Epilogue
STILL US
The following night, the familiar blue sign appeared around the bend, sitting exactly where it always had.
TAUBER’S POOL HALL
The place was lit up against the night. Every pickup in Fern looked to be there.
Axel smiled before he realized he was doing it.
Whip caught it.
“What?”
“Nothin’.”
“Bullshit.”
“You fishing?”
“I know that smile.”
Axel glanced over. “Didn’t know I had one.”
“You do.”
“When?”
“When you’re about to give me shit.”
Axel grinned. “Could be that.”
Whip laughed and swung into the gravel parking lot.
The old building hadn’t changed. Same weathered boards. Same crooked OPEN sign in the front window. Same pickup trucks scattered across the lot.
Home looked exactly like home was supposed to.
Whip killed the engine.
“You ready?”
Axel looked at him.
“For what?”
“My dad.”
Axel barked a laugh. “I’ve arrested cartel hitters without flinching.”
“And?”
“I’m a little scared of Crash.”
“You should be.”
They climbed out.
Before they made it halfway to the door, it swung open.
Crash leaned against the frame, a dish towel over one shoulder.
“Took you idiots long enough.”
Whip frowned. “We pulled up five minutes ago.”
“Felt longer.”
Axel chuckled.
Crash looked from one to the other, lingering for barely a heartbeat before he stepped aside.
“You two coming in or planning to stand out there holding hands all night?”
Axel looked at Whip.
Whip looked back.
Neither of them had been holding hands.
“Yet.” Crash’s mouth twitched.
Whip groaned. “Oh, we’re starting early.”
“When have we ever stopped?” Crash asked.
Axel laughed as they followed Crash inside.
Stepping through the door, cat calls started immediately.
“Look what the rain dragged in!”
“Bain! You still owe me twenty bucks!” old man Snook called from where he sat at the chess table.
“I paid that last week,” Axel called back.
“Did ya?” Snook squinted. “Who the hell owes me twenty bucks?”
“Whip! You finally gonna keep this one?” Stacy yelled.
“Thinking’ so,” Whip drawled.
“About damn time!” someone else hollered.
Laughter bounced off the old wood walls.
Crash disappeared behind the bar while Whip stopped to shake hands with half the room.
Axel scanned the familiar faces.
“Well, hell.”
The voice came from the back hallway.
Axel turned.
Memphis walked out carrying a case of beer. He stopped short, then looked from Whip to Axel.
“About time you got home. I go on vacation, and you change houses… and partners.”
Whip only grinned.
“Missed you too, bro.” Axel pulled his brother into a quick hug.
“You finally wore him down huh?” Memphis murmured for his ears alone.
“Something like that.” Axel clapped his brother on the back.
“Where’s Rae?”
“Still in Washington.” Memphis shrugged. “Called yesterday. Decided to extend her stay another week.”
Axel smiled to himself.
Sounded like their little sister. Once Rachael decided she wasn’t done with someplace, good luck convincing her otherwise.
The front door swung open again.
“Thought you assholes would start the party without us.”
Knox strode inside, Grant a step behind him, carrying a cardboard tray loaded with takeout boxes.
“You were late,” Crash called.
“We had priorities.”
“You stopped for pizza.”
“Exactly.”
Memphis snorted. “You’re lucky I like you.”
“No,” Knox shot back. “You’re lucky I like you.”
“That’s adorable. You think this is a democracy,” Memphis said.
“I think you’re old.”
“I’m forty-two.” Memphis frowned.
“Exactly.”
Laughter rippled through the room.
“He’s got a point, bro,” Axel offered.
Memphis pointed at him. “Don’t encourage him.”
“Too late,” Knox said. “He’s been encouraging me for months.”
“Unfortunately.”
Grant shook his head, setting the food on the bar.
“You two done?”
“Not even close,” Memphis answered.
“He’s losing because I’m quicker,” Knox said around a bit of pie.
“You’re losing because you never shut up,” Grant said.
“Whose side are you on?” Knox looked indignant.
“Mine,” Grant grunted and took a slice from the box.
Another round of laughter rolled through the pool hall.
“Forty-something is old.” Knox’s words were muffled around food.
“Careful,” Memphis warned. “One of these days, I’m gonna stop feeding you.”
“No, you won’t.”
“Confident, aren’t you?”
Grant stepped closer. “I bought the pizza.”
“Yeah,” Knox’s eyes lit up, and he laughed, gazing at Grant, “you did.”
Axel watched Knox laugh up at Grant.
It was quick.
Easy.
The kind of laugh that happened without thinking.
Funny.
He couldn’t remember ever seeing Knox laugh like that with anyone else.
Huh.
Then Memphis stole the last slice of pizza, Knox started yelling, and whatever Axel thought he’d noticed vanished beneath another round of laughter.
Axel searched for Whip without moving. He couldn’t help himself. And really, he’d stopped fighting the pull.
Whip was like his anchor in a world that suddenly offered everything he’d ever wanted.
And he was going to hold onto Whip with everything he had.
Whip leaned against the old pool table, a bottle of beer hanging loose from one hand.
The room had settled into its usual rhythm of pool balls cracking, low conversation, and laughter.
Someone argued over a football game on the television.
Crash was pretending not to smile every time he looked in their direction.
Memory had a way of freezing places in time. The pool hall looked exactly the way he remembered because, for the most part, it was. The same people. The same laughter. The same familiar rhythm.
He looked around the room again.
Snook was accusing Memphis of cheating at cards.
Memphis claimed he’d never cheated a day in his life.
Nobody believed him.
Grant stood with one shoulder against the wall, listening more than talking.
Knox hadn’t stopped moving in nearly ten minutes.
The kid bounced from conversation to conversation like he’d been born with too much energy to stay in one place.
Grant watched him every time.
A warm shoulder bumped his.
“You staring?”
Axel.
Whip hadn’t heard him walk over.
“Observing.”
Axel snorted, leaning harder against him with no regard for personal space.
“Same thing.” He leaned in.
Their cheeks brushed, his hair caught in Axel’s dark scruff.
“Not even close.” Axel pulled the strands free and fingered them lightly before bringing them to his mouth.
Whip flicked his gaze up. The blue in Axel’s eyes reminded him of Summer Lake just after sunrise, when the wind hadn’t reached the water yet.
Shit.
Axel nuzzled his cheek and let the strands slide from his fingers. Whip eased in and leaned his head on Axel’s shoulder.
For a while, neither of them said anything.
They didn’t have to.
Whip had spent most of his life thinking home was a place.
Fern.
The pool hall.
The old house.
Turns out…
Home could look back at you.
Axel’s fingers brushed his, threading their fingers with no hesitation. No checking who was watching, it was just habit.
Whip clinched their fingers tightly.
Nobody in the room looked twice.
Of course they didn’t.
They’d all been waiting longer than he and Axel had.
He laughed quietly to himself.
“What’s so funny?”
Whip shook his head.
“Them.”
“They aren’t shocked.”
Whip smiled.
“You two gonna kiss or stand there all night making googly eyes at each other?” Stacy hollered.
“He’s workin up to it,” Snook cackled.
“Are you?” Axel’s lips twisted in a sexy smirk that was wiped away in the next moment when he yanked the man’s head down and delivered a scorching kiss.
Whip pulled back, Axel licked his lips, and Whip chuckled, reaching for his beer.
Hooting and hollering filled the pool hall amidst clapping and stomping.
He gave them all a mock glare. Some things never changed.
His eyes slid to his partner.
But Axel?
That one still caught him off guard.
More nights than he could count, he’d walked into this room knowing he loved him and wondering if that was all it would ever be.
Instead…
Axel was forever riding shotgun.
Life was funny that way.
THE END