Epilogue
CHASE
Life was perfect. Seriously fucking perfect.
It’d been months since the winter festival. Months since everything had come to a head. Since the day I could finally call Addison mine.
And now I could call her a hell of a lot more than that.
I held my wife’s hand as we strolled out of the café on Main Street following a celebratory lunch, her brothers and their significant others trailing behind us.
Today was a big day. The first day of the trial run for the Lockhart Hockey Camp, this time with just local kids.
Kids who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to attend or afford a development program like this.
I’d gotten approval to use the high school’s rink because our new facility wasn’t yet ready. But even though this was a trial run, I sure as hell hoped it went smoothly, because construction had already begun at the resort.
“How much longer till those fucking construction trucks are gone, Lockhart?” Aiden grumbled as we strode down the sidewalk, and Avery elbowed him in the gut. He glanced down at her, eyebrows raised. “What? It’s getting mud and shit all over the resort grounds.”
“You and I both know you can handle a mess once in a while.” And from the look she shot him and the tone of her voice, there was no questioning exactly what kind of mess she was referring to.
“Goddammit, Avery!” Addison snapped, glaring at her. “It’s going to be like this for the rest of our lives, isn’t it? You saying completely inappropriate things about my brother’s and your sex life, and me just having to deal with it.”
Avery lifted a single shoulder in a shrug. “Yeah, probably. On the plus side, you get to do that now with Levi.”
“The fuck she does,” Levi said, shooting a glare at Addison and me.
“I don’t want to hear it, either,” Brady said. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re still a virgin.”
“Ditto,” Beck, Ford, and Aiden all said in unison.
“Well, if I have to hear about all the freaky shit you guys are doing, it’s only fair that you have to hear about me!” Addison said.
Even through Luna’s, Everly’s, Quinn’s, and Avery’s laughter, five sets of nearly identical arguments shot up from all of her brothers, the emphatic fuck no coming through loud and clear.
And I realized, once again, just how fucking lucky I was that they’d accepted Addison’s and my relationship with minimal drama or roadblocks.
Like I’d figured, Levi had gotten over the shock of Addison and me being together sooner rather than later. His only stipulation was that he didn’t want to hear it, he didn’t want to see it, and he didn’t want to know anything at all about what Addison and I did behind closed doors.
And we’d tried. We’d really, really tried. But when I wanted to fuck my wife, not even my best friend was going to stand in my way.
After another round of congratulations from everyone, they said their goodbyes and headed off, finally able to go about their days without worrying who was watching the resort.
Because I was selfish and wanted as much time with my wife as humanly possible, I’d pushed for them to hire a part-time employee so they could take time away—and have time together—without having to be on call and drop everything to run back to the resort should a guest have a problem.
Despite both Aiden’s and Addison’s control tendencies, it’d been going surprisingly well.
“Can I catch a ride with you over there?” Levi asked, lifting a chin in our direction.
The camp was scheduled to start this afternoon, and my best friend and my wife both wanted to be there to cheer me on. In fact, I was pretty sure my mom, dad, the twins, Mabel, and a dozen others would be there as well.
Seriously, how fucking great was my life?
“Yeah, we’re parked around the corner,” I said.
“Let me just run up and grab my gear, in case we do a pickup game.”
With a nod, I tugged Addison behind me as the three of us headed across the street and toward the Starlight Cove Gazette’s corner shop, above which was Levi’s apartment. I held the door open for my wife, swatting her ass as she walked through the door before capturing her hand again.
“Seriously,” he grumbled at the top of the stairs. “I think I liked it better when you were hiding shit from me. I swear I can’t look at you two without seeing your hands on some part of her body.”
He unlocked the door as he glanced back at Addison and me and to where I rested my left hand on her stomach, the roman numerals of our impromptu wedding date inked on the outside of my ring finger.
As he opened his apartment door, his brows drew down, his attention still locked on my hand possessively, protectively, palming Addison’s stomach, before he snapped his focus to her face, then to mine, his eyes wide. “Wait, are you preg—”
“Oh honey, I wasn’t expecting you home until tonight!” Mabel’s voice called from inside his apartment, interrupting Levi’s question. Which was probably for the best since Addison and I hadn’t yet figured out how we wanted to drop that bomb on her family.
But as I’d already told her, the lid wasn’t staying on long. Not only did I get to call her my wife—and I did, repeatedly and often and to whoever would listen—but now…this was so fucking much better.
“Are you…reorganizing my brother’s kitchen cabinets?” Addison asked Mabel, disbelief heavy in her tone. Then, to Levi, she said, “Seriously…is she reorganizing your cabinets?”
“Not the first time,” he said.
“When he puts the spices in the same cabinet as his cups, what am I supposed to do?” Mabel asked. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”
Levi blew out a long sigh and crossed his arms over his chest. To us, he said, “She’s taken it upon herself to be my surrogate mother.”
“Well, with no one else here to help, who else is going to do it for you? I, for one, am happy to provide my assistance. And actually, that’s why I’m here.”
“To reorganize his kitchen?” Addison asked.
“No, to let you know you won’t be lonely living here all by yourself anymore.” She beamed at us. “At least, not for a few weeks.”
“Um, what?” Levi asked, all his attention focused on Mabel.
But mine wasn’t. I glanced around the apartment, cataloging a few things that were out of place. Like the rose-gold MacBook on the coffee table, a pair of women’s flip-flops next to the door, and the purse tossed on a chair in the living room.
“A roommate,” Mabel enunciated slowly, as if hearing was Levi’s problem.
“I don’t have a roommate, Mabel. I live alone. I like to live alone. And you might be my landlord, but you can’t just rent out a room in my apartment without my consent.”
“Oh, but I can. Because, technically, it’s still my apartment.”
“The lease I signed says otherwise.”
“Did you read the lease, honey?” She pulled a sheaf of papers from her bag, flipped to the page she wanted, and handed it to Levi, pointing in the middle of the page.
“Because it says right there that you are renting one bedroom in this apartment. Not the whole apartment. So technically, the living room, kitchen, and bathroom are all shared spaces. And the extra bedroom is free for me to rent! I had a friend in need, and who was I to say no to the sweet girl?”
“Jesus Christ, Mabel, are you serious?” Levi asked. “I don’t want a stranger living in my apartment.”
“That’s the best part! She’s not a stranger. In fact, you all go way back, so I knew it wouldn’t be a problem.”
Things became clearer, the puzzle pieces finally clicking into place as I recalled who else was going to be at the rink today, interviewing players and my old coach for her article.
And then, before I could warn Levi, before I could prepare him for what I was pretty sure was coming, Harper Davidson walked out of the guest bedroom, stopping short at the sight of us, shock written on her face.
Apparently, Mabel hadn’t filled her in on who the other tenant was. Or even that there was one.
Levi froze next to me, his shoulders going rigid, his jaw set in a firm line as he stared at the girl who’d once owned his heart.
I split my gaze between them and said the only thing I could that summed up this entire clusterfuck. “Oh shit.”