Epilogue
SAGE
Five years later
“Alright, Peyton Grace, this is the last house, then we’re going home, alright?”
My five-year-old looks up at me, her blue eyes filling with sadness. “Mommy, please, a few more! I haven’t gotten enough candy yet!”
She’s dressed as a football player, and not in a jokey way.
No, my beautiful little girl wanted to dress like one of her daddies in one of the old pictures we have in the house for Halloween.
He even dug out one of his old jerseys with his name and number on it—Donahue, #9—and ordered her a little helmet online.
And, courtesy of another one of her daddies, she has black streaks on her cheeks, right under her eyes, like a real football player.
All my costume suggestions were rejected—princess, fairy, unicorn, witch—and my crazy daughter idolizes her dads, so I don’t know why I was surprised when she came running out in full padding this evening, Vinny laughing behind her.
“Yeah, Mommy, a few more houses,” Beckham whines from my other side, his hand curling around my waist.
Peyton jumps a few times as she laughs, her hand squeezing mine. “See, Mommy, Daddy wants to get more candy too!”
I laugh as we approach the next driveway, the lawn covered in blow-up decorations and the house twinkling with white and orange lights. Looking at Beckham, I narrow my eyes. “Daddy knows the babysitter will be showing up soon, and Little Miss Peyton needs to get ready for bed so we can go out.”
Becks grins at me, secrets dancing in his eyes.
Peyton huffs, dropping my hand as Beckham leads her up the driveway and to the front door. I stay behind, watching them from the sidewalk as he lifts her up to reach the doorbell.
I never had a paternity test done because, no matter what, Peyton is all four of ours, but her blue eyes, black curly hair, and warm soul give away whose DNA runs through her.
We don’t talk about it, any of us, but I know deep down Vinny and Kai know she’s Becks’s flesh and blood.
It doesn’t change their bond with her, though, because Beckham is just as much their family as me and Peyton.
The front door opens, an older couple smiling behind it, and Peyton screams as loud as she can, too excited to get the words out at a normal volume. “TRICK OR TREAT!!”
She holds out her black-cat-shaped bucket, and the woman smiles at her as she picks out a few pieces of candy and drops them in. I smile as my daughter says thank you, then she and Beckham turn around to walk back over to me.
I smile at Peyton as I slide my fingers through Beckham’s. “What did you get, beautiful?”
She digs around in her bucket, pulling out a few mini candies. “Twix and Skittles!”
I raise my eyebrows. “Wow! You’re getting all the good stuff tonight!”
As we walk down the sidewalk back toward our house, Peyton talks to me, going on about all the candy she’s gotten, and she tattles on Beckham for eating one of the Kit-Kats she got a few houses down.
I click my tongue and shake my head. “You’ll have to hide the rest of your candy when you get home so your daddies don’t eat it! ”
“I already know where I’m going to put it. They’ll never find it, don’t worry, Mommy,” she says, matter of fact, and I laugh.
We reach our home, the large Victorian-style house I once shared with my grandmother, and walk up onto the dark porch.
All the lights are off inside, since Kai and Vinny are already gone for the evening, and I spot Ms. Potter across the street, stepping out into her lawn to head over and sit with Peyton for a few hours.
As Beckham unlocks the front door, I wave to the old woman heading our way.
“Alright, Pey, time to get ready for bed, okay?” I lift off the helmet, then run a thumb over her cheek, smudging the makeup. “You need to take a bath and get all of this off.”
We follow Beckham inside, and Peyton pouts at me. “Can I eat some candy first, Mommy?”
“One piece now, and one more after your bath. Then brush your teeth,” I say, and her eyes light up as she starts digging around in the bucket.
Beckham looks into the bucket too, humming between his lips playfully. “I think I want something sour this time…”
He reaches for the bucket, and Peyton screams, then takes off, her little legs sending her flying over the wood floor and toward the staircase. If she didn’t have so much padding on, I’d probably worry she was going to get hurt.
I look at Becks and shake my head, laughing. “She’s going to kill you.”
Barking out a laugh, he comes closer and grabs me by the hips to pull me against him. His face falls into my neck, and he kisses my skin. “I’m excited for tonight, Little Rabbit.”
My core lights up, and I lean my head back without meaning to, giving him more room to assault my neck. “Me, too.”
The doorbell rings, and I find Ms. Potter’s smiling face behind the glass when I stand up straight.
Growling in the back of his throat, Beckham kisses my skin one more time. “Go get Pey ready for bed. We’ll leave for the cemetery in twenty minutes, okay?”
Even though it’s chilly outside, I put on a short black dress and stockings, leaving my arms bare, a pair of black boots on my feet. Once I’ve said goodnight to Peyton, and thanked Ms. Potter for babysitting, I meet Beckham at the entryway.
He’s dressed in a black hoodie and black pants that hug the muscles in his thighs, and I take a moment to look him up and down a few times before he clicks his tongue at me. “Sage Blackmore, are you checking me out?”
Nodding, I smirk, feeling turned on and excited about what’s to come in the cemetery.
After having Peyton five years ago, we haven’t spent much time in Blackmore cemetery, simply getting acclimated to our new life as parents and a family.
It’s hard to find time for ourselves since she’s the center of our universe.
I think all four of us want to give her the childhood we never had.
We’ve all come out here a few times separately, to visit the headstones that remind us of our past, or to reminisce about the Games, but we’ve never all come together. We’ve certainly never spent a night in the crypt or recreated the night Peyton was conceived.
Putting my hand on Beckham’s chest, I push him toward the door. “Let’s go, B.”
His hand slides around my waist, and he pulls the front door open, leading me outside. “You ready for this, Savage?”
My arms prickle with goosebumps from the cold breeze, especially now that the sun has completely set from the sky, leaving everything to exist in shadows and darkness. As Beckham’s fingers squeeze my waist, I smile up at him. “So fucking ready.”
“Good,” he says, looking forward as we walk down the road. There aren’t any cars, and a part of me hopes that none of the university students are partying in the cemetery tonight. But if I know anything about my guys, they made sure we have the graveyard to ourselves.
The walk takes five minutes, and a small weight I didn’t know was there lifts off my chest as I take in the cemetery for the first night in a really long time. It still feels like coming home, being here in the dark, and my entire body buzzes and burns with desire.
Humming, I step onto the grass, loving the way it crunches under my boots. The trees are overgrown this close to the road, and the headstones are littered with fallen leaves and branches.
“God, I fucking missed this place,” Beckham says, and I turn to look at him.
His dark-blue eyes are filled with joy, and it makes butterflies attack my stomach. Grabbing his arm, I pull him after me when I start walking. “Let’s go.”
He moves with me, deeper into the cemetery, letting the light disappear behind us as the road gets farther and farther away. After a minute, Beckham stops, making me turn to look at him. “What’s wrong?”
He grins, stepping toward me, close enough that his lips brush mine when he speaks. “Do you wanna play, Little Rabbit?”
My body lights up, my lips tingling as he traces them with his tongue. When he pulls away, my mouth drops open.
Beckham smirks at me, something playful but devious behind the expression, then he reaches into the back pocket of his pants and pulls out a black mask.
Slipping it over his head, my stomach drops when I’m reminded of the first night I saw this particular mask—the one with hearts sewn around the eye sockets.
My mouth waters, and Beckham stares at me for a silent moment before he blinks and steps closer. “Do you wanna play, Little Rabbit?”
Two large shadows appear behind him, then I’m staring at all three of them—my Hallows Boys—Kaiden in his mask with X’s on the eyes, and Vinny’s with circles, and my entire soul vibrates with desire at the memories.
“What’s the game?” I ask, hunger in my breathy tone.
Kaiden pushes up the sleeves on his hoodie, showing me the dark black ink that covers his skin, then takes a step forward. Vinny chuckles, stepping next to his brothers, his green eyes flaring with heat through the holes in his mask.
“Run, princess,” Vinny says. “Whoever catches you gets to use you first.”
Beckham rubs his hands together. “We’ll even give you a head start.”
My pulse races, adrenaline hitting my bloodstream when Kai takes another small step toward me, starts cracking his knuckles, and whispers, “Go.”
I squeal with excitement as I spin around and take off running through the cemetery, my boots thudding against the earth.
My heart thrashes around in my chest, and my panties dampen as I think about all the things my three guys are going to do to me when they catch me.
I just hope I make it to the crypt before I’m caught.
After half a minute, I hear steps approaching behind me, making me push my legs harder.
Dodging headstones, trees, and broken branches, I keep my eyes wide as I try to see through the darkening cemetery.
It’s as if the light is being sucked away from me the farther I get, and before I know it, I can barely see a foot in front of me.