Epilogue
MADIGAN
The bedroom door shook on its hinges from the force of the blows. “Stop whatever you’re doing in there that I really, really don’t want to know about, and get out of bed.”
It wasn’t the first time Gazza had tried to get us moving, but we were reluctant to leave the safety of our bed, knowing what the day ahead would bring. I glanced to where Nick slept blissfully through the racket and grinned. If the man’s snoring didn’t wake him, Gazza didn’t have a chance in hell.
“You have fifteen minutes until I send in the dogs,” Gazza warned. “Lizzie has arrived with Shirley and Chloe, and I’d be more than happy for them to light a fire under both your arses.”
Shit. “Okay. Fine. We’re coming,” I whisper-shouted as Nick stirred beside me. “Just . . . keep them away, please.”
“Fifteen minutes,” Gazza repeated.
I caught a cackle of elderly giggles in the background and groaned. Fuck my life.
“His life will be measured in hours if he lets those women anywhere near this bedroom,” Nick muttered without opening his eyes. “And I blame you, just so you know. It was your idea to move my Mum up here. Add Jerry to the mix and they’ve got the makings of a powerful coven.”
I chuckled but said nothing. It had been five months since Chloe and Teddy had made the move from Blenheim into an independent villa at Golden Oaks.
Chloe had jumped at the opportunity when Nick first raised the idea.
The villa would allow Chloe to keep her independence until the Parkinson’s disease progressed to the point that she’d need more care.
If that happened, she’d move into a single room like Shirley’s in the main building itself.
As much as we’d hoped the symptoms of the disease had been completely caused by the Valium, that hadn’t been the case at all. The diagnosis had in fact been genuine. The Valium had merely mimicked and exacerbated the symptoms to make her appear much worse than she was.
In the end, the move to Auckland had gone surprisingly well, helped along by the wicked friendship that developed quickly between the three women, Chloe, Shirley, and Nick’s mother-in-law, Lizzie, not to mention, their enabler, Jerry.
The unholy trinity seemed intent on driving us up the wall.
They went everywhere together with a social calendar that made Nick and me look like hermits by comparison—fine by us.
In addition, they had a habit of dropping in unannounced to take over my .
. . our kitchen while they told us about their escapades and somehow managed to utilise every pot and appliance in my butler’s pantry.
Nick loved every second of the whirlwind visits, and I suppose I did too, if it wasn’t for the fact that it usually took until midnight for me to get everything shipshape again once they left.
The three women had also appointed themselves unofficial parental figures to Lee and Aaron, who surprisingly seemed to dote on them in return, and revelled in the attention.
The brothers had recently found an apartment and were due to move out in a few weeks—good news all around.
We’d miss their presence, but it would be good to finally have the house to ourselves and begin to create this new life together on our own.
Besides, there was always Gazza to keep us on our toes.
He hadn’t talked to me for a week after I’d returned from Blenheim, furious and hurt that I hadn’t called him at the time to let him know what was happening.
I’d apologised, realising I still had much to learn about truly letting people into my life and accepting that I had real friends who cared deeply about me.
He forgave me eventually, and we settled back into our comfortable studio routine.
The tension between him and Lee, however, still hadn’t improved and I’d given up on trying to fathom that.
The police proceedings had kept us busy in Blenheim for almost a week.
We would have to return for the trial, but the rest could be done at a distance.
Austin and Belinda were heading to prison for a long time, and Nick and Chloe were in conversation with her lawyer about changing the life interest provisions in Brendon’s will and trust, considering Austin’s attempt to murder her.
It was a complicated legal negotiation that I was happy to leave to them.
When the police searched Austin’s house, they’d found a large supply of Valium along with cocaine, meth, and a selection of other hallucinogens and barbiturates, many with hospital labelling still attached.
Based on what they found, and the detailed plan that Belinda had set in motion, Wright was actively looking into Belinda’s work history to see if there were any questions around missing medications with her past employers or if she’d had any connection with suspicious deaths of people she’d cared for or been associated with.
No surprise there. The woman was clearly a sociopath.
Samuel had flown to Blenheim to support us during the police investigation, and he and Detective Wright had bonded over a mutual frustration with Nick and me and a love for the Crusaders rugby team.
When work called me back to Auckland, Nick remained in Blenheim.
Chloe fought two bouts of pneumonia before she was finally released from hospital and Nick stayed to oversee her recovery and to prepare the townhouse for sale.
That time alone together helped heal a lot of issues from their shared past and they rediscovered a load of good memories to help balance the painful ones.
I doubted Nick would ever fully understand his mother’s actions in leaving him behind, but with the help of his therapist and the constant interaction with Chloe, he was finally moving forward.
For the first time since I’d known him, the man I loved more than anyone in the world looked genuinely happy, relaxed, and much less haunted by his past.
Learning to value himself would always be a work in progress though, and that was fine.
We all have our tender places. But Nick had recently started working under a licensed private investigator as part of his training, and already I could see the changes he was trying to make regarding his safety.
As well as ensuring he carried his phone when he was on surveillance or anything risky, he also carried a GPS tracker card and kept in regular contact with his boss and with me.
The first few times he’d headed out had been nerve-racking for me, but he was loving every minute, and all I really wanted was for him to be happy.
“Come on, Sleeping Beauty.” I pulled Nick’s hair aside to kiss his cheek. The long silver locks on top had completely regrown from the closely shaved look he’d sported in Kettleworth almost a year before. “We better show our faces or things are going to get ugly.”
“Nooooo,” he grumbled, shrugging me off. “It’s your fault I can’t open my eyes. You wore me out.”
I chuckled. “Serves you right. Now get up.” I pinched his butt.
“Ow!” He spun over to face me. “That was uncalled for.” He wrapped a hand around my dick and started a slow stroke.
“You know, we could always let that lot out there get everything ready while we stay in here and—” He nuzzled my throat.
“—do things.” He nipped along my jaw. “Dirty things. Come on. You know you want to.”
“Mmm.” I thrust into his hand a few times before coming to my senses. “Tempting as that is—” I shoved Nick away and scrambled out of bed before I changed my mind. “—it would be rather rude, considering that it was us who organised the party in the first place.”
Nick fell back on the mattress and groaned. “I hate it when you’re right.”
I snorted. “No. You hate it when anyone’s right if it’s not you.”
Nick eyed my naked body and licked his lips. “Not always.” He reached out and flicked my semi-hard cock. “Remember the time you convinced me to give you a hand job in the change room of that menswear shop you li—”
“Nope.” I slapped my hand over his mouth. “We agreed never to mention that humiliating error in judgement ever again.”
Nick licked my palm until I yanked my hand away. “But it was sooo cute when the assistant banged on the door and asked if we needed any help—”
“And you went and told him that you didn’t share.” I rolled my eyes. “I can’t ever show my face in that store again.”
“You are so cute.” Nick grinned and pulled me down for a kiss. “Don’t ever change.”
“Last warning, arseholes!” Lee’s shout rattled the glass in the windows. “People will be arriving in ninety minutes and the spit-roast boys are getting antsy.”
Nick groaned. “We better go, I suppose.” He shot me a look. “Are you nervous?”
I scratched my nails through the thick scruff on his jaw, relishing the feel. “You mean about today? The first time we’ve brought both sides of our wider circle of friends and family together to tell them we’re officially a unit for the long haul. Hell yes, I’m nervous. You?”
Nick swung his feet over the side of the bed. “Terrified. And I totally blame you and Luther. I was quite happy to keep it to a half-dozen people for drinks and nibbles.”
“And I thought I was the introvert,” I teased.
Luther and I had become firm friends in just a few months.
When he’d heard about our plan to semi-formally announce our commitment to our friends and family, he’d been all in, refusing to let the occasion pass without some kind of fuss.
Davis would apparently have a conniption and haunt him for the rest of his life if he did, or so he said.