He even sent me a key for a storage unit in Seattle that held things from my childhood home. I hated going through the stuff that had been stored there. Having to relive some painful things from my past was hard, but in the end, I was able to have pictures of my parents along with mementos and things I had left behind when I moved out.

“How’s Grandpa’s angel?” my dad asks Nalia, who’s holding his face in her small little hands.

“So happy! I have a new boyfriend at school.” She laughs, smiling at her grandpa, who, up until that moment, was smiling at her.

“What the f**k?” Nico whispers, looking over at me. I bite my bottom lip to keep from laughing.

“You’re not allowed to have boyfriends, beautiful girl,” my dad tells her, kissing her forehead.

“But he brought me chocolate,” she tells him like that’s the most important quality in a boyfriend.

“Me, Grandpa James, your daddy, or any of your uncles will give you whatever chocolate you want, angel.”

“Really?” she asks, smiling.

“Really.” He grins back before setting her on the ground.

As soon as she’s free, she runs inside yelling to anyone who will listen that she’s going to get chocolate. By that point, Nico is muttering under his breath about how this is all my fault and that I need to teach our daughter that boys are gross.

“I’m gonna go inside and see what the kids are up to,” I tell him, getting off the overstuffed bed/chair that sits on our back patio.

“Don’t think that we’re not gonna talk about that shit tonight, baby.” He kisses my temple before smacking me on my ass once I start to walk away. I look over my shoulder at him and laugh at the look on his face.

“Love you, Dad,” I say, kissing my dad’s cheek before walking into the house. I love my family.

Nico

“Please stop teasing!” Sophie cries, trying to lift her hips higher into my mouth. I’m not having it; I press her hips down into the bed, keeping her just like I want her.

“Take it, Sophie,” I growl against her.

“I can’t! I want to come… Let me come!” she cries, trying to push me away.

I grab both of her hands, holding them against her hips as I bury my face in her pu**y. Once she’s dripping wet, I flip her onto her stomach, pulling her hips up high before slamming into her. I watch her hair fly back, her head drop forward, and her ass lift higher, meeting me thrust for thrust.

“That’s it, baby. Fuck yourself.” I still my movements so I can watch her taking my cock, f**king herself hard.

“Nico?” she whimpers.

“What, baby?” I ask, not even looking at her, my eyes glued to our connection.

“Fuck me,” she moans.

I look up to see that her eyes are locked on me over her shoulder. I put my hand under her arms, lifting her up until she’s sitting on my cock, and I do what she wants—I f**k her hard and fast. I feel my balls draw up as she begins to clamp down around me. My hand goes to her hair, pulling her head to the side so I can take her mouth in a deep kiss.

“Hell yes.” I growl my orgasm down her throat as she whimpers hers into my mouth. “I can never get enough of you, sweet Sophie.” I pull out of her, lying down on my back before pulling her on top of me.

That’s the truth. It’s going to be nineteen years since we first got together, and most days, it feels like the first. I’m still as anxious now as I was then to get home to her. She’s not only my wife, but my best friend.

“I love you.” She cuddles deeper into me.

I run my hand down her back, loving the smoothness of her skin. “Love you too, baby, but you need to get a handle on your daughters.” I feel her cheek move against my chest and know she’s smiling. “I’m serious,” I tell her.

“I know you are, honey.” She doesn’t say anything else, and I know I’m f**ked and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.

“Why do I have to be here when I have heard this story a million times?” Jax asks, looking annoyed. I watch my oldest nephew grab a beer before sitting down on the couch.

“I agree with Jax. I’ve heard all this before—the Mayson curse…blah blah blah,” Cobi says, leaning against the wall.

“Can you hurry? I have a date,” Bax says, looking smug before getting a pound from Jax.

I look at Asher and shake my head. My sons and nephews are a f**king handful. I thought my brothers and I were bad growing up, but hell no! We’re looking more and more like choir boys compared to them.

“The younger boys have never heard about it, so shut up and sit down,” Asher says, and all the boys automatically sit down and shut up. Once Asher finishes telling them about the curse and the history of it, they all look at each other and laugh.

“You, Uncle Cash, Uncle Trevor, and Uncle Asher are all just crazy. I don’t care what any of you say. The Mayson curse isn’t real. It’s just something Great-Grandpa and Grandpa Mayson made up to make you guys worry or something.” Bax shrugs, walking over to sit down next to me.

“I never believed it either,” I tell them, and Asher, Trevor, and Cash nod in agreement. “Then I saw Sophie, and boom! It was like my soul knew hers, and I needed her to breathe. One day, boys, you’re going to know what I’m talking about,” I tell my sons and nephews. Just like me, they don’t believe, and just like my dad, and his dad before him, they have been warned.

What none of us know was that we should’ve been sharing this same story with our daughters, for unbeknownst to any of us, the Mayson curse doesn’t affect only the men in the Mayson family.