Epilogue
Jade
ONE AND A HALF YEARS LATER
Afternoon sun filtered through the pine trees, casting an amber glow over Zepp’s backyard. It glinted off the metal folding chairs and the rickety gazebo Hendrix, Bellamy, and Wolf had slapped together last minute. It wasn’t fancy, but somehow, it still felt magical.
I had nearly cried when the preacher introduced them as Mr. and Mrs. Zeppelin Hunt.
If ever two people were meant for each other, it was Monroe and Zepp.
They had weathered a storm together, just like Wolf and I had.
If there was one thing I’d learned, it wasn’t the good times that defined you; it was the bad and how you came out of them.
Wolf and I had failed once, but it had made us stronger.
More grateful. More in love. Most importantly, it showed us what it was to live without each other.
Wolf took my arm, gently pulling me out from under the swaying structure.
“That thing’s about to collapse.” He nodded toward Hendrix’s one-year-old, Axel, who was hanging off the poles and gleefully shaking it, like he was trying to bring the whole thing down.
Of course his child was feral. Poor Lola had already had to make him spit out mud three times, and his little suit was covered in it. He was adorable chaos.
Music crackled through the old speakers. Zepp and Monroe stepped under the gazebo and began their first dance. Her white dress trailed behind her, her gaze lovingly fixed on her new husband while he held her waist like he’d never let her go.
The structure shook again, and Wolf sighed before giving me a kiss. “Let me go get Hendrix’s little demon before he ruins this.”
I watched him hoist Axel up by the ankle and dangle him upside down while the kid squealed with unfiltered joy. Pretty sure my ovary twitched, not helped by the fact that Wolf looked way too good in his perfectly tailored suit.
My dad stepped up beside me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “That’ll be you soon.” He nodded toward Zepp twirling Monroe, looking every bit in love as they had two years ago.
“You make that sound like you wouldn’t mind me marrying Wolf.”
“He’s okay. Seems like a decent-enough guy.” That six grand had bought Dad a diagnosis of Whipple’s Disease. With the meds, he’d started to recover pretty fast and had returned to work. But sure, Wolf was okay. Decent enough…
Axel let out another squeal, and Wolf looked at me like he needed help.
“I’ll find you in a bit, Dad.” I kissed his cheek before crossing the freshly mowed lawn. “Having fun?”
“If I could do this to Hendrix, I would…” He jiggled Axel with one hand.
“So, the mini-me gets retribution. I see how it is.”
“Kid’s cute, though,” he added, right before Axel bit Wolf’s arm. “Ow, you little sh—” He stopped himself, inhaled through his nose, then set Axel down.
The child tore off across the yard like a cracked-out chihuahua.
“You were saying…” I asked, fighting a laugh.
“Sugar…plum?” he tried. “I was going to call him a little shit, okay? Point is, I stopped myself.” He rolled up his sleeve, revealing surprisingly deep teeth marks.
“How does he bite that hard? He has four teeth.”
“It’s in his genes.”
“Hendrix bit you?”
“He bit my ass once.”
I blinked. “I’m not even going to ask.” I gave him a once-over. “Although your ass is great.”
“Yeah?” He grabbed my waist and pulled me closer, his lips brushing mine..
I looped my arms around his neck, studying the sharp angles of the face I’d been in love with ever since I knew what love was. “I can’t wait to go to Florida with you.”
Because Wolf had made it into the NFL. Signed by the Dolphins and about to be living his dream.
I couldn’t be more proud of him, more proud to go with him to start my own career at Miami General.
In a few short weeks, we’d be trading in our one-bedroom apartment in Pikestown for palm trees, emerald-green waters, and high-rises.
“I can’t wait, either.” He lifted a dark brow. “As long as you promise, no thong bikinis in public. That—” He smacked my ass—“ is for my eyes only.”
“Except that one time when you let the world see it because you were laughing.”
He wheezed out a laugh. “You looked like that viral video where someone holds a kitten in water.”
“Helpless and innocent? Yeah, I was.”
And he was still laughing.
“Right, that’s it.” I shoved him away a step. “I’m ordering new bikinis. Thong only.”
That shut him up for a second. “And I will burn them.”
“Then you wouldn’t get to see them.”
“I get to see you naked.” He pulled me close again and kissed along my neck. Asshole knew that made my knees weak. “I don’t need a thong.”
“If I can’t wear a bikini,” I said, tugging his lapel, “then you shouldn’t be allowed to wear this suit.”
He nipped my throat. “It’s doing it for you, isn’t it?”
I couldn’t even lie because he could read me like a book. More like a “How to get Jade off” manual.
I loved Monroe, I really did, but in that moment, all I wanted to do was drag Wolf upstairs into Hendrix’s old room and defile the germaphobe ass’s bed. But I was a good friend. So, I behaved.
Hours later, Zepp and Monroe sped off on his bike, cans clanging against the asphalt. We grabbed Squishy from the house, said our goodbyes, and got into Wolf’s brand new, fancy car—compliments of his signing bonus.
“Can’t believe Hendrix only pulled out his dick once,” Wolf said as he drove off. “I think having kids is making him grow up.”
“Think his kid picked up the flag on that.”
Axle had spent half the party buck naked.
“Kids love doing that…”
“Yeah, but damn, he stripped fast.” Poor Lola blinked, and he was in his birthday suit, a trail of clothes behind him.
Wolf stopped at a four-way. He glanced around the familiar, run-down streets of Dayton, an expression I couldn’t decipher on his face. “I think I’m going to miss this place,” he said.
“Yeah,” I said quietly, feeling the same way. “We can always come back, but you might not miss it so much after a few months in Miami.”
“Didn’t say I wanted to live here…” He flicked on his blinker, but instead of turning in the direction of my parents’ house, where we were staying tonight, he turned the opposite direction.
“I know your fancy car basically drives itself, but it missed the turn.”
“It didn’t.”
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.” His sly smile gave him away. He was up to something.
A few minutes later, Squishy scrambled into the backseat as the car hit gravel. We drove up the path that led to The Lookout, parking in front of the metal barricade.
“Wanted to watch the sunset over the shithole one last time.” No idea why he was acting so secretive about that.
Squishy leaped out of the car as soon as Wolf opened the door, barreling into the brush like it was the best day of his life.
We followed him along the overgrown path, the warm breeze rustling the pine needles overhead.
By the time we reached the clearing, the sun was beginning to drop below the horizon.
The golden glow over the city of Dayton had never looked so beautiful.
Maybe because I was finally leaving it behind, I could find a glimmer in the shit we’d endured our entire lives.
Wolf slipped his arms around me from behind, pulling me close. “I never really thought we’d get outta here.”
“I always knew you would.” I turned in his arms, the sunlight catching the specks of gray embedded in his blue eyes.
“Nah, you were always more likely than me. You’re smart.”
“And you’re amazing at throwing a ball. Clearly.”
“I wouldn’t have been able to throw a ball without your tutoring. I couldn’t do shit in life without you.” His hand cupped my cheek. Rough and warm, grounding me. “I don’t want to do life without you.”
“You won’t have to?—”
Leaves crunched when he dropped to one knee beside Squishy. Oh, shit.
“I’m not exactly sure when I fell in love with you, Jade.
Maybe somewhere between that first night you slept in my bed and the first time you kissed me back.
But little by little, I’ve realized I could never live without you.
” He took my hand in his. “Not without your laugh. Your smile. The support you give me… You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved.
The only one I want to love.” He pulled an origami love knot from his jacket pocket and handed it to me. “Open it.”
My hands trembled when I unfolded it. Nestled inside was a beautiful round diamond ring.
“Jade Willow Anderson, do you think you can put up with me for the rest of your life?”
I swallowed around the lump in my throat, tears stinging my eyes. “I guess I could.”
Wolf lifted a brow. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but it’s a yes or no question, Jade.”
“It’s not. You didn’t ask the question.”
“Will you marry me?”
“As if I would say no.” I rolled my eyes. “Yes!”
Wolf Brookes was no saint. He’d been the typical bad boy his entire life, the bad boy who wanted to be good for me.
Who was more than good for me. He gave me a sense of hope and home that no one could ever replace.
As he slipped the ring onto my finger, I knew I was more than ready to start my life with him.
Turns out, not all assholes deserve retribution. Some of them deserve forgiveness. And a forever.