Epilogue
LAUREN
Hooligans
Casey
If I add Aiden or Cole to this group chat, will he see prior texts?
Rory
No baby.
Casey
Omg thank you
I’ve been scared about that for days
Rory
You know you could have just started another group chat, right?
Me
That may have been too advanced for Casey
Casey
Lauren, I swear to God, I won’t lift a single one of your OR Noah’s boxes if you keep bullying me.
Me
I send the text with tears rolling down my face, laughing harder than I have all day. Sean and Noah peek their head at me from the suite bathroom, nosy as always.
Rory
Hey, why ARE we lifting so much? Isn’t Sean, like, bookoo rich?
Casey
YEAH!
Me
You guys know you’re not lifting anything, right?
Noah and I have been moved in for a full week now. We just finished unpacking last night.
It’s just a party.
Casey
*head explosion gif*
*Casey has added Aidey-poo and Cole to the chat*
Casey
We’ve been miscommunicated to.
Aiden
Why am I in here? I’m literally laying next to the both of you.
*Aidey-poo has left the chat*
Me
Rude.
I turn toward the men still staring at me from the bathroom doorway. “Sibling chat.”
That’s all they need to hear before nodding and going back to doing whatever the hell boys do to get ready.
Cole
What time?
I swallow roughly and blink at the short and curt response from my second brother. It’s normal for Aiden to be an ass, but what’s not normal is for Cole to respond at all.
Progress, I guess.
Me
3 p.m.
Cole
I sigh, tossing my phone down. At least he responded this time.
As punctual as ever, Cole is the first person to arrive—three o’clock on the dot. I watch as he gets out of the passenger seat of the car, crutches and leg brace keeping him stable. “Do you need help?” I call out.
His blond hair, so pale it may as well reflect the sunlight, shifts in the wind as he shakes his head. It’s the only trait he got from our mother. The rest of him is completely Dad.
I swallow.
I don’t need to psychoanalyze him to know that fucks with him more than anything.
Walking to him anyway, I grab the backpack from the asphalt. I raise a brow in question. It’s unlike him to bring an entire backpack somewhere.
His voice is gruff. “Stuff to do if it gets too loud.”
My heart pangs.
I’ve seen him a few times since the accident.
Not enough.
I don’t press it, or him, though.
I wave to the Uber driver—a young woman who looks more in love with my brother than a school girl with her first crush—and start trekking back up to Sean’s house.
My house.
Our house.
That’ll never not be weird as fuck.
As soon as the Uber driver pulls out of the driveway, Aiden’s truck pulls into its place.
It brings a laugh out of my chest as I stare at my driveway, full of trucks and military men and or military wives.
It probably says way too much about me to have that type—but it extending to my brothers is a whole different story.
Opening the door for everyone, they file in in a single line behind Cole who aims straight for the food.
Seraphina—Rory, Aiden, and Casey’s daughter—walks ever so slowly as she’s still learning to walk, with a very pregnant Rory walking equally as slow.
Aiden and Casey watch them both, utterly captivated, and my heart swells.
It swells until I look back at Cole, who looks utterly crushed, watching everyone enter.
Catching me watching him, he coughs and turns back to the food.
Aiden and Casey give me sideways hugs while Rory nearly tackles me, just as Sean and Noah step into the house from the garage.
They waste no time reminding everyone why they’re here.
My eyes roll as I shut the door. Fucking military men. There has to be a point right away or no point at all.
Sean coughs awkwardly. “So, you’re all obviously here for a reason.”
Casey pouts. “Yeah, I thought we were moving you two in. What the fuck?”
Aiden pats Casey’s head, making him pout more as the rest of us laugh. Sean continues. “First, I just want to thank all of you for allowing me into your lives an—”
I cut him off, holding up my left hand and rescuing every single person from the cringey dad speech they were all about to get. “WE’RE GETTING MARRIED!”
Aiden’s mouth drops open.
Casey and Rory smile big and bright.
Cole blinks a few times before the ghost of a smile crosses his face, too.
And as Noah raises his hand, showing off his band, too, Sean only shakes his head and laughs. Because he’s absolutely used to our dynamic by now, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
I walk to him anyway and kiss him sweetly before turning to Noah to do the same.
Our lives started way before the rings.
But a girl has to be extra and show it off anyway.