Epilogue
“So, as you guys are already living together, what’s the next step?” Boyd McKenna stated with a cheeky smirk. Jaxon and I exchanged ‘here we go’ glances as Mr Windup dropped into a rattan chair opposite and cracked his knuckles. He wore black swim shorts and his chest was bare. You could admire his physique, but his personality was sorely lacking. Boyd was all about sex and fighting and being crude. I was used to him now though, and considered him a friend. Better the devil and all that.
“Wedding bells?” he suggested, those words cutting into my thoughts
I adjusted the top of my pink bikini and shuffled back against Jax; he was sitting up on the sun lounger and I was positioned between his legs. We were relaxing by the pool, drinking with our friends and for once, I felt totally unfazed by Boyd’s needling tone. Shit stirring was one of his superpowers and sexual innuendos were a major part of his repertoire. Boyd was a player and slept around, he didn’t do happy-ever-afters and gave conventional relationships the middle finger.
Boyd retrieved the bottle of beer he had been drinking earlier before he’d left ‘to take a piss’ as he had so eloquently explained. He cradled it against his chest, shuffling his big legs to get comfortable. He was a good-looking sod with a loud existence and apologised for nothing; a born take me as you find me, lout.
I relaxed my head back against Jax’s hard chest. Our legs were intertwined, and I ran my toe across the top of one of his feet, totally at ease with where our relationship was going. At Boyd’s wedding bells comment, the old me would have felt like she had broken glass at the back of her throat by now. Most commitment-shy men would run a mile from the subject of marriage but Jax didn’t even flinch .
“Well? Come on, honest woman and all that shit?” Boyd prompted with a wicked look. I watched him through the lenses of my sunglasses, a smile tugging my lips. The most annoying McKenna leaned back in his seat and crossed his ankles whilst taking a swig of beer. He then belched loudly without apology. Typical.
I lifted my head and glanced at Jax over my shoulder, “I’ll let you answer that one,” I announced with my grin intact. He lowered his head and kissed me on the nose. The loving gesture sent a whoosh of pleasure through me. We were unshakable together.
“With pleasure,” he whispered down at me. “Rest assured Boyd, when the time comes, you’ll be the first to know about it. You won’t get an invite though.” I felt a buzz of excitement at my boyfriend's reply, as even though we were miles away from those discussions, it proved he wasn’t a commitment-phobe.
“What are we talking about?” my cousin, Amy put in as she sauntered towards us and handed me a beer. I pushed myself forward on the sunbed and Jax lowered his legs to the floor, one on each side so we could both sit up. I shuffled to the end of the lounger and sat sideways, crossing my legs as I thanked Amy for the beer. She looked stunning in a tiny silver bikini, her chocolate brown hair in a messy knot on the top of her head. Her body was damp from her swim.
My cousin sat on a towel she had spread out earlier; a large fluffy striped beach towel. Amy’s boyfriend Mason and Jenna’s husband Nixon were over by the pool bar talking about cattle. Boring as shit. It was amusing, watching Mason from behind my sunglasses, as Amy pulled her lithe body from the water, he’d watched her like she was his next meal. From what she’d told me, they had a very adventurous sex life. Nothing was out of bounds.
Jax stretched his arms over his head and rolled his shoulders before retrieving his drink from the table by our sunbed .
“Well? Spill it?” Amy huffed, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand. Jenna had gone to the pool house to change her daughter, Tabitha. After all their squabbling about a name, Nixon had finally relented and gone with the name his ex-nemesis Amy had suggested, Tabitha. She was beautiful and it suited her.
“Oy, share the wealth,” Amy prompted with a snort.
“Boyd here is up to his usual tricks; being a prick to mask his jealousy,” Jax drawled.
Said prick blew out a breath. “Blow me motherfucker. What have I got to be jealous about?” Boyd volleyed back, unperturbed.
“I don’t know, maybe by the fact that all your friends and brothers are in relationships whilst you’re still a single tosser. Fuck me, even Seth has a girlfriend now, doesn’t he?”
Boyd shifted in his seat, another one of Jax’s specialities was turning the tables. Amy and I grinned at each other and I pushed my sunglasses up onto my head. Seth was the youngest McKenna brother and had recently started seeing an older woman.
Placing my hand on Jax’s leg, I teased my fingers up and down, loving the way his skin felt in the heat of the sun. A thrill of pleasure pumped through me.
Boyd’s mouth twitched. “Girlfriend? Fuck me. She looks about forty; talk about a cougar. Why he wants to date someone that old is beyond me,” he snorted.
“Isn’t she the same age as Nixon?” I questioned with a frown.
“Yep. That’s my point. Fucking ancient .”
Everyone smirked as Nixon belted from the bar area, “I heard that, you cheeky little fucker.” His comeback unfortunately encouraged a scolding from his wife, Jenna, who was just on her way back from the pool house.
“Nixon, no bad language around the baby,” she chided, bouncing Tabitha in her arms as she walked past. Hopefully, her little bundle smelled less savoury than she did ten minutes prior .
Nixon’s eyes latched onto her tiny frame which was still perfect considering she’d given birth. She wore a one-piece swimsuit; stating that she felt uncomfortable in a bikini when we all knew it was because her husband didn’t like her showing too much flesh. He was extremely possessive and controlling when she allowed him to be, of course. He didn’t completely wear the trousers as he worshipped the ground she walked on and would do anything for her. “Apologies my love,” Nixon replied fondly, eyeing his family with an expression of sheer contentment as she sashayed past him, joining her sister on her towel.
Boyd snorted rudely at his brother’s endearment. “Yeah, because that’s what I’m jealous of, being under the thumb. You’re all pussy whipped.” He then placed his bottle on the ground and held out his arms saying, “Come and give Uncle Boyd a love.”
Jenna’s nose scrunched up. “I’m not sure I want you holding your niece when you label women that way.”
“Ah, come on. She knows she wasn’t included in that statement. Tabby’s smile would knock any guy to his knees,” he stated, staring at her adoringly.
Jenna rolled her eyes and moved forward, handing Tabitha (aka Tabby) over to her giant of an uncle. The baby gurgled; her chubby cheeks puffed out as she smiled up at Boyd. I watched in fascination as the large burly man handled the baby like he was a father himself. He bounced her up and down on his knee and cooed down at her with an affectionate look. Who would have thought it? He was genuinely smitten.
“You look good with a baby,” I pointed out and the girls nodded. I heard Jax snort from behind me and shot him a glance. “What? He does,” I added, grinning back at Boyd with a wink.
Jax grunted before moving to sit behind me, wrapping his muscular arms around my waist, manoeuvring us both so we were sitting on the side of the sunbed. I could feel the apex of his thighs at the bottom of my back and I snuggled in. My shoulders were against his firm chest and he rested his hands on my bare legs. We’d been sitting in the sun for most of the day and I was still whiter than white. Jax tanned in minutes, it was so unfair. Jenna was also incredibly pale with long white blonde hair; the others were all golden. Lucky sods.
“I reckon you and I would look good with a baby if you get my meaning?” Boyd suddenly piped up with a cocky wink, I had always been amazed by his overconfidence.
“You wouldn’t look good with my fist in your face. How about you shut the fuck up, and I allow you to leave with all your limbs attached?” Jax replied, resting his chin on my shoulder.
“Easy princess, fucking hell,” Boyd chuckled, placing a gentle kiss on the top of Tabitha’s head before giving her back to her mummy.
It was summer and we were all enjoying the sunshine. We didn’t have many occasions like this due to everyone being so busy and it was nice to share the day. The banter continued to flow.
“What? I can’t help it if your girlfriend keeps giving me the eye. I’m guessing she’s wondering what all the fuss is about.” I knew exactly what Boyd was doing and it wasn’t wise. Jax could get insanely jealous at the flick of a switch, even with his friends. “Well, I can tell you, it’s in my pants and it's much more impressive than Jax’s.”
“Whilst I do enjoy a game of who’s got the biggest dick, I’ll pass I think,” Jax replied as he wrapped his arms around me, making me feel like I was the most precious thing in the world to him. Jax didn’t need to prove himself to anyone and Boyd knew that.
“Fuck me, you give in fast these days. That’s what you get for being a woman’s puppet.”
“Stop being an aggravating dickhead, Boyd,” Amy scolded with an eye roll. “You know it’s only going to end with someone getting punched in the face. ”
“Surely that’s one of Boyd’s specialities,” I snorted.
“What, being a dickhead or getting punched in the face?” Jenna questioned.
“Both,” Amy smirked.
“Bite me, brat. I know when a woman wants it,” he tittered, that boyish grin spreading across his features as he glanced over my shoulder to see Jax’s reaction to his wind-up attempt.
“You’re such a twat,” Amy barked with an eye roll.
He then settled back into his seat, the humour in his eyes reaching across the small space that separated us. “Usually, girls only call me that after I’ve screwed them and booked them a taxi.”
“You’re so gross, Boyd. How do you ever expect to get a girlfriend?” Amy snorted, whilst playing with the baby who sat happily on Jenna’s lap.
His nostrils flared. “Me, take on a girlfriend and deprive the female population of my cock? Surely that would be one of life’s tragedies?”
“Please, no swearing in front of the baby,” Jenna tutted, lifting Tabitha onto her shoulder, and rubbing her back.
“Boyd, enough.” Nixon boomed from the bar.
Boyd held up his hands in mock surrender. “Sorry, Dad.”
Jenna chuckled as she played with her baby. “You’re asking for it today and he isn’t in the best of moods,” she warned with a sly glance towards her husband. He was watching us with narrowed eyes as Mason talked at him from the looks of it.
“So, what else is new? Moody fucker. I thought being a father would have reformed him,” Boyd tutted.
Tabitha was now almost nine months old and so much had happened in such a short space of time.
Leaning back, I allowed the banter to continue without me as I thought about those last few months .
I was now attending college and thoroughly enjoying my journalism course, having now had several of my articles published. The day I got the cheque for my piece on mental health felt amazing; like I had achieved one of my goals. I was also asked to write another piece in connection with the arson case where the Proctor boys had appealed; luckily their appeals had been thrown out, although I had heard they were reattempting to appeal again. Part of me wondered why as they were surely safer in prison; Nixon was still waiting in the shadows for their release. That would not go well, one could only hope time was a healer.
With Jax and me, our parents had come to terms with the fact that we were together. They explained that we were both adults and could make our own decisions. They had also started to relax when Jax and I stayed in the same room together; usually his but I still had my room.
Jax also occasionally stayed at the base which gave me some time to myself. This wasn’t unwelcome bearing in mind my boyfriend was a bed cover hog! The number of times I’d wake up in the night to find half of my body numb from the cold. I soon woke Jax up of course and he always made me warm in one way or another.
We were taking our relationship slow and I was enjoying every minute. My father was history, and my mother and stepfather had contacted the police and their lawyers to reinforce the restraining order. I still found it a painful subject but Daisy and I did speak about Jenson when we needed to offload. We had also both been to counselling sessions that had been offered for free and attended them together, safety in numbers.
After months of badgering, Jax had recently accepted his father’s offer to run one of his local gyms. It was in a remote area which was heavily populated by older people and therefore wasn’t performing as well as his other businesses. Knowing his son was proud and liked a challenge, Marcus said he would sign the business over to Jax if he could successfully make it more profitable within twelve months. His oldest son had accepted and had just completed his notice period with the army. I was glad as the thought of him going abroad to dangerous countries terrified me. I had him now and I couldn’t lose him; he was my rock and I loved him from the bottom of my heart.
Chris was away at medical school and was loving it, only coming home at the weekends. He and Melody were having a long-distance relationship but I wasn’t sure how that was going. I shut Melody down when she mentioned the words phone sex. I mean, come on! Chris was like a real brother to me now.
Amy and Mason were still going strong and we double-dated often; going to the cinema together and various walks in the country. Jax had made me realise that I was more of an outdoor girl than I thought and we had started hiking regularly. We had also booked to go back to Prague. This time with Amy and Mason the following summer and I was really looking forward to it. Christmas in Prague had been beautiful but I was looking forward to seeing the city’s culture in the sunshine.
Jenna was expecting again although you wouldn’t think it looking at her still flat stomach. She was now happily ensconced in her new home which her husband and family had built. It was stunning and gave them the independence and privacy they needed.
Seth was now seeing The Cougar aka Hannah. She was tall and pretty and yes, a little creased around the edges but she was nice enough. She also vaped as if her life depended on it and Boyd… well, Boyd was just Boyd. Still single but putting it about like a rat up a drain pipe so to speak.
As the chatter flowed with the usual amount of ribbing, Nixon and Mason joined their partners and we all sat in a huddle, enjoying the day and each other.
My eyes roamed over the biggest scariest McKenna brother, Nixon. I must admit, he used to scare the shit out of me. The guy walked the earth with a constant unimpressed look on his face. He had been a man that had always dominated everything he touched and yet where his wife was concerned, he was the proverbial pussy cat. At times, his expression suggested he was contemplating some type of massacre. But Jenna and their child had him in the palm of their hands. Whoever would have thought that he could have been tamed, even if only slightly? I remember the stories Amy had told me when they were all just neighbours who hated each other. How things had changed.
And then there was Mason. He must have had the patience of a saint. You’d need that to be with my cousin. Amy was a fricking handful and had always been high maintenance. She used to play pranks on the McKenna family and spent years being the biggest pain in Mason’s arse. I remember always thinking how she needed taking in hand and Mason had done just that. Theirs was a proper enemies-to-lovers story and now she worshipped the ground he walked on, but she still didn’t make it easy for him. He had to work for it, until he decided he’d had enough and then he’d put his foot down and she loved it. As I said, whenever we talked about our relationships, Amy didn’t hold back and openly gave me details about their sex life. Vanilla it wasn’t let me tell you.
Daisy and Marcus suddenly appeared from inside the house carrying a handful of pizza boxes and my tummy rumbled.
“Can anyone join in?” Marcus shouted from the other side of the pool.
“If you come with pizza, absolutely,” Jax replied. We all moved our seats so Daisy could place two camping chairs to join our circle.
Marcus and Jax had very much buried the hatchet now, especially after the way Jax had defended his wife against her abusive ex-husband aka dear old dad. The rift had also been welded after Marcus offered him that chance to provide himself in business. It was nice to see them getting along.
As I sat beside my boyfriend, I thought back to the first time we had met. He’d used the word fuck in his first-ever sentence to me. I remember feeling shocked and rocked out of my comfort zone, not able to digest that he was using that word so soon in our relationship .
The attraction had been instant but I had buried it. I had never been the most forthcoming person on the planet. And to think that he had also felt that pull toward me and how he too had fought it. How could we have been so blind for such a long time; both hijacking our relationship? Denial hadn’t worked that well for either of us.
In the end, those ups and downs only made us stronger, so we had been enemies and then friends before finally coming together. What I had with Jax was well cemented. There was nothing I couldn’t tell him; we had no secrets. We were opposites, but were on a level intellectually and we just clicked together like the pieces of the same jigsaw. Even Molly had come to terms with our relationship. She’d never apologised for the way she had tried to come between us but what can you do? I had moved on. Grudge-baring just wasn’t my thing. She had a boyfriend now and so had something else to focus on thank goodness.
As I sat there with the sun beating down with my favourite people, I felt happy. Everything had worked out for the best. Jax and I were going strong and I hoped that the honeymoon period between us never ended.
It was amazing how one mean boy had gotten under my skin; and buried himself so deep.
I was content, embracing life and looking forward to what it threw at me. My relationship with Jax was honest, open, loving, and respectful. We had our off days as couples do but as we worked through each knot, the bond between us just tightened.My feelings about that one boy I thought I could never have, were intense and deep-seated, wild and most of all, recklessly savage.
THE EN D