Epilogue Two
TWO YEARS LATER
Trevor
“Come here, Dad. Come here! Dad, come on. Mom needs to see you outside.” Jacob is tugging on my arm, but I’m also currently acting as a playground for two toddlers, so there’s not much I can do about it.
“Kid, can you give me a second?” I pry Ruby off my arm, only for Lawrence to bite me. “Jesus, crap, ouch!”
“No, Daddy. No.” Ruby smacks me in the nose when she’s suddenly lifted away. “Ana Beb!”
“Hey, little Rubester!” Bethany tickles her when her little one joins the foray, screaming at the top of her lungs.
Her husband follows quickly behind and scoops their trouble-maker into his arms. “Daddy’s got you, little princess.”
“Jesus, it’s you too?”
“Dad, come on! Come on!” Jacob pulls me again, but with the reinforcements, I’m free to make my escape.
“Are you all staying for dinner?”
They look at each other and smirk.
“We’re staying, you’re leaving.” Bethany grins, pushing me with my son. “Have fun!”
“What?” I sound as confused as I feel.
“Dad!” Jacob’s impatient shout finally makes me give in.
“Fine! I’m going.” I laugh as he pushes me all the way out the door and onto the porch, where he bounds down to stand by his smoke show of a mother. “Damn, baby. You look delicious.”
“Dad.”
“Sorry, sorry. I’m here.” I take my first step toward Paige, ready to wrap her up in my arms, only to freeze in place when I catch sight of what’s behind her. “Holy Fucking Shit.” There is a car. Not just any car, but a very familiar, very old car I know I’ve seen before.
“Paige?” I look to her for an answer.
“Surprise.” She meets me at the steps and carefully takes my arm.
“It took me longer than I wanted it to, but the second we won that suit against your dad, I contacted Lyle Stewart, who gave me the name of the first buyer.” She rolls her eyes and pulls me forward.
“Well, that buyer moved, so I asked the homeowner if they knew anything, but they didn’t, obviously.
” She opens the driver’s door. “And with the twins, I didn’t quite have as much time as—”
“Wait, wait. Rewind. The—” My voice catches, and I have to swallow the lump in my throat. “You found the car that—”
She squeezes my arm. “This is the same ’69 Camaro you sold so you could take care of your family.”
Jacob hugs me, murmuring a quiet, “Love you, Dad. Have fun.” Then he scampers into the house. I hear hushed whispers through the door behind me, but I can’t bring myself to look. I’m shocked, completely and utterly flabbergasted at the vision in front of me.
“This is not quite the same car—” It’s pristine. Unpainted, but the lines are clean, and there’s no sign of rust or ruin anywhere.
“Well … So the buyer, when I found him, didn’t want to sell because he was getting ready to paint it after all this careful restoration.
” She rubs her hand over the plain, sanded roof.
“But once I started to tell him about what you did, his eyes got all wide, like he was shocked.” She snickers.
“Then he was all ’Trevor Whitaker? Well, hell.
I agreed all those years ago I’d sell it back.
Can’t help but wish the old man was wrong about it all. ’”
“So Lyle—”
“I believe that he told our story and only agreed to sell it if they resold it back to us.”
“That’s—I can’t—You didn’t have to—”
She shakes her head. “I know I didn’t have to, and it cost us a pretty penny to buy it back. He was not happy and spent a lot of money over the years on making it as authentic or originally refurnished? Restored?”
“Restored.” I run my hand over the smoothed-out edges. “So the reason it looks patched is because he found authentic Camaro parts.” Holy shit.
Paige beams, then pauses. Biting her lip, she asks, “Are you upset?” Her brow furrows, and she looks away from me. “I know part of the fun of buying an old car is refurbishing, er, restoring it—”
“Upset?” I pick her up to spin her in the air. I can’t stop the incredulous laughter from spilling. I stop and clutch her tighter against my racing heart. “Baby, this is incredible.”
“Good, because it cost more than all of our other vehicles combined,” she mumbles into my chest. I don’t even care.
“You’re the best part of my life.”
“I know. Now, take me on a date.” Paige pulls away from me, her little dress twirling with her as she dances to the other side of the car. “Let’s go. I’m hungry.”
Paige licks the side of her ice cream cone, and I feel like I need to adjust myself with how sensual she looks as she does it. “Mmm. It’s so good.”
“It looks like it.” She hums, then hands it to me.
“Can you hold this?” I nod and lick off a small dribble from the side.
“I’m going to put an address in my phone, and you need to follow these directions and not ask any questions, alright?
” She pulls her hair into a low bun as she explains this to me, and the first set of instructions plays over her phone.
“Take a left on Main Street. Continue for ten miles.”
I take the left, and we’re out of town within the minute. “So why can’t you give me the directions?” I take another lick of the ice cream when a hand brushes against my lap. “Paige?”
“I said no questions. Now drive carefully.” When her hands hit my button, I go rigid in my seat. Holy fuck.
“Paige?”
“Shh.”
My zipper is next, and suddenly, my wife’s hand is pulling my dick out, in the car while I’m driving us to who knows where. She pumps me twice, but there’s no need. I’m hard as hell. Then she takes the ice cream from where I’m holding it and wipes it on my cock.
“Jesus!” I don’t have time to worry before her mouth is following the trail of ice cream she left. “Nng.”
Her shoulders shake with laughter, but I’m not offended. I’m riding high.
“Take a left in four miles.”
She wipes the ice cream again, then licks it off.
“Baby. Sweetheart. You’re killing me!” She passes the cone back to me, which I take with a fumbling hand, and she swallows me whole.
I toss the cone out the window and put both hands on the wheel.
I’m having a hard enough time trying to drive with my eyes crossed.
Her hot, wet mouth moves over me with a quick, even, and deep tempo, slurping and gagging as she sucks my cock. “I love that mouth. Such a sweet girl. Fuck!” Her hand sneaks between my legs, where she tugs on my balls.
“Take the next left.”
I take the turn, barely cognizant of the world around us, as both of her hands start working me over with her mouth.
She pops off, then teases the tip with her tongue, making me jerk the wheel.
She giggles. “Fill my mouth up, baby.” She licks away the precum directly from my slit, then sucks me in until I feel the back of her throat.
“Continue straight to your destination.”
Her hand and mouth move together, sliding over me and working me so damn good.
“I’m going to come.” I drop a hand to the back of her head, and she hums, making my dick vibrate.
I hit the brakes and throw the car into park as I see stars.
“Fuck me.” I pump my hips up as my cock pulses into her mouth, and she swallows each burst of come.
“Holy shit. Paige.” She slides off my cock and sucks in a deep breath before turning her head to me.
“Why’d you stop driving?” She wipes her face with the bottom of my shirt. “We’re not there yet.”
I lean my head back against the headrest. “Hell, you’ll be the death of me.” Putting the car in drive, I jump when Paige’s hand is on me again.
“I’m just tidying you up.” She giggles, tucking me back into my jeans, then sits up. “Oh, we’re almost there anyway. Wait, where’s my ice cream?”
I laugh, still catching my breath until I look up, finally realizing where we’re going.
“Paige?”
Paige
I pat his knee. “Just follow the directions.” I grab a breath mint from my purse and chew it as he pulls up to the lower Ridge.
When he parks, I open the door to the crisp evening air and walk to the ledge to look out over my home once again, just like I did that day years ago.
This time, instead of the vibrant greens of summer, the reds, oranges, and yellows are beginning to arrive, and the sun is going down, casting a golden shine over everything.
Looking up, I can already see some of the stars glowing in the darkening sky above. Behind me, Trevor remains sitting behind the wheel, but at my glance, he sidles out and carefully walks to my side. “Paige?”
“I remember almost everything I said to you that day.”
He swallows. “Me too.”
A cool breeze sifts through my hair and swirls around my dress, making me shiver. Trevor tentatively places an arm around my waist and pulls me to him. I go willingly. Today was a hot day, but it’s already a chilly night.
“I regret telling you like it was a punishment.”
He squeezes me tighter into him. “No. It wasn’t like that. Maybe in hindsight, through the way you see things now, it feels that way, but you weren’t punishing me. You were protecting yourself.”
“It was a celebration that we were pregnant, and that we got two beautiful souls from it.”
He kisses the top of my head. “Absolutely. But you weren’t in the place to celebrate with me. I didn’t deserve the celebration. I think some people would have made the choice to keep the news to themselves after what I did.”
“Stop being so understanding.” I huff.
He chuckles. “Okay, sorry. So what has you dragging me out here? You’re apologizing?”
I take a deep breath and pull the new test from my pocket. “I’m replacing hard memories with good ones.”
Thank you for reading The Logic of Loyalty! For a sneak peek at Book One of Savaged Hearts, A Few Broken Strings— Bethany’s book—read on!