Epilogue
A Few Months Later
The Bahamas
“Can I ask you something?” Nico put his drink down and looked at me.
“Sure.” I cringed inwardly, though. What did he want?
Was there some other club he wanted me to join?
Was he opening a Bahamas branch of one of the Salazar clubs?
Surely he wasn’t that tone deaf. I was head over heels for Daisy and hadn’t been shy about that fact.
I mean, he had just witnessed me marry her, for goodness’ sake.
“How did you know about Daisy?”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
He sighed and pushed his sleeves up. It was a little warm on the beach.
The sunset was almost totally faded, and it would be cooling off now that darkness was falling.
Daisy and I had our wedding outside, and we’d wanted the reception to be a combination of indoors and outdoors.
The food was inside the house. Guests could serve themselves and then bring it out to one of the many tables we had set up under strands of lights and surrounded by an elegant version of tiki torches.
Madeline, one of Daisy’s roommates at Cinnamon House, had insisted on them.
Apparently, she was an outstanding party planner as well as being the most down and dirty of all the strippers at Sugar.
It was kind of a strange combination, but it worked for her.
Waitstaff circled to refill plates and glasses frequently.
Soft music played on the sound system I had set up along the side of the house.
I knew the dancing would get serious later on, but for now it was nice to hear the laughter and conversation flowing all around us.
It was a fun, relaxed atmosphere. Just like we’d wanted.
Nico had been staring into a glass of whiskey, his finger circling the rim, but now his dark blue eyes lifted and focused on me. “How did you go from fucking a different woman every other night, to knowing you wanted to be with just one? How does that even happen?”
I looked around, glad Daisy had gone over to another table to talk to her bridesmaids for a while. I didn’t really want her to hear about my past sexual habits on our wedding day. Even if she already knew what they were.
I studied Nico’s face. He was serious. I took a drink before answering. “I don’t know.”
Nico threw his hands up and chuckled. “Helpful as usual, Jack.”
“Sorry, it’s just… inexplicable. I looked at her and there was something in her eyes and,” I shrugged unable to put it into words, “it was like something clicked inside me. I just knew I was meant to be with her.”
“Just like that.” Nico stared at me, incredulous.
“Yeah.” I took a sip of my drink, the whiskey nice and smooth as it hit the back of my throat. “Just like that.” I stared at Daisy from across the room. She felt my gaze, turned, and smiled at me. And I grinned like an idiot.
“And you have no doubts, no thoughts that you’d like to fuck…” he looked around until his eyes landed on a particularly hot waitress, “someone like that?”
I barely looked at the woman. “No doubts. No desire to fuck someone else. It’s all about Daisy for me, man. Forever. I promise you that.”
Nico looked thoughtful. “First it happened to Reynolds and now you. Two men I thought were firmly in the ‘bachelor for life’ camp like me. I can’t imagine feeling that way about a woman.”
“You will,” I said with confidence. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I want to get back to my girl.” I crossed the reception area to get to Daisy. I swept her into my arms and pulled her onto the dance floor where we swayed to the music and talked to each other.
I could feel his eyes on me and Daisy off and on throughout the night. Nico Salazar might think he wanted to be a lifelong bachelor, but I didn’t think that was the life he was going to lead. He would meet someone that made him want to give up his current lifestyle and never look back.
At least, that’s how it had been for me.
Later, Reynolds cornered us after we’d cut the cake. I’d refrained from shoving cake all over Daisy’s perfect face. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Especially since I wouldn’t be allowed to take my time licking all the frosting off her.
Hmm. Maybe I should have smashed cake on her cleavage…
“Jack? Are you listening?” Reynolds asked, mildly annoyed. Nadine hit him on the shoulder.
“Stop it. They just got married. You’re at their wedding. You can’t expect him to pay any attention to you when he has all that,” she gestured widely at Daisy, “to look at.”
Reynolds grinned at her, love written all over his face. “Honey, you are so right. As usual.” He turned to me. “Jack, I’m sorry to interrupt your wedding, but I wanted to give you good news.”
Daisy and I both perked up at that, our eyes meeting briefly before we looked at Reynolds.
He smiled. “Nothing else has happened in West Bay since y’all left. No murders, no reported stalkings, nothing that would make us think there’s a,” he got quiet and looked around before whispering, “serial killer around town.”
As hard as police had worked to try to prove Ivan was the killer, it wasn’t true. He had alibis for most of the nights when women had been killed, including the night Daisy’s look-a-like had died. He’d been in jail. There was no evidence that he’d ever stalked anyone besides Daisy.
“That’s wonderful news,” Daisy beamed. She’d had a hard time with the fact that the woman who was killed had looked like her.
She’d felt as if it was supposed to be her that died, and she’d definitely suffered some survivor’s guilt from that.
The murder combined with her kidnapping had left her with nightmares and anxiety.
She was still seeing a therapist weekly to deal with her fears.
“I would love to think he’s moved on, or been captured somewhere else, or… died.”
“Me too,” I said, holding her close to me.
“That’s our hope as well. I know Tate, the sheriff, has put out warnings all throughout the low country area of Georgia and South Carolina, as well as a statewide alert.
He’s gone out to several crime scenes across Georgia and the South to advise whether he thinks it’s the work of the same man.
So far, that hasn’t been the case. We’re hopeful we’ve seen the last of this guy. ”
Nadine turned to Daisy. “So, are y’all going to come back to West Bay, then?”
Daisy and I shared a glance and shook our heads. My bride had a beautiful smile on her face as she said, “Nope. We love it here.”
“That’s so nice,” Nadine said, pulling Daisy in for a hug. “I’m just so glad y’all found each other.”
“You need to thank Old Man Dinardo’s tomato soup for that,” I said, a wry smile on my face.
Reynolds cocked an eyebrow. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Nadine pulled him down and whispered something in his ear. He nodded. “My wife informed me that I’m taking up too much of your time. Go enjoy your wedding reception.” With that he pulled Nadine onto the dance floor and started whirling her around while she held on for dear life, laughing.
Daisy and I talked to what felt like an endless stream of people until I put my foot down. “That’s it. Time for us to be alone,” I said, and she didn’t stop me.
I swooped her up in my arms and carried her away from the reception as people cheered behind us.
“What are you doing? Where are you taking me?” she asked, breathless.
“You’ll see,” I said, walking down the beach.
I waited until we were far enough away that no one could hear us, but where we were still in range to hear the music. I set her down gently on the sand and watched as she reached down to take her beautiful designer heels off.
“I wanted you all to myself,” I explained.
She looked around at the private beach, which was one of our favorite places to be, and sighed. She looked content. The full moon shone down on us, its light glinting off the water.
I held her in my arms as we danced, the surrounding sounds a mixture of the song “Speechless” by Dan + Shay and the waves breaking on the shore.
“Are you having fun?” I asked my bride.
“So much fun,” she smiled at me, the sparkle in her green eyes telling me everything I wanted to know.
“I love you so much,” I said, after twirling and dipping her. My face was inches from hers as I held her a few inches above the sand.
She held on with one hand as she traced my jawline. “And I love you. More than I ever thought I could love someone.”
“How long do we have to stay at the reception?”
She threw her head back and laughed as I pulled her into a standing position. “It’s our reception, Jack. This is one party we can’t skip out on early. We’ll be here a while.” She looked around. “Besides, we obviously took a little break.”
“True,” I grinned. “Well, I’m fine with it as long as our own private party lasts even longer.” I thought for a moment. “And as long as I get to keep you near me.”
“You have me,” she said, “for as long as you want me.”
“So, forever then?”
She nodded happily. “Forever.”