Epilogue Creighton
Epilogue
Creighton
A month later
Blake was upstairs getting ready for this event.
Since she’d been invited, she began talking more about how she hadn’t been able to experience the city.
Hence, she now wanted to do the tourist experiences so she could say she’d done them.
And I knew she was loving this “normal” way of life, so I had no problem doing my part for her, being the normal boyfriend.
That meant dates. Lots of dates.
We went to Broadway one night. Then we went to Ellis Island.
Saw the Statue of Liberty another day. We took a trip to Times Square.
Walked through Central Park. Passed through Canal Street.
Chinatown. Little Italy. Toured the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Saw a show at Café Carlyle. Got cheese at Zabar’s.
Did a culinary tour at the Chelsea Market.
I was tourist-ed out.
Blake was in heaven.
“Boss, my man.” Levi came over, thumping me on the arm before he poured himself a drink. “You ready for this?”
I eyed him, waited until he settled with his drink in hand before I reached up and tipped the drink out of his hands. It fell to the ground, and he glared at me. “Asshole.”
“I won’t repeat myself about you calling me Boss.”
“But you are my boss—” He’d begun to bend down to pick up his now-emptied glass when a burst of feminine laughter came from the top of the stairs. He paused for a second before grabbing the glass, or he would’ve.
My foot kicked it away from him, and he glared at me again.
“Such a dick.” Levi picked up his glass, tossed a towel on the floor where the liquid spilled, and filled another drink. He came back to settle beside me but had moved out of my immediate reach. He only got one sip before the girls came down the stairs. “Whoa.”
He straightened upright, a dumbstruck expression coming to his face, and when I looked, air left my lungs. I only had eyes for Blake.
She was beautiful every day, but this, how her silk cream dress molded over her body, with a slit up one leg—she was stunning. Her brown skin shimmered, and her hair was sleek, falling down past her shoulders.
Blake was everything.
She bit her bottom lip at my approach. A shy and self-conscious look hinted in her depths, but I cupped the side of her face and whispered over her lips, “Beautiful. Absolutely magnificent.”
Her hands went to my arms. She squeezed them lightly. “Really?”
I nodded, knowing she could see how serious I was. “You are a gift that I will never deserve, but too selfish to give back.”
She clutched to me as my mouth sealed over hers.
I could kiss her forever.
I would kiss, and taste, and savor every touch like this. I didn’t want to go to this event. There’d be civilians there. My former enemies. Academic types. Blake said her professor would be there as well.
“Are we ready?” Heath called from the door.
Levi and Palma moved to follow.
Blake held me back. “You’ll behave tonight?”
“That means no killing? Walden will be there.”
She pushed a finger into my chest. “No maiming. No killing. No slicing. My professor will be there. People from the center. Malik said Cap is even coming. Satya, too, with her sister.”
I’d recently met Blake’s favorite four that utilized the center.
“I’d never harm them.” I took her hand and began leading her out of their townhouse, stopping only to grab our jackets. They’d be needed since Blake insisted we be “normal” for this event. That meant traveling to Rockefeller Center by train.
She laced our fingers together. “You know that’s not who I meant. Just, be fake tonight. You know. Be civil. Normal people world.”
“Normal people world is overrated.”
She laughed shortly, squeezing my hand. “True, but wear the fake persona mask tonight. Don’t scare my kids.”
Her kids? That’s how she considered the kids who utilized the shelter? I searched her face to see if there were any hints of resentment, but I found none. Just warmth. She was happy. I don’t know if the shelter was perfect for Blake, but she was perfect for the shelter. I wasn’t surprised.
I remarked, “Never. However, I will do no such thing when it comes to Walden.”
I was fully aware she was doing some of this because of me, going into her studies and continuing her work with the center because she hoped to help me learn how to have more empathy.
It was about her, but about me too. Maybe one day that would happen.
It would make her happy. Myself? I didn’t care.
I followed her rules, and I began to feel other sensations inside of me, so maybe she was correct.
Maybe there was a way to help people like me grow as a person?
All I knew was that I’d begun to change for her and I’d continue except I would never let another rule over me. Or rule over Blake.
I would always ensure her safety. Even if that meant I would sacrifice myself.
I didn’t think other psychopaths would make the same decision.
Her smile softened, knowing that I meant what I said. She rested her head against my arm for a moment. “Thank you.”
I pressed a kiss to the side of her temple.
Once we got onto the subway, silence came over the train.
Blake didn’t want to attend this Christmas event pulling up in a slew of private vehicles. Said that wasn’t “normal poor college student behavior.”
I already knew I had men working on this train. They hadn’t been notified ahead of time. The group settled at the end of the car, and I leaned back, holding a post with one hand. My other curved around Blake, keeping her anchored to my side.
Conversation began to pick up, but quieted among our group as one of my men approached. He had eyes only for me. “Sir?”
I lifted my chin behind him. “We’ll be going to the Rockefeller. Move to the next car.”
He clipped his head in a nod at my command, and soon the rest of my men all went to the other subway cars.
Instead of continuing to work, they stood guard at the doors so no one else could come onto our individual car.
This was routine for wherever I went, and for the most part, Blake’s housemates had grown accustomed to this treatment. They continued their conversations.
The other civilians noted how I was treated.
They watched me. One raised her camera to record me, but I looked at her.
She squeaked, her eyes bulging out, and she fumbled her phone, dropping it to the floor.
It rolled all the way until Levi stopped it.
When she came over to take it, he said something to her.
Her eyes went past him to me, and she nodded quickly before returning to her seat.
She didn’t try to record again.
Blake sank into me. “Some things will never change.”
I glanced down at her. “Do you want that?”
She considered my question, tipping her head up to meet my gaze. She shrugged. “No. I love you. You still have to be you. I fell in love with you, not a version of you.”
She did indeed.
She looked at me, saw my monster, then claimed my monster as hers.
Blake
It was a couple hours into the Christmas party, after Creighton had to step out to take a call, that I slipped away to the bathroom.
It was when I was returning, going down a hallway toward where the larger group had congregated.
Hearing a sudden burst of voices, I glanced over, but I almost did half-heartedly because I didn’t even know there was a door beyond the women’s bathroom.
It was a side exit, and I’d realize later that the door was camouflaged, and how sneaky was that, but I recognized the two big guys just coming in from out of that door.
Those were Ashton Walden’s guards. Elijah and Derek.
Right behind them, dressed in a business suit with a phone pressed to his ear, and looking distracted was Ashton Walden. My knee jerk reaction was panic, because of old habits. I was alone. Vulnerable. They could grab me, but I remembered the war was done.
I shoved that fear away and stayed put.
They had to go past me to get to their table.
They had enough people at this Christmas event so their group was at one side of the banquet and we were on the other.
That’d been done on purpose. I doubted my professor or the head of the center was aware of the dynamics, so I had to guess that Tristian West had orchestrated the seating arrangements. Either way, we’d barely interacted.
The two guards began to pass, but once Walden saw me, he stopped short.
He eyed me before he said into his phone, “I need a minute. Do me a favor, Molly? Let Trace know that I’m about to have a face-to-face with Psychopath’s Girl?
Thanks. No. I’m okay. I don’t need you to come and She-Hulk out.
” He put his phone away and fixed me with a contentious glare.
“Taking lessons from your stalker boyfriend?”
I was confused. “Are you implying that me standing here is stalking you?”
“If the shoe fits . . .”
“Yeah. Uh. No.” I gestured three feet away. “Girls’ bathroom. Not a stellar stalking hideaway. But kudos to you for thinking I’d want to stalk you if that were the case.” I tipped my head toward his guards. “They’re super stellar at their job then? Going right past me.”
He rolled his eyes. “Or maybe you’re just that unremarkable? They skip right over anyone who’s inconsequential.”
“You realize who you’re saying that to, right?”
He narrowed his eyes. “What? The great and infamous—”