Epilogue
Two months later…
Tex
TD is in the water with his three beautiful girls, Jade, Sabra, and Minnie, splashing around and having fun. I'm lounging by the pool. Bean walks over and hands me a light beer, his gaze drifting to the pool as he settles into the deck chair next to me. "Cheers."
I clink my bottle against his. "Cheers."
"So, how's it going with the girls?"
"It's going well," I reply, and Bean being Bean, he immediately picks up on the cautious note in my voice.
"Say more."
"It's all been an adjustment," I begin. Since winning custody two months ago, TD has moved into a house since he needed a family-friendly place, which my tiny apartment isn't. The girls visit from New York every second weekend. "I think they're all doing well, though."
"How are the girls toward you?"
"They're okay. Jade and I get along great, but that could be because she's the youngest and at eight, maybe doesn't understand the complex adult dynamics going on around her.
Sabra and Minnie are coming around though.
Minnie thinks working with dead people is super cool and asked me if I'd show her a dead body.
Bean lets out a surprised cough. "And what did you say?"
"I didn't know what to say, so I kept it vague with 'Maybe someday,' and I’m going to pray she forgets."
Bean laughs. "Welcome to the wonderful world of parenting."
I smile, even though I'm quickly learning just how tough that world really is. TD is an awesome dad, and he's doing such a great job healing the hurt with his girls. He's fun and does cool things, but he also sits down with them and talks about stuff.
"And how are things with you and TD?"
My smile gets even bigger. "Good. He asked me to move in with him last night."
Bean rolls his eyes. "You were practically living there anyway."
"I know. But this makes it official."
"I'm happy for you, Texy. You deserve this."
"Thanks. You're totally right."
"Oi, you, two! Are you coming in?" TD has swum up to our end of the pool, and, man, he looks sexy as fuck with his hair slicked back, hazel eyes gleaming.
"Sure." I get up and peel off my tank top, not missing the way TD devours me with his gaze. We obviously don't do anything while his girls are with him, but when he returns from the airport after dropping them off, it's always game time. And not the football variety. "Bean?"
"No. I think I'll see how the food is coming along. You guys have fun, though."
I jump into the water and suggest a game of Marco Polo, and all the girls are in, even Sabra who's at a tricky age where she can sometimes be 'too cool' for stuff like this. I let Jade catch me twice, which she loves. After a few rounds, Sabra suggests Chicken Fight.
TD looks at her, grinning but slightly perplexed. "Really?"
"Yeah." She adjusts her hair into a pony tail. "It looks like so much fun on Love Island."
Tex is fuming, and I can tell what he's thinking: why the hell is my fifteen-year-old daughter watching that?
I shrug, because what can I do? Things with him and Belinda are polite in front of the girls and remain icy and tense when they're not around.
He's told her about me since he'd like to be informed if she was seeing anyone.
She's fine with it apparently, but I am keeping my distance from her for as long as I can.
"Hey, Sabra. You ever watched Survivor? It's sooo much better than Love Island.
She looks at me skeptically. "Is there, like, making out and stuff?"
"No, there isn't…" I'm momentarily defeated. Then I remember her favorite game. "It’s like Minecraft but with real people. You build shelters, form alliances, win all sorts of crazy challenges, and outsmart everyone without getting voted out."
"Ooh, okay. That doesn't sound too bad."
I grin victoriously at TD who is looking at me with nothing but love in his eyes. We play a few rounds of Chicken Fight before getting called over for food.
"To an unbelievably good first season," Kimball says, lifting his glass to toast the incredible run the Grizzlies are on, clinching a playoff spot in their inaugural season. "Go Grizzlies!"
"Go Grizzlies," we all reply, lifting our glasses of wine, the girls and TD raising theirs of iced tea.
The rest of the weekend flies by. After leaving the BBQ, we spend the night watching movies. It's Minnie's choice, so she goes with The Addams Family, which I can't help but feel is her way of sending a not-so-subtle hint to me that she's set on me showing her a dead body.
The next morning, we have our usual brunch together at The Leafy Nook before TD drives them to the airport. I hug the girls in turn and help them into his oversized SUV.
"I'll be waiting for you at home," I murmur into his ear before giving him a peck on the lips as they leave.
"Good. I'm wearing your favorite jockstrap," he whispers back, and I can feel my ears burning, my mind filling with the image of TD's muscular ass framed by the red jockstrap I love so much.
"Drive safe, but hurry back," I say.
A few hours later, I'm in heaven. And by heaven, I mean buried in TD's ass cheeks, making out with his delicious hole.
"Come here," he says, tapping my shoulder.
I take one final, long slurp then make my way to his face. "Hey."
He grins, wiping a strand of hair off my forehead. "Hey."
"What's up? Because, not to be rude or anything, I have a lot of ass munching ahead of me."
His low chuckle fills the room. "That can wait. I need to tell you something."
"Okay. What's up?"
"I love you."
A sharp breath escapes me. It's not that I'm surprised he loves me. What's caught me off guard is the moment he chose to say it for the first time and the super casual way he said it. I thought he was going to bring up something about the girls.
Then again, it's such a typical, no-fuss TD thing to do. Why am I even surprised?
Despite my heart galloping a million miles an hour, I decide to match his tone. So I shrug a shoulder, casually say, "Yeah, I love you, too," then kiss my way down his slightly furry chest and over some rock-hard abs and start sucking his cock.
"Come back here," he says, though not right away. I manage to get a few long strokes in.
I shuffle back up to him and rest my chin on his chest. "Yes?"
"I mean it. I really do love you, Tex. When I came to Gilberton a few months ago, I was barely hanging on.
You… You've changed me. You took me in and lifted my spirits when I was feeling so low.
You're the most incredible person I've ever met, and I count my blessings every single day that I met you and am lucky enough to have you in my life. "
"Whoa. Think that's the most words I've ever heard you say."
He grins, but a tear forms in the corner of his eye. "I mean every single one of them. I love you, Tex. With all of my heart. Forever and always."
"I like that," I say, lifting my head and cupping his face in my hands. "I love you so much, too. You see who I really am, past the usual bullshit people get caught up on. You make me feel seen."
"I do see you, Tex. All of you."
"Forever and always?"
"Forever and always." TD cracks a big smile. "Now, uh, I believe you were feasting on my ass?"
I grin. "I was."
"Well, don't let me stop you…"