Epilogue
EPILOGUE
DRAVEN
T he past several years have been anything but easy.
Every day that Kins and I get to wake up next to one another is a fucking gift.
And every morning, as we lay tangled together in our bed, we recommit to surviving this war together.
Because that’s what fighting cancer is.
An endless war.
And I do mean endless.
Some soldiers never get to hear their doctors tell them that they’re in remission. They never get to ring that bell, signifying they’ve received their final round of chemo. Either they’re on a regimen they must continue for the rest of their life … or they didn’t survive long enough to complete it.
Others complete treatment, only to be told that it didn’t work or their cancer has returned. From there they have to make the tough decision of whether to fight on or to surrender and try to live the remainder of their life in deceptive peace.
Or if you’re really lucky, you’ll defy all odds and live years past every one of your doctor’s expectations while remaining cancer free.
There isn’t one day that Kins and I don’t thank our lucky stars for the reprieve. But it’s not without its own struggle.
The first year following her surgery was a flurry of therapies, doctor appointments, infusions, and scans. Things have slowed over the years—currently she’s only required to see her oncologist once a year—but we know that tomorrow could bring news that will rock our world all over again.
We’ve met so many people along the way, each one more inspirational than the last. So much so that, in addition to resuming her practice once she was feeling up to it, Kins started a foundation last year to help raise money and awareness for Glioblastoma called Justin’s Junction.
It connects the community to doctors and resources they either don’t know about or can’t afford. It also subsidizes food and lodging for family members of those who are having surgery or going through treatment at a facility far from their home.
I couldn’t be prouder of her or the work she’s been doing.
Sadly, the boy who the foundation is named after lost his battle with GBM eight months after he and Kins first met. His mother was touched, knowing Justin’s name will be memorialized in such a positive way. She and McKinsey have grown very close.
A lot has changed for me and Kins since we first started this journey together.
Our plans. Our goals. Our outlook.
But one thing that will always remain strong and true is the unbridled desire she ignites in me.
Especially with the way she’s dancing by the bonfire right now. She and the girls are in a circle a few feet away from where Saxon, Atticus, and I are sitting, shaking her ass like she doesn’t know what it fucking does to me.
Palming the bulge in my pants, I don’t even bother trying to adjust myself discreetly. The way she’s taunting me has devoured all of my control, and I practically leap from my chair before wrapping my hand around hers.
“Hey!” the other girls call after us, but I’m already tugging her across the grass, up onto the deck, and through the house as she fails to stifle her giggling.
The moment I pull her into our room, I slam the door and push her up against it. The light in her eyes turns dangerous as I plunge my hands in her hair.
Now who’s laughing.
Her locks grew back even more gorgeous and out of control than they once were. I get off on the silkiness as I wrap them around my fist.
McKinsey’s lips are all over my neck as my free hand tears open the buttons of her jeans, pulling them down just enough to get my fingers inside of her.
“Fuck, Kins… How long have you been wet for me?”
I don’t wait for a response before claiming her mouth and swallowing her moan. Her breathing increases with the movement of my fingers as they dance back and forth between her clit and her pussy. With each dip inside of her, I spread another layer of moisture over her sensitive nerves.
“Oh my god… Draven… I need … your cock. Inside me… Now.”
“Uh-uh, Kins. I think a little playtime is in order first. A little teasing … just like you did to me outside.”
I increase the speed of my fingers over her clit before slowing them again. Seeing desire flicker in her eyes, I know she’s going to love every last minute of torture I put her through.
Outside of this room, she’s an independent badass, in full control of every aspect of her practice and her foundation. She handles all of the decision making. She works tirelessly to ensure everything is running smoothly and each of her patients and subsidy recipients get all the help they need.
Inside of this room? She’s still very much a badass, but she sheds the need for dominion and relinquishes all control to me. She allows me to relieve her stress after a hard day. She trusts me to calm her worries about the future. She knows I’ll give her exactly what she’s craving.
Eventually…
But sometimes, she doesn’t have the patience to wait.
Like right now.
Circling my wrist with her hand, she halts my movements. When she begins bucking her hips against my fingers, I give her a moment to hope that I’ll let her continue.
Pulling my hand free from her grasp, I wrap it around her wrists then bring them together above her head. With a shit-eating grin and my eyes locked on hers, I secure her wrists against the door in one hand as the other dives back between her legs. When I stop moving my hand again, I don’t try to hide the look of pleasure on my face when she cries out another moan.
“Dra—”
“Don’t worry, Kins.” Cutting her off, I press my erection into her hip. “You’re not the only one suffering.”
Releasing the hold I have on her wrists, she lets her arms fall back down to her sides as I drop to the floor in front of her. Gripping her panties and jeans, I tug them down to her ankles to use them as a restraint.
Although when my tongue begins to lap up the moisture between her legs, that’s all it takes to keep her in place.
Opening her knees, she grants me better access to her. Her hands fly to my hair as she grinds herself against my face, covering both my nose and mouth. I let her because, fuck , there are worse ways to die than being suffocated by your lover’s pussy.
I break away for a second of air before wrapping my arms around her ass. I pull her tight against me again. Losing all control of myself, I relentlessly suck on her clit until she’s begging me to stop, her desire coating my chin and running down my chest.
I do stop; but only long enough to toss her onto the bed where we remove our pants. In a flash, I’m in a frenzy, crawling over her body. When our faces align, she pulls my lips against hers as I reach between us to guide my cock into her.
Kins and I make love more than we fuck. I would never call her fragile, but more often than not, I feel like I need to handle her with care. Other times, however, like right now, we’re both much too needy and too far gone for slow and steady.
I feel possessed as I thrust into her… Superhuman, almost. I wait for a sign that it’s too hard, that I’m going too fast. But when she breaks our kiss and her head lands on the bed beneath us, she appears to be enjoying this just as much as I am.
Curling her legs around me, she digs her heels into my ass like she does every time she needs more. I wasn’t sure I had more to give, but when it comes to Kins, no measure of strength is ever out of reach. I increase my intensity, launching her over the edge.
“Draven… Oh my god, yes! Fuck yes, Draven!”
As she cries out my name, I feel her muscles pulsate and tighten around my cock. Milking it. Begging it to fill her up.
“Jesus, fuck . You’re squeezing the hell out of me. Keep doing it, Kins. It feels so fucking good.”
She tenses around me again, and with one final thrust, my world feels like it dissolves into a vat of ecstasy.
“Holy fuck! Kins… Shit!”
The muscles in my arms give out, and my body crashes down onto hers. Our chests heaving, we stare into each other's eyes as we try desperately to even out our heart rates. We stay like that for a while, exchanging slow, soft kisses before I’m finally able to roll off of her.
The second I get myself situated the correct way in bed, she latches herself to my side. The same way she does every night.
“Holy shit, Draven. That was…”
When she can’t find the words she’s looking for, I fill in the blanks.
“That was some next-level shit.”
“Absofuckinglutely.”
Hearing her sleepy tone, I know she’s only moments away from passing out in sated bliss. Just as I feel myself begin to fade, Kins’s sweet voice meets my ears again, and my eyes land on her peaceful face.
She only has enough strength to utter one word before she drifts off.
It’s the single word we exchange when our heart is so full it’s overwhelming, rendering us incapable of speaking in complete sentences.
The very word we got tattooed on our bodies the day of Kins’s patching ceremony, where she acknowledged her permanent place in my heart and in the club.
The one word that means absolutely everything to us both.
“Forever...”
Pulling her to me, I place a kiss on her forehead.
“Forever, Kins.”
It’s you and me against the world … forever.