Epilogue Sam
EPILOGUE
SAM
Six months later…
“Let’s go,” I yell from the lower bowl.
“There they go,” Desmond blurts, pointing out the guys and waving frantically.
Alex skates to the glass with Kane and Mountain trailing closely behind them.
“Hey, guys,” Desmond says excitedly.
“What’s up, little man?” Kane greets him first and leans over the partition to do the secret handshake they spent the entire summer learning.
Alex reaches out to tousle my brother’s head. “Desy. Lil Bro.”
Desmond grins at that, fanboying right along with everyone else here. Other kids and fans try to get the players’ attention, and they wave, but they keep their focus on Des. I watch, loving the way they’ve taken my brother under their wing.
“Bryden,” Kai, his kid brother, screams at the top of his lungs.
“Ningwizis.” (My son.) Bryden’s mother beams, pointing as he approaches the glass. She claps her hands to her chest, eyes full of love for her son.
Mountain reaches over the partition to fist-bump Desmond and Kai before he pulls his mother into a hug. She cups his face, kissing both cheeks.
“Your dad had to work, and Gookomis needed to rest.” (Your grandmother) “But they are so proud of you.”
“Miigwechiwi’ giin ogiin.” (Thank you, Mother). He places a palm over the back of her hand.
And then he turns to me, and signals for me to come close.
I stand to close the gap, leaning over the partition to get as close as I possibly can to him.
Mountain’s gloved hand hooks around my nape, bringing our mouths only inches from each other.
I watch his mouth as he watches me, and then he smiles and everything around me starts to fade.
Finally, he kisses me; it’s soft and passionate, respectful given his mother is sitting only three feet away.
I melt into him, loving how good he makes me feel.
Here he is, my quiet, stoic goalie, and he’s kissing me for the world to see.
And when he pulls back, I miss the connection.
“I love you,” he says for the first time.
My heart stops, and I read his face, finding nothing but longing and sincerity.
“I love you, too.”
Mountain skates backward, his eyes never leaving mine.
“Let’s go, Bobcats,” I yell from the lower bowl.
If you had told me at the start of this year that I’d be cheering during an NHL game, I would have laughed in your face.
But here I am, standing front and center with everyone.
I’ve grown to love and celebrate my boys in their very first game as professional hockey players.
And they look damn good out there. It’s not surprising they were drafted, especially after leading the Knights to yet another national conference.
It’s amazing seeing them grow; after everything we’ve been through last semester, they deserve it. They had the choice to play somewhere else, to leave all the fucked-up shit we discovered behind, but they stayed for me—they stayed for us. It’s complicated for sure.
Navigating the ins and outs of a polyamorous relationship has had its challenges, but once we got over the initial shock of it all, everything’s fallen into place.
We’re there for one another, helping and guiding along the way.
It feels good to be loved by them, despite the glares and whispers we get from people on campus who managed to put it together that I’m with all of them.
We expected the judgment, but we tune it out because the only thing that matters is that we love each other.
Fuck the world.
Fuck the opinions.
Using that money and the help of an attorney, I was able to fight for custody of my brother and win. Not that the bastard put up much of a fight.
We have our own apartment now, just a few minutes from SKU and the new school Des started this year. He’s made new friends and loves his Black Panther–themed room. Though I’m almost certain he loves being best buds with the Minnesota Bobcats’ newest star players more.
I smile at that thought as I watch them together, my heart full.
None of this would have been possible without Gracie, my sister.
After that bomb she dropped on me, she was able to get me access to the account my mother set up before she died.
Turns out, a few months before she planned to end her own life, she went to Senator Martinez to arrange everything.
While she’d lost her battle, she wanted to make sure Desmond and I were taken care of.
Not wanting Gary to have access to our money, she opened an account in my name, and every payment for the last six years went there, waiting for me to be old enough to touch it.
Gary had taken enough from us; she wasn’t going to let him take that, too.
Apparently, her father and my mother were supposed to end their secret relationship when everything went down with Emily’s death and he got engaged, but they clearly couldn’t stay away from each other, because I was born a year after Gracie.
He’d been aware of me but kept my existence a secret from his family. It would have ruined his life, everything he worked for. But he made sure my mom and I had what we needed by using the Aurelian Ltd. account to financially provide for us. That way, no one would ever find out.
But Gracie did. When she reported Jackson, the chancellor, and Mr. Kincaid, they exposed the information they had on the senator and his affair with my mother, to convince her to drop the charges.
Not wanting to hurt her mother, or destroy the way she saw her father, she chose to keep his secrets and protect him.
So she let it go, suffering the aftermath of what Jackson had done to her in silence, but under one condition.
She had to know me.
She convinced them to accept me into SKU and place me in her dorm. It was her all along. I was pissed at first. She’s spent months pretending not to know me, not to know anything. But it eventually registered that none of this was her fault. Just like it wasn’t Kane’s fault.
Neither of us asked for this, so blaming her for the actions of our parents wasn’t fair.
And now, we’re closer than we ever were before.
And she’s finally starting to reclaim her life.
She took the video I recorded of Jackson’s confession and turned it in to the police.
Because of that, he will finally be charged, and my sister will finally be able to heal.
Not that it will be a linear process, it never is, but she’s well on the way.
Chancellor Williamsburg was arrested but released on bail in connection with the evidence we turned in.
There hasn’t been much development on the matter, but there is an open investigation.
Which means it’s only a matter of time before it blows back on every member of that club who did things to those women beyond their consent.
And luckily, because the payment agreements between the victims and the club were legally binding, and due to the overwhelming amount of proof that shows these women were coerced into silence, they’ve been able to keep receiving funds. At least for now.
Alex kisses his mother’s hand, then holds her tight.
It’s been a challenge for them since this all went down.
Especially since Alex learned that she was aware of the things her husband had done but was too afraid to do anything.
It was years after the collapse of the social club that she learned the full truth, but by then, she’d given him her life and had built a family.
She’ll have to own up to her complacency, but Alex knows the lengths of his father’s manipulation and will always give her grace because of that.
I observe Kane with his mother, admiring the relationship they have.
She seems to be doing better, so much so that we were able to bring her to watch him play his first game.
She’s been smiling the entire time, gushing about how proud she is of him.
I’ve visited her every so often with Kane, and we’ve started to bond.
She’s kind to me and shares happy memories of my mother before their lives were turned upside down.
It’ll be a while before she comes home, but between the four of us, we make sure she has everything she needs.
Kane points at me, whispering that he loves me while Alex winks in my direction.
We stare at one another for a beat, their gazes raking over my frame, love brimming in their eyes.
Heat slicks my skin, and all I can think about is getting them home after this game and having my way with them. They skate off to join their teammates.
“I still haven’t fully wrapped my mind around how lucky you are. They are damn fine,” Evan says, breaking my thought.
When I shared with him that I’d fallen for not one but three hockey players, I expected a lot of questions, but Evan never batted an eye. He’s always been open-minded like that. So long as they made me happy and took care of me, that’s all that mattered to him.
I peer at him, a smile plastered to my face. Then I glance back at each of my boys.
“They are, aren’t they.”
The team huddles together, my three connected at the shoulders. Through it all, their bond is stronger.
And me? I’m just glad we’re no longer on thin ice.