“Fuck, that’s romantic.”
I smiled. “I’m trying. I would have followed you to the moon when we were kids, Dec. I want so much more than that now.”
Dec closed the space between us and set his hand on my cheek. “What do you want?”
“You. Your smile, your laugh, your songs. I want to wake up next to you, dead tired ’cause you kept me up with your snoring and—”
“I don’t snore,” he chuckled.
“You do, and I wouldn’t change it. I want your secret looks and your top-five lists. I want to buy you a bath mat, carry your luggage…whatever you need. I want you…just you.” I covered his hand and brought it to my lips. “And I fucking love you so much it hurts.”
“I love you too.”
I crashed my mouth over his and held on tight as my world fell into place.
As we swayed under the stars, a sense of peace and rightness settled over me. Broken pieces reconnected, wounds mended…the way it was always meant to be. As if the moon were our spotlight and the night was our stage. Our adventure awaited. It might be filled with highs and lows, triumphs and challenges, but we were in this together…starting from here.
Epilogue
“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”—Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnets From the Portuguese, Sonnet 43
The late summer breeze wafted through the open window in the garage. It wasn’t enough to cool the room, but it was a welcome respite from the cloying heat. Or maybe it was a tease. The torture wasn’t quite over yet.
“Pay attention, babe. If this weight falls on your chest, it’s gonna hurt.”
I looked up and shook my head. “I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m not having fun.”
Tegan rolled his eyes before gamely setting the weight on the rack behind me. “It was your idea.”
“Yeah, I know, but working out isn’t fun. I’m hot and sweaty and sore. How long have we been doing this?”
“Twenty minutes,” he replied, handing me a water flask as he straddled the workout bench.
I sat up and surveyed T’s workout area in our garage. I didn’t love exercising, so I stuck to the treadmill or avoided this area if possible. It was probably Tegan’s favorite part of our new place.
Yeah, we bought a house. My mom sold us a pretty Spanish-style bungalow in the Hollywood Hills with tall privacy hedges, a pool, and…get this…a pool house. It was the perfect spot for a home studio, which meant T’s workout room was the garage.
I took a long drink of water as I shamelessly studied his broad shoulders and thick muscles. I recapped the flask with a sigh. “Think of all the fun things we could have been doing in the past twenty minutes.”
Tegan slipped his fingers under my workout shorts. “We can do all those things…later. We need to shower and head over to Justin and Gray’s.”
I groaned on cue. “Is that tonight?”
“Yeah, and we were warned not to be late. I think Charlie’s invited the new band Scratch signed on.”
“Cool.” I scooted so we were knee to knee, chuckling when Tegan hooked his hands under my thighs and yanked me close.
My cock twitched at the sudden contact. I gave my husband a mischievous lopsided grin before setting the water flask on the floor.
Yeah…husband. I’ll get to that part.
The past six months had been a roller coaster ride of mega proportions.
Zero released their second album at the beginning of summer to wild acclaim. Jealousy helped kick off their tour on the East Coast. We both had songs on the Billboard charts, our social media presence was on fire, and the tour was a huge success. Charlie was ecstatic because Scratch Records was actually making money and had signed on a couple of new acts recently. According to Charlie, these were baby steps. I think his exact words were, “Until Apple wants to license your songs for a commercial, you still have a long way to go.”
We had the right team on our side, but there’d always be a few who wanted to see us fail. It came with the territory.
Petra issued an apology immediately after Tegan and I formally announced that we really were together. No one needed to know about our short stint as fuck-buddies-slash-fake-boyfriends. That was our secret…and we were keeping it. When Petra was blackballed from some of her bigger publications, Charlie hired her to help him with PR. I think his dad suggested it as a good idea to keep wild cards close.
Xena was another wild card. We’d keep an eye out for her, however, we all agreed that the best policy was to leave the past behind. It shaped who we were, but not where we were going. Zero and Jealousy both had our sights set on the big time. Xena was a lesson in learning from your mistakes and letting go.