Epilogue
August
M ay
As I watch my girlfriend, the love of my life, talk animatedly with her best friend Elise, all I can think is, I am a lucky man. That Sinclair is mine.
All mine.
She catches me staring, doing a double take, that slow, delectable smile appearing on her face and I want to lean over the massive table and kiss it off her but that would cause a scene and we’re right in the middle of my post-graduation dinner with my family and Cyrus and his family so there’s no point.
I’ll just kiss her later tonight. All night long if I’m so inclined. All over her body.
Sounds like the best plan I’ve had in a while.
Sin blows a kiss at me, making Elise laugh, and I can’t stand it any longer.
“What are you two talking about?”
Their laughter dies, matching mischievous smiles on their faces.
“You’ll never believe it,” Sinclair says.
“Try me.”
They share a look and Elise is the one who announces, “Rafe and Tim are together. Romantically. Like they’re a couple.”
I go silent, taking in what she said. Running it through my brain over and over again until all I can manage to say is, “What the actual fuck?”
They burst out laughing, in on the joke that I’m not privy to and while a part of me is aggravated, I’m also glad to see Sinclair having so much fun with her friend. These two are troublemakers together. Elise is what my mother would’ve called a bad influence when we were younger, but there’s something so damn likable about her, I don’t worry about it when they spend time together. Sin is the rational one and Elise needs to be reined in on occasion, which makes them a well-balanced pair.
“It’s true,” Sin says with a nod, her lips curled into the cutest smile. One I want to kiss off. I think I’m obsessed with her mouth. As a matter of fact, I’d like to stuff it full with my dick. A graduation present for myself, so to speak. “Elise has always suspected they had a thing for each other.”
I know all about the throuple situation Elise had with Rafe and Tim—I was shocked as shit when Sinclair told me—but I had no idea the guys were into each other .
“When we’d hook up, sometimes they forgot about me,” Elise says. “I knew then, but they were in total denial.”
“Interesting.” I stroke my chin, thinking of the many times I believed I had legitimate beef with Tim and it turns out he was into Rafe all along. Life is a wild ride. “I hope they’re happy together.”
Sin’s mouth drops open. “You don’t mean it.”
I shrug. “I do. Why would I wish them ill will?”
“Because you hate Tim,” Sinclair reminds me.
“Not if he isn’t a threat. And he hasn’t been for a while.” If ever. “What can I say? I’m a changed man.”
“Uh huh.” She slowly shakes her head, her eyes glowing and I have a feeling she’s dying to get her hands on me too. Stupid dinner party has to go and ruin everything.
We’re in the city, at a restaurant not too far from my apartment. My parents are in for the weekend, staying at their penthouse not too far from my building and of course, Iris and Brooks are with us, too. Their sweet little monster is spending the evening with Brooks’ mother so my sister is drinking copious amounts of alcohol and running her hands all over Brooks every chance she gets, which I’m trying to ignore. Vaughn is also with us tonight. He brought his little high school girlfriend and they’re wrapped up in their own conversation, ignoring all of us. She’s an adorable blonde whose name is…fuck.
I don’t know.
Cyrus’s parents are sitting close to mine and Cyrus is next to me, downing one scotch after another, getting shit-faced and feeling melancholy. Nostalgic.
“Remember the time we broke into the library our freshman year and wrapped the entire front desk in toilet paper?” Cyrus asks me, slurring his words.
“What? I’ve never heard this story.” Sinclair rests her chin on top of her curled fist, her elbow propped on the table. “Tell me more, Cyrus.”
They get along, my best friend and the woman I love, thank Christ. The problem though? He constantly fills her head with stories about our sordid pasts, always making me look like an epic tool. Sinclair eats these stories up. Like she’s doing right now, listening to Cyrus go on, her gaze never straying from him while he regales her with exaggerated tales about our frat.
“We were getting hazed and the seniors in our frat were fucking bastards. I can’t believe all the shit they made us do.” Cyrus rests his fisted hand against his mouth, burping into it. “We were much easier on our pledges.”
“We were not,” I remind him, shaking my head. “I am a nightmare. So are you.”
We keep up the steady conversation, Cyrus and I sharing story after story while Sinclair and Elise seem to eat them up. Elise keeps sending sultry looks in Cyrus’s direction and his drunken ass keeps sending flirtatious winks and smirks back. By the time we’re leaving the restaurant and walking back to my apartment arm in arm, Sin and I discuss their potential.
“Do you think they’ll hook up tonight?”
“They did leave together,” I remind her.
“Oh God. I’m sure they’re going to do it.” Sinclair sighs. “Elise isn’t interested in a steady relationship with anyone.”
“Perfect. Cyrus is very much a fuck ‘em and leave ‘em kind of guy,” I tell her. “Maybe they could have a summer fling.”
“Or a one-night stand. That’s my prediction.”
“I’m sure we’ll hear all about it. At the very least, Elise will text you all the dirty details.”
We’re quiet for a moment, walking along the sidewalk, my thoughts skipping ahead to getting Sin in my bed and naked the moment we walk through the door.
“You were like Cyrus too, once upon a time,” Sin points out, leaning her head against my shoulder for a brief moment before she tilts her head back to catch me already staring at her pretty face. “You’re not a nightmare anymore, you know.”
“You don’t think so?” I lift my brows, shocked it stuck out to her, me saying that.
She slowly shakes her head. “You’ve mellowed out these last six months.”
Six months ago, I would’ve been offended. Mellowed out? Sounds like an absolute insult. I prided myself on my assholish ways. Now, though?
“I suppose I have.” I steer her toward my apartment building, nodding when the doorman wishes us a good evening and holds the door open for us. We enter the lobby and I lead Sinclair toward the elevator. Within a minute, we’re in my apartment and I’ve got my hands on her waist, trying to figure out how to take off her pale pink sundress.
“August.” She slides her way out of my hold, flashing a smile over her shoulder before she starts running down the hall that leads to my bedroom. “I refuse to let you fuck me against the door again.”
So I’ve got a thing for fucking Sin against a door. What’s wrong with that?
“Hey, I’m the one who just graduated. Don’t I deserve a special present?” I remind her as I pause in the doorway, watching as she undoes one tie on her shoulder, then the other, letting the straps fall down, as well as the front of her dress, exposing her chest and her perfect tits. Her nipples are hard and my mouth waters just thinking about sucking on them.
“Oh I know. Didn’t you see your special message?” She bats her eyelashes at me, tilting her head to the side and I glance over at my dresser. The mirror that hangs above it has a message written in dark red lipstick.
Congratulations, August. I’m so proud of you! I love you.
Xo,
Si n
My heart expands to about three sizes bigger than normal. It’s silly, that I feel this emotional over her message, but it feels like a full circle moment. “I love it.”
“I thought you might.” Her smile is coy. “Now tell me what you want. Whatever it is, I’ll do it.”
I think of all the many things I want to do to this woman, with this woman. But only one lingers at the forefront of my mind.
“How about a blow job?”
“Well, that was easy. Deal.” She gets rid of her dress, standing in front of me naked and damn it, I never even realized she wasn’t wearing panties tonight.
“Perfect.” I’m undoing the buttons on my shirt, shrugging out of it and letting it fall onto the floor. “I was staring at your mouth all through dinner, thinking about stuffing it with my dick.”
She laughs, the sound rippling through me, leaving me feeling satisfied. “So romantic, August.”
“That’s me. An incurable romantic.” I lunge for her, making her squeal, both of us tumbling onto the mattress until I’ve got her pinned beneath me, my face in hers. “I love you, Sin.”
The laughter dies on her lips and she lifts up, her mouth practically on mine as she murmurs, “I love you too, August.”
I kiss her as if everything depended on it, grateful. Life has become much sweeter with Sin in my life.
By my side.
Forever.