Epilogue
Fear is my new normal. The only recognized emotion that ebbs and flows inside me at all times.
Luna refuses to see Veda’s therapist, and I”m glad. I don”t want her to go. If she did, they might make her realize how truly fucked up this relationship is. Then she”d leave me.
And that”s what I fear the most now.
But sometimes, when the memories get to be too much for both of us, she joins me in my cell. A place where we can hide from the world and all its cruelties.
We rarely speak, and when we do it”s in whispers so the demons hovering around us won”t hear. We just lay in each other’s arms until they fade away enough for us to rejoin life.And when Luna”s demons overwhelm her, I invite them inside of me to play with mine. I can handle the darkness. I can handle whatever I need to if it will keep her in the light and allow her to smile.
But now she has shadows in her eyes from Gino—similar, if not as layered, as the ones that haunt my own. We”re both damaged, broken in ways that can never be fully healed. But somehow, our jagged pieces fit together to form a whole. And when we”re together, we don”t have to hide the sharp edges.
Her brother, Logan, came back to Austin with us. It took some convincing from his sister, but eventually, he gave in to her. I helped him find a new apartment and get back into school. Luna tells me he”ll be a good nurse, and we can always use someone with medical skills in the family.
He comes to check on his sister quite often, which I don”t mind. I prefer to have someone with her who values her life as much as I do when I can”t be with her. And she prefers it, too, otherwise I would insist she stay in the cell where she”ll be safe until I got back. But she doesn”t like to be alone in the cell.
When I am here, he doesn”t stay very long. But before he leaves, he stares at me with distrust in his eyes, and I know the only thing keeping him from challenging my claim on his sister is the fact that he knows I wouldn”t hesitate to kill him if he tried to come between us.
Luna is a part of me now, as I am of her. The bond between us so deep, so visceral, that I can scarcely imagine existing without her. She”s become the air I breathe, the blood that courses through my veins. And if anyone dared to try to rip us apart, I don”t know that either of us would survive the wound it would leave.
She is mine.
And I am hers.
I shift slightly, careful not to wake her. It”s late, and we”re in my bed. She”s sprawled across my scarred body, the way she prefers to fall asleep. It”s still hard for me to be still when she”s touching so much of me, and yet I crave the feel of her skin on mine more than anything else in the world. But I don”t like her so exposed, and I roll to the side, tucking her beneath me. She slides her arm around my waist and her leg between mine and she buries her face into my scarred skin, sighing contentedly.
Something swells inside my chest until I fear I won”t be able to breathe, and for a moment, I just hold her.
Unable to help myself, I press a kiss to Luna”s temple and she stirs slightly, mumbling something in her sleep. I tighten my arms around her, silently vowing to protect her from anything and everything that might try to take her from me or hurt her in any way.
In this life, in this world, that”s the closest thing to love I can offer. And for now, it will have to be enough.
The darkness from my past never leaves me. It”s what I am. And it”s always there, lurking in the shadowed corners of my mind, waiting to pull me back. But I have a light in my life now. One that burns so bright it keeps the shadows at bay.
Well, most of the time.
Luna”s peaceful in sleep. But sometimes, like now, I wonder how she can stand to be near me. Why she allows me to touch her. She knows the things I”ve done, the blood on my hands. And yet, she”s here. In my arms. In my bed. Trusting me to keep her safe from the most dangerous thing that goes bump in the night.
Me.
I trace the delicate curve of her cheek with my fingertips, memorizing every detail. She”s so perfect to me, sometimes it”s hard for me to look at her. And I know that with time, she”ll only become more so. It doesn”t surprise me that she made such a good living dancing.
Something possessive and ugly tightens inside my stomach when I remember watching her on the stage. The way the men in the audience would stare at her with lust in their eyes. When I found her in that club, it was all I could do not to put a bullet into the backs of their heads. But I knew if I did that, the police would be called and I wouldn”t be here now, holding this woman in my arms. So I managed to refrain. Barely.
I bury my nose in Luna”s silky hair, breathing in her scent to remind myself she was here with me now, and she wouldn”t be going back to those clubs. She always wears the perfume I picked out for her, and hints of ethereal florals and warm musk mingle with her own natural scent. It fills my lungs, seeping into every cell of my body until I”m drowning in her essence. That unfamiliar sensation expands within my chest once more, pressing against my ribcage.
Is this foreign feeling what others describe as love? The word feels strange, even in my own mind. I”ve never known such an emotion before, yet with Luna, it”s the only explanation that fits.
I would give my life for her, and that, too, terrifies me.
Because love is a weakness. It”s something that can be used against you. Something that can destroy you from the inside out. But it also feels like something that might heal the broken parts of me…
Someday.
She stirs in my arms, her eyelids fluttering open as she tilts up her chin and those beautiful cobalt blue eyes find mine.
A sleepy smile curves her lips. ”Hey,” she whispers, her voice husky with sleep.
”I didn”t mean to wake you, bambolina,” I murmur back, brushing a strand of hair from her face.
She nuzzles into my touch, and my cock reacts instantly. It doesn”t matter that it was just inside of her less than two hours before. I always want her.
”What are you thinking about?” she asks, tracing the line of my jaw with her fingertips, playing with the short hairs of my beard.
I catch her hand in mine and press a kiss to her palm. ”You,” I answer honestly. ”Always you.”
The smile falls from her lips as she stares up at me. My obsession with her hasn”t waned, and she knows as well as I do that what we have isn”t normal. But it”s what we both need.
And for now, in this moment, with her safe in my arms, it”s enough.
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Thankyou so much for reading! Stay tuned for Milo’s story…