Psycho (The Line Walkers #2)

41. Epilogue – Olivia

Epilogue – Olivia

“ I need to know what you had to wager against him to get him here.” Peyton hissed at me as we walked down the dark street as she snickered. “Dressed like that.”

“Meh,” I shrugged, taking the silver pool noodle I carried and whacked Maddox with it for the hundredth time since we turned down the block. God, it was therapeutic. “He’ll do anything for that little girl.”

“Candy!” Maddox cheered in a singsong voice, echoed by Rory’s cheery giggle as he tossed a handful of candy at kids walking by in their Halloween costumes.

The entire town was laughing at him. Including us.

And he didn’t give a single shit, so long as Rory was having fun.

Sure, she was only seven months old and didn’t understand that her dad was dressed head to toe in fabric streamers like a pinata, carrying her in a candy-bowl-decorated chest carrier as we walked through our new hometown while I hit him with a pool noodle. She was just living her best chubby cheek life and Maddox was more than happy to do whatever it took to keep her that way.

Hell, even Dane walked alongside them through the streets as we visited different Halloween booths at the town wide festival. He, of course, didn’t go along with my plan to dress up like a second pinata and instead chose a black hoodie and a Ghostface mask. He could be such a killjoy sometimes.

Peyton sure did like the mask, though, pinching his ass every time he slowed down to check on her and ask if she was ready to go home yet.

She was walking on her own without braces, crutches or canes, finally, but she still got tired easily. Her rehab from the accident had been hard on her, but she never complained or gave up.

So, we were walking our way through the cute little town right outside of Hartington Estate, cruising slowly to allow Peyton’s healing leg the chance to build up strength. Given that I was freshly into my second trimester of pregnancy again, I was okay with the relaxed pace.

Turns out Maddox was more intent on giving Rory a sibling than I understood.

Our son was due in five short months.

Giving us two under two. Fucking wild.

“Oh, look who it is, Rory!” Peyton cheered excitedly as the guys waited for us at a corner. “Uncle TeeTee!”

Maddox groaned and rolled his eyes as Rory flailed in her carrier, arms and legs swinging a mile a minute as Tamen walked up to us from the darkness.

I tried really hard to keep my past judgments of him to myself, but I still kept him mostly at arm’s distance.

Rory, on the other hand, demanded every single time he was near, to be directly in his arms. And would scream bloody murder if she wasn’t.

As if on cue, she wailed a loud screech of delight as he tossed his cancer stick to the ground and reached for her without so much as greeting Maddox as he took her out of the carrier. Uncle TeeTee only had eyes for one girl, and she was currently slobbering on the side of his face, giving him her newly discovered kisses.

“Where’s your costume?” Dane asked, pushing his mask up on top of his head.

Tamen scoffed, “I’m wearing it.”

“What are you supposed to be, exactly?” I asked, eyeing his completely typical black suit.

“Irresistible.” He nodded to Rory as she giggled and kissed him again. “Duh.”

I rolled my eyes so far; I thought they’d get stuck. “Oh, how could I have missed that?”

“I figured I’d come check out this small-town vibe before I get wrapped up in the city for the next few months. I’m going to be busy and won’t make it out to as much of this stuff.”

Peyton locked right in on his early avoidance of the holiday season and lit into him. “What exactly is so important that you will be MIA more often than you already are?”

We had a weird little family unit with the five of us and Rory, but it kind of worked. At some point along the way, some weird unspoken truce occurred between the boys and Tamen, leaving us all in each other’s lives without a pivotal moment that started it.

Well, if you don’t count the one where I was kidnapped and gave birth in an abandoned building surrounded by serial killers. Because apparently Tamen wasn’t just a modern-day pimp, he was also dark and twisty with a knife and disappeared with the guys on hunts occasionally.

Like I said before, life was fucking wild.

Tamen shrugged and handed Rory back to Maddox when she let out a big fart, not wanting to be near her if she needed a diaper change as he avoided giving us any real information about his life. Another trait of his. “I bought a club. And the takeover of it is going to be extensive. Lots of things to change around.”

“A club?” Dane asked, not buying it.

“Yeah.” Tamen replied, looking out over the crowd as he put another cigarette between his lips. He wouldn’t light it being so near to Rory, even if we were outside, but it gave away his anxiety hidden beneath his mysterious exterior.

“What kind of club?” Peyton pushed.

“A club.” He repeated.

“A sex club.” I deadpanned, already knowing a leopard never changes its spots.

The group all stared at Tamen and waited for him to either confirm or deny it, but we all knew I was right.

Eventually he groaned and faced me head on, “A legitimate place that respectable people pay a lot of money to go to where they can enjoy things with like-minded people.”

“Is it legal?” I countered, and he waved me off.

“It’s consensual.” He replied. “That should be enough.”

Maddox scoffed and hushed Rory, who was getting antsy with all of us just standing still. “It’s not.”

“Whatever.” Tamen rolled his neck. “Good thing I didn’t ask your bloody opinion on it then, huh dad ?”

“We just want you to be safe.” Peyton smoothed over for the group, but she was speaking for herself and maybe a little for Dane. Maddox and I couldn’t care less about what happened to the guy other than Rory would miss him if he ended up in prison for prostitution. “And to be someone that we can be proud to call family.”

“Oy,” Tamen cringed at the word and shook it off, “I’m successful and I’m bloody rich.” He smiled brightly at Peyton. “That should be enough.”

Someone bumped into Tamen from behind, disturbing the vibe in the group and Tamen tensed, sliding his hand in pocket, no doubt grabbing for a weapon. At the same time, Maddox shifted toward me, shielding me and Rory with his body. But when the slight frame of an older woman came out around Tamen’s dark shadow, they all relaxed a little.

“Oh, sorry Sunny, didn’t see you there.” The woman laughed, patting her hand against Tamen’s arm.

Dane turned away from the woman, pulling the mask down over his face, crossing the group silently to stand directly in front of Peyton, ushering her out of our circle. My sister gasped and then giggled as he pushed her further from our circle and down the sidewalk without a word of conversation between the two of them. “Bye!” Peyton called to me. “Chat with you tomorrow!”

“No worries at all.” Tamen’s velvety smooth English accent echoed over the crowds around us as he smiled down at the old woman. The old woman seemed to melt into him as he spoke, and Tamen stiffened when she snuggled in against his arm.

“Ohh,” She purred obnoxiously, “My, what a sturdy set of biceps you have, Sunny.”

Maddox’s eyes widened as he mouthed something to me across the space, but I didn’t quite catch it.

“What?” I whispered back, and he took a step away from Tamen and the woman, who suspiciously looked like she was trying to wrap her arms around his waist.

“Feral Post Office lady!” Maddox hissed and my eyes rounded, remembering the way Dane and Peyton avoided the woman like the plague after an incident in a corn maze once.

I still didn’t know exactly what happened in that corn maze, but there were hints that somehow Dane had ended up naked and the Feral Post Office Lady tried to take him for a ride.

“So, we’ve got to go.” I called out, pulling Maddox away from Tamen, who locked eyes on me and his silent cry for help was obvious as the woman started rubbing her cheek against his peck. “See ya, bye!”

Maddox and I hightailed it away from the two lovebirds, cackling and wiping away tears from laughing as Tamen called out after us.

“I’ll make you pay for this, Little Hacker!”

The feral woman’s voice hushed him as it sounded like she pulled him away toward the festival, “Oh come on now Sunny, be a dear and help Dolly home.”

The End