My grin could have split my face.

Brandon had an arm around my waist, holding me against him tightly. All eyes were on us as we strolled through the hotel lobby that Zain's party was taking place at. I had helped him and his fiancee choose the place, and I was still in awe of it's beauty. I'd been to the hotel a handful of times and every time, I would admire it.

"You love it too much here," Marc teased me, resting a hand on my head. I smacked his hand away fast, giving him a warning look. He chuckled and ducked down, pecking my cheek in apology.

I broke away from the boys when we reached the doors of the party room where Marie and Micah were waiting for us. They were slumped against the wall, speaking quietly with one another, their faces schooled into identical expressions of boredom. They both perked up at the sight of my boys and I, obviously pleased they wouldn't have to wait any longer for us.

"Took you long enough," Micah grumbled, though his grin informed us he was only joking.

"I'm actually on time for once, be nice," I replied, bumping my shoulder against his as I passed by into the party room. A wall of voices slammed into me and I winced, backing up into Axel. My anxiety had been getting better lately, but I still wasn't comfortable in situations like this. Too many people gave me too stress. "I know for a fact neither of them have this many friends and this much family..."

"You approved the guest list," Brandon pointed out with a small shrug.

Corey stepped in between Brandon and I, preventing me from slapping his arm. "Are we searching out Zain and Charli?"

"Yeah," I sighed, nodding. "I wanna let them know that we're here. Then we can make rounds and keep up appearances." Being from a well known, wealthy family was absolutely exhausting. It meant having to be on a stage almost every time I was in public.

"How many drunk men do you think we will have to fend off tonight?" Raven mused as we began to search for my eldest brother. He stayed close to me, his protective nature shining through.

"Six," I said, my lips quirking up, finding amusement in this conversation. "At least six. That's my guess."

"Put on a fucking parka please," Marc mumbled and I burst out into laughter. I stood on tiptoe, pressing a quick kiss to his lips as a silent reassurance.

"Please save that for later. Making out is kind of me and Charli's job. We are the happy couple that is engaged to be married, after all."

Zain looked happier than I had seen him in awhile, a smile on his face and his eyes lit up with joy. Ever since getting sober and finding Charli, he had been in a much better place, even working with Knox on several business projects. It'd been such a long time since I had seen him so put together and in such a good place. I beamed and wrapped him up in a quick hug, giving him a very big squeeze before stepping away.

"Glad you could be on time for once," Zain said, grinning widely.

"Sang," Axel wound an arm around me, staring at Zain. "Your family is a bunch of assholes."'

I smirked at Zain, taking pleasure out of his mock offended look. "I know. It's going to be so nice to have someone pleasant like Charli join the family." I paused. "Speaking of that lovely Brit, where is she?"

"Greeting guests," Zain replied, scanning the room, most probably looking for his fiancee. "As soon as she spots y'all over here, she'll be here to greet you. You know how she loves you."

"I haven't seen her in so long," I sighed dramatically, fighting the urge to smile. It bothered Zain to no end that Charli and I were friends, practically best friends, and because of that we rubbed it in his face as much as possible. I also loved to constantly point out that I was dating his childhood friends, another fact that tended to bother him just slightly. It had become one of my favorite habit's to push my older brother's buttons.

"Little One!" Raven drew my attention to him. I quirked an eyebrow, biting my lip to contain my grin, aware that whatever he was about to say was going to entertain me greatly. "Come get food and cham... cham-"

"Champagne, Bear," I informed him softly, sharing a look with Corey. "Yes, I'll come with you. Corey, come with us. If any of you need me, look for one of these two."

"No man handling my baby sister, Raven!" Zain called after us. In Zain's line of sight, Raven pulled me close then into a quick but hard kiss. I rolled my eyes at him and pushed him towards the table of finger foods before his hand could migrate down to my butt.

Corey slid his hand into mine, squeezing gently. My lips quirked up and I brought his hand up to my lips, kissing the back of it. His cheeks tinged pink and I beamed, finding him too adorable. I leaned my head against him, the two of us watching Raven. We were the only ones who could really handle him well, but neither of us minded because we were too smitten.

Corey's head tilted down until his lips were brushing against my ear and he whispered, "So I was thinking. Since we have some time before Zain's wedding, you just finished everything for your book, and it's summer, maybe we should all get out of town for awhile. We all could use some time off, don't you think?"

I looked up, meeting his cerulean eyes, reveling in the sparkle of happiness and hope that resided in them. He could have asked me to murder someone, and I would have done it for him. There wasn't much I wouldn't do for these boys. They'd been my rock for the past year and a half, and then, seven months ago it flourished into so much more.

"You're right," I muttered, reaching up with my free hand to trace my finger along his jawline then push hair away from his face. "We deserve some time off, especially some time off together. These past few months have been crazy with me planning this party, the book, helping Knox and Zain..."

"I know," Corey sighed, ducking down and kissing my forehead. "We just want some time with you, alone..." I absolutely hated the way his eyes dimmed, the only thing to reveal his disappointment about how busy I had been lately.

"We'll plan it tonight?" I inquired, wrapping my arms around his waist and resting my cheek against his chest.

"We'll plan it tomorrow," he replied, resting his chin on my head. "I'm stealing you tonight."

I giggled at the notion of him stealing me away, but didn't argue it. I didn't mind the thought of cuddling Corey while he played video games, listening to Marc and Axel talk softly, Raven and Brandon discussing guns and guy stuff. The nights where we did nothing together were my favorite nights. I didn't need to go out to have a good time with my boys, being in their presence was good enough for me.

"Baby Sorenson!"

I rolled my eyes at the nick name that had been hollered at me, but turned to face the person who had thought it would be a good idea to call me it. My face immediately split into a grin at the sight of Blake Coaltar. He was grinning back at me, strolling over to where Corey and I were standing. I hadn't seen him in awhile, although he was one of my close friends, and I was pleased that he could make it to the party.

"Blake fucking Coaltar!" I exclaimed, pulling away from Corey and throwing myself into Blake's arms for a hug. "When was the last time I saw you? It feels like forever."

He chuckled, patting my head as he pulled away. "Probably because it was forever ago."

"Maybe if you weren't so busy now a days," I scoffed, crossing my arms and leaning into Corey who had materialized at my side, wrapping an arm around me again. His fingers traced up and down my spine, and I had to resist the urge to shiver. He would never fail to give me chills.

"I'm not the only who's been busy lately," Blake reminded me, his hazel eyes flickering with amusement then gliding over to Corey. "What's it been like sharing Miss New York Best Seller with the public? How much has she even been home lately?"

Corey's lips quirked up to the side and he pulled me tighter to his side. "It's slowed down in the past month. Axel and Marc got worried about her overworking herself so the most she's done in the past couple of months has been planning this party. Now that it's taken care of though we can finally take some time off."

I tilted my head up, meeting Corey's gaze. Everything around us faded away as we both smiled widely, leaning into each other's touch, drunk on our love for each other. He leaned down and brushed his lips against my forehead in a gentle but affectionate kiss.

The clearing of a throat brought us both back to reality, a blush heating both of our faces.

Blake's eyes were darting between Corey and I, and he seemed even more amused than he had been moments before. "Well, I don't think the honeymoon phase fading will ever be an issue for you all. What has it been now? Six months?"

"Seven, actually," Raven interrupted, coming up behind us and resting his hands on my shoulders. I backed up, my back pressing against his chest, Corey's arm pinned between the two of us. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Corey flushing again and had to resist the urge to giggle.

Blake opened his mouth to say something, then something over Raven's shoulder caught his eye and he announced, "In coming!"

"Huh?" I tilted my head, confusion settling in for only a moment.

A body collided with my own and I squealed, falling into Corey. I was pinned between him, Raven, and the new person, all three sets of arms around me, presumably to keep me from face planting. Blake's laughter rang through the air, and a musical giggle joined in, the familiar sound enough information for me to gather who had tackled me in a hug.

"Charli!" I cried, squirming enough to let my arms free and wind them around her. She peppered my cheek with kisses, and I didn't stop her, glad to be in the presence of another one of my closest friends. "There you are!"

She pulled away, brushing hair away from her face, beaming. She looked every bit of the future bride she was to be, beautiful and glowing. Her dark hair was in ringlets, hanging around her face and framing it perfectly. Though British, her Indian heritage gave her a wonderful caramel skin tone. She batted her eyelashes at me, her dark eyes radiating innocence that betrayed her true personality.

"Here I am, darling," she crooned, her accent heavier on the vowels. "Would have found you sooner if Zain would have told me when you get here like he had promised me." She rolled her eyes at the mention of her fiance, though the lovesick look on her face didn't match the annoyance she was trying to portray. "So unreliable, isn't he?"

"Good to see you, Charli," Raven grumbled, straightening out his jacket and catching me around the waist, as if afraid that Charli would tackle me again. "Thanks for nearly knocking my Little One on her ass."

Charli blinked at him, a charming smile gracing her face. "Why, of course, Raven. You're very welcome. I'd do that for you anytime."

Corey and I both burst into laughter, enjoying the small but never ending feud that occurred between our two foreigners. They were both extremely lovely, though they did tend to bicker often, and we couldn't actually figure out why. It wasn't like either of them held a grudge against each other and they actually seemed to get along just fine some days.

"Is your daddy dearest here, darling?" Charli asked, pushing her dark curls away from her face and attempting to pull me away from Raven who shot her a glare. She huffed out a sigh and released my arm, relenting for the moment.

"I actually don't know," I replied honestly, scanning the room for the man she spoke of. A few months after moving from Charleston, I had decided to search for my biological father and ever since I had found him we had grown close. After all the misery I had been put through a year and a half earlier, I was finally finding happiness, and he was apart of that happiness.

"Oh!" Charli exclaimed loudly, startling me enough that I jumped slightly. Raven, noticing my anxiety had spiked slightly, leaned down and pressed a kiss my pulse point on my neck. My eyes fluttered shut and I tilted my head, wrapping an arm around his neck and drawing him closer. "Knox is speaking to my parents and you know how well that goes." I cracked my eyes open and nodded, because I did know how that usually tended to end: disaster. "I'll see you later, SS. Don't you leave without saying goodbye to me!"

She left in a flourish, as she often did: a kiss to my nose, a pinch to Corey's cheek, and a smack to Raven's chest. She was energetic and wild, but she was one of my best friend's and I was truly glad that Zain was lucky enough to find someone like her. I genuinely couldn't wait for her to join the family, although in my eyes, she already had.

"She's something else," Corey chuckled, shaking his head. I laughed and nodded my head in agreement, but didn't say anything else because she was apart of my family now, just like him and the other boys.

a/n: And here's chapter one!! Which is not only a peek into Sang's life now and her relationship with her boys, but you got to see how Zain is doing and meet his fiancee. Speaking of his fiancee: What do you guys think of Charli?? I'm personally rather fond of her.

xoxo,

ry.