Epilogue
Eight months later
The rain had stopped if only briefly, the clouds breaking way out in the distance, allowing the sunset to make an appearance.
From the window I stared at the lights of the city, taking a sip of the champagne in my hand.
I make out my reflection, the slim black dress that covers my knees, hugging my figure around the waist, silver earrings dangling from my ears, my hair half-up in a fancy style, and a green sash with black lettering that reads “Birthday Baddie”, compliments of Leo.
The music vibrated against the glass, people talking loudly around me.
I looked over as people hollered. Miranda, with her spikey-haired girlfriend named AJ, were taking shots with Leo and some of the gang.
The party was in full swing, and people were getting hammered a lot faster than me which was pretty impressive.
Then again, I decided to pace myself, to keep my head on straight for at least more than half the party, but in reality, I knew by the end of the night it might not matter, I had already promised to do shots with the others before midnight.
“Happy birthday, Lena!” a few members called out as they noticed me. I waved my thanks in return before hiding my face by the window and downing my champagne.
This was all the twins’ doing of course.
To make up for missing my birthday last year—and because it was my 25th—they decided it needed to be turned into a full-on event, with everyone they knew involved, setting up one of the upstair rooms into a VIP lounge just for me while turning the rest of clubhouse into a raging block party.
I might have thought it was too much, but honestly it reminded me of the crazy parties back at State and that gave me comfort.
Still, I had to take a breather because it had also been since college that I garnered this much attention, not counting the kidnapping last summer.
The best way I took a break was hiding by the bar, and it looked like I was in need of another drink. I went to turn around when a pair of arms blocked my way.
“The birthday girl isn’t supposed to be alone in a corner, drinking,” came Leslie’s voice by my ear.
A smile spread on my face. “I was just taking a moment.” I turned in his arms to face him, admiring the black velvet suit with a dark green shirt underneath that he had chosen to wear to match my outfit. “You spying on me?”
“Always.”
I trailed a hand over his suit jacket. “You know how that makes me feel.”
“Hot and bothered?”
“Exactly.”
He grinned before leaning in for a kiss. Maybe I was a little buzzed because I pulled him in, deepening the kiss, my hand drifting lower.
Leslie pulled back. “As ready as I am to take you into another room and fuck you for the…what? The third time? There’s someone here you need to see.”
“Who?”
He took my hand. “Come on.”
I followed him through the crowd. It couldn’t be any of my family or friends outside Gemini that I had a birthday dinner with them a few days ago.
He took me out of the VIP and down the hall to another room not set for the party.
There were two people inside. Dom sat at the table with his laptop, wearing a suit similar to Leslie’s—only his shirt was black instead of green.
He had a scar over his eye but he was as physically healthy as ever, even a little bulkier than months prior.
He fixed me a smile. “Hey, Birthday Baddie,” he signed.
I was ready to make some kind of remark when I noticed the other person in the room standing near a window. I froze as they turned toward me.
“Micheal,” I breathed.
Micheal, wearing a nice suit of his own, placed his hands in his pockets. “Long time, Lena.”
I stared at him like he was a ghost. He looked exactly as I remembered back at the church; only the dark circles under his eyes were more prominent than before. “Yeah, it has.”
Without missing a beat, I closed the distance between us.
We hugged as if we were old friends who hadn’t seen each other in years.
It had been over a year now to be exact since everything happened at the church, but it felt like forever.
As I pulled away, I gaped at him, still stunned to see him standing before me. “Where have you been?”
“Long story,” he said. “Traveling mostly. First to New York, then over to the West.”
“For work?”
“A little bit.” He glanced at the twins. “Research mostly.”
“I’d love to hear about it.”
“I can’t stay long unfortunately."
I could see he was tired. I wondered when was the last time he slept. “I understand. I’m…I’m glad to see you.”
He smiled. “Me too. I admit I didn’t expect to see you again this way. Especially with the twins after everything…”
“Yeah, a lot more has happened since you’ve been gone.”
His smile dropped a little. “I heard.”
I looked over at Leslie who shrugged. “Kind of filled him in.”
Turning back to Micheal, I crossed my arms. “It’s complicated.”
He nodded. “It always is.” He placed a hand on my shoulder. “They are treating you alright though?”
Leslie muttered something, and I smiled. “Yeah. Real well.”
He squeezed my shoulder before dropping his hand. “Good.”
“Will you be back in the city for a while?”
“A little while. I’ll be teaching for a semester come fall at the university downtown.”
“That’s great. I’m working at the coroner’s office not far from there if you ever want to stop by.”
“I’d love to. I’ll be in contact more now that I’m here. If anything comes up and you need help.”
“Thank you.”
“I promised I’d stay for at least one drink so how about we have a toast.”
“I’ll grab drinks,” Leslie said.
We took a seat with Dom as Leslie disappeared. I started to ask Micheeal more about what he was researching and teaching at the university when my phone chimed. I slid it out of the hiding spot in my bra and frowned at an unknown number that was Face-Timing me. I showed the phone to them.
“Wrong number?” Dom signed.
“Maybe. But I never had that happen on a FaceTime. Maybe it’s a friend whose number I lost.”
“I think you should take it,” Micheal said. “Just a hunch.”
As I tapped accept, a black screen came up but I could only hear ruffling in the background.
“Hello?”
The screen moved and I caught a dark room with shelves being filled with books. “Ah, sorry, it’s flipped around, hold on…”
That familiar voice made my heart leap into my throat. The screen glitched for a second, then my best friend’s face came into view.
Eve smiled at me. At first, I didn’t recognize her. Her hair was shorter and darker, and she was far less pale than I remember, less ashen with a glow about her, her eyes bright. “Hey, Lena.”
“Eve…” My voice cracked. “Holy shit.”
She laughed. Seeing her alive and looking so well nearly brought tears to my eyes. “I know it’s been a while,” she said.
“Are you—How are you?”
“I’m good. I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. It’s been…a long journey.”
I wanted to ask her so much. Where had she gone, where was she now, how she was holding up. Instead, I said, “I wanted to email you so much, but I also wanted to give you time. And things got a little crazy.”
“I know. Jamie didn’t exactly tell me everything, he said he didn’t want to trigger a reaction or stress me out, so he didn’t mention in his last email what happened this past summer.
” She shifted in her seat, her eyes glancing away from the screen as she cleared her throat.
“I found out from Micheal once Dom told him. It was more than what Jamie knew anyway.”
I glanced at Micheal and then at Dom. It should have been me that told her first, but I agreed with Jamie, she’d gone through so much, and a part of me wasn’t sure how she’d take it. Now I regretted that it hadn’t been me.
“I should have told you, I’m sorry,” I said aloud. “Things happened and…”
“You don’t have to explain. I’m not mad.”
“But what happened at the church…”
“It’s in the past. I’m…better from it now. I’m glad the twins helped you and your sister.” She pursed her lips as she glanced away again. A shadow moved beside her. “As long as you’re safe and happy.”
“I am.”
Leslie returned with a tray of drinks, setting them on the table. “Alright, let’s do this before Miranda finds us and demands shots.” He froze as he saw the look on my face. “What happened?”
Everyone was quiet for a moment. Then Micheal leaned in, taking one of the glasses. “Eve has called to wish Lena a happy birthday. They are catching up. Why don’t you say hi.”
He glanced at me, and I nodded. He came around behind me to look at the screen.
“Leslie…” Eve said.
“Eve.” He placed a hand on my shoulder. “You look good.”
She smirked, glancing away again. “You think?”
“Yeah. Glowing. Loverboy must be treating you real good, and by real good, I mean—”
The hulking shadow that had moved by Eve now passed around her. A pair of yellow eyes glared in the darkness.
“Ah, there he is.”
“Watch what you say, Leslie, or I might be tempted to make a drive all the way back there just to strangle you.”
“Don’t go flirting with me, I’m taken.”
“So I heard.” The yellow eyes narrowed on me, and my stomach sank, a chill running up my spine.
“Hi, Emery,” I said, a little more clipped than I meant to. This felt so strange and surreal even after more than a year.
“Emery,” Eve scolded. “Come sit.”
He sighed and moved to take a seat beside her, his large hand engulfing her thigh possessively.
Trying to relieve the tension, I said, “Dom and Micheal are here too, see?” I flipped the phone around and they waved.
“One big happy family back together again. How wholesome,” Leslie added.
“Not everyone,” Micheal said. “I didn’t see Andrea.”
“I invited her, but she had to work,” I mentioned. “She gave her best.”
“Great, well since we’re here and who knows when this will ever happen again.” Leslie handed us the drinks before taking his own.
“Oh!” Eve said. “Wait, we have something here too.” She leaned in to Emery. “Downstairs in the kitchen,” she whispered. Emery got up and disappeared. “Sorry, just one moment.”
As we waited, Dom connected my phone to his laptop so everyone could see each other.
“You guys still floating around?” Leslie asked Eve as he took a seat beside me.
Eve shook her head. “We’ve been in our permanent home for a few months now.”
“Does that mean I can come visit?” I asked excitedly.
“I think so, once everything is clear. We’ll have to be discreet…”
“Of course. It’ll be hard to know what to say to Jamie.”
“I know. We’ll have to plan something out.”
The safety of her partner came first. Looking at the twins, I understood that now more than anything.
“Dom and I can always help with that,” Micheal added. “The Severfalls trail and search for Emery went cold some time ago. Still always good to take caution just in case.”
Emery returned not long after with a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses, giving one to Eve before pouring her a glass, then one for himself.
As everyone had their glass, they each lifted them up.
“Happy Birthday, Lena!”
Even if it was my birthday, it also felt like an anniversary. The destruction of Severfalls was more than a year ago. And we’d all survived in some way. Even if my survival wasn’t like theirs—with forgiveness came finality.
“We have a lot to finish here,” Eve said. “But I will contact you soon. Promise.”
“You better,” I said, tapping my glass on the table. “No more waiting a year.”
“Got it.”
“Emery, if you ever wanna cross blades, you know where to find me,” Leslie said, giving him a sly little smirk. “And my crossing blades, I mean—”
I smacked him on the shoulder. “Stop.”
Thankfully from what I could see of Emery, he looked partially amused. “We both know who’d be on top.”
Leslie snorted. “Yeah, right.”
“And Leslie?”
“Yeah?”
“You hurt Lena again and you’ll be wishing I was only in your nightmares.”
Leslie’s eyes darkened. “If I hurt her, I’ll be calling you up myself. But honestly, Dom will get to me first.”
“He’s right,” Dom signed.
“Good.” I caught Emery’s tight smile. “They might forgive you, but I won’t forget.”
“I know.”
“Be grateful I’m hundreds of miles away.”
Eve rubbed Emery’s shoulder to soothe him. They said their goodnight and ended the call. Micheal got up next and said his goodnight as well. “We will keep in touch.”
Once he left, it was just me and the twins.
“That guy thinks he’s such hard shit,” Leslie mumbled. I didn’t ask him which guy he was referring to, but I had a feeling he didn’t mean Micheal. I reached out, taking his hand. “Thank you, both of you, for putting this on.”
“We should probably get back out there.”
“Let’s stay a little bit longer.”
They didn’t object. Dom offered to grab more drinks, needing to stretch his legs. He kissed my head as he walked by and slipped out of the room. Alone with Leslie, I snuck onto his lap, putting my arms around him.
“This was probably the best birthday I ever had.”
“Probably?”
I grinned. “Definatly.”
“That’s right.”
I slid a hand through his hair. “I love you, you know that?” It wasn’t the first time I’d said it, but every time I did, I swear I made him shiver.
“I know.”
“I have one last request for my birthday.”
“What’s that?”
“Take me out tomorrow night to the drive-in.”
His hand squeezed my hip as he grinned at me. “Anything for my girl.”