35. Epilogue
Epilogue
Aliko
Two Years Later…
I step up to the microphone, the energy in the arena potent. Thousands of eyes are on me, but I’m not nervous. Never nervous when I’m up here on stage, even when I’m not behind my drums.
“Sunrise” is the song I wrote for me and Leif. A song that sums up what we went through, and what we are. My love for him is brighter than it ever was before. Each day, it just grows.
It’s difficult to sing the song because I feel it too much. Right in my chest. Right in my heart. But it’s how I feel, and he should know. Every day, he should know how much I love him. And I want everyone else to know, too.
So I get up here and sing the song I wrote for the love of my life, the man who changed everything for me. The man who showed me what acceptance is.
It’s a slow song, haunting and emotional.
It took me only a few hours to write. The words came to me quickly. So quickly that I couldn’t keep up with my brain and what was on paper barely looked like words at all. But I figured it out. I made it work.
Once the words came, the music was easy. The guys loved the words, even though it’s different from our usual stuff. They took a chance on it—they took a chance on me.
And in the end, it all worked out.
I glance toward the back of the stage. I can’t see him from here, but I know he’s there. He’s always there. Always standing, watching, supporting me in everything I do. Leif is the best person I’ve ever met and I don’t know where I would be without him.
I turn back to the crowd and keep singing the song. Their voices ring out, a little off time, but it’s fine. It’s not about that. Not now. Not like this. Not here. Here, it’s about feeling it. It’s about experiencing it.
It’s about love.
“Sunrise” by Aliko Anson, performed by The Unbound.
You came back like a sunrise
No thunder in your steps
Just a promise done right
Your touch rebuilt the places
That I thought were past repair
Now every beat inside me
Knows it’s safe with you there
We lost our way
But you reached for me
And now everything is okay
Every moment with us
Feels like the place we restart
You turned the quiet to calm
Put a rhythm in my trust
Yeah, I bloom in the hush
Of the love we choose for us
Your voice has a sweetness
That it never had before
Gentle like forgiveness
But it burns me even more
You kiss me like a question
But you already know
And God, it feels like heaven
Knowing that you’re mine
Every moment with us
Feels like the place we restart
You turned the quiet to calm
Put a rhythm in my trust
Yeah, I bloom in the hush
Of the love we choose for us
If the night ever shakes
I’ll be right where you stand
If we ever forget
We’ll remember who we became
When we chose to stay
Now the truth is enough
You are the pulse I run to
Every beat between us
Feels like something brand new
You lit a fire in my heart
And it’s brighter than the rush
Yeah, we rise in the hush
Of the love we choose for us
Leif
“How do you feel?” I ask as Aliko opens the door to our home and steps through the door.
He’s in his human form because we had to take a rideshare from the airport and he fits better in cars this way.
Changing to fit in doesn’t bother him as much as it used to, not when he knows he doesn’t have to—not since he’s accepted that I love him for who he is and not what he is. Though, I do love that he’s a monster.
The door closes behind me, and Aliko turns, his hands coming around my waist and his mouth going to my neck. He breathes me in, like he does so often. I let him. Because I love it.
“Relieved,” he finally says. “I get you all to myself for months.”
I hum a sound of approval and slide my hands around his waist to hug him tight.
We love touring. Of course we do. But being home, together, with nothing to do—no plans, no responsibilities, it’s a different kind of love.
Aliko summed it up right. Relieved. It’s how I feel too, knowing I get to make Aliko breakfast, shower with him, swim with him, stay up late with him and not have to worry about waking up on time in the morning.
We get to just be ourselves, do what we want.
Go out when we want. Stay in when we want. It’s a different kind of peace.
“Come swim with me,” he says softly.
“Of course.”
We part and head to our bedroom to get changed into our bathing suits so we can walk the path to our private piece of beach.
When Aliko bought the house, it wasn’t as private as he wanted.
So, he fixed it. There are more trees along the beach, surrounding the fence that keeps people from accidentally wandering in.
Not because he doesn’t want to share it, but because he doesn’t need people walking in on us fucking—because we do that a lot.
Still. He can’t get enough of me, and though I feel the same, I don’t have the stamina as a human the way he does as a monster.
“You do remember we have to visit my parents in a month, right?”
“How could I forget?”
My parents love him. They dote on him. Treat him like he’s part of the family. He’s never had a parent figure like that, so he soaks it up. It makes me so happy.
It’s not that we don’t want to go, it’s just that we just got home and be with each other. But we should be good to go in a month, and we’re only staying for a week.
“I don’t know. Because you do that sometimes.”
He rolls his eyes. “Your mother texted me.”
“What? Why?” This is news to me. I didn’t even know she had his number. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy, but what?
“She asked me what some of my favorite meals were.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
“They’re very nice.”
“I told you they were. And honestly, they’ve been a little more understanding of me since they met you.”
“You’re welcome,” he says with a laugh.
I give him a little shove… to which he doesn’t even budge.
He laughs harder.
We make it to the beach, and wade in. Side by side, we walk until we’re waist deep and then we dive.
Well, he dives. I kind of just lunge forward.
I’ve been working on swimming farther out and not being freaked out by all the fish and other stuff living in the ocean.
If I don’t think about what’s in there, it’s a little easier.
Aliko swims around me like a shark, a mischievous grin on his face.
“What?” I say.
“Nothing,” he says, but in a tone that tells me it’s not nothing.
I narrow my eyes.
“What do you have planned?”
“I’m just enjoying my favorite place with my favorite person.”
He swims over to me, his hands coming around my waist. I stay still, trusting him with everything in me to keep us afloat and not let me drown.
His nose brushes mine. “I love you,” he says.
“I love you too, you monster.”
We laugh as we lean into kiss, his lips salty from the ocean.
I wouldn’t change it for the world though. Because it’s part of him—and how could I not love that?