In Death I Live by Lindsay Becs

DOMONIC

I wakeup feeling like I slept with the dead. I have no idea if I was out for an hour or a month. Regardless, I feel rested for the first time in a long time. Needing to piss, I move to get up, only to discover Zora on one side of me and Greyson on the other. I smile at the fact that my best friend and our girl didn’t want me to sleep alone.

Not wanting to wake Zora, I move over to Grey to use the restroom. He wakes up with a groan, kneeing me in the balls. “Fuck, I’m sorry,” he chuckles. Continuing to roll until I’m out of the bed, I hit the floor on all fours and crawl to the bathroom before I pee myself.

He’s still laughing when I lift the lid and start to piss. “Asshole,” I mumble.

The happiness I was feeling for about a second is now gone, but he pulls on my hand to stop me when I reach for my phone before heading downstairs to get something to drink. “Hey, you okay?”

Shrugging with my arms out to my sides, I let them fall. “Guess so.”

“Augustin is on his way here,” Grey informs me about his father.

“The others?”

“I’m not sure.”

I nod. “Guess we better find out who’s coming to dinner tonight then, huh?”

Leaving the bedroom, I make my way downstairs. River and Cruz are playing Halo in the living room, but both stop when they see me. I wave them off, going in search of water first. After draining a full glass, I refill it and then join them.

“Grey said Augustin should be here tonight. What’s the word? Have you heard from Tomos or Liam?” I ask, talking about their fathers.

“Tomos will be here in a few hours,” Cruz says about his father.

“My father is on his way,” River says about Liam. He’s the only one of us who doesn’t call his father by his first name. “But he’ll get in late.”

I nod. “Good,” I muse, sitting down with them. “Can I join your game?”

Cruz tosses me his controller, reaching for another from the basket. We sit and play for a while, acting like boys instead of the killer men we are. At least until later today, when duty will call once again to steal more parts of our souls.

* * *

Tomos,Cruz’s father, was the first to arrive, followed by Grey’s father, Augustin, and then Liam, River’s dad. Liam didn’t get in until almost three in the morning. The others were already tucked in their beds, so the meeting would have to wait until morning. Much to my displeasure.

I was ready to get this shit over and done with. I wanted my life back just as much as my friends did. We were ready to move on and start fresh. We had the girl, and now we wanted the life and the start of a happy ending with her.

And although I hadn’t told her yet, I was equally scared and excited to meet Remi. He was a part of me. Regardless of who his father was, we were blood. Once he was here with us, I would do everything to make sure he was cared for and loved and never had to leave Zora’s side again.

“There’s my boy!” Liam booms when River comes around the corner.

“Hey, Dad,” he greets with a smirk on his face. I envied River. He had a father who wasn’t completely jaded and hate-filled, who still gave a shit about his son.

As father and son embrace, I spot Zora peeking around the corner River had just come from. Hooking a finger at her to join us, she slowly makes her way over.

Liam looks at her with a gentle smile. His greying beard does nothing to hide the face that matches his son’s. “You must be the angel I’ve heard so much about.”

River, seeing her unease, wraps an arm around her waist, pulling her to his side. “Angel, I’d like you to meet my dad, Liam. Dad, this is Zora.”

Liam’s gaze falls to her collarbone, exposed from the shirt she’s wearing, putting in clear view all of our marks on her skin. He lifts his chin, looking at his son once more. “You’ve marked this girl,” he states. “All of you have.” The accusation in his tone is something I don’t like.

Zora pulls her shirt up to cover the marks, and I hate that she feels like she has to cover herself. I open my mouth to speak up, to defend her, but River beats me to it.

“Yes, we have. We’re all hers as much as she is ours.” He smiles down at Zora again. “I love this woman wholly.” She grins up at him through her lashes as she dips her head and her cheeks pink.

“I see,” Liam says. “As long as you all understand that even if you end the old ways, this still shows.” He nods toward Zora. “Some may see it as you still holding on to the past.”

“I asked,” Zo says, speaking up for the first time. “They didn’t want to. I asked for this because I wanted to be marked, to be tied to them in every way. I know it might not be conventional to love four men, but I do. And your son is one of them.” She looks back up at River, grinning with a scrunched-up nose, making her look cute and innocent.

Liam watches on as River dips his head to kiss Zora. “Very well. We’ll talk more with the others. I’m sure they’ll have lots to say about this too.”

* * *

After a few hours,once everyone is awake, we all gather in the chapel for an official meeting called to order by the Black Swans. Inside these walls, everything is recorded and kept on file.

As Liam surmised, Tomos and Augustine were less than thrilled to hear about our marking ceremony. Even more so that they weren’t invited to attend. They can kiss my ass, because it was never about them or the Swans at all. It was only about Zora.

The boys and I recounted the events that had taken place the past few weeks and months leading up to the death of Swan.

As expected, Augustine was the most argumentative. He’s always wanted more power than he has, and now that his biggest competition—The Swan, my father—was gone, he was ready to take over and make his rule. Of course, knowing the prick that he is, none of us—including Liam and Tomos—were going to let that happen.

“Then what exactly are you fucking proposing here?” Augustine snaps.

“The bloodshed stops, Augustine,” Tomos tells him, standing to make his point. “That is what they are saying. The Organization will never fall completely, it can’t. But stop with the insane rituals and ceremonies. The violence doesn’t have to be there. Not as much as it is now anyway.” He pauses, taking in a deep breath, always the levelheaded one, much like his son. “Our sons are doing what we should have had the balls to do when we were in their place.”

“And let me guess… It’s still Chadwick that will rule the less violent organization, hmm?” Augustine mocks.

“Why can’t you see that you are the only one in this room who still seeks power in a sick, sadistic way? I don’t want to be the leader,” Greyson says with a hand on his heart to drive home his point that he’s over all of it.

“Always the weak one,” Augustine scoffs in disgust at his son.

“You’re wrong,” Zora says, speaking up for the first time since we all came into the chapel hours ago.

“Oh good.” Augustine rolls his eyes. “The marked whore has found her voice.”

All four of us stand at once, coming to her defense. I get in his face, my hand around his throat as I seethe, “If you speak to or about her like that again, I will have no problem allowing you to join my father in hell.” His eyes widen a moment when I squeeze a little tighter to drive home my point. “Understood?” He nods in agreement, and I release him from my grasp, taking a step back from him.

I turn on Zora, cupping her face in my hands. “You good?”

She rolls her eyes at me, pushing my hands away. She’s mad I stood up and spoke for her. It has my lips twitching to smile as much as my cock in my pants.

Stepping around me, she gives Augustine a pointed look, one that I’ve received myself from our fierce girl. “I think it’s time you go,” she tells him.

“What?” he asks, surprised. “I’m a Swan, you foolish girl. I don’t leave until we have deemed this meeting finished.”

“You seem to be the only fool here because all I see in this room are four men who are trying to right the wrongs of generations before them, making a new life and a new way for themselves and those to follow after them. I see two fathers willing to help make that change happen. And you. The selfish, power-hungry one who will ruin it all if he gets the chance. Because that’s what you plan to do, isn’t it?” She raises a brow at him, waiting for him to answer.

We all stare at Augustine, waiting for his answer, the one we all know will come. The lie he’ll tell us.

He looks to Tomos, knowing he’s his best chance at an ally. He’s wrong.

Tomos shakes his head at his friend from long ago. “Every one of us in this place knows you, Augustine. Even Zora, who has only just met you today. Stop playing games and grow the fuck up.” He flicks his hand at him like he’s a gnat.

“After all I have done for you. For this organization, the Swans, your father,” he says, looking at me. “I’ll go. I’ll let you try to live out your little fantasy of having a normal life. But when it all falls apart, when you need me most, I’ll turn my back on you just like you have me now.” Augustine leaves, slamming the door behind him like a child throwing a tantrum.

Tomos heaves a heavy sigh, sounding annoyed. “I have to kill him now, don’t I?”

“Let him go. We’ll give him a chance. But only one,” I tell the group before me who is ready to burn him.

With Augustine gone, we finish sorting out the last details; who will still be where, our current business dealings, employees and such. It’s a long day, but at the end of it, we all come to an agreement.

Walking out of the chapel, I feel lighter, the burden lifted. The heaviness of holding everyone’s lives in my hands is now gone. I don’t have to be a hired killer, a thief, or a mastermind behind ruining people’s lives.

I can just be me…a man in love with a girl he shares with his three best friends.