“Kill!”

Their voice cuts through the noise, clear and sharp, and I look up automatically. My cousin is watching me, my usual stormy expression softening into something rare—a smile. Not the casual kind I throws at friends or the forced kind reserved for family obligations. No, this is different. This is a smile meant only for them.

And there they are, standing next to their brother Brandon, waving us over to their table. As soon as I see them, something inside me shifts. The noise, the people, all of it fades. There’s only them.

The way they look at me, like I’m the only thing that matters, is enough to make my chest ache in a way I can’t explain. And when I look back at them? Yeah, I know what they see. I’m no stranger to anger, frustration, even indifference. But with them? All of that falls away.

I’m home.

Without thinking, I’m moving toward them. The world narrows to just the space between us, and before I even realize it, they’re in my arms. Every moment we’ve ever spent apart disappears in the kiss that follows. Nothing else matters. Not the crowded room, not the eyes on us, not even—

“Ahem.”

I barely register my cousin standing there, probably rolling his eyes and muttering something under his breath to Brandon. But honestly? I couldn’t care less. They can talk, they can snicker, they can hate every second of this, but I’m not letting go. Not now.

Not ever.