Epilogue
MARK
Iwonder if the alarm is going to go off soon. The sunlight pours through the blinds of my bedroom, reflecting off the screen on Tim’s phone.
I want to know what time it is. See if we need to get up to Mom’s event yet, but Tim’s arm is draped around me, his nose pressed against my neck. I just want to savor this moment. Fully take it in.
I’m safe in these arms that have held me close like this for a year.
It’s been a fucking year since the day we used that word.
Boyfriends.
Seems like we’re so much more than that now.
I keep perfectly still. I don’t want him to wake up. Just want to enjoy him holding me like this. Just right. Feeling his breath against the back of my neck.
He shifts his head back and forth, and his lips near my ear before he says, “You pretending to be asleep again?”
I chuckle. “Shut up!”
He presses his face into my cheek, and I can feel him smile before he licks across my skin, stirring desire within me.
He pushes up and gets on his knees, crawling to the side before pushing on my arm to force me on my back.
I gaze at him, appreciating those eyes that are filled with the morning light.
His dark hair is longer than when we first started seeing each other, the bangs falling over his forehead.
I look over his body, his muscles a lot more fucking bulky these days because we’ve started going to the gym together—something that has made our sex life even more fun, which I didn’t think was fucking possible.
He pulls the covers up and crawls under them. He grips my morning wood, and soon, the wet delight of his mouth takes my hard cock in.
I roll my head back on the pillow, enjoying the sensations that start off creeping through me, but then jolt through my body in powerful waves.
He’s so fucking good at what he does.
He was great in the beginning, but the longer we’ve been together, the more he’s become acquainted with my body and its needs.
If he wanted to, he could make me come in under a minute because he knows all the right places to touch.
He listens to my body. He notes every moan…
every twitch and shift when I’m aroused.
And he knows the perfect balance between giving me what I want and withholding it so that he can drive me fucking insane.
He sucks me off and swallows my load before he tosses the covers off over his head, throwing them behind him, a big grin on his face.
“Happy anniversary, you naughty boy,” he says as I shake on the bed, recovering from the mind-blowing orgasm he just gave me.
We shower off and get ready before heading to the Woodruff Arts Center.
Tim, Kitty and I sit in the audience Mom stands before, delivering a speech about healthcare reform and the importance of cancer research.
These days, I’m not irritated by her speeches.
And she seems to be working harder to bring some authenticity to them.
Even as she speaks about Becky, I see her tear up, and I do too.
When she finishes, we wait for her to make her rounds with some VIPs.
As we approach her, Mom wraps her arms around me.
“Mark. Tim.”
Dad greets Tim with a handshake.
Mom releases me and hugs Tim.
They’ve both been great with him. Welcomed him right into our home. Mom’s even joked that if anyone in the press catches on to his former line of work, we’d just twist the story into a wild-child-turned-good-boy story.
The news of the video Keith exposed did get out.
Fortunately, the FBI has managed to suppress the recording…
at least for now. We’ve been warned that stuff like that is out there forever, though.
But on the plus side, it didn’t damage Mom’s career.
As expected, she twisted it to her advantage and spun the story around to what it really was: me and Tim being taken advantage of.
Meanwhile, Keith is serving five years for invasion of privacy.
My social life hasn’t seen any major repercussions from the video, either.
Greg’s weird about it, but who gives a fuck about him?
And Morgan reached out to me as soon as he heard the news.
Asked me if I was okay. I’ve met with him since and he did his best to make amends for how he betrayed me.
I told him I forgave him, but I can’t. Not when we were such good friends.
Not when he deliberately went behind my back like that…
and all for some hot sex with my sleazy, dumbass boyfriend.
I take some press pictures with Mom and Dad before we leave and meet at the mansion for lunch.
The cook’s prepared shrimp gumbo as the main dish. We eat and catch up.
“Oh, Kitty,” Mom says after wiping her lips with her napkin. She sets it back in her lap. “I don’t know why I didn’t think about it earlier when we were talking about Dean Koontz, but you need to check out this book club I attend.”
“That sounds nice,” Kitty replies.
“I was so busy thinking about my mascara still being runny from that speech that it totally escaped my mind. My friend Kendra has this horror novel book club. We call it the Southern Ladies’ Book Club, but it’s just an excuse to get together and talk about Koontz, King, and Cussler.”
“Oh my God,” I say.
Tim chuckles, obviously amused by my fear of horror.
Mom rolls her eyes and then looks directly at Tim. “It’s your job to open his mind about things.”
“I’m doing the best I can,” he says as he throws his hands up in front of him.
“Kitty,” she continues, “I’ll give you the Facebook page before you go.”
“How’s the new job going, Tim?” Dad asks him. “Mark tells me you got a promotion.”
Tim beams. “Yeah. I started officially as manager of The Independent two weeks ago.”
“Congratulations,” Dad says.
“You knew that already,” Mom says. “I signed the card for you two weeks ago.”
Dad’s eyes widen. “Oops. Sorry. Then just pretend I didn’t say that.” He winks at Tim.
The new job has been good for Tim. It’s a lot more money. Not enough to get them out of debt, but it’s enough that it’ll make things a little easier for him and Kitty. At the very least, he can sleep peacefully knowing he can keep making payments on everything.
“And let me know if those collectors start bothering you again,” Mom says. “I can take care of that.”
“Yes,” Dad adds. “Let us know if you need anything from us. We’re happy to help.”
“Now don’t get your hopes up,” Mom says, “but I added Kitty’s name to a list of possible grantees who can receive money to pay off their medical debt. It’s through one of the organizations I work with. I found out about the grant money the other day.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” Tim says.
“It was my pleasure. And as Dan said, if you need anything from us, don’t hesitate to reach out, especially if it involves knocking someone off.” She winks playfully at Tim. “Although I imagine you have a few contacts of your own in that department, Tim.”
“Yes, I do.”
It was clearly a joke, but I can tell by the way everyone quiets it made Mom and Dad uneasy as they considered if, as a former drug dealer, he really has those kind of connections. And now I’m kinda wondering it, too.
I burst into laughter, enjoying their discomfort. Then I turn to Tim, sitting beside me, a broad grin across his face. I think he’s enjoying it as much as I am.
There he is.
My Timmy.
The man who I was so sure I was above falling in love with—the man I underestimated so much when we first met. I thought he was a demon, but he’s an angel. My angel.
He reaches over and takes my hand.
It tingles at his touch, sending a warm sensation crawling across my body.
I feel at ease. So comfortable.
“Have you been looking at options for PA school?” Mom asks me.
I finally told her about my plans to become a physician assistant, and she’s been more than supportive.
“God, Mom,” I reply. “Just let me have a little bit of time away from school right now. Chem lab is kicking my ass this year.”
“You need to get used to it for a while. You have a lot of years of studying ahead of you.”
“Oh, I know.”
We chat and laugh together, and I reflect on what a long way we’ve come from last year when I was still keeping my parents at a distance. Pushing them away because of how I felt they’d betrayed me.
Now I realize I’m exactly where I want to be, sitting at a table with my family and my incredible, hot-as-fuck man.