Something in my heart clicks into place. I meet Reed’s eyes, feeling shy. I can’t speak. I never dreamed that Cill would suggest something like this. I didn’t think I’d want him to, but now that he has, I can’t imagine it being any other way.
“You like that, don’t you?” Cill questions.
I’m hesitant to nod, but I do it. “I just want to love you two.” I swallow down every apprehension.
“Good,” he says with finality. “’Cause that’s all I want too.”
“Same,” Reed adds. “We love you, Kat.”
I stare between the two of them, not believing while also eager for this to be true. “I love you both too.”
Epilogue
Kat
Reed drives with the windows down and one arm out in the California breezes. It’s taken us over a week to get here. We could have made the trip faster, but none of us wanted to. Their bikes are in the back and we got a notice that everything we packed up and shipped arrived at the new place.
We’re almost there. I have no idea what it’ll be like. But I know I’ll have both Reed and Cillian, so I’ll make it home.
* * *
I was content enough at the flower shop, but nothing compares to being on the open road with Reed and Cill. We find out-of-the-way motels that have been lovingly cared for by the owners and stay up all night in bed together. We stop at half of the roadside attractions on the way out west. We drive in the desert under the stars. We eat at diners that have menus the size of a phone book. Every single thing we ever talked about doing when we were young and dumb and thought life ahead of us was going to be an easy road, we do.
Our motto now is to live with no regrets and every day we accomplish that, I believe it more and more.
I have my feet sprawled across the back seat. Cill rides in the passenger seat. He’s looking out the window at the scenery, his face relaxed.
* * *
Kat: We finally got to the coast!
Lydia: Took you long enough :D
Kat: There were lots of sights to see ;)
Kat: You should come out here with us. Everywhere we’ve been is absolutely gorgeous
Lydia: You trying to set me up with Reed?
* * *
I smile at the phone. I know she’s joking, but I’m going to answer her honestly. It feels good to say it out loud. Or type it, I suppose.
* * *
Kat: No. I meant it when I told you I’m claiming both of them.
Kat: But I mean it. You should come out here
* * *
There’s a silence, and I wonder if she’s thinking of what to say. I told her we’re a throuple the other day and she thought I was joking at first. I know it’s not normal, but when the hell have our lives ever been normal? At this point, I’ll settle with safe and content. I just want to be safe, and I am when I’m between them both.
* * *
Lydia: You gonna run forever?
Kat: We’re not running. We’re just … making a new start.
* * *
It’s easy to hope with these two men.
A sign passes by on the side of the road.
“Reed,” I call up. “Take the next exit.”
“How come? We’re not quite there yet.”
“I want to see the ocean.”
Cill turns around and smiles at me. “You want to look at something big and all-consuming, Hellcat? If you do, I have another idea.”
“Take me to the ocean,” I tell him, teasing. “And then you can show me how all-consuming you are.”
He doesn’t have to show me.
I already know.
Cill
* * *
I didn’t just tell Finn that I sent the info to The Ruin, I didn’t tell him shit and as far as I’m concerned, I don’t owe it to him. I don’t owe anything more to The Crest than I already gave. He’ll make assumptions maybe, ask questions and possibly put the pieces together. But the old man will be fine without me. Just like he was for the four years I was away. The thing about prison is that you learn to keep your mouth shut, and I did. I spent four fucking years locked away. My best friend and the love of my life lived in hell, and my father was murdered.
But that’s all over now. We’re on the other side of the country, with sunny skies and open road. Nobody out here knows what I did. Nobody’s ever going to know, except the two people in the car with me. They’re the only ones that matter.
A club can be a family, if you let it. But when push comes to shove, you learn who your real family is. My hellcat’s mine. I’ll spend the rest of my life giving her what she needs, which is both of us.