Epilogue
As the driveway came into view, Rick indicated and turned into it.
The house sat back from the road with a narrow strip of grass and a low fence that looked like it hadn’t been painted in years.
Nothing about it stood out, and that was the point.
He cut the engine and sat for a second with both hands on the wheel.
“We’re home,” Rick said.
Allen got out and grabbed the groceries from the back of the car as Rick headed to the front door and unlocked it. Inside, they worked together to put the items away, then went into the living room and sat next to each other on the couch.
They’d been living together for six months, and it had been strange and awkward at first, but they’d eventually found a rhythm.
Allen always woke up to Rick making breakfast, then they spent a few hours working before they had the rest of the day to themselves.
At night, Rick showed Allen how much he meant to him, leaving him sweaty and drained in a good way.
Rick had money. Royalties that still came in, and savings he’d built long before he’d snapped.
He didn’t talk about it much, but Allen had seen the accounts and the way Rick planned things down to the smallest detail.
Allen had a remote job. It wasn’t glamorous, but it paid, and it kept him anchored.
There had been no knock on the door. No police.
The hit-and-run had stayed in the news for a while, then slipped down the feed like everything did.
Still, they kept things simple. No routines that could be tracked.
No places they went every day at the same time.
Rick said they could stay here as long as they wanted.
If that changed, they’d leave. He already had a list of other places they could go to.
Allen missed his friends, but he spoke to them regularly. They didn’t know the real reason he’d left. He’d told them he’d been offered a promotion at another branch, and they’d believed him. He hated lying to them, but it was easier than the truth.
Just thinking about it had Allen inhaling sharply, but he’d made his decision and he wasn’t going to change his mind. He loved Rick, and Rick loved him in his own way. He’d accepted him and accepted the life he was going to have with him.
Rick pulled him closer, and Allen went easily, letting his head rest on Rick’s shoulder. “Bed soon?” Rick asked.
Allen smiled to himself, knowing what Rick meant.
Hours of Rick fucking Allen into the mattress, not that Allen was complaining.
Nodding, he cuddled close. “Our new order came.” That was another thing.
Knowing how dominant Rick tended to be, they’d begun using sex toys, and Allen had discovered how much he enjoyed being cuffed.
Not all the time, but more often than not.
Rick hummed. “Maybe we should go to bed now.” He stood and held out his hand.
Allen stared at it, then placed his own in it. “Let’s go and test them out.”
Their love wasn’t the normal kind of love, but it worked for them, and that was all that mattered.
The End