking second with you is the perfect moment. And you look gorgeous, natural and untouched." He kissed the back of my hand. "I know I've told you this all before, but my God Caterina, you are so incredible and strong and beautiful and caring and I can't get enough of you. You make me a better lover, brother, friend, and person, and hopefully we can add father to that list one day. And I know that I've done so much to hurt you, whether intentional or unintentional, but I just want you to know that I love you so much that it hurts. You make me forget everything when we're together and I hate being apart. I just...I want to spend forever and all the time after that with you as one. Through marriage. I want to love you every second of every day for the rest of our lives and beyond, so will you give me the incredible honor and marry me?"

Tears were blurring my vision and though he'd already "pre-proposed" to me, it sounded like he was saying it to me for the first time. All in that moment, our whole lives flashed before my eyes: the day we met, our first kiss, our wedding, our first child, everything. I was happy throughout all of it. But this moment was the happiest.

Knowing that my words would fail me, I simply nodded as the goofiest smile took place on my face. A look of pure joy spread across River's face as he smiled. "Really?"

"Yes, Riverdale," I said, my voice coming out a bit weak. "Yes, I will marry you."

He let out a yell as he stood up and picked me up in his arms before he started spinning me, my laughter filling the air as he kept repeating "She said yes! She said yes!" until he set me on my feet and kissed me.

"Awe!" A voice aid from behind us, causing me to pull away in surprise to see Mason and Liam standing there, Mason with his hand over his heart. "That was adorable."

"What are you two doing here? I thought you were gone," I questioned.

"And miss this? Not for the world my Kit Kat," Liam said.

I rolled my eyes with a smile as River chuckled before he slid the crown ring off my left ring finger and onto my right one and slid the beautiful, diamond covered ring onto my left ring finger.

A light laugh escaped my lips before he grabbed my waist, pulled me into him, and passionately kissed me once more. Mason and Liam obnoxiously began applauding and whistling as Mason said, "You better propose to me like that or I'm leaving you."