EPILOGUE PT. 1DENISE
EPILOGUE PT. 1
DENISE
“This was much more fun with your Grams,” I said, glaring at him from across the room.
“Well, if I had to stare at her wall every single day, I would’ve given you more direction then, too.”
“It’s a wall, not Starry Night,” I said, glaring at the paint roller in the tray.
“You just, glide, refill, glide refill.”
“Oh, refill my ass. Next time, you can hire a professional. I’m not helping you with nothing else!” I crossed my arms as he walked over to me and grabbed me by the waist.
“Little Menace, if you want me in your ass, all you have to do is ask.”
I rolled my eyes as he smacked my ass cheek. Hard. My pussy lips felt the slap, still swollen because he insisted cum was a part of his balanced diet. “Now you know you know better,” he said, giving me that look.
Oh, I definitely knew better. And I also knew he was going to give me a massage after all this manual labor. A real one. One that didn’t end in him knee-deep in coochie.
“Why’d you get a wild hare for this today?” I asked for the eighteenth time.
“I’d been meaning to do it for a while. You’re sure you like the color?” he asked, pulling us back.
He hadn’t had a color in mind for his accent wall, so he let me choose. The second I saw the color swatched, I knew that it was perfect. The matte jade green was stark against all the white in the condo and it almost felt like I was frolicking in some magical grove. It was perfect and I loved it, even though I wanted to punch him for being such a butthead.
“It’s fantastic. Are you going to hang something on the wall in here too?” I asked.
For Christmas, Hugh had bought some gorgeous abstract paintings to hang in our bedroom. When the installers left, I stood admiring them. And then Hugh admired me. And then he had my wrists bound in front of them while he fucked me for hours ordering me to keep my eyes on them.
“Probably,” he said, kissing my neck and nuzzling it with his beard. “We have to finish it, though.”
“Fine,” I grumbled just as the doorbell rang.
“Ha! I’ll get it,” I said, sprinting away from him and yanking open the door.
Cleo was posing on the other side, her hand on her hip and a big smile on her face, Lucian and Julian stood behind her. Lucian was laughing and Julian was rolling his eyes. Both the men were holding big boxes.
“Hey boo!” Cleo yelled as she plowed past me.
“Hey, everyone?” I said, not being able to keep the question out of my tone.
“Right on time,” Hugh said, wiping his hands off on the drop cloth we’d put on the floor.
Cleo smiled at me and threw her hands out. “Surprise! Gentlemen.” Cleo clapped her hands and they both rolled their eyes and dropped the boxes they’d been holding before lifting off the lids.
Books. Tons of books. Tears filled my eyes as I walked slowly towards them, looking at the covers. “These…” I looked towards the other box. “Cleo, how did you—” I burst into tears, and she grabbed me and squeezed me tight. It was all the books I’d lost.
“It took some time, but that’s all of them, same covers and everything. The fellas helped me find a few of the more obscure ones.” Cleo patted my back a few times before she peeled herself away from me.
“I told you she’d cry,” Lucian said looking at Hugh.
“And I told you she would cry,” Julian said, pointing to Cleo who was awkwardly wiping at her own eyes.
“Shut up.” Cleo and I said at the same time before laughing.
Hugh grabbed me and pulled me into his arms. “The shelf guy comes next week and the unit will take up the whole wall. I carved out a little section for some vinyl, but the rest of the shelves are yours.”
“Really?!” I screeched.
“Denny, my eardrum—” he feigned pain, and I poked his side.
“This is—thank you. All of you.”
“Of course, welcome to your happily ever after, Den,” Cleo smiled at me, watching the way he held me tight.
“It is kind of a dream, isn’t it?” I asked, gazing out the windows towards the city and the Foxx building, the place where it all started.
“The best kind,” he whispered in my ear. I leaned against him as Cleo walked over to the couch and sat down.
“You can’t go to dinner covered in paint. Between the shower sex and the getting dressed, I figure I can get in maybe three episodes of that new Queen of Scots show.” Cleo made herself comfy as she flipped through the TV like she’d done it a hundred times… because she had.
We’d all been spending a lot more time together ever since his promotion. The men were even talking about starting their own boxing gym together in the city. Our lives were a lot fuller now that we had friends, each other, and work to keep us busy.
I pulled Hugh back, knowing that I was definitely going to swallow his dick the second his pants came off. Cleo winked at me as I went and cackled behind me calling out, “Gobble, gobble, bitch!”