Epilogue
BOOKER
“At least it’s not rock climbing,” Miles said.
“Is this better than rock climbing?” I asked, raising a brow at him.
“Well…” He pursed his lips as he looked at the plane in front of us on the tarmac. “We don’t have to go through with it. Evie will understand.”
That, I doubted. I didn’t think she’d force me to jump out of a plane, but I was still proving myself good enough for her big brother. Which was good and right. I was glad someone was looking out for Miles.
I might have wished for some other way to prove myself, but I’d learned by now that Evie didn’t do things by halves.
“Miles!” an unfamiliar voice said behind us.
Before I could turn, Miles had been swept up in a bear hug by a man closer to his age and bigger than me, both of them laughing.
“Book, this is—”
“Joel,” I finished for him, offering my hand when he set Miles down. It couldn’t have been anyone else.
“Got it in one!” Joel said, taking my hand with a firm grip and not even trying to hide the way he was looking me over.
Another man, as big as he was and completely grey, sauntered up behind him. They were both dressed for the occasion.
Evie’s wedding.
The other bride—Zariah—was a wonderful woman, and the two of them were thick as thieves. Miles approved highly of her, not least of all because she’d read all his favorite books and they’d formed their own little private book club. That was good enough for me.
“You know, I knew from pictures that you were smoking hot, but it hits completely different in person,” Joel said.
The other man with him—Dan, obviously, his boyfriend-slash-sugar daddy—raised a brow, but his lips twitched. He leaned in and whispered something in Joel’s ear that made a blush rise up to the tips of his ears, turning them crimson.
I liked him already.
“You’ve got your own,” Miles objected, laughter in his voice. Affection for Joel radiated off him in a way I’d never quite seen before, the comfortable way it did between old friends.
He’d always told me Joel was more Evie’s friend than his, but given the way Joel beamed at him, the same affection coming off him in palpable waves, I didn’t think that was true. Maybe once, but not anymore.
I loved being around people who loved Miles. It was always nice to spend time with kindred spirits.
“I’m willing to share if you are.” Joel winked at me. Miles shoved his shoulder, and the two of them tussled for a moment—before being interrupted.
“Hey, I don’t want either of you bruised in the photos,” Evie called out, flicking Joel’s ear as she skipped up beside him. He yelped and covered it, laughing as he backed away a step from Miles, who was grinning from ear to ear.
I still remembered what he’d said, once, about turning into his real self. At the time, he’d definitely changed a lot, but he hadn’t been done. He was still growing, still blooming. It felt like a new pair of leaves grew on him every week.
I’d always thought he was beautiful, but I’d had no idea how beautiful he could be. Whenever his attention was on me, I felt like the luckiest man in the world.
Like right now.
“I’m not sure skydiving was the ideal choice if you’re worried about bruises,” Joel pointed out.
Evie raised a brow. “Can’t hack it, big guy?”
Joel scoffed, folding his arms over his chest. Dan clapped him on the shoulder, warm and affectionate. I could tell already that, despite what someone might think at first given their twenty-odd year age gap, they were the real thing.
I hoped that was what Miles and I looked like. I thought it probably was. Seth never had stopped giving me hell about the way I looked at him.
If I was doing things right, he never would.
“He’ll be fine once he’s up there,” Dan said. “I’ve done this a dozen times and I’m fine.”
That took me by surprise, but it probably shouldn’t have. I’d heard from Miles that Dan was kind of a daredevil. He and Joel had met in a rock climbing gym.
“Easy for you to say,” Joel shot back. “If you die, you’re losing thirty years, tops. I’ve got at least sixty to go.”
Dan rolled his eyes, curling both hands over Joel’s shoulders and whispering in his ear again. The blush this time, if anything, was even more intense.
“Come on,” Evie shoved Joel’s arm. “Zariah’s already in the plane. You’re gonna make me late to my own wedding.”
“You were always going to be late for your own wedding,” Joel said, but he followed her as she started marching toward the plane, maybe two hundred yards from where we’d congregated.
Miles and I fell in at the back. I knew he wouldn’t back out of this. If anyone had asked, he would have said he couldn’t bring himself to disappoint his baby sister for anything.
Really, though, he was a lot braver than he gave himself credit for. I knew he was secretly excited to do this, even if he pretended otherwise.
I was personally terrified, but I couldn’t let Miles down.
“You sure you’re okay with this?” Miles asked as we walked over.
I laughed. “No, but I’m gonna do it anyway. Take care of the bar for me if the worst happens.”
“People don’t die skydiving,” Miles asked. “Like, the number of deaths is so small that statistically speaking it just doesn’t happen.”
“You looked it up?” I asked, although it wasn’t really a question. Of course he’d looked it up.
“There was a study from the Netherlands,” Miles said. “Twenty-six deaths over two million jumps. So actually, you’re slightly less likely to die skydiving than doing almost anything else.”
“Huh,” I said. That was comforting. “How about that.”
Miles’s lips curved into one of the smiles he reserved just for me, the warm, safe ones I loved to earn. He reached out between us and slipped his fingers into my hand.
He’d said he was jealous, once, of how comfortable I was in my own skin. But I was never more comfortable than when I was in contact with his. I hadn’t realized that was missing from my life until I had it.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ve already decided on a ceremony in the bar.”
The entire concept of skydiving, planes, diving, and even possibly the sky vanished from my mind. I nearly stumbled, catching myself at the last moment.
“We’re getting married?” I asked. This was the first I’d heard of it.
Miles shrugged. “If we survive this.”
“Which, statistically, we’re more likely to do than almost any other activity?”
Miles broke into another grin. “Yep.”
Yep. Simple as that.
I laughed, squeezing his hand. I didn’t need to jump out of a plane.
I was already flying.