Bonus Epilogue
BONUS EPILOGUE
ELLIOT
THREE YEARS LATER
“That’s my nephew!”
“Or niece.”
“Or nibbling.”
“Cute,” Grady kisses my temple as he drops into the seat at my side. Despite the fact that most of us live in the same neighborhood in New Heights, we still manage to find ourselves at Ellie and King’s house every time we gather. Today is no exception to that rule, and all twelve of us are spread around their living room, listening to Miller rant for the hundredth time this month.
“Regardless of gender,” Mills huffs, waving a hand in the air as if we’ve gotten off track. “That kid is going to call me Uncle.”
“Yeah,” King concedes from where he’s leaning against the kitchen island. “But in that way all kids call their parents’ friends ‘Aunt’ or ‘Uncle’. Elliot is going to be their biological uncle.”
“All the more reason to let me have this!”
“I’m actually okay with Mills being their Godfather,” I cut in before Miller starts going again, gesturing to Grady and myself with a shrug. “We’ll catch the next one.”
“As heartwarming as that is,” Ellie side-eyes me from her spot in the massive leather armchair across from the couch. It’s the most coveted spot in the room, but it’s the dead of summer, and she’s a million weeks pregnant, so no one fought her for it. “I want all our kids to have the same Godparents.”
“All?” Miller’s slightly panicked gaze bounces between King and Ellie. “How many are you going to have?”
“A lot,” King gives Mills an apologetic look that couldn’t come off as more sarcastic if he tried. “Sorry, man.”
“I just want my kid to have a cousin,” Mills huffs, looking down at his beer with a frown.
“ Fictional kid,” Charlotte reminds him, rubbing a hand over his back.
“And need I remind you,” Nell adds, pointing between herself and Diana. “Our kid would be your kid’s cousin.”
Miller perks up at that. “Are you having a kid?”
“Not at present,” Diana huffs. A look passes between her and Charlotte that tells me this is a conversation they have had many times in the past. I give it six months before one or both of them are pregnant.
Grady makes a thoughtful sound that gets my attention. “What’s that?”
“What if we just,” he gestures at everyone in a grand circle, drawing all eyes in our direction. “Round Robin each other’s kids.”
“That sounds illegal.”
“Shut up, Mills.” Steal chucks a throw pillow at Miller’s head, but he manages to catch it before it connects with his face.
“You mean,” Hoax looks at each of us in turn, a thoughtful pinch in his brow. “Each couple gets to be the Godparents of another designated couple’s kids?”
“Exactly.”
“I’m in,” Scott beams at Hoax, dragging his husband further into his lap to kiss the back of his neck. “We call Elliot and Grady’s kids.”
“That seems wildly unfair,” Indie pipes up from where she’s balanced on the back of the couch behind Steal’s shoulders. “We should draw from a hat.”
“What about this,” I suggest over everyone arguing for or against the hat idea. “Mills and Charlotte get the Kingston kids, Ellie and Sam get any potential Haden children, Nell and Diana take the Hoaxley brood, then Hoax and Scott can have our kids,” I gesture between me and Grady as he hums happily in his chest. “We’ll take the Stealman kids, and they can have the fictional Miller baby. Then everyone wins.”
There’s a beat of silence before Steal lets out an amused snort. “You want me to raise a Miller?”
“Yeah, that seems detrimental to my kid’s health.”
“Fictional kid.”
“My fictional kid’s fictional future will be non-fictionally ruined !”
“On second thought,” Steal narrows his eyes on Miller. “I’d be happy to raise the Miller kid.”
Miller’s eyes grow comically wide as his gaze bounces between Steal and Charlotte. “Don’t let him have our fictional baby.”
Charlotte sympathetically pats Miller’s hair, but the wicked sparkle in her eyes tells me she has no intention of keeping their fictional kids away from the Stealman house. We put it to a vote, and outside of Miller, it’s unanimous.
“Now that we’ve come to that very important and not at all pointless decision,” Grady grumbles, shifting me to the side as he stands up. “My boyfriend and I have somewhere to be.”
“We do?” He gives me a look like I’m ruining something, and I immediately change my response. “Shit, we do.”
“What are you doing?”
“Important—”
“Gotta get?—”
“—and then there’s?—”
“—no time to?—”
“A real shame,” Grady finishes our little circus act of speaking over one another with a fake frown. We started doing it a few years ago, and it works every time. Our friends either lose interest before we’re done speaking, or they’re so confused trying to follow what we say that they don’t notice us slip away.
This time is no different, and we’re out the door before anyone manages to stop us. “Excellent work, Princess.”
“I learned from the best.”
Grady’s laughter rumbles against my back as he wraps both arms around my waist from behind. “You know,” he hums, nipping at my ear lobe. “We’re probably going to be surrounded by little nibblings soon.”
“Obviously,” I huff, stepping out of his hold before lacing our fingers together. Grady follows my lead down the driveway, less than half a step behind. “I’m pretty sure King wants to put an entire baseball team worth of kids in my sister.”
I visibly shudder at the thought, making Grady laugh. “I doubt he’s going for a full team, but I’d say we’ll get close between the twelve of us.”
“And exactly how many children are you planning for us to contribute to this hoard of wee nibblings?”
“One or two,” he crowds against my back as we walk along the sidewalk beneath the Oak trees. “Or more. Depends.”
My voice is surprisingly breathy when I ask, “Depends on what?”
“How many babies I can get out of my little cumslut.”
He bites the side of my neck just above the band I wear at the base of my throat. It looks like a necklace with thin leather sides and a looped chain in the front, but it’s so much more than that to me. As if he can hear my thoughts, Grady’s hand snakes up my torso, linking two fingers in the bottom chain and pulling slightly downward. The collar tightens, the leather pressing against the sides of my throat as I suck in a breath.
“You gonna let me fill you up with babies, Princess?”
“You know that’s not biologically possible, right?”
Grady snorts, letting go of the chain as he pushes me toward our driveway. “You’re not exactly adhering to the spirit of experimentation , Elliot.”
“Oh! My bad,” I jog up our front steps, getting the front door code entered before Grady catches up to me. He reaches above my head, holding open the door for me to pass through, but I surprise him by turning until we’re chest to chest. I look up through my lashes, giving him my best innocent look. “Are you going to breed me, sir? Fill me so full of your cum that it leaks out of?—”
I don’t get to finish that sentence before Grady’s mouth is on mine. He bodily walks me through the open door, maneuvering us across the house without ever breaking our kiss. I hear our bedroom door slam behind him, but I hardly register it over the need thrumming in my veins.
I’m still not sure how this is my life, but I refuse to question it because this is everything I’ve ever wanted and so much more. It’s Matthew fucking Grady , and he’s all mine for the rest of our lives.