35. Epilogue Their Little Rockstar
Epilogue: Their Little Rockstar
~ASTRAEA~
“ I ’m going to die!”
Okay. I’m being dramatic.
“I’m literally on the last tidbits, and you’re whining like a bitch,” Nathaníel complains, giving me a stern look while I pout in return.
“You’re supposed to be nice to me! Icarus said if you’re an asshole while I’m recovering, he’s going to break your cock!”
Nathaníel rolls his eyes.
“He, of all people, knows how detrimental that would be to OUR sex life, so how about no.”
“Our sex life?” I gasp. “You’re the one who said I can’t fuck for a week, thanks to this tattoo!”
“Ugh, just improvise or something,” he dismisses me. “This was YOUR idea!”
“REBUKE IT!” I scream back.
“I swear you’re going to make her blood pressure go up, then we’re all fucked,” Kenji groans as he spins the stool he clearly stole. “Even I’m not stupid enough to be caught by Malcom, tattooing his patient.”
“I have to agree,” Kai confesses as he’s casually standing against the wall, observing this madness. “I’m bold, but I ain’t that bold.”
“Fuck off,” Nathaníel huffs, watching as the two of them smirk while the door slides open.
We tense up, all of us looking to see if the very doctor we were talking shit about is entering, but we sigh in unified relief when our eyes fall on Icarus.
With trays of food.
“Food!” I declare in glee.
“Jesus, Rebel. Stay still!” Nathaníel grunts and forces my arm to remain put.
“Ow!” I whine and look at Icarus with puppy eyes. “Icarus… Nathaníel’s hurting me.”
“Bullshit!” Nathaníel argues, while Kenji and Kai are fighting not to burst into laughter.
“You’re gonna get the whole nursing station here if you guys keep being loud,” Icarus scolds. “I had to pay each of them and promise we give them autograph CDs so they wouldn’t tell on us.”
“Aww. You’re a cunning manipulator. Good for you,” Nathaníel grumbles.
“Get your grumpy head out of your ass,” Icarus huffs as he walks over to lower the towers of food onto the wheeled table. “Shit, you’re actually done.”
“I told you I only need three hours to create what she wanted,” Nathaníel points out. “Did it in two and a half. New record.”
“Let’s see?” Kenji wheels himself over and whistles. “Well, shit. You’re actually good.”
“He literally tattooed for a living, Kenji,” Kai mocks. “Of course, he’s good.”
“I know, I know. It just didn’t register in my brain that he actually has talent.”
“I’m taken aback at the fact you had no hope in me,” Nathaníel grumbles. “I swear I got a higher grade in art than all of you motherfuckers.”
“Except for that mushroom project,” Kenji brings up and looks my way. “Tell this guy to draw you a mushroom. He’ll fail.”
“Don’t upset me,” Nathaníel mutters. “I’m already in a bad mood.”
I giggle and look sympathetically Kenji’s way.
“At least wait for him to finish my tattoo before upsetting him.”
“Fine, fine,” he hums before standing. “I’m gonna go for a quick smoke with Kai.”
I give him an arched eyebrow, but he looks sympathetically at me.
“I know, I know. I promise I’m cutting it off.”
Deciding to let it go, I sigh and smile.
“Be good.” I look over to Kai. “Especially you.”
“Why are you making it seem like I’m the bad influence?”
“Because you are,” Icarus complains. “Trying to have a threesome with our Omega when we’re not around.”
The reminder makes me blush while Kai shrugs, not looking the least bit guilty.
“I was horny. He was horny. Our Sweet Omega was recovering from her forced Heat. I was simply doing my duty as an Alpha,” Kai states, as if he’s solving a mathematical problem.
“You sound like a robot,” Kenji laughs. “But I’m on his side.”
“You two are horrible,” I tease.
Icarus just rolls his eyes. “C’mon. I’ll come with you guys. I gotta see if I can blackmail someone’s dad and his pack from not sleeping in the lobby of the hospital.”
“Oh God,” I groan. “W-W-What?! But it’s been like a week?! They’re going to get banned!”
“Can’t ban a bunch of billionaires who contribute 75% to the hospital funding and financial stability,” Nathaníel notes. “I think they’re just trying to be dramatic, so they’ll change the visitor policy to include family and not just packs when it comes to Omegas hospital stay.”
“I guess that’s a good way of doing it,” I admit. “Please tell them to go home and rest. They’re already dealing with enough from the press airing out the whole divorce battle.”
“That your mom is going to lose, seeing as she’s going to jail,” Nathaníel mumbles.
I give him a look, but he’s back to finishing up the tattoo.
All of us know why he’s in a bad mood, which is why we can’t pester him about it.
“We’ll be back,” Icarus notes, encouraging Kai and Kenji to leave before he lingers to give me a look.
“I’ll talk to him,” I mouth to Icarus, watching how he briefly lowers his eyes to Nathaníel. I can see his sadness, but he tries to hide it as he returns his gaze to me and nods.
“Be good. Love you.”
I smile and nod in return before mouthing, “Love you, too.”
We’ve been saying that a lot to one another this week.
With everything that transpired, we want to emphasize how much we care for one another.
Once they leave, we sit in silence until Nathaníel sighs.
“Done.”
“Really?” I whisper and lift my arm to admire the beautiful music clef design he’s created on a good chunk of my arm. There’s absolutely no way I’m gonna hide this from Dr. Malcom, but I’m sure once he’s back with Velvet and Knox, it won’t matter.
What’s done is done.
“I want one more,” I declared.
“Rebel,” Nathaníel groans. “We can’t do another one. I’m not risking putting your body into shock when you’re adapting to the new patch.”
“Not today,” I assure him. Truthfully, I don’t think I can handle a second one straight away. It’s painful as fuck, and I only lasted this long because Nathaníel felt sympathy for me and applied numbing cream.
They said if you don’t endure the pain, you didn’t earn your tattoo, but fuck it. I’ll be a wimp any day of the week as long as I don’t need to go through that torture again without some good numbing cream and spray combo.
“Later.”
He gives me a look, his tired eyes meeting mine and softening.
Later… as in after the funeral.
Nathaniel Morelli is… dead.
That’s what the headlines across the nation have been portraying on the front page.
Died as a hero, protecting Blair Vesper after a kidnapping attempt.
I still haven’t wrapped my head around it all.
On what transpired when I was in a daze, thanks to my triggered Heat. All I remember was his face as he cried.
God… he looked so fucking heartbroken.
I could see the lines of regret, and it made me realize I was too hard on him. I didn’t want to see that he was crying out for help. That he wanted to be seen, just like the other members of his pack.
Yet, he called me something I’d never forget, and then… he saved me from being gang raped by a bunch of Alphas who wanted payback.
My dad, his pack, and Kai’s family of elite members surrounded and took down the place where I was being kept hostage within three solid minutes.
Apparently, it was faster than what the CIA, FBI, or even S.W.A.T. could have managed. Either way, I somehow came out alive and rushed to the hospital in a forced coma so they could force me out of Heat and get my hormones back into the swing of things.
I’d overheard Malcom mentioning that the guys could have appeased me and worked through the Heat without putting me in a coma, but all four refused.
They wanted the experience to be delightful. A memorable one that was filled with happiness and pleasure. Not forced because of the circumstances we were in.
I’d be lying if I said that didn’t mean the world to me.
That they cared so much to make my experience with them as a pack special that they rather put me in a coma than taint that moment because these fuckers wanted to make me beg for their relief.
I really appreciated their agreement, and now, I was awake, recovering, and getting an illegal tattoo drilled on me by my Alpha tattoo artist.
What a way to bond and heal, right?
“What do you want for the next tattoo?” Nathaníel mutters as he briefly lowers his ink gun. “Music notes? A punching bag? Motorcycle helmet? Or a crown with Rebel written in it.”
I give him a look when he meets my gaze, but my eyes soften while I allow myself to smile slightly.
“Little rockstar,” I whisper, and I see it dawn on him what those words mean.
He tries to smile in return, but it only makes his eyes water before he’s looking down.
“I guess that’s what he would have called you, huh?” he hums. “Little fucking rockstar.”
“He’d add the fucking 90% of the time,” I assure him, trying not to allow my voice to crack as I tear up. “But that 10% would peek out once in a while. When he wasn’t a douche.”
“Isn’t that the truth,” he chuckles, but the sound isn’t happy. It’s heart-wrenching as he lets his tears fall.
“Nathaníel.”
“Didn’t get to tell him,” he whispers. “That… I forgave him.”
I want to say he knows, but truthfully, none of us knows if Nate realized he’d been forgiven. That he’d been loved. Despite all the wrong, we all agreed he still deserved a chance at life.
He didn’t need to suffer alone.
Didn’t need to be cooped up in a hospital bed, getting chemo without an ounce of support.
We were only a call away…
Yet, we have to live and hope he found solace wherever he is.
I reach out with my free arm so I can wipe away the tear that escapes and rolls down his left cheek.
“All we can do now is live and keep his memory strong with our words,” I whisper. “He’d like that.”
“He would,” Nathaníel agrees, as more tears fall. “I’m glad he saved you.”
I smile in agreement as I let my tears fall, bobbing my head.
“Me, too.”
We press our foreheads together, letting our tears fall as we mourn the one we never expected would be a savior in our eyes.
Thank you, Nate. Your sacrifice… it’ll never be forgotten.
I already know the next song I’ll create… with every intention of singing as a duet, with his older brother, his best friends, and his fans holding candles up as we sing to the vast starry sky.
Their Little Rockstar.
FIN.
As one chapter closes, another opens.