Epilogue
Orion
“Oh my God!”
The squeal that follows is so loud it nearly pierces my own eardrums. But I can’t believe what I’m holding in my hands right now.
“My book. It’s here!”
Xavier and Sunny peek around the corner of the Tartarus living area, where they were having a little brunch with the two of them.
“Sorry to interrupt you two,” I mutter. “But oh my God, look!”
I hold up the novella for them to see, and Sunny smiles as I approach them.
“Wait, did you write a novel?” Xavier asks.
I shake my head. “My poetry got published.”
Xavier frowns as he steals the book from my hand to take a closer look. “For real?” He sifts through the pages and grins. “Well, well, well, I’ll be damned. I don’t know how you did it man, but I’m proud of you.”
He opens his jacket and pulls out a new notebook. “Speaking of. I promised you something a while ago, and I’m a man of my word.” He hands me a brand-new notebook just like the one I penned down all my poetry in. The same one he ripped a paper out of. “For the trouble.”
“Thank you,” I reply.
“Of course. So how did you actually get your poetry published?”
Sunny snatches the book from his hand. “I secretly submitted it to an agent.”
My eyes widen. “Wait, that was you? I thought that agent just landed in my inbox out of nowhere.”
She proudly wades through the poems. “It looks good.”
“It’s all thanks to you,” I say, placing my hand on her arm to pull her closer. “And I couldn’t be more grateful for my muse.”
I lean in to peck her on the forehead, feeling infinitely grateful that I’ve gotten this far thanks to her. My words would’ve dried up long ago if she hadn’t existed at the forefront of my mind.
“Nicely done, Orion,” Xavier says, patting me on the back, before he waltzes to the cabinet to take out some hard liquor. “We should toast to that.”
I hold up my hand. “No thanks, I’m good.”
Xavier frowns. “Why not? You love—”
“I quit,” I interject.
“Wait, for real?” Sunny’s eyes widen.
“Mm-hmm,” I say. “It’s true. I don’t need it anymore.” I cup her face and lean in, a smile forming on my face. “When I have the imminent threat of murder lingering over my head, I have nothing else to drown in.”
She snorts. “You’re a strange one. You know that, right?”
“We’re all strange here,” I muse, kissing her on the lips because I just can’t get enough of her taste.
“Does the family know?” Xavier asks.
My lips pull away, and I stare at him for a moment, having an epiphany. “No,” I reply, excited as hell. I don’t think I’ve ever been this elated in my entire fucking life. “Fuck, I should go tell them. I’m a published poet!”
Xavier
“Pull!” Sunny yells. Her dad pulls the lever, and the target pops out. She shoots it down with ease, and everyone in the family cheers.
“Nice shot, Sunny,” Atreus chants, whistling after her.
“Why does she always have the fucking highest score?” Silas growls.
We’re having a casual picnic in the woods while shooting targets, courtesy of Atreus Foley, who brought his gear with him just so we could all have a little fun get-together with the entire family.
“Because my sister is better than you at shooting,” Elliot taunts.
“Pull!” Sunny shouts.
BANG!
“Try to beat me with a knife,” Silas growls, throwing a knife at the target before Sunny even has a chance to shoot, and it cracks in half. “Fuckers.”
“Always the jealous one,” Levi muses.
“Fuck you,” Silas growls.
“Enough with the talk,” Sunny says, handing him the shotgun. “Let’s see your moves, kid.”
“Kid? Kid? Who are you calling a kid?”
“I am, because I’m the oldest of us, so you all listen to me,” she retorts, winking.
“All right, senior citizen.” Silas loads more bullets.
“Wow, those two are going head-to-head soon, guarantee it,” Ivy mutters.
“Nah, this is how they always act, but they love fighting for the number-one spot,” Max replies.
“Speaking of number one … How’s it feel to be loved by the most cutthroat woman on the planet, Xav?” Atlas asks me all of a sudden, catching me off guard.
My cheeks light up, and I grab a cookie from the plate to stop it from spreading as I stuff it into my mouth. “Nothing’s different.”
“Nothing?” Sunny turns back to look at me, and I nearly quiver in my boots. “Sit.”
My butt immediately slams down onto the picnic table, and our family chuckles.
“He’s in deep, bro,” Heath says.
“We all are for our ladies,” Apollo says, grabbing a strawberry so he can stuff it into Aspen’s mouth. “Always listen to your lady.”
“That’s sound advice,” Atreus says, taking a sip of his beer while enjoying the sun.
“Xavier. Bullets,” Sunny barks.
I pick them up from the table and chuck them at Sunny.
“Good boy.”
The blush that follows is intense, but not as intense as the throbbing in my pants.
“She trained you real good,” my dad says, winking at me. “Proud of you, son.”
“Yeah, I’m proud of you, little brother,” Aspen says, nudging me with her shoulder. “I knew you could do it.”
“Oh what, like you didn’t find out weeks ago?” I reply.
“No. We all knew. For a very fucking long time, too.”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“You saved yourself for her, right?” Melody says, casually looking up from her small painting.
I stare at her for a moment, blindsided by the comment. “Wh-what? How did you—”
“We’re your sisters,” Melody responds. “It’s our job to know everything about you.”
Well shit. I didn’t know they were that invested in my love life.
Aspen giggles. “It’s nothing to be ashamed about. You had your eyes set on the prize, and you finally went for it. Look at her … look what you managed to make yours.”
I immediately look at Sunny and forget everything I wanted to say to them.
BANG!
The gun goes off again.
My lips part. “Wow …”
She chuckles. “See? Even you are impressed.”
“What do you mean?” Sunny muses, tilting her head as she approaches. “I’m the one who’s lucky to have him.” She puts her index finger underneath my chin and makes me look up at her. “My sweet, sweet Xavier …”
I’m so fucking obsessed with her touch that everyone else here fades into oblivion.
“Are you mine?”
“Yes,” I croak, my voice skipping a note.
My own family chuckles. “I know that look,” my dad says. “Xavier’s down bad.”
I smirk. “And proud of it.”
Atreus
I never imagined it’d be this fun to be part of her family.
Who would have thought a Foley could ever belong in their midst? Not me, and certainly not after all the warnings my dad gave me about this bunch.
But I’m glad I didn’t listen to him.
He was just angry for losing out on his spot in the Skull & Serpent Society because of the stupid shit he did when he was younger. And you know what? Our parents’ mistakes don’t have to define us.
I grab my glass and hold it up. “I want to propose a toast.”
Everyone stops talking, and Sunny briefly stops shooting at her targets.
“To Sunny. For being herself, through and through. For teaching me what true justice means. For showing me a new meaning in life. For letting me see that not all things are black and white, and that family history does not define who you are. For showing me that patterns don’t have to be repeated.
And … for being a fine-ass killer lady.”
Apollo starts a cheer with his fist in the air. “That’s what I’m talking about.”
“Fine ass is true,” Orion muses to himself, penning down more words in his newly acquired notebook.
“And the rest too,” Xavier says, winking at me.
“To Sunny,” her dad, Nathan, says, and he raises his glass.
All of them toast with one another, and the sun in the sky isn’t the only thing spreading the warmth. There’s just something about this that makes me feel like I finally found a place to call home.
“Thank you,” I say, when the cheers have died down, and I home in on my beautiful girl. “Thank you for being mine.”
Who would’ve thought we’d be right back here in these same woods, shooting the same gun I shot when I found my little stalker?
Life has a way of circling back.
She approaches me and straddles my lap, and I gleefully squeeze her ass as her mouth hovers over mine. “You’re going to get punished so hard later for embarrassing me like that.”
I nip at her top lip. “Why not now? In front of all of them?”
Her tongue darts out to lick mine. “Don’t tempt me.”
“Do it, then.”
“Is that a challenge?” she whispers into my ear while crushing my balls with her fist. “Do you love me enough to test that theory?”
I grind my teeth to ignore the pain. “I love you more than you can handle.”
She finally releases my balls, and I groan into her ear.
“We’ll see about that.”
I whisper, “Tease,” right before she slides off my lap again.
“No, thank you for joining the family,” Alistair says, raising his glass once more. “Because now we’ve got a new insider in the police force.”
“Yeah, thanks, Sunny, for offering yourself up to lure one of them to our side,” Levi says, winking at her.
I raise a hand. “Hold your horses, I didn’t say—”
“No, you’re part of the crew now,” Orion says, throwing his arm around my neck. “These guys are a vicious bunch. We need you to tame them.”
I smirk. “You all know exactly how to play me.”
“Damn right,” Sunny says, grinning as she picks up the gun again to shoot at another target. “And you wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Sunny
I snap my fingers, but nothing happens, and it makes me squint.
“Atreus. Come.”
I snap my fingers again.
Someone finally—reluctantly—steps out of the closet with the grumpiest scowl I have ever seen, while wearing a maid’s outfit.
Laughter fills my chest, but I swallow it all down as he glares at me with disdain, the maid outfit far too small for his excellently trained pecs. But it’s the little cat ears on top of his dark hair that really finish the look.
“How much longer?” he growls.
God, I could just about eat him up.
“As long as I want you to. Remember? You embarrassed me at the picnic, and this is your punishment.”
“His punishment?” Xavier squawks, walking out too with a tail attached to his ass. I knew buying that plug was the right choice. “Then why are we all wearing it?”
Orion struts out with a feather duster, flaunting his goods. “I don’t know, I think it looks … fancy, especially on my perfectly trained body.” He poses and sticks out his butt to show off the diamond butt plug. “Does this dress make my ass look big?”
“Oh yeah, work it,” I say, biting my lip all the way from the little throne I had them build for me.
I coax Atreus with my index finger. “Come here, Foley. Feed me.”
He clenches his jaw but still does exactly what I tell him to.
And he grabs the strawberries lying on a plate and hand-feeds them to me, pushing my lips down before rolling the strawberry down my tongue.
His fingers linger in my mouth as he leans over the chair and looks up at me from above, a smirk forming on his face.
“You’re enjoying this very much, aren’t you?”
“Fuck yes … now this … this is exactly what I needed.” I lick my lips. “Now all of you, get on your knees and fight to lick my pussy.”