Epilogue
EIGHT MONTHS LATER
Sloane
“Happy housewarming!” Emmy throws her arms around me as I open Cole’s – well, our – front door. I give her a warm squeeze as she stands back to assess my face. “You look wonderful, darling.”
“Thanks, Em. Come on inside. Daddy Dom!” I grin, as Luke steps in behind her. He gives me a long-suffering expression that fails to hide his smile, and hands me a bottle of champagne.
“Happy housewarming, Sloane,” he says, leaning down to kiss me on the cheek.
“Thanks, boss,” I reply, gesturing for them both to follow me. “Come make yourselves at home. There’s plenty of food, and Freddie’s making cocktails.”
The sound of Freddie’s laughter, followed by the rattle of the cocktail shaker, echoes from the kitchen. The apartment is buzzing as various friends and colleagues arrive for our big housewarming party.
We officially moved into Cole’s place at the end of last month. We were all spending so much time here as it was that we thought we might as well bite the bullet. Freddie’s still trying to persuade Carol to move into his place in Shad Thames, but so far she’s pretty resolute about staying put.
Cole’s place has slowly morphed into our place. Freddie’s hobbies are scattered around, Cole’s art is actually up on his walls amongst a few of my old pieces, and we’ve finally got round to putting up all the photographs. Even my pot plants have all found homes here.
There’s another knock at the door. I pull it open to find Lotus, who beams at me before handing me a giant bottle of extra virgin olive oil, tied with a bow. I burst out laughing, drawing Cole over, whose face splits into a wide grin when he sees the gift.
“Thank you, Lotus,” he says, as the tips of his ears turn pink.
“You’re welcome, Cole. This place has such beautiful energy,” she muses as she steps into the hum of the party.
She’s not wrong. Everyone we love and care about has come to celebrate our new chapter.
It’s been an amazing few months. Working at Salt has been a dream come true.
Every day, I get to show up and facilitate extraordinary things – from Mount Olympus-themed orgies through to intimate classes where people can learn new skills.
And best of all, it fits beautifully around my psychotherapy training.
Cole’s hand slips into mine as he pulls me into the kitchen, pressing me up against the fridge as he steals a kiss. Even after several months together, we still can’t keep our hands off each other. His hands thread into my hair as he takes control, angling my head as his tongue finds mine.
I whimper into his mouth and he groans just as Freddie steps in behind him and runs his tongue up the side of Cole’s neck. He shivers, breaking our kiss as Freddie nips him on the jaw.
“Feeling needy, pretty boy?” he murmurs, as Freddie catches my eye and grins.
“For you? Always.”
“Good boy.” Cole twists in my arms, hand coming up to grip Freddie’s jaw as he gives him a plundering kiss.
“Get a room,” comes a voice from behind us, and we break apart with a giggle. Emmy grabs a bottle from the side and grins at me.
“We had a room, thanks,” I reply, blowing the boys a kiss as I follow her into the living room.
“Never thought I’d see the day when you were just as loved-up as me,” she says, as her blue-eyed gaze finds mine.
“Me neither. Guess you rubbed off on me after all,” I reply, nudging her with an elbow. “All it took was an orgasm on a dare and a pair of slutty little glasses.”
She laughs freely as Cole and Freddie emerge from the kitchen, hand in hand. I watch them together for a few moments as Em chats away.
Freddie leans into Cole for a moment as Cole presses a kiss to his temple. Then Jessie materialises next to them and I watch them head into the studio to look at Cole’s latest work.
I stand back for a few moments, looking at all the people I love, here to celebrate this new step in our lives together.
How fucking lucky am I to have found so much love in this town?
Lottery lucky.
The End