Epilogue
Carter
“We’re neighbors! Officially!” Wren throws her arms around Elliana the second she’s through the front door of the house we moved into last week. “All we had to do is walk down the street from our house! I’m so happy!”
“I can still barely believe it.” Elliana looks a little dazed, but happy. I know it’s still not easy for her to accept friendship, but she’s getting better at it.
“Come on in. I want to show you what we did so far.” Elliana links arms with her. “We still have to finish getting furniture for some of the rooms, but there’s no big hurry.”
“And we can help you out!” Maya reminds her once we reach the kitchen, where she is pouring drinks from a pitcher. “We’ll go shopping. It’s so much fun. I found so many great pieces in town, even at the thrift shops and estate sales.”
“That does sound like fun.” Elliana glances toward me, and we share a smile. The kind of smile people give each other at parties when they have their own world they live in together. That secret, knowing look nobody else is part of. She’s happy. A little overwhelmed, maybe, but happy.
“I’ve got to be honest.” Preston is sitting on one of the kitchen counters, leaning against the fridge while eyeing my girlfriend. “I wouldn’t recognize you if I saw you by yourself on the street.”
He’s trying to be nice, but she still gets a little freaked when people pay attention to her. Sliding her hands down the front of a light, flower-printed sundress, she murmurs, “Oh. Is that a good thing?”
“Yeah, is that a good thing?” I cross my arms, narrowing my eyes at him.
“I’m just saying.” He never did learn when to let things go instead of digging himself deeper. “You’re not wearing your glasses anymore, and your hair is pulled back when it used to hang in your face.”
“Keep it up,” Briggs mutters, snickering.
“Okay, fine. I’ll stop now.” Preston takes a gulp from his beer bottle while the rest of us laugh.
“Thank you, I guess,” Elliana replies, but she’s grinning. Again, we exchange a look. I am so proud of her every day. She has come so far.
“The backyard will be perfect for parties,” Easton announces, coming in from out there.
“I don’t know. I think my big partying days are over,” I tell him. “I’m going to start a new policy. You can’t get in unless you wear your clothes the whole time.”
“I thought this was a housewarming party, not a ‘break Easton’s heart’ party,” he mutters. Kellan gives him a shove from behind. The rest of us all groan and roll our eyes.
“People change when they get serious about somebody,” Preston grumbles. “They get that?—”
“Please, tell me,” Tucker almost growls, putting his arm around Maya’s waist. “How do people get once they’re serious about somebody?”
It seems like Preston can learn his lesson, since he chooses to drink from his bottle again instead of answering.
“You’ll get to that place someday.” Tucker pulls a couple of beers from the fridge and hands one to Briggs. “I mean, if you ever find somebody who is willing to put up with you.”
“I wouldn’t hold my breath,” Maya decides.
“Why did I even come here today?” he asks nobody in particular.
“I’m sure it wasn’t for free beer,” I suggest, and we all laugh together.
Can this really be my life? Hosting a party for my friends in my actual house? I don’t have to worry about hiding it from Dad anymore. But I wasn’t kidding—I’m not throwing the kind of parties I used to. I’m past that point. Elliana got me past it.
Elliana, who juggles her hostess duties like a pro. Preston was awkward with how he said it, but he made a good point. She’s almost unrecognizable when I compare her to the girl I first met, who was pretty much scared of her own shadow. She feels more comfortable now in her own skin without her mom breathing down her neck all the time, and her personality can shine through.
Still, I understand how she feels when she closes the door after the last guests leave. When she slumps against it with her eyes closed. “Oh, my god. That was exhausting.”
“But fun?” I ask, because I have to make sure.
Her eyes open, and she smiles at me with her back against the wood. “Very fun. Did I do all right?”
“How can you even wonder that? Of course you did.”
“It’s bad enough I’m still really not used to being around lots of people,” she reminds me, pulling the clip from her dark hair and shaking it out around her shoulders. “But making sure everybody’s happy and that they have everything they need? That’s a whole other level.”
“You know…” I go to her, one hand on either side of her head so I can lean in. “We never have to do that again if you don’t want to.”
“No!” Her eyes go wide as she shakes her head. “No, I do want to. I want to get better at it so I’m not, you know, doubting myself all the time.”
“Practice, practice,” I whisper. “Like swimming. You’re getting better with that all the time.” Granted, she doesn’t like being in the deep end without holding onto the edge, but that’s still huge progress.
“How did everything change so fast?” Her hands touch my chest, and I’m probably some kind of sex addict because that’s all it takes for me to start to melt. I can’t get enough of her.
“I don’t know,” I have to admit, brushing a kiss against her forehead, then the tip of her nose. “But I like it. I really like it. And I want more of it. Every day.”
She tips her head back so her lips will meet mine, and I can’t help but capture her bottom lip and graze it with my teeth. “Just like I want more of you every day. Am I too greedy?” I ask, rolling my hips so my thickening dick will press against her.
“I don’t think there is such a thing,” she decides, letting her hands slide down my chest until one of them is cupping my crotch, rubbing it slowly. Her touch makes my breath catch, and she giggles. “I don’t know. If you are, that means I’m greedy, too.”
“What can we do about that?”
“Who says we have to do anything about it?” Her tongue darts out to meet mine and fuck, it’s amazing. She is amazing. She’s everything.
And right now, she’s about to make me come in my pants. “Put this in your mouth, instead,” I pant, fumbling with my fly now that all the blood has left my brain. She helps, slowly sinking to her knees and wrapping her fingers around me once she pulls me free from my boxer briefs.
“What do I get if I put it in my mouth?” Looking up at me, her eyelashes flutter. The girl has learned a lot in a very short amount of time. And she loves driving me crazy.
“It depends on if you do a good job or not.” Her hair is so soft and thick under my hands, and I sink them deep, pulling her head closer. “So find out. Make sure I’m hard for that pussy.”
“You know, this is one of the only parts of the house we haven’t done this.” But she changes that, parting her lips, taking me inside and pressing her tongue against me while she gently sucks.
“Fuck, that’s good,” I whisper, letting my head fall back as she works me. Her moans vibrate through my body, making my balls lift, making my hips move so I can feed more of myself to her, hitting the back of her throat over and over while she moans around me. “You’re so fucking good to me,” I groan, lost in sensation, lost in her, wishing it could never end but knowing it has to.
“Up,” I grunt, because it’s all I can say while I gasp for air. When she doesn’t move fast enough, I take her by the arms and push her back against the door, then change my mind and turn her around so she’s facing away from me.
Her smooth, soft ass feels so good under my hands before I pull her thong down to her knees with her dress bunched up around her waist. I can’t wait. I need her now. She arches her back, giving herself to me, angling her pussy so I can sink in deep.
“Oh, my god!” she moans, her hands pressed against the door as she pushes back against me. I cover them with mine, locking our fingers, moving hard and fast. Fucking her, claiming her. She’s mine. This pussy is mine.
“Fucking tight!” I gasp before she turns her head so I can claim her mouth, too. Every stroke, every tap of my balls against her makes her whimper louder, until there’s nothing but one long, high-pitched sound coming from her mouth into mine. She’s getting tighter, too, squeezing me, trying to milk me dry.
And as much as I give her, she gives it back to me, doubling the friction, making our bodies crash together in a rhythm that gets faster and faster until she clenches tight and lets out a high-pitched shriek. I crash against her one last time before letting the rush take over, making me weak while every drop that was in my balls rushes into her.
“I like it even better that way,” she whispers once she can breathe again, still leaning against the door while her body heaves. “When you come inside me.” Yes, because one of the conditions of us living together was her being on the pill. “We’re not ready to be grandparents yet.”
That means more spontaneous moments like this, locked against her with our mixed cum leaking out between us as we catch our breath. “I think we’ve officially christened every part of the house now,” I murmur in her ear.
“I think you’re right.” She heaves a sigh, then says, “I guess we’ll have to christen the furniture once we buy it all.”
“I love the way you think.” Pulling back, I think about all the different things we still need. “That’s it. We’re going shopping right now. No time to waste.”
The best part is when she laughs and her eyes light up, reminding me one more time what makes her perfect for me.
Thank you for reading Unhinged Love.