Pretty Lies & Ugly Truths (Ugly Truths #1)

Epilogue

3 MONTHS LATER…

A rcher

I open the top drawer of the nightstand, reaching in to pull out a black mask, before slipping it over my face. The soft knit fabric as familiar to me as greeting an old friend.

It seemed fitting that I wear it tonight, closing out this chapter of our lives back how it all began. If all goes according to my plan, then after tonight, Maggie will no longer be my girlfriend, but maybe something…more. Something, I thought I would never have, never thought I deserved.

These past few months have been some of the happiest in my entire life. I have loved every minute Maggie and I have been able to spend together—which is not nearly enough in my opinion. If I had my way, she would never leave the house, but you know, free will and all that shit.

Our opposing schedules have been less than ideal. Sometimes, making it feel like we are two ships passing in the night. I have tried to convince her she doesn’t need to work, that she could just quit and stay home all day with me, but she loves her job, and I love her so…

She wakes up every morning with the sun, before going to the bookstore, where she works all day. By the time she’s getting home I’m leaving for the bar. I work late into the evening, only to sneak into her apartment in the dead of night to wake her with my cock buried deep inside her cunt or with my tongue between her legs.

I have enjoyed watching my little rose blossom under my touch. With each day, she becomes more comfortable with her sexuality, more confident. I’ve been careful not to push her too hard too fast, making sure she is not only healed physically from her bullet wound but also mentally from her previous traumas. If the last few months have shown me anything, it’s that Maggie is one hell of a woman.

She is stronger than any person I know, and after hearing Maggie tell me some of the stories her mother shares with her at their weekly brunches, I can see where she got it from. After learning just some of the things her mother endured at the hands of that madman, if he wasn’t already rotting in the ground, I would gladly send him to hell myself.

Cara left Boston behind and moved to a small apartment close to Jane. She has started going to therapy, and although still strained, Maggie and her mother are working on building some sort of a relationship.

I hear the front door open and close downstairs. At my behest, Jane—who is newly engaged and doing remarkably well now, living with her fiancé—convinced Maggie to take a long weekend off at work. Jayce agreed to cover for me so we could finally spend a few days alone together at the cove.

“Archer!” I hear her call out, her soft footsteps echoing as she enters the foyer, the switch clicking as she tries to turn on the lights. “What the hell?” she mutters to herself, and I smile behind my mask as she tries all the lights before realizing that the power’s been turned off.

“Baby… I think the power’s out,” she says as she begins walking up the stairs.

I stand near the closet, unmoving, as I watch the glow from the flashlight on her phone get brighter and brighter as she moves closer towards our room.

I’m hidden in the shadow created by the open door, so she doesn’t see me when she enters. She yelps, when I reach out, my arm snagging her around the waist before she can pass by. Her phone clatters to the floor, landing face down, leaving a beam of bright light shining straight to the ceiling.

Her body stiffens in my hold but immediately relaxes as soon as she realizes it’s me. “Mmm… Archer,” she moans as one of my hands glides across the front of her cotton dress, snaking up between her breasts to close gently around her throat.

She leans further into my hold, the back of her head coming to rest against my chest. Her eyes flutter open, finally seeing me for the first time since she entered. There’s a flash of fear there that makes my cock twitch, and she tries to pull out of my arms, but I keep my grip firm.

“Archer—what the hell?” she says, her voicing quivering—whether from fear or arousal, I can’t tell. She stills, swallowing hard when my grip on her throat tightens.

“Shh… Baby, relax,” I breathe into her ear, filled with smug satisfaction when she immediately obeys. “Good girl. Now, we’re gonna play a little game of hide and seek,” I say, taking her earlobe between my teeth, grinning around it when she lets out a low whimper. “I’m gonna stay here and count while you go run and hide. If I find you, I get to keep you…”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” she answers before letting me finish. I spin her around, staring deep into her eyes, letting her see the seriousness of what I’m about to say.

“Forever. If I find you…I get to keep you forever . I’m going to fuck you, make sure to ruin you for any other man. You will always be mine. Understand?” I tell her, and the dirty little minx just smiles.

“Yes. I understand,” she purrs in a husky voice, rubbing up against me like a cat.

“Behave,” I say, landing a hard smack on her ass.

She looks up at me with hooded eyes filled with so much love and lust, all the nerves about what I’m going to do fade away. There will never be anyone more perfect for me than her.

“I love you,” I blurt out, and she giggles softly, her face lighting up in the dim glow .

“I love you too.”

“Now run,” I growl, my voice low and deep.

Fear flashes in her eyes for a split second before she turns and darts from the room. I make it to about thirty-eight before I give up counting. I’m too impatient to wait, every cell in my body urging me to find and claim Maggie. Every primal instinct in my body pushes me to sink inside her tight, wet heat and mark her as mine.

“Ready or not, Little Rose—here I come.”

Maggie

“Now run.”

As soon as his words cut through the fog of lust clouding my brain, a spark of fear compels me to move, and I turn and flee. Logically, my mind knows Archer would never hurt me, but instinctively, my fight or flight has kicked in, and the urge to put as much distance between us forces my legs to obey.

I run down the stairs, straight across the living room and out the back door, the same path I took that first morning. Out on the lawn, I turn, looking for somewhere to hide, and I spot our tree. No. Too easy. That would be the first place he’d look for me.

The sound of ocean waves beckons me, and I turn to sprint towards the beach.

Halfway across the boardwalk, the back doors open. I pause, looking behind me to see the haunting image of moonlight bouncing off the bone white design of the skull mask as Archer stalks out onto the deck.

There’s no way he counted that fast, the little cheat.

My heart hammers in my chest as I watch him get closer, and I push my legs to move. Sand kicks up from under my feet, and a loud squeal escapes as big strong arms grab me from behind. Archer tackles me, twisting at the last minute so he lands beneath me, taking the brunt of my weight as we fall to the ground.

“Gotcha,” he grunts.

Giddy with excitement and high off the adrenaline, I move to straddle his waist, ripping the mask from his face before planting my lips on his, kissing him hungrily. He meets me thrust for thrust, plunging his tongue in my mouth as we both wrestle for control.

Wrapping my thick ponytail around his fist, he yanks my head back, wrenching his mouth from mine. His other hand slips under my dress, grabbing the flimsy lace of my panties and tearing them from my body.

“Now get up here and sit on my face,” he commands.

When I don’t move fast enough, a loud smack rings out as he slaps my ass. My legs try to tighten in an effort to get some relief, but his broad torso forces them wide.

“Move,” he barks, and this time, I don’t hesitate.

I crawl over his body to hover above his mouth. He reaches up, hands latching on to my inner thighs, pushing my knees apart until I have no choice but to sit firmly against his face. For a second, I wonder how he can breathe, but when his tongue brushes my clit, all thoughts leave my brain .

I lean forward, hands gripping his hair, my bare knees grating across the cool sand as I begin to ride his face, shamelessly chasing my pleasure. I’m already so close that when he plunges two fingers deep inside me, I come with a scream.

I don’t have time to come down from that high before he’s removing his fingers, lifting me off his face and onto my hands and knees before thrusting into me from behind. He sets a fierce pace as he fucks me hard, and it takes no time before I feel another orgasm building.

His body comes down to cover mine, one hand gently cupping my throat as he nibbles and sucks on my neck. His thrusts come faster and faster until he begins to lose his rhythm, rutting into me like an animal. His teeth bite down on the juncture between my neck and shoulder as he stills, cock buried deep inside, and that perfect mix of pleasure and pain is exactly what I need to take me right over the edge with him.

He sits back on his knees, pulling me up with him as he rains little kisses across the tender mark on my neck.

“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” he asks, concern in his voice.

“No. It was perfect.”

He helps me up, and we walk hand in hand back to the house, stripping off our sandy clothes to rinse off in the outdoor shower. It’s early fall, but the weather is still mild enough to be comfortable. I step under the warm spray, and Archer joins me. Night has fully fallen, but the full moon provides just enough light to see by .

“I found you,” he says, brushing the hair back over my shoulders, “so you know what that means.”

“I do,” I answer, placing a kiss over the vibrant red rose tattoo, the only pop of color that decorates the black and white landscape of his skin.

He steps back, an intense expression on face, all signs of teasing gone. For a brief second, I wonder if I did done something wrong, but then he speaks, and my heart melts into a puddle on the shower floor.

“Maggie, I know this may be too soon, but from the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were mine. I didn’t think I was worthy or deserving of love or happiness, but you’ve helped me change that. I still don’t think I’m worthy, but I vow to spend the rest on my days on this Earth trying to live up to the man you see in me—if you’ll let me.”

Streams run down over my face, a combination of water from the shower and the tears that spill from my eyes.

“I love you so much. Please say you’ll be mine. Please say you’ll be my wife.”

“Yes,” I choke out on a sob, jumping into his arms, knowing he will catch me. Our kiss starts slow before that fire reignites and the urgency to be joined as one becomes too strong.

Gripping me under my thighs, he backs me up against the stone wall, pulling back just enough to line himself up with my entrance before sinking into to me in one, long stroke.

He doesn’t think he’s worthy, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Archer is one of the best men I know, and sure, our relationship didn’t start in any conventional kind of way, but I wouldn’t change a fucking thing.

As he makes love to me by the light of the moon, I vow to spend the rest of my life loving this man, ensuring he knows how worthy he truly his.