Epilogue
Four Years Later
“ Why did Alec just text me to tell you to stop sending him flowers? ” Thea signed to her husband as they sat backstage and waited for his band to be called to the wings for the concert.
Thea had gone along with him on every tour of Medusa’s Tears, and he had searched high and low for contacts in different major cities to align makeup gigs for her in each one.
Before each show, Draven kissed Thea’s forehead and the back of her hand, and Mallory swooned at how adorable it was. Thea’s friends had finally gotten it; they had finally seen how the two were a perfect match.
Funny how all it takes is to see a man on his knees for you and hundreds of love notes to prove to your closest friends that he is serious about you , Thea thought, smiling to herself. Then again, her friends would never let her accept anything less.
Thea asked Draven, “ You’ve been sending my ex-boyfriend flowers? ”
“ Dude, ” Wren signed, shaking his head from where he sat in the green room with them. Mal sat to his right and grinned. Mal always grinned whenever Draven signed to Thea.
Draven chuckled and signed back, “ I send Thea’s ex a ‘sorry for your loss’ bouquet each year on the day she moved in with me. Just trying to thank him, you know? ”
Mal and Wren laughed, but Thea quirked an eyebrow.
“ Thank him for cheating on me? ” Thea asked.
“ Thank him for letting you go, so I could have you .”
Draven palmed her hips from her seat beside him and lifted her with his sexy, bulging biceps. He planted her onto his lap. She wiggled, and he kissed her neck, clearly forgetting that he needed to go on stage in a matter of minutes and that their friends were right there.
“ Damn, you guys really can’t go without touching each other for more than three minutes, huh? ” Mal signed.
“ I clocked it this time ,” Wren signed. “ Three minutes and seven seconds. A new record of self-control. ”
“ I say we leave before they actively make out and forget we’re here like on Christmas— ”
“ We thought that door was locked! ” Draven signed back as Thea giggled and hid her face.
Wren shook his head again, the way he often did when Draven spoke, but his expression never held the same disapproval it did from years back. Only fondness. Sometimes minor annoyance, but only when Draven deserved it.
“ Okay, we’ll leave you two alone to discuss Draven sending your ex roses. At least, I assume roses ,” Wren signed to Draven. “ Cause of the thorns? ”
“ I order extra sharp thorns ,” Draven signed, and Thea playfully slapped his shoulder.
“ See you out there, man .” Wren nodded and walked with Mal to the door.
Draven yelled something to get Wren’s attention back and signed, so Thea and Mal could understand, “ If my wife locks me in here to have her wicked way with me, go ahead and start the show without me .”
Wren rolled his eyes, this time wearing some annoyance on his face as he replied, “ We can’t start without you, bro. ”
Draven shrugged. “ I’m just the drummer. ”
Wren scoffed and signed back, “ And a lyricist. And an arrogant asshole who knows our fans will throw a riot if we try to start without you. ”
“ Fine ,” Draven signed, making no effort to hide his smile. He turned to Thea. “ You’re going to have to wait till after the show for your husband to pleasure you till you scream. ”
“ Gross. We’re out of here ,” Wren signed.
Mal blew a kiss to them and left with her husband.
In the privacy of the green room, Thea bit back a grin and asked Draven,” What kind of flowers do you send Alec? ”
“ Sunflowers because you are my sun ,” he signed.
She rolled her eyes and quirked an eyebrow. “ Really? ”
His chest shook with restrained laughter as he signed, “ Did you know petunias symbolize bitterness? ”
She snorted. “ Stop sending him flowers, Draven. We’re married now. You won .”
“ Okay, if that’s what my WIFE wants ,” Draven signed but yelled “wife” aloud, because he loved calling her that. She could pick up a tomato in a grocery store, and he would stand beside her, looking so proud as he said, “That’s my wife ,” as if she had just cured some disease.
God, I love this man , she thought.
“ What song are you guys opening up with tonight? ” she signed.
His wicked grin told her before he could reply, “ My favorite. ‘Woman in pearls.’ ”
Do not blush , she told herself, but even married to this man, her cheeks pinkened. She knew the lyrics well, reading them late at night after the song was released and hit number one on the charts.
“ Standing there so prim and proper
Do they know you fuck a rocker?
Wearing pretty pearls like a collar
Do they know that you’re a watcher?
Watching my hand stroke up and down
So wet, baby, you could drown .”
“ Can I veto that song? ” she signed, blushing deeply now as the words ran through her head. Her parents had finally warmed up to Draven, but when that song went viral, her father did not make eye contact with either of them for three months.
“ Why would you want to veto the song about you watching me jerk off? It was a pivotal part of our relationship. ”
She stuck her tongue out at him, and he flicked the pink tip of his against hers, causing a rusty groan to hum in her chest.
His head jerked to the side just when he began kissing her. He pouted, and she knew he was being called to the stage.
“ Watch our first song, baby .” He pointed to the large screen TV in the green room where they relaxed. “ You’ll like it, I promise .”
Suspicious, she watched. When the band took their places on stage, closed captioning ran across the screen, reading “ Audience: Screams .”
She smirked at the way her husband held his drumsticks over his head, preparing for the first song.
After the first lyric appeared on the TV, her lips curled into a tender smile because she knew this song well. Another one Draven wrote about her.
“ Thought it’d sound like church bells, but it sounds like silence.
Thought it’d sound like bird chirps, but it sounds like quiet .”
She stretched out on the sofa and closed her eyes. If she focused hard enough, she could almost feel the thrumming vibrations of the speakers from her spot laying down. She knew the lyrics well, not needing to glance at the TV.
“ Nothing else sounds like you.
They think I’m not good enough.
Do you agree?
When you dreamed up your perfect man,
he’d never look like me.
They tell me I’ll never be enough.
But, baby, I’ll be all that you need ,
because you sound like love, to me. ”
THE END
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