Epilogue
jeremy
One Year Later
I still didn’t believe it was real.
Our wedding. Our way. There was no cathedral with stained glass, no stiff chairs lined in pews, no fake smiles because that was what people were supposed to do. We didn’t do “supposed to.”
We got married in the backyard of the house the three of us had bought together.
The place we’d built into a home with our own hands—paint still under our fingernails from when we’d fought about whether the kitchen walls should be eggshell or cream.
Dirks insisted there was a difference, Luna sided with him, and I called them both wild.
The same house where I’d stayed up on the floor with Luna when she had nightmares, and Dirks made pancakes at two a.m. to keep her smiling.
The same house where we laughed, fought, fucked, and somehow stitched ourselves into a family.
That’s where we said forever.
Luna wore a white dress that was short and simple. She looked like trouble and salvation all at once.
Dirks went first. His vows were pure sunshine.
He promised her the entire world on a platter, and I knew he’d actually deliver.
He held her hands and told her she was his heart, his girl, his partner.
That he’d love her through every storm and every sunrise.
He promised her babies, a home, and a life full of laughter.
All the things I couldn’t yet promise, but he’d wanted them with her.
When it was my turn, I hadn’t planned anything because planning was never my thing.
And besides, what the hell was I supposed to say that could compete with that?
But when I looked at her—at the girl who’d once left me because the bottle had my throat in its grip, because I was more in love with oblivion than I was with myself—I felt the words burn their way out of me.
“I didn’t think I’d be standing here a year ago. Hell, I didn’t think I deserved to be. When you left for London, I thought I’d lost you forever. And maybe I should have. Because back then, I was already gone. You couldn’t save me from myself, and you shouldn’t have had to try.”
Her eyes shone, tears threatening, but she didn’t look away.
“But when you came back . . . ” I swallowed because my chest felt tight, and even Dirks was blinking too much beside me.
“You didn’t just come back to me. You dragged me back to life with you.
You forced me to face myself, to be better.
And now—now I don’t care if the world doesn’t understand us.
Because it isn’t their love to understand.
I swear to you, Luna Pierson, I’m not letting you go again.
Not for a bottle, not for fear, not for anything. ”
I didn’t promise her babies, or sunrises, or laughter. I promised her something different. Something only I could.
I promised her myself.
We had one ceremony. Two sets of vows. One marriage license with Dirks’s name on it, because one of us had to play by the rules.
The truth was that piece of paper didn’t mean shit compared to what we said under those lights.
Compared to the way she looked at me when I slipped the crescent moon band onto her finger.
String lights hung in the trees, swaying in the summer night air.
Mason jars filled with candles lined the porch railing.
The smell of barbecue still lingered from dinner, though the plates were long cleared, the champagne poured.
Fireflies sparked lazily above the grass, little reminders that maybe magic wasn’t only in storybooks.
Later, when the music started, Luna dragged us both onto the grass. Our first dance. She didn’t care about traditions, or if people stared, or if the photographers got the right angle. She cared about us—her hands laced with ours, pulling us in until the three of us swayed clumsily and offbeat.
Her cheek brushed against mine before she tilted her head and kissed Dirks. Then she kissed me. Then him again.
“I love you both so fucking much, and all I can think about right now is how badly I want to fuck you.”
Dirks choked on a laugh, loud enough that his sister turned and gave him a look. I groaned, forehead pressing into Luna’s hair, trying not to smile like an idiot while everyone watched. Only Luna would turn our first dance into foreplay.
Nova shouted something from the porch—”Get a room already!”—and everyone laughed. But the way Luna clung to us, kissing me one second and Dirks the next, made me forget there was a whole crowd around. It was just us. Like it had always been.
Eventually, the guests trickled out. Dirks’s parents hugged him tight, his mom crying into Luna’s shoulder. Austin held Charlie close and told us he was proud. Nova whispered to Luna that after everything—after being second her whole damn life—she was finally first. To two people. To both of us.
The grass was cool under my back, damp from the night air, and for the first time in a long damn while, I let myself just breathe.
I turned my head and found Luna’s face inches from mine. She was glowing, even with her lipstick smudged, even with her hair falling out of that messy knot. She looked like everything I thought I’d once lost. I kissed her with everything I had inside me.
When I pulled back, Dirks was there. Sunshine boy, with his easy grin that made me want to punch him and kiss him at the same time. My stomach twisted. My brain screamed don’t. But fuck it—it was our wedding. I leaned over and kissed him, too.
He froze, stiff under me, and when I pulled back, his brows shot up. “Really, Jer?”
“It’s our wedding, deal with it.”
I lay back in the grass, eyes on the black sky. “We started this thing with Luna between us, but somewhere along the way . . . it changed. I love the shit out of her. But I— I love you, too. In my own fucked-up way.”
Silence stretched. My pulse pounded in my ears.
Then Dirks let out a quiet chuckle. “About damn time, Jer.”
Luna rolled onto her back, laughing so hard she nearly knocked into me. She loved when I cracked myself open.
“Don’t look so smug,” I grumbled, heat crawling up my neck.
We stayed there for a beat, breathing in the quiet, the three of us tangled up in the grass. And then, because Luna couldn’t just leave a moment alone, she shot up like a firecracker.
“What the hell are you doing?”
She laughed, fumbling with the zipper at the back of her dress. “Getting naked.”
I sat up. “Luna—”
“Come on.” She was already shimmying out of the white fabric and tossing it to the side. Bare shoulders, bare legs, moonlight catching every curve. “It’s our wedding night. Don’t tell me you two plan on just lying in the grass like grumpy old men.”
Dirks sighed like the eternal golden retriever he was and stood, tugging at the buttons of his suit jacket. His tie went next, then his shirt. By the time his pants hit the ground, he was bare in the moonlight, lean and strong, his cock already starting to harden just from watching her.
“Jesus, Dirks,” I muttered, dragging a hand down my face.
He smirked at me. “What? You’re telling me you’re not?”
My jaw clenched, but I stood anyway, shoving out of my jacket, popping the buttons on my shirt. I wasn’t about to let him stand there with all that smugness like he had the monopoly on wanting her. My clothes hit the grass piece by piece, until I was as bare as they were, no armor left.
And Luna—fuck, Luna.
She spun in the grass, tits bouncing with every step. Her hair had fallen loose, spilling down her back. Her laugh carried in the night, and her skin glowed under the string lights.
Dirks let out a low groan behind me, eyes glued to her, his cock standing proud. “Look at her, Jer.”
I didn’t look away. Couldn’t. She was ours—my disaster girl, his sunshine girl. And she knew exactly what she was doing, twirling and laughing, baring every inch like the night belonged to her.
“Yeah,” I muttered, heat pounding in my chest, in my veins. “I’m looking.”
She spun in the moonlight, laughing like a goddamn goddess in our backyard.
“Cute show, but you want to be naked in front of us? Earn it. On your knees.”
She smirked and dropped instantly, like she’d been waiting for the command. My cock was in her hands before she even settled, and she wrapped her mouth around me hungrily.
“Fuck, yeah,” I hissed, threading my hand into her hair, forcing her to take me deeper so she gagged loud enough the neighbors could probably hear.
I turned my head, locking eyes with Dirks. He was frozen, panting as he watched us.
“Get your ass over here. She’s got two hands.”
As soon as he got close enough, Luna wrapped her fingers around him, jerking him slowly while her throat worked on me. Dirks cursed under his breath, head tilting back, mouth falling open.
“On your back. Right here, in the wet grass. Spread out for us.”
Luna gasped, shivering as the cool blades kissed her skin, but she obeyed. Her blonde hair fanned out around her, damp strands sticking to her flushed cheeks. Her nipples were hard as diamonds. She turned her head, locking eyes with Dirks, her lips curling into that wicked little smile.
“Fuck me, Dirks,” Luna whispered.
Dirks’s throat bobbed, his cock straining as he dropped down between her legs. I crouched beside her, sliding my fingers over her clit. She jolted and moaned, back arching as I pressed harder.
“Goddamn, you’re already soaked. Perfect for him.”
Dirks lined himself up, his blue eyes flicking to mine. He pushed forward, sinking into her heat until his hips hit her thighs. Luna cried out, her nails digging into the grass, her whole body trembling.
“That’s it,” I growled, flicking her clit faster as he bottomed out inside her. “Take all of him. Fuck, look at you.”
Luna’s head snapped back, her mouth open on a breathless moan. “Oh God, oh fuck, Dirks!”
Her eyes found mine again, wicked and needy. “What about his toy? He . . . he needs it.”