Epilogue
One Month Later.
JONAH
It took us a month to get back to Port Skelton.
We weren’t in any rush. Port Skelton was where we had come from, but our home was with each other.
We found work on the road. Used fake names at shitty bars, not because we had to, but because it was fun.
No one knew us and that was the way we liked it.
We worked just enough to pay for a room and food, and whatever time wasn’t spent working or traveling was spent with our limbs tangled up together.
Dex updated me on the Strays. Raven was in charge now, and after Reaper and Toby had gone “missing” there was very little conflict between everyone else.
Henrik and Archer were still yet to be found.
Bryce had left too. The Strays also had some new members.
But after Dex told me he’d left them, I had little interest in the rest. He was all mine now, and that’s all that mattered.
Roy had moved away after selling the auto shop. We planned to visit him eventually, though that was more for Dex’s sake than mine. I’d be happy if the only face I ever saw again was his—well, and Becca’s. If she didn’t murder me the moment I was within reach.
Every time I’d thought about contacting Becca, my stomach would twist with nerves until I felt physically nauseous. It wasn’t the kind of conversation to be had over the phone. Dex had asked me over and over when I wanted to see her, but I hadn’t been able to give him an answer apart from “soon.”
We pulled to a stop in front of an unfamiliar apartment building.
“What are we doing here?” I asked Dex.
He pulled our laced fingers to his face to kiss along my knuckles.
“Need to do something. Come on.”
Then he got out of the truck before I had a chance to protest.
With a groan, I unbuckled and got out as well, then followed him up the concrete steps. It was an older building, but it seemed well maintained.
“Who lives here?” I asked, my hand reaching for the back of his jacket.
He didn’t answer, just knocked on the apartment’s red door.
A few moments later, it opened to reveal Raven.
She smiled and held her fist out for Dex to bump, shaking it at him when he didn’t. Then she turned to me. “Well, look who it is.” Before I had the chance to respond, she turned back into the apartment. “It’s for you, babe!”
My stomach twisted, because I had a feeling I knew who she was talking to, and I still didn’t feel ready.
Her hair was purple now, and much longer. Familiar amber eyes looked annoyed until they caught on me and widened. Becca.
She walked toward me with purpose, and I stood frozen like a deer in headlights.
Thwack.
Pain seared over the side of my cheek as she slapped me, but before I could even process that, she yanked me into the tightest embrace I’d ever felt.
She was so warm.
She hugged me like she’d missed me.
“You fucking dick!” Her voice caught with emotion. “I thought you were fucking dead! I cried for you, you bastard!”
Once her embrace had felt like it was putting the broken, jagged things inside me back together, but this time I knew I’d be okay when she let me go. Those pieces would stay together, because it wasn’t the end, and there would be more hugs just like this one. “Welcome home.”
My eyes burned, and I let them. I didn’t fight the tears, and neither did she, and we just stood in the doorway hugging and crying until Raven cleared her throat behind us. “Maybe… come inside?”
Bee didn’t give me a choice in the matter; her hand found my wrist and dragged me in after her. I heard Dex chuckle as he followed us.
Then we were sitting on the sofa, both her hands held mine.
“What happened, JJ? I tried to contact you, and I couldn’t.
My calls and texts weren’t going through.
I made Rae take me to Dex’s place to find you.
” My throat tightened in discomfort, but she continued.
“And it was fucking burned to the ground, so I went to your dad’s, and he hadn’t heard from you either.
He was fucking useless by the way. I hate the bastard, just so you know. ”
I couldn’t help the huff of breath as too many emotions tried to escape me at once. “I… I can’t tell you everyth—”
“Don’t give me that shit! You can tell me. You can tell me anything. Whatever happened, I’m on your side. I’m always on your side, and I have your back.”
I looked to Dex, who smiled softly and gave me a nod.
So I did. I told her everything. I told her what I’d done and why I ran. I cried more, and so did she. Then she pulled me into another crushing hug.
“You stupid prick!” she sobbed. “I told you I’d help you hide a body, you dumb fuck. I meant that. If you’d just fucking called me—”
“I’m sorry.” I truly was.
I’d done a lot of bad things that I couldn’t change, but I’d also done a lot of things wrong. And those I could make up for, starting from now. With the people who loved me unconditionally.
DEX
We spent the night on Becca and Raven’s pull-out sofa. I didn’t have a place here anymore, but that didn’t bother me, because I had my rabbit, and wherever we slept together was home.
After breakfast, I had to pry him back out of Becca’s hands. There were other things left to do. Jonah gave her his new number, and Becca threatened me with death—“a permanent one this time”—if I ever made him run again.
Our first stop was the Port Skelton cemetery, where Jonah took me to meet Adaline. He told her that she would have liked me and that he was okay now, that he’d found a new family who loved him unconditionally.
Then we went to my storage unit to swap the truck for Delilah. Driving was more comfortable for my leg than riding, and I couldn’t bring my cane with me when we took the bike, but where we were going next, I wanted her to take us.
With the new modifications, Jonah was more comfortable and secure as my passenger, but he still clung to me tightly as we cut through the wind, heading to a place I had wanted to take him for so long.
We left Delilah to watch over us. Then my hand was in his as we trekked through the brush to get to the cliff.
The roar of the ocean was familiar. This place had always been more of a haven to me than the house I’d grown up in. It was where I went to be close to my dad, and now it was where I’d brought Jonah so they could finally meet each other.
We sat on the stone, beside where I’d carved his name.
DECLAN IAN WELLER
The letters bold and distinct from how many times I’d run my blade over them.
Jonah’s fingers laced through mine as we stared out at the sea. I cleared my throat.
“So, I told you about this guy.” I pulled Jonah’s hand so I could kiss the back of it. “I’m in love with him. And he’s in love with me.”
Jonah’s head rested on my shoulder.
“I feel things I’ve never felt before with him. He’s everything to me, Dad. You’d really like him.”
My chest felt tight and heavy. I wished more than anything they could have met each other. That Dad could have smiled and pulled Jonah into a hug he’d have been extremely awkward about. That he could have slapped him on the back and welcomed him into the family like I knew he would have.
“I’m really happy now,” I continued. “He makes me happy. And I’ll never let go of you, Dad. But I won’t be able to visit you as much. There’s a whole world out there that we want to see. But I know that you’re with me, and I’ll carry you always.”
The ocean roared louder. As if he were in the waves. As if he were cheering for us, telling me it was okay to move on.
“I wish I could have met you.” Jonah spoke up after I’d fallen silent for a while. “But I promise that I’ll keep him safe from now on. You’d be really proud of him. He’s such a good man.”
Good. There were already tears in my eyes, but that word pulled something deep and raw from my chest. Because Jonah meant it. He saw me as good.
It didn’t matter if the world didn’t agree with him. Jonah was my world, and he thought I was good. It was all I had ever needed—to be good for him.
We sat there telling Dad about our plans until it was too cold. Until I felt ready to leave again, not knowing when we’d be back.
Then we took Delilah back and strapped her to the truck, to take her with us.
Our plan was to keep going. To live on the road until we found some place that felt enough like home to stick around. If that took months, or years, or never happened, I didn’t really care.
Jonah and I had had a rough start to life and to love, but we’d found our way through. We were together now and always would be. This was just the beginning, and our story was far from over.
THE END… FOR NOW.