Epilogue
MIA
i’m wearing part of your xmas present right now
what is it
remember when we went to the sex store
… the white thing?
let me see
no
just give me a peek
we’re on a train
we have the whole row no one can see
delayed gratification baby
I see you grinding your clit on your jeans
are you wet baby
i can’t wait to unwrap you later
unbutton your jeans
give me a taste
delicious
the feeling of the rough wet lace on your smooth swollen pussy
I’ll be thinking about it this whole ride
A bit later, Elias shoves through the door of the beach house, tugging me behind him.
He stops short in the foyer, and I crash into his back.
“What—” I whine desperately. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’ve soaked through my jeans at this point.
“Hey, Leo,” Elias says.
Leo yelps. “MY EYES!” he wails.
I cackle, dropping my suitcase by my feet. I peek around Elias and see Leo sitting in the living room by himself. “Anyone else here yet?” I ask him.
“No,” he says, his hands still covering his eyes. “Just me.”
I switch places with Elias. Now I drag him up the stairs. “We’re staying in Elias’s room,” I tell my brother.
“Can you please stay in your room? So we don’t share a wall?” he pleads.
“Fine,” I call down the stairs.
I hear the volume on the television turn way the fuck up.
On the second floor landing, Elias scoops me up in front of him, wrapping my legs around his waist, walking me down the hall while gorging on my mouth. He silently presses me against the door to my bedroom. His hand moves under my sweater, and he groans when he feels the lace covering my tits.
“Inside,” I breathe.
“Too soon,” he groans, sucking on my neck.
“No, inside my room, Elias.”
Mouth hot on mine, he maneuvers his hand behind me, searching for the knob, stumbling in when he gets the door open.
Somehow, we pull apart and stand, looking around the vacation house bedroom I’ve had since I was a child. Elias’s room is just past the bathroom, Leo’s room just past his. On the wall next to my door hangs a cork board, old pictures of us pinned up by thumb tacks. Most are of the three of us—of me, Leo, and Elias. But there are a couple of just me and Elias, a distinct foreshadowing. A scrawny arm slung around my neck, crooked grin and Dimple on display. Me, beaming up at him as if he’s my whole world.
Elias comes to stand behind me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders and resting his chin on my head. “Look how long I’ve loved you for,” he whispers.
I close my eyes, feeling the warmth of him at my back, surrounded by his mass and the smell of his soap and laundry detergent mixed with the familiar mustiness of this old room. “Forever,” I agree.
A bell rings downstairs, waking me and Elias up from our post-breakfast nap.
“Roberts and Miller families! Your presence is requested in the dining room, where an Elaborate Lunch awaits!” Auntie Pam yells.
Elias stretches his huge body, the afternoon sun shining through his curls, making him resemble an incredibly handsome lion. “What do you think we’re having?”
“I saw like ten different cheeses in the fridge this morning,” I say, rolling out of bed and padding over to my suitcase. My white lace teddy lies on top, only slightly ripped around the crotch area. Elias couldn’t be bothered to take the entire thing off, so he just pulled the bottom to the side before pushing inside me. Sadly (and sexily), it ripped in his haste.
I throw on a pair of leggings, and after deciding that none of my tops are comfy enough, I walk over to Elias’s suitcase and pull out the Princeton sweatshirt he’s had for almost twenty years.
“I was going to wear that,” Elias says, while pulling on his sweatpants.
“Too bad.”
He walks over and finds a t-shirt. He looks at me with a soft smile on his face. “You’re swimming in that.”
“I like it.”
“Me too.”
We walk downstairs where a spread is laid out on the dining room table.
“This looks amazing, Auntie Pam,” I say, walking over to give her a hug. She kisses both my cheeks.
“Can you walk us through the menu?” Leo says, walking in behind us.
“Everything on this table is homemade by me and your mother,” Auntie Pam tells us.
I walk over to give Uncle Mike and my parents a hug. “Thanks, mom.”
“Of course, darling,” she tells me warmly. “First, there’s a caviar service—a selection of caviar served with blinis, Creme Fraiche, chopped egg, and minced shallots.”
I find Elias again in the corner of the room, winding my arm around his waist. He slings an arm around my shoulder, drawing me in to kiss me.
“Then we have the cheese board over here,” Auntie Pam continues. “Mostly aged cheeses—Brie de Meaux, Roquefort, and Comté, served with fresh fruit, nuts, honey, and artisanal crackers.”
Elias takes a seat at one of the chairs on the side of the room, tugging me down to sit in his lap. I pull my knees up to my chin and he wraps his arms around my curled body.
“And on this side of the table, we have lobster bisque,” my mom says, gesturing to the embellished ceramic bowl, “foie gras with fig compote?—”
“I’m sorry,” Leo interrupts, “but everyone’s reaction is a little anticlimactic,” he says, gesturing at us.
“What?” Dad says. “The foie gras cost us a fortune.”
“I’m talking about Meems and Elias?” Leo says.
“What about them?” Uncle Mike asks, glancing at us. “Is everything okay?”
“They’re together now,” Leo informs the room.
My parents and Uncle Mike look at Leo, then at us, genuinely confused. Auntie Pam’s wide grin is identical to her son’s.
“Yes? Of course they are,” Dad muses.
“Didn’t we know this? Isn’t that why you live together?” Mom asks us.
We shrug.
“Wait, really?” Leo asks.
“This is the same as it’s always been,” Auntie Pam tells him.
“They’ve never made out in front of us before,” Leo retorts.
“We’re not doing that now,” Elias says.
“We can,” I chime in.
“And we will.”
“Just stop,” Leo says.
“You started it,” I fire back.
“So, what’s the big deal here?” Uncle Mike genuinely wants to know. “Are you pregnant?”
“NO,” Elias and I yell.
Auntie Pam walks back into the room with a bottle of champagne. “You’re pregnant?” she gasps.
My dad’s eyebrows furrow in concern. “Do you have enough saved? Raising a child in the most expensive city in the country? Is that a smart move?”
Elias stands, lowering me gently to the floor. “No one’s pregnant. Can we eat?”
“Look what you’ve done,” I shout at my brother.
Auntie Pam presses a flute of champagne into my hands.
“This is weird,” Leo repeats.
“This is the same as it’s always been,” Elias reminds him. He raises his glass in the air. “A toast! To our baby?—”
“Elias,” I scream, smacking him in the side of his head.
“—Miller’s Gym!” he finishes, winking at me and kissing my temple.
“Jim? Is that what you’re naming the baby?”
“I feel like I’m in an alternate universe,” I tell Elias.
“We’re together in all of them,” Elias responds. “But in this one, our baby is named Jim.”