EPILOGUE #3
“Family,” her father parrots.
“Yes,” I reply. “There’s nothing more important to us, so it would mean a lot if you were there. I still owe you a drink, sir.”
He chuckles. “That you do. My daughter informed me it’s a good one.”
I cup my hand around my mouth without lowering my volume and point at my soon-to-be wife. “Says the lush. It’ll put hair on your chest.”
Tessa laughs, looping her arms around my waist. “That’s why I couldn’t get that low-cut dress.”
On that light note, I kiss her hair and prepare to part ways. We say another goodbye. She hugs them, I shake their hands, and we tromp down the porch stairs.
“We’ll be there,” her mother calls out. “Of course we’ll be there. What about your sisters?”
Tessa pumps my hand and gulps back a breath of emotion before spinning. “My door has always been open to all of you. It still is, as long as you’re willing to keep your arms open for me and the people I love.”
Such a graceful way of saying, Respect us or don’t let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.
Tessa spreads her legs, attempting to brace herself better, though she’s still gravely off-balance. A wry chuckle drifts past her lips as a buzz harmonizes with my playlist.
“Of all the moronic things,” she hisses. “Stay still.”
I hum, feigning consideration, even though we both know her annoyance is a double-edged blade for me, one that cuts into both of us with an addictive sting. “You stick to your task, and I’ll stick to mine.”
“It seems ill-advised to taunt me in my current position,” she warns.
“You missed your chance to off me, Nightmare. Too obvious now. It’s always the wife.”
Our wedding was a fucking fairy tale. Tessa, Mercy, and my sister spent the afternoon being pampered with massages, manicures, makeup, and hair. The rooftop terrace was aglow with marital-celebration bliss. There were bouquets of Pixy Stix and ice sculptures designed from Tessa’s drawings.
Jax did a stellar job on song selections, working from that ranking list Tessa and I’d created.
He also gave my girl a mood ring. It turned blue right after she put it on, which he insisted was a sign she was right where she belonged.
I think he rigged it for her something blue, but she was over the moon either way.
Her something old was my butterfly knife. She’d even mastered a few combinations over the past few months and managed to show them off. Those click-clack-rattles sounded like my mother’s swooning approval from the beyond.
Ryker had the honor of officiating the ceremony, pride and passion dripping from every word.
Since my parents hadn’t been great examples of a healthy marriage, Ryker’s unwavering support and devotion to Mercy over the years was my representation of what a beautiful relationship could be.
Having him pronounce us man and wife was more meaningful than he could fathom.
Mid-ceremony, Remy coiled himself around his father’s leg, which was pretty damn meaningful too.
Cash pretended to lose the wedding rings, only to pull one from Tessa’s ear and the other near my … crotch. He tsked. “Let that be a lesson that you need to be careful. Rings can get stuck on things.”
Jackass.
Tessa burst out laughing though. “Well played.”
She’d already told me that she’d divulged our mishap to him.
We exchanged vows under a crescent halo illuminating a freckled sky, with the pool fountains warbling in the background and a song that would’ve made my mother weep. As it was, the rest of the group did. Even Axel was fighting back tears.
He’d started the day off by guiding me into his office and telling me he was proud of me. That about did me in, but he followed it up by telling me I was the hardest to raise—caught in the middle and the one he’d made the most mistakes with because it was trial by fire. Pun unintended.
“But you’re also the one I saw the most of Mom in. Her mark on you was unmistakable. It still is. And, yes, she’d adore Tessa. It’s what I thought the first time I met her.”
That had us both blubbering like fucking babies. Not quite blubbering. Fine, misty-eyed and verklempt, but blubbering paints a more vivid picture. And it was a cinema-worthy moment.
The whole evening was. It was an intimate affair, but still brimming with liveliness. Rena and Ty’s entire family was here, of course. And Bernard, Gentry, and Brasi were also invited to join us.
Tessa’s family came too. My siblings embraced them with a warm welcome and firm, Mafia-adjacent don’t-fuck-with-our-girl glowers.
It put them in their place, but didn’t sully the mood.
Not when they saw Tessa kicking up her heels and doing the Charleston with me and the rest of my family.
They were captivated by her, which was understandable.
She was striking in her off-the-shoulder, long-sleeved, fitted black-and-purple dress.
A smile brighter than celestial awe, her laughter more brilliant than the buoyant swing music trilling though the surround sound.
But it was how free she was that struck them.
I finally made her father a drink, and in our brief conversation, he assured me he’d be stepping up the way he always should have.
I’m guessing he laid down a firm warning to his wife, daughters, and their significant others because all were on their best behavior.
Eden and John even allowed Anna and Adam to partake in the dancing.
Remy and Bernard—the dog—were thrilled about that.
And Bernard—the man—seemed to be equally elated that Tessa’s grandmother was light on her feet.
On the final slow dance of the night, Tessa nuzzled her face into my neck. “Thank you for the best wedding gift imaginable.”
“We haven’t even exchanged gifts yet, but the honeymoon is about to begin.”
“Can’t wait.” She beamed up at me, her long lashes fluttering.
“But I meant … them. I thought you were going to tear me apart from them, but it was the opposite. You always show up, and you strengthened me to tell them they needed to. Maybe they won’t show up for me all the time. But tonight, they did.”
“They did,” I agreed, grateful it worked out because I’d promised her that I would fix it. “Sometimes, you need to smash through barriers to establish new ones.”
“You did that,” she whispered, still basking in the warmth of the party. “You gave me the inner circle I needed so I could still hold on. The Noires are one hell of a shield.”
“We sure are. That includes you now, baby.”
That was about an hour ago. The party is still pumping, but we extended our thanks to everyone and excused ourselves to start the after-party in our own suite, using a hidden stairway that Axel had built for us.
It leads from the pantry in the penthouse to our coat closet, so we can utilize the rooftop entertainment area anytime we want.
Which brings us back to the real festivities.
“This is dangerous and moronic,” Tessa grouses while swiveling her hips.
She presses the tool into my pelvis again. I’m not usually one to squirm from discomfort, but I sink my teeth into her clit—you know, for pain management.
She belts out a melodic cackle. “How the hell am I supposed to do this when you’re doing that?”
My tongue laves over her weeping core with lazy probing. “Let’s finish both at the same time so I can sink my cock inside my wife’s perfect pussy. I’ve waited long enough.”
“Your eagerness is glaring me in the face.” She nudges my dick out of the way, but not before she teases me with a leisurely suck of the leaking tip.
When she resumes her mission to etch her words into my skin, I spread her open more, relentlessly devouring every inch that I can reach, immersing myself in her sweetness and blazing a trail to her puckered hole. I’ll never have enough of her. Her taste. Her smell. This is the flavor of my forever.
Plunging three fingers inside her, I curl them to hit the coveted spot.
The high ceilings, whirring tool, and sexy tunes swallow her moans, but I don’t let up.
Not even as the tattoo machine scrapes an area that isn’t quite numb.
I lick and lap and consume, and my radiant wife falls apart on my tongue while branding me in yet one more way.
Her thighs tremble against my jaw, her moans bathe me in warmth, and her inner walls pulse as she floats down from her high. After dismounting my face, she smooths a clear adhesive bandage over the fresh tattoo as I hoist myself up on my elbows to get a better look.
Right above my greedy dick, it reads, If found, please return to Tessa Noire.
I bark out a laugh. I told her to put her name there because of the snarky lie she’d uttered a while back.
One that made me see volcanic red and want to rip down the pants of every man she’d ever met to examine whether her name was on him.
That should have been a solid clue that she owned me, but I had about a week or two of delusion left in me.
“Better than a dog tag.” I rise from the tattoo chair, grip her chin, and seize her mouth in a swift but sultry kiss. “I’ll grab us cocktails. Get ready for round two.”
A cheeky grin plays on her lips. “Oh, yes, getting me liquored up for the next one seems wise.”
I saunter out to our great-room bar, mix some drinks, and return to her. My gaze rakes over her curves, and I’m as enamored as I was the first time I glimpsed her divine naked body. “You are a work of art, baby girl.”
She’s got her own pelvic ink, drawn by me. Hers is in gothic font and reads, Drac lives here.
We clink glasses, swill our drinks, and indulge in another annihilating kiss before I resume my position on the reclining chair, fisting my hard shaft and pumping to relieve some tension.
For all her eye rolls and gripes about this idea, she climbs on top of me, notches my engorged tip at her entrance, and slides down without objection.
A chorus of our collective groans rings out, accompanied by the buzz of another design.
She drags the tool against my flesh, all while I have the most stunning view.
Between each mark, she rocks her hips, grinding into me as those Caribbean blues that have bewitched me for years hold me captive with a future I never envisioned, but would die to preserve.
“You are so ravishing, inside and out.” I sweep my thumb back and forth over the silky skin of her hip, intoxicated by her heat enveloping me and everything this day represents. “The reason for every breath I take. I love you. I’d love you even if you didn’t love me back.”
“Love makes people stupid,” she deadpans, her gaze flitting between the stenciled words she’s tracing inside a melting album on my chest and my face with mischief. “So, clearly, I love you back, more than I’ve ever loved anyone or anything.”
“Clearly.” I slink my finger to her clit to lean into that opinion and really make this a memory. I’m rewarded by her clamping down on my shaft like a vise.
“Proceed at your own risk,” she chides, her tone woven with lust and levity.
“That vision of ecstasy painted on your gorgeous face is worth any risk. If the letters bleed together, we’ll make it a black cloud.”
She bites her lip and pants through the remainder of the tattoo, balancing both her desire and her endeavor. Finishing in record time, she sets the tool down, patches up my pec, and snaps a quick picture before flipping the phone around to show me her work.
Forever lost in the song of my beautiful Nightmare.
“It’s perfect.” I clutch her waist in desperation for her to move, forcing myself deeper. “Now I need my wife to wreck me.”
She whimpers, clasps my shoulders, and adopts the most delectable rhythm, her nipples peaked, tits bouncing. And time stills to pina colada, turquoise seas, and a salty breeze. This woman is the collision of a beachside happy hour and a raging tsunami. And all mine.
We don’t say anything else. But Tessa has always said more with her silence, and her features are inscribed with our vows and confidence in who we are together.
A thundering current builds in my abdomen and rips through me, and I watch it mirrored in her.
We quiver and quake as we both let go, leaping off the rapturous precipice as one.
Rumbles and purrs of our euphoria emanate around us, our sweat-slicked limbs entwine, and despite the raw inscriptions on my skin, she collapses into a contented heap upon me.
And here we lie, in a cocoon of all the ways we’ve grown. The proof that we were lying to ourselves when we thought we stood a chance at not giving in to this.
She mindlessly draws circles on my bicep, her hair fanned behind her. “We’re only a few hours into our marriage, and I already know that what I told Axel the day he hired me applies to the life we’re building, times one hundred. With you, I belong.”
The catalyst to our love story wasn’t pretty. It was literally murder. And the event that initiated our engagement was a lot more murders and a near-death experience. But her perspective is exactly right.
“I told you we were inevitable, Tess.” I rake my fingers through her satin tresses and reach up with my other hand to flick her half-drunk cocktail left on the side table.
“It’s like this drink, the one concocted when yet another boundary was imposed.
Some people run from darkness. We chase it.
Others feel defeated by barriers. We plow through them, lift our cocktails, and thank them for the inspiration.
You are my everything—my partner in crime, my wind chime breaking the silence, my beautiful Nightmare. ”
“I love you, and I love that analogy,” she rasps, and because she is without a doubt my other half, she fills in the remainder of my thought.
“We’re the line we were told not to cross, the union that was threatened by so many.
And today, this wedding, me in your arms, and the future in store—this is our triumphant toast, our middle finger to the world, our Twelve Mile Limit. ”
THE END