Epilogue
Ari
It had been about a month and a half since Proctor and I moved to Houston. I didn’t want to live in Vegas anymore after he got out of jail. To me, that city felt like nothing but trouble waiting to pop off again. Too many memories. Too many people who knew our business. Too many chances for havoc.
When Proctor came to me talking about opening a club in Houston, I told him straight up that he should do it and I’d ride behind whatever dream he had.
That man had been through enough, and if building something new in a new city was what he needed, then I was all in.
The cases against him for Josiah’s family was put on someone else, he and Tania’s marriage was annulled, and now he was all mine, and I was going to support and build him as much as possible.
Proctor talked about starting the club up with his brother, Houston, as a silent partner.
I didn’t even know he had a brother until recently, but they have been putting their heads together, wanting to build an empire together in the south, much like Hawk had in Vegas.
Proctor and I had a nice little house tucked away in a small part of Houston, on the south side.
It wasn’t flashy like the penthouses he had in Vegas, but it was peaceful.
The kind of neighborhood where kids played in the yard, and neighbors waved when they drove past. Sometimes I’d catch myself standing at the window smiling, already picturing my daughter running through the grass with chalk on the sidewalk and scraped knees from playing too hard.
This was a vision I never saw for myself in the past. Now it was my reality.
After his and Tania's marriage was annulled, Proctor and I got engaged and married within a week. We didn’t have a big wedding. Just one that was quick, easy, and intimate, because our marriage was about our love, and not a ceremony.
Tania ended up having her baby, and once she was single again, she finally stopped hiding the father.
At first, she couldn’t stand that man. Swore up and down, he got on every nerve she had.
But slowly, she began to realize what I had come to terms with a long time ago.
Love doesn’t always come wrapped up perfectly.
It doesn’t always look the way you imagined, or according to her, sound perfect either.
Now her and Steve are slowly getting to know one another and coparenting their daughter.
One day I hope she has the same happily ever after that me and Cyn have.
Too bad we running out of Proctor men for her to get with.
I was now attending Houston Community College and getting my degree in business.
It wasn’t an Ivy League school or anything fancy, but it was a start. Something productive to do during the day while my daughter was at daycare, and Proctor handled club business.
Proctor was the one who told me I should go back. He said a woman like me needed her own foundation, too, and that independence he wanted me to have is why I appreciated him so much.
I walked down the hallway, passing classroom doors with little windows that let you see inside. Students stood in small groups, talking, while others rushed past me, trying to reach their next class before the doors closed.
Clutching the strap of my bag on my shoulder, I stopped when I saw the room number I was looking for.
For a second, I just stood there, looking through the small window in the door, knowing that once I stepped inside, there was no turning back.
I couldn’t quit this time, and I have to get my degree.
I pushed the door open, stepped inside, and a few heads turned.
I walked up to the Professor who was sitting in a tall chair behind a podium in the front of the class.
“Hello, I’m Ariana Proctor.”
The words still felt a little new rolling off my tongue, but honestly, they sounded just right.
“Okay, I have you checked in. You can have a seat,” the instructor said politely.
Everything was starting to fall into place here. I have a house, family, and a new fresh start with a man I was always in love with, only now I can shout it to the world.