Страница 139 из 154
EPILOGUE ONE
“EH, KAS...WHAT ARE you doing?”
Kas smiled as he ripped his blue T-shirt over his head and slipped out of his jeans. His boxer briefs were next, yanked down his legs and thrown onto the grass. “Giving you a pretty big hint.”
“A hint for...”
“Oh, I don’t know, Gem. Whatever could it be?” He narrowed his eyes at his cock. “Let me know when you figure it out.”
I fought a laugh, my heart skipping a beat. “You’re naked...in our garden.”
“I’m glad you figured out that bit at least.” He splayed his legs, his erection heavy and hard. “Figured anything else out?”
“That you should probably put some clothes on while we’re outside?”
“No one can see us.” He licked his lips. “And the wildlife don’t care. They’re naked all the time.”
Fang barked, racing from the dense forest at the bottom of the garden, living his life with absolute joy. Ru
Kas gri
The dog gri
I wanted to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming—the scene was just too perfect.
“Admit it.” Kas winked. “You’re aroused.”
I laughed. “Is it that obvious?”
I’m aroused by everything.
This house.
This life.
You.
“You’re flushed and your eyes haven’t risen above my waist.” He shifted his hips left and right, sending his cock swinging indecently. “You don’t have to just stare, you know. You can touch it.”
Oh, God.
My core clenched as my inhibitions faded, one shameless piece at a time.
I moved one step toward him.
His eyes flashed ebony. “That’s it. I won’t bite.” He bared his teeth. “Not as hard as Fang, anyway.”
My eyes traveled up from his cock, locking onto the healed puncture wounds on his arms. After Kas had chosen to sleep beside me, I’d been torn. A part of me was so glad he wanted to be close to me as much as I wanted to be close to him, but the other part of me was still wary.
I’d been strangled one too many times by him and I never wanted a repeat, but I also didn’t want him to be a pincushion for Fang’s teeth.
Turned out...my opinion hadn’t mattered.
Jareth wasn’t there to stop Kas from killing me, so Fang now had the honor. For the past six months, Kas hadn’t left my bed and he had the bite marks to prove it. His nightmares didn’t happen as often—most of them he just thrashed and mumbled, settling back into rest if I kept my distance and didn’t try to wake him. But those nights when his mind was working through a particularly bad memory...he’d sleep walk. Or at least, sleep attack.
I’d woken a few nights after that initial assurance that Fang would protect me with Kas snarling something sadistic in the dark. His eyes blank with horror. His body trembling with historical agony. I’d shot upright in bed and tried to run, but I’d been too slow.
His hands had reached for me. His fingers cruel and condemning, promising to bring me pain—to share the terror he was currently drowning in.
But that was as far as he got.
Fang immediately latched onto his forearm, his sharp white teeth vanishing into Kas’s arm without a second hesitation. He snarled and thrashed, attacking the very same man who’d saved him.
Kas’s eyes had flown wide, he’d yanked away from the dog, and comprehension shoved away his nightmare. Instead of shouting at Fang for making him bleed, he’d grabbed the dog in the biggest bear hug and laughed like a crazy person.
Tears had danced in his eyes as he kissed Fang on his snout, his head, his scruff. When he’d looked at me, the sheer relief and heart-clenching gratefulness on his face had undone me.
I’d burst into tears, crawling into his arms, sharing a three-way hug with my canine protector and the man who loved me but had just tried to hurt me.
We were a strange trio...but we worked.
Fang would continue to defend me in the night, but by day, he was the sweetest, kindest dog imaginable. He’d starred many times on my video cha
We both couldn’t imagine our life without him.
“Come another few steps, Gem. You’re not nearly close enough.”
I stayed where I was, gri
“We don’t have neighbors. Or at least, not close ones anymore.”
“They’re still only a few acres away.”
“And we’re surrounded by trees that block every view of this place. That’s why we bought it. It’s our own private sanctuary without having to live deep in the national park...remember?”
I grew wet as Kas stepped toward me. “Remember what we did those few days camping when we went to get your Jeep?”
Did I remember?
Holy shit, I would never forget that weekend. Kas and I had traveled back to where it all began, hauling a spare battery, a newly minted car key, and a small backpack with snacks. We’d pla
I’d gone for a quick climb, still trying to find the boulder that didn’t seem to exist, only for Kas to strip me slowly afterward, guide me down to his river where we swam in the sun and padded naked with our hands linked to gaze upon the ruins of Fables.
Only the foundations remained, the walls, roof, and ivy were gone, the ritz and sinful glamour burned to dust.
We’d stood side by side, silent and deep in our own thoughts, for a very long time. We paid tribute to the kids who’d lost their i
And, once the memories in Kas’s eyes had faded, we’d turned to each other with the same victorious drive to consummate our love, right on the ashes of a place where so much darkness had existed.
We’d had no shame as we let loose and forgot we were human. We thrust, we bit, we licked, we fucked, showing the ghosts of rapists and sick-sadists that we were free and they were not. We were happy, and they were dead.
Kas had won despite all their tricks and torment.
We hadn’t stopped at just one release.
Our hunger for each other had exploded, ensuring we came like animals, screaming into the sky, moaning into the earth, letting ourselves feel the true extent of everything that we’d overcome.
We’d slept beneath the stars that night and gone for a walk within the cave, and then we’d done it all over again, making love to each other, crudely and rudely, shedding every last hold that Storymaker and his horrible book of fables had over us.
We’d returned to my little house with cuts from twigs and leaves in our hair, as wild as when we first left the valley. And not only had we brought back fond memories instead of nightmares, we’d also returned with my Jeep. The very same Jeep that Kas had stolen from me—commanding me to give him driving lessons and deciding he suited the bashed up 4WD far better than the black car I’d replaced it with.
So many milestones.
So many incredible moments of buying this house together, Kas’s phenomenal success with his own YouTube cha
Those with trauma gravitated toward him, knowing he’d been there, he’d felt it, lived it, overcome it. His own story helped theirs, and Tony had done exactly what he said he would the night of the gala. He opened a charity in Kas’s name and helped with the colossal donations that poured in, ensuring every pe
That was our next venture.
It was why we’d bought this giant house that looked eerily close to Fables without the evil dripping off its walls. There was a smaller groundkeeper’s cottage that Kas and I had claimed as our own, tucked in the dense forest that needed some trimming, with a small brook babbling beneath the kitchen window.
We’d moved in two weeks ago.
Tradesmen were arriving next Monday to start the conversion of the elderly mansion from cobwebbed deceased estate into a safe halfway home for those kids who had no family to return to.
The ones like Kas who were nameless with no memory or past.
They would be found, they would stay here, and then...when they were ready, we would do whatever they needed to find their own happiness.
My heart pinched a little, thinking of Quell.
It’d been six months, but she still hadn’t visited Kas. I knew that was the only shadow in his otherwise sunshine-filled world. Tony kept in regular contact, and through him, we knew she was healing slowly. Kas had sent her a letter, saying he was there for her when she was ready. That he understood she needed time. That he represented the past, instead of the future, and if she never felt ready to see him, that he loved her regardless.
I rubbed at my chest.
God, what had I done to deserve this wonderful man?
This kindhearted, incredibly loving man who retained such goodness even after so much wrong?
I closed the distance between us, the sun blinding me as I looked up and caught his stu
I no longer cared that anyone might see.
This was our home now.
This was where we were free.
This was where we could love, laugh, and live life to its absolute fullest.
His body heat burned me as I reached out and wrapped my fingers around his hard cock.
His nostrils flared as he sucked in a hiss, his back bowing and pressing more of his erection into my palm. “Fuck...” He licked his lips, his eyes fluttering closed. “Told you, you could touch it.”
I laughed under my breath, rising on my tiptoes to kiss him.
His arms snapped around me, pi
I licked him back, giving myself over to the spell he cast.