Epilogue
EPILOGUE
I GUESS WE’RE BOTH DUMMIES.
Sterling
“Did you see what Ivy got Juni?” I ask Dash as I button my white dress shirt, moving slowly so I don’t misalign them.
“Double strap-on,” he says, peering down at his phone. She sent us a photo in our group message. He grins. “Gnarly.” As he works on buttoning his own shirt, he says, “Hey, you know, for whatever it’s worth, with us, or, well, you know, between us, you never have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
I read the subtext loud and clear, but before I can assure him of anything, he rambles nervously.
“I mean, I realize her using that on you is… different. And, well, smaller, most likely. I mean, I didn’t see it and it’s not like I think I have the biggest dick in Bluebell or anything but, like, I’m just saying, I realize that you will be more comfortable with prostate play if it’s coming from her and that toy and, well… I’m okay with whatever you decide.”
I shake my head, leaving my tie to hang untied around my neck as I square off with him. I cup his cock over his pants, not a move typical to me but one that he needs from me right now. “You do have a big dick, I don’t prefer a toy to you, and I want you to fuck me. I already told you I’m ready.” I seal the admission with a kiss, fiery but quick, and pull back, smiling down at him. “We’re committing to Juniper but also each other.”
He nods. “I know.”
I study him for a moment as I work on my tie from memory. “You really never explored with any men before me?”
He shakes his head. “Never even glanced over a urinal.”
At that I laugh. “You just seem so comfortable with all of it, that’s why I ask,” I say, a little embarrassed to be the stereotypical older one in the dynamic that needs more time to adjust. I don’t actually need more time, not anymore.
“That’s because it’s you,” he says so simply, those four words buoyant with truth and happiness.
“It’s so weird. Before I met you, I never thought about wanting anyone but Juniper. But then, I don’t know, I started to become so attracted to you. And it freaked me out at first. So I ignored it.”
“If Juniper hadn’t come to the house that night, would we have made it here on our own?” he asks, finishing the knot at his throat.
“I don’t know, but I’m glad we’re here now,” I say.
“Me too. And hey, I ignored it, too. I always thought you and her would get together, so I ignored how I felt about both of you.”
I smile. “I thought the same thing.”
“I guess we’re both dummies,” he says, his eyes burning with desire.
My stomach tightens. “We should talk about something.” I lick my lips, trying not to look at his, trying not to get lost in a private moment between us before we commit to the woman we love. “We need to talk about what happens down the road if someone finds out what Juniper’s done. What we’ve done.”
“I’ve thought about that,” Dash says, “and I’ve reached a conclusion.”
“Alone?” I offer, not doubting where he’s landed on the topic but surprised he doesn't want to discuss it.
He nods. “I’ve decided we live in bliss and not worry a damn bit.”
The man I was just a year ago would’ve hated that response. But the man I am today, the one who is committing to two people forever, he’s happy. And he’s willing to compromise. I shove my hands in my pockets. “You know what? That sounds good to me.”
Another thing I thought could feel strange was standing in front of Juniper’s family, Keanu, and my brother, holding hands with both Juniper and Dash. Having all that focus on us—I thought I’d not be able to enjoy our ceremony because of it.
But once I was up there, hand in hand with the people who support and love me the most, seeing our loved ones watching felt like completing a circle, putting the last piece of the puzzle in. I wasn’t embarrassed or nervous. I was and am proud.
Juniper cried. Dash held his chin high, and I just watched them both, in utter awe of who I get to call mine for the rest of my life.
We ate Goode’s barbecued chicken, a green salad with all the toppings, fresh grilled corn, potato salad, baked beans, butter rolls, peach pie, peach cobbler and I don’t even know what else. We drank, we ate, we laughed, we clinked our glasses together with tears stinging our eyes, laughter of love surrounding us, keeping us in a bubble of perfection all afternoon long.
When Dolly and Hudson peeled off to put the kids to bed, Ev and Deuce did the same. Now I’m standing with Ivy and Trace, saying our goodbyes. Juniper hugs and kisses her sister, thanking her again for helping with today. Trace shakes my hand and Dash’s too, and then it’s just the three of us.
“What a risk you guys took, hmm? Assuming I was ready to commit. What if I wasn’t?” Juniper teases, poking both Dash and me in the belly.
“The unprotected sex was kind of my biggest indicator that you wouldn’t say no to committing,” I tease back. It’s then that I realize that being with Juni and Dash has made me confident, something I never was before. “I knew that you wanted us. I knew that you loved Dash and I knew that you loved me. You gave me that. Both of you gave me that peace of mind, that assurance. Confidence. You gave me the confidence to do what we did today,” I tell them both.
Juniper smiles but instead of meeting the tender moment accordingly, she reaches out, cupping each of us by the dick. “That’s so sweet, baby, and I want to hear all about your growth. But right now, I want to fuck on my wedding night.” She dances her eyebrows as she nods her head toward the barn. We came back up the hill from the creek to walk everyone to their vehicles, and have been talking and romanticizing life under the oak tree since. “I have a very special batch of jam waiting in the barn. It’s our wedding night jam.” She bites her bottom lip seductively before adding, “We’re going to be making love for two days straight.”
Dash salutes her. “Go get it, babe. I’m going to get naked.”
She giggles, and I smirk but get to work on my tie.
Dash gets stuck on taking his tie off, so I step behind him helping. He curses, threatens to take scissors to it, and eventually says to just leave it on, that it could be sexy. While I don’t disagree that a naked Dash wearing a tie would be hot, I manage to loosen it and am opening the knot completely, when Juniper screams.
Dash doesn’t bother sharing a glance with me and I don’t say a single word. In a heartbeat, we both take off toward the barn, where the door is pulled closed.
Dash shoves it open, out of breath, and we stop in our tracks two feet inside.
A tall, thin man stands in front of Juniper, a knife pulled, pointing to her in silent warning. Her hands are up in self-defense, and her big green eyes slide to us, full of panic and rimmed with fear.
Dash continues edging forward, his own hands up to show they are empty and he means no harm. I follow his lead, and edge closer to the scene as the man directs the end of the knife toward us. He volleys it between Juniper and the two of us, his jaw clenched, eyes dark.
“Whoa,” Dash says finally, breaking the spell. “What’s going on here? Who are you?”
I stare at the man as he and Dash speak, trying to place him, but I’m coming up blank. I know just about everyone in Bluebell. I pick up at each of their homes. A few faces I haven’t seen, I’m sure, but everyone else, I’m aware of.
Yet I have no clue who this man is.
At her feet are cases of jam, all sizes, all varieties. I can see she got a case open, the jar she was going to bring inside sitting by itself near her bare feet.
“Who are you?” Dash tries again.
“Who am I?” the man scoffs. “I’m Howard Cox’s brother.”
Howard Cox. The name bounces around in my brain until it falls comfortably in place.
“Number six. Two years and eleven months ago,” Juniper murmurs.
Howard’s brother’s eyes pinch at her response. He doesn't lunge or move, but keeps the knife pointed in her direction. “He came to the farmers market every week. And after he died, I had to clean out his house. Everything was normal except a smear of jam on the counter. My brother hated jam. Absolutely hated it. Hated how it got your hand all sticky if it got too high up on the knife. Hated the sweetness. He wasn’t a man who liked sweets. So imagine my surprise to learn he was eating jam the night he died.”
Little does this asshole know that his brother wasn’t eating it but using it on sex toys.
Juniper glances down at the jar of jam at her feet as I cautiously and very slowly slide my feet one by one, moving closer as inconspicuously as I can. I notice Dash doing the same.
“His autopsy came back. Said he was full of drugs. Fentanyl, to name one.” He narrows his gaze, emotion taking over as he waves the knife toward Juniper. “He was a drunk, but he didn’t do drugs. A boozehound, but by God, he never touched drugs. But now my brother is dead and all I know is he died consuming two things he didn’t touch. Jam and drugs.” He steps closer to her and Dash steps closer to him.
“I started to think, maybe that jam had drugs in it. Then I started to think, but who would put drugs in jam? Because that’s kinda fucking crazy.” He taps the side of his head with the tip of the knife. “Looked up all the vendors at the farmers market. Imagine my surprise to find out that Juniper Ellington has a jam stand, and sells the exact flavor that was smeared along my brother’s kitchen countertop. So I started calling your place, trying to figure out who all lived with you, who all may be involved.”
Carefully, I reach down to collect the massive jar of jam from the ground.
Juniper’s bottom lip trembles. “Howard was a bad, bad man. And if I could do it over again,” she says, her nostrils expanding with each painful truth, “I would.”
I raise the jar in the air as Dash garners Howard’s brother's attention by edging closer.
“I’m sorry I have to do this today of all days,” I say, making my move. Dash lunges back, taking the man’s focus, giving me room to move in another two steps, fast. With the jar in the air, I bring it down over his head once, the loud knock of glass against skull a noise I’ll never forget. He blinks, and I do it again, and again, and I hit him in the head with the solid jar until it shatters, until he’s lying in a pool of preserves and blood, sweat beading on my upper lip.
When the man stops twitching on the ground, Dash calmly turns and pulls the barn doors closed, slipping a piece of wood through the handles so no one can open them from the outside.
“He was a loose end,” Juniper says, matter-of-fact.
“It was necessary,” Dash adds, returning to my side.
Juniper pushes down the straps of her white dress, and lets it pool at her feet. In a white lace thong and nothing else, she pads across the barn, pulling down one of Dolly’s biggest painting tarps.
“We’ll roll him up now and chip him tomorrow?” she says, fanning out the tarp as Dash takes the other side, helping her.
If this man wasn’t a threat to my family, he would still be here, and I suppose that is why I have no remorse. He was onto Juni, and we can’t have that.
The three of us roll the man in the tarp, and tuck him underneath the tractor’s counterweight. Standing over the body, Juniper reaches for my face, and pulls me in for a deep, tender kiss. She does the same to Dash and waits as he and I share our own kiss.
“This is the weirdest wedding kiss,” I say, chuckling. “But it’s… us.”
“Yeah,” Dash grins. “We’re… unique.”
Juniper takes our hands as she steps on Howard’s brother’s wrapped-up body, gaining a few inches so we’re all nearly eye to eye. “It’s the three of us until the end. We’re devoted.”
Her words echo through me. We’re devoted to one another. She’s so right and that’s all I’ve ever wanted. “Devoted,” I repeat.
“Eternally devoted,” Dash adds.
Eternally devoted. That is the best way to describe us.
The End