Epilogue
Levi Pierce had been released for two weeks now, and finding ways around his parole schedule turned into a grueling jigsaw puzzle of overly complicated bullshit. Thankfully, he had a nest egg of cash he’d set aside for the fees that came with freedom. Partial freedom. It’d be three years before he was truly free of oversight. It’d be seventeen months and two weeks until he was reunited with Roman. Really reunited. Not phone calls. Not glass panel visits. Not letters. No, he’d have to wait for what felt like an eternity before he could truly touch Roman again, before they could embrace, but it’d be worth it. He’d wait a million years for Roman.
On the walk to the hospital, Levi walked with a bit of a limp, an injury he still carried from when he had his ankle slashed. But he found himself ignoring the pain and lost in the bliss of being inside Roman, of having Roman inside him, of being united and together and in love. He never wanted those feelings to end. He’d worked so hard for so many years to bring it to fruition. But if he wanted to keep the happy ever after he’d carved out of blood and bone and the lives of cruel men unworthy of even breathing the same air as Roman, then he needed to handle one more loose end.
He checked in at the hospital, a bit surprised and disappointed no one asked to see his ID. He’d pissed nearly four hundred dollars on a solid forgery, ensuring no one knew he’d come to this hospital. He even wore sunglasses and a cap and the plainest muted colors to an outfit he’d never wear again. All the same, he suspected no one would care much about what he had planned, but that didn’t mean he needed to get sloppy now.
Levi waltzed into Ezra Delgado’s room on the fourth floor to a wing few staff checked and even fewer during shift changes Levi had studied. After Ezra’s accident, his blood-soaked defeat at the hands of Roman restoring his honor, the state released Ezra and shipped him off to a hospital. Levi wasn’t sure who footed the medical bill now, and he didn’t care.
Ezra was a loose end Levi needed to tie. Few things frightened Levi Pierce, but the idea of losing Roman sent chills through his body. The things Ezra knew, the power he had at his fingertips. No, no, no. Levi couldn’t allow that.
“I hope you can feel this,” Levi said, running his hands over Ezra’s unkempt beard. “I hope every day has been a prison of your own making.”
Levi didn’t believe in hope, finding it arbitrary and useless, but after so much time watching Roman from afar and waiting for just the right opportunity, he’d learned to lean into the concept. After all, he’d done a lot of hoping the day Ezra was shipped out of the Marlow Penitentiary infirmary.
He’d hoped Ezra wouldn’t wake up.
He’d hoped Roman wouldn’t learn the truth.
He’d hoped he could make Ezra and the only thread of knowledge to his plan disappear.
It was a cruel idea, one conceived too quickly, and one Levi now realized carried more variables than even he could calculate. But at the time, when Ezra first stepped into their lives, it seemed like the most fortuitous of events.
Levi had wanted and loved Roman since the day he met him. Not in prison. Not in the shabby halls of Marlow. No, no, no. Levi had seen Roman in the streets of the downtown mayhem, bloody and enraged. He beat a man to a pulp and glittered so pretty that Levi found his breath had hitched. When Roman shoved his friend into traffic, when he resumed beating a man half to death like nothing had happened, when he fought officers and nearly got himself killed in the process, Levi knew he’d finally understood what love was.
He had to know Roman, had to have Roman, so he learned everything there was, starting with the trial and everyone involved. That was when he first learned about Ezra, though he didn’t play that hand for quite some time.
No, Levi thought it’d be enough to get himself locked up in Marlow Penitentiary too, blame it on drugs which he could just miraculously get over his addiction for while he moved in close to Roman. It hadn’t been enough to cement the bond Levi wanted, the bond Levi needed. They were friends but never anything more. And Levi needed more. So much more. He needed all of Roman, but while Roman stood tall as champion, that would never happen.
Levi turned off the machines and thought back to Ezra’s arrival, about the letters he’d sent about Ezra’s little girlfriend never truly getting justice, about how he couldn’t do a thing about it. Ezra was an easy mind to sway. Those who knew they were smart, who believed themselves the smartest, often were the easiest to exploit.
Ezra came with a plan to kill, and it didn’t take much for Levi to twist that desire into one of revenge, truly life-destroying vengeance. It was easy to play on Ezra’s emotions, knowing his motives from a trial he tried to hide his presence at—always sitting in the back and out of sight, much like Levi did before Roman finally took a shitty plea deal when he could’ve done so much better with the right counsel.
It was harder to twist Roman’s motivations at the beginning. So much of the plan hinged on Roman caring for Levi; it took finesse, delicate conversation, and planting the seeds of the bet. Levi knew he’d made the right decision, even if difficult to bear at times. When Roman allowed himself to be dragged to The Pit instead of fulfilling his deal, it nearly destroyed Levi. It took time and convincing, but he managed to make Ezra realize a quiet death in the dark wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying, but the time there would likely have made Roman more malleable.
Levi had acquired a drug, something to help slow down Ezra’s heart, something similar to the drug he spiked Roman’s drink with the night of his rematch. It nearly killed Levi to watch Roman fall. To watch them burn his wings and let him crash and break to pieces, but Levi knew more than anything he could restore Roman.
He’d planned every step of breaking Roman in just the right ways, ways that would bond them, ways that would tie them together, ways that would allow Levi to slip pieces of himself into the mended cracks of Roman’s repaired psyche. This was the only way they could be together, truly together, mended as one heart. Roman had everything Levi wanted, desired, deserved, and Levi knew he could and would be everything Roman wanted. He’d changed himself a hundred different ways to fit Roman’s tastes. He would change himself a thousand more to be the man Roman required.
But he hadn’t accounted for all of Ezra’s malicious intentions. Yes, Levi knew and encouraged their dark romance. Ezra’s malcontent obsession with warping Roman’s comprehension of what a friend really was all so he could play on the irony of how Roman killed a friend. The drivel still made Levi roll his eyes. Levi had plans to fix that, to wash away Ezra’s nonsense, and his time behind bars had done just that once they got transferred.
Roman never came to terms with his sexuality, and Levi suspected this would be the messy push Roman required. He’d offered himself a dozen different ways to Roman with no avail, so clearly, Roman needed a firm hand when it came to such things, someone to break him in and show him how much he could enjoy the company of another man. But then Ezra involved Jake Finnegan. The deal he’d made still disgusted Levi, making him sick to his stomach. The idea that Ezra would condone it, encourage it, manipulate something so depraved.
Somehow, Levi had dropped the drugs and found himself choking the life out of the comatose Ezra.
“I wish you could feel this.” Levi let out every bitter note of hatred buried deep inside him, hatred he’d learned to keep behind a perfectly trained mask since his fourth foster home. By his fifth, he’d learned never to let loose ends live long.
Levi released his grip on Ezra and reminded himself that, ultimately, the plan worked out accordingly. Roman was a little worse for wear, but Levi had all the time in the world to heal him, help him, hold him.
“Bet you were shocked someone slashed my ankle,” Levi said, wishing he could actually have the conversation he so craved with Ezra. He wanted to let that fool know he was never the puppet master he deluded himself into believing he was. He was nothing more than an easily hooked fish on a string for Levi to toy with.
Still, the limp in his walk reminded him of the errors in reckless plans. He needed to be dropped by wicked means during his fight with Ezra, though. A tactic that Ezra expectantly took full advantage of by punching him again and again, leaving him bloody and broken.
Roman needed the right motivation to step back into the role of champion, to find his voice and power again. Levi knew if he arranged for dirty tactics, Roman would have to sweep in and save him. At least Levi hoped Roman would; he hoped Roman loved him that much, and he hoped he could make Roman’s life a beautiful and peaceful forever now that they’d cemented their bond.
As much as Levi wanted to drag this out, as much as he wanted Ezra to feel the crushing defeat the same way he made Jake Finnegan and Warden Sadler feel their deaths, feel what it was like to hurt what Levi loved, he knew it was a futile endeavor. Ezra wouldn’t wake up, and Levi came here to ensure he never would.
“But I’ve got so much time to kill until Roman’s release,” Levi said, grabbing a pillow from behind Ezra’s head. “And you’ve got family I could kill as recompense, so I think the scales will even themselves out eventually.”
Levi smothered Ezra and left the hospital, knowing no one lived with knowledge of what he’d done to bring Roman a little closer to him.
For the next several months, Levi did everything he could to build the life Roman dreamed about. He wanted his first day back on the outside to be perfect. He wanted their lives to be perfect. They would be. Levi would see to it.
Roman walked out with a bag slung over his shoulder, and his beautiful brown eyes bulged at the sight of Levi’s car. He tugged at his ruffled brown hair, nearly undoing the effort he’d put into making it roll-out-of-bed perfect, something Levi suspected was for his benefit. But alas, the bright yellow Porsche Cayman had Roman captivated. Levi had only gotten it because he knew Roman loved this make and model. He had actually gotten two and planned on surprising Roman with the blue one soon. It matched Levi’s eyes, and he knew Roman would love that.
Levi had never cared about opulent wealth or bragging for the sake of feeling significant. But he did like the opportunity money afforded him. If he didn’t have money, he couldn’t give Roman the life he deserved. If he didn’t have the funds to bankroll his life after his release, then things wouldn’t have gone according to Levi’s plan.
“Damn, this is a nice ride,” Roman said, eyeing the vehicle from outside for a full three minutes. “How are you so loaded?”
“Bank robberies.”
Roman made a face, the face he always made when part of him itched to know if it was true, hopeful and excited, and the other part said it was wrong to feel such things. That was why Levi loved Roman. He never shied from the darkness, he stepped into it and wondered where it led, but he understood that wasn’t the right reaction. It took Levi many years of diligent training to pretend to understand that fact.
“IT start-up firm with way too much money and not enough brains between their benefactors,” Levi finally answered so Roman could have a bit of ease in the funds.
Levi had always liked technology. It made finding and removing people and problems so much easier. Plus, corporations paid big bucks to folks willing to skirt the rules and keep up with competitors. No one cared Levi was a felon; it practically gave him a certificate for under-the-table cash jobs.
“Wow.” Roman slid inside. “There is no way I’m going to find a job anywhere near this level of…I don’t even know.”
“You never know,” Levi said with a shrug, waiting for the right time to fan the flames of Roman’s dreams.
“Hey, wait.” Roman pointed at Levi, eyes wide and filled with realization. “Where are your glasses?”
“Lasik.” Levi shrugged, downplaying the tiny spike of nervousness that gave him. “That firm has awesome insurance and don’t require weddings to add dependents.”
“Damn, there goes my excuse to propose and become a trophy wife.” Roman grinned, goofy and carefree, letting the wind ruffle his shaggy brown hair. “Also, digging the stubble, dude.”
Levi rubbed his chin and smirked. It was a long-term plan, something Levi still wanted time to ponder, but he hoped to share his true self completely unmasked one day, but only safely. He never wanted to scare or hurt or upset Roman. Not after everything Roman had survived. Levi would unravel facets of himself layer by layer and test the reactions.
The glasses were a tool he used to appear meek and in need of a strong friend. It helped cement Roman’s hero complex. The clean shaved look made Levi appear younger, softer, weaker, and he used that to catapult Roman’s alpha side. It worked on a protective notion, but not when it came to getting Roman to fuck him. That took so much more work than Levi anticipated.
The drive was quiet, and Levi appreciated how Roman could be content with silence. He never had to fill the void with hollow words like he did with everyone else. He could be himself around Roman, even if only a few layers at a time. Roman had seen his soul bared raw, seen the lengths Levi would go to remove Roman’s enemies, and Roman hadn’t flinched. He hadn’t approved or disapproved, merely accepted Levi. That was enough. It would be enough because Levi had made it so.
When they pulled into the driveway, Roman stood awestruck at the sight of Levi’s house. Modern and sleek and far enough from neighbors that no one could complain about wealthy felons and blah, blah, blah. Levi didn’t need nosy neighbors upsetting Roman. It’d taken time and patience for Levi to remember he couldn’t deal with all the people who upset Roman. It wasn’t healthy for either of them. Roman needed to be strong, strong like he was when Levi first spotted Roman. Only now, that strength made room for Levi and allowed him inside.
They stepped through the front doors, and before Levi could start the massive tour to a house that overwhelmed Roman in all the best ways, a pair of Pitbulls ran up, wagging their tails and sniffing Roman. He fell to his knees in love the instant he saw them, and they gushed over Roman’s arrival, licking and kissing the most perfect man in the world.
Levi liked dogs. They were easy to condition like people. Trusting with the proper incentive. Levi slipped a treat into their mouths as he went to pet them and hold them and show Roman how much he cared for animals, too.
“They’re rescues,” Levi said. “This is RJ, and this is LJ.”
Roman fell into Levi at the names, letting Roman Junior and Levi Junior swarm him with kisses. Levi nearly collapsed himself when Roman crashed into him, forgetting how much he craved the gentle embrace, the perfect touch.
“You know, I actually got some interesting info from the rescue,” Levi said, wrapping an arm around Roman and testing how he handled the physical contact.
Roman didn’t recoil or shy away, and so Levi let his arm stay.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Levi continued. “Might’ve even asked their hiring policies, volunteer policies, how they felt about particular citizens with particular situations and particular state records.”
Roman stopped petting the dogs and awaited Levi’s answer. Levi could see the desperation in Roman’s eyes, the hunger for an answer. He’d daydreamed about opening a rescue shelter for animals one day, dreamed about fixing them and teaching them the world wasn’t so bad. Roman wanted them to feel love again, to understand it. He wanted animals to know not every hand that reached out meant harm. He spent so much free time reading about studies and statistics and state policies. It’d been something he talked about for hours during their time at Kleinfield Prison Complex.
“You might have an interview that you’ll definitely need to tell your PO about,” Levi finally answered, basking in the smile Roman gave him.
A smile so bright Levi almost worried he’d never see it again, worried he’d taken too much sunlight out of Roman’s spirit. But he hadn’t. He’d changed Roman just enough so they could be perfect together.
Roman moved in closer, letting the full weight of his body rest on Levi. It was an act of trust—one Levi would live up to. Roman kissed Levi. His lips, his chin, his cheeks, his nose, his neck, his everything. Levi was in heaven. For a man who felt like he’d crawled out of Hell itself, he never knew how good paradise could feel until he met Roman.
Levi would do anything to keep this feeling, to keep Roman. Anything.
THE END