Epilogue Riley

“Fuck,”Beckett whispered as he looked out the car window. “Luca is rich rich.”

Jay whistled from where he sat in the front passenger seat of Dakota’s Camry. “Do you think he’s mafia or something?”

Dakota smacked Jay’s arm playfully. “Don’t stereotype.”

Jay rubbed the spot with a fake pout on his face, and I grinned as I looked at Beckett. Jay and Dakota had only gotten closer over the last four months, and it was amazing to see. They were so good for each other, and both Beckett and I were happy he had someone just for himself.

“I’m not,” he grumped. “But come on. These are fuckin’ mansions. And it’s not secret he’s into some shady stuff.”

“He also saved our asses, so can you please not ask him if he’s mobbed up today?” Beckett asked.

I grinned and relaxed back in the seat. It had been a wild summer, but a good one. The three of us had moved into a new place. It was a modest two bedroom, but there were real locks on the doors and even security in the building. It was weird letting Wesley contribute to the place, but he never made a big deal about it, and I thought we were starting to accept he didn’t expect anything from us and just wanted to help.

He was also right about Mr. Chase. For the first few weeks, I kept expecting cops to show up and drag me off, but it never happened. Soon after, a “note” was found that was apparently written by the asshole, that confessed everything and said he was going repent for his sins. I didn’t know who planted it, but regardless, the cops believed he likely committed suicide, and eventually the media died down.

I started spending more time with Wesley, too, and got to know him better. He was actually a really cool guy. He, Luca, and one of Luca’s guy’s, Skye, had started to teach us how to fight and properly use of a bunch of weapons. I had found I really liked knives, while Beckett usually avoided them.

I leaned against Beckett’s arm, smiling as he hugged me tight and kissed the top of my head. “You ready for this, butterfly?”

“Yeah, it’ll be fun. We’ve met all of them before, so this won’t be much different.”

When Luca had learned that none of us had ever been to a cookout, he had just about lost his shit and declared he was rectifying that. He had wanted to have one that very week, but Wesley had had to leave town again and had just come back. This worked anyway since summer was winding down and I was about to start school again.

“Jesus. Do you think we’re dressed okay?” Becks asked quietly. I just shrugged because I had no idea. I’d never seen a house like this outside of TV.

“Why do I feel like we’re in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” Jay asked as he clamored out of the car. “Do you think Luca has a butler?”

“Why the fuck would I know that?” Becks snarked. Even getting out of the car felt daunting, but after a quick kiss from Beckett, we managed it.

Wesley was waiting on the entryway for us.

“Hey! I’m glad you all made it.” I relaxed a bit when I saw he was just wearing board shorts and a white T-shirt. He didn’t even have shoes on. We could do this.

I squeezed Beckett’s hand before I went up to Wesley and gave him a quick and somewhat awkward hug. It still felt weird hugging him. He still didn’t feel like my dad or anything like that. But I knew it meant a lot to him, so I was trying. The way he always smiled like I’d just given him a Bugatti instead of a damn hug made the weirdness worth it.

“This place is huge,” Jay said in way of greeting. “Does Luca have a butler?”

We all laughed and Wesley confirmed that he didn’t. The house might have been huge, but it wasn’t like it was just him here. His entire team lived in the house. We still didn’t know what they did exactly, but they were all decent guys.

We were led to the backyard and to our first official cookout. Luca was at one of the two grills with Maverick, another teammate we’d met a few times. There was an inground pool, and two guys I didn’t recognize were playing around in it.

Jay wrapped his arms around my shoulders. “C’mon, slasher, let’s get changed in our bathing suits. Maybe we can convince these two boring fuckers to join us.”

“Nope. I’m good,” Beckett responded. “I’mma get a beer and watch.” He cupped my cheek and kissed me.

“You want me to hang out here with you?” Becks had never been much of a pool guy.

“Nah, go have fun. Skye and I will hang out.” Skye had been teaching Becks how to shoot just about everything. He was also a martial arts expert, and Beckett was really getting into the MMA stuff. They’d started bonding over it, and it was really nice to see.

I stood on my tiptoes to kiss him again.

“I love you.”

He smiled softly. “Love you too, butterfly. Go on now. I’ll see you later.”

It was a few hours later and we were all around the fire pit, drinking and eating all the awesome food. It had been an amazing time. I never thought I’d have something like this, something so normal. Sure, I knew these weren’t normal guys, but it didn’t feel like that when we all hung out like this. I felt like I belonged.

Wesley came and sat down in the chair next to the lounger Beckett and I were sharing. “I have an update on Michael.” He refused to call Michael our dad, and I honestly didn’t blame him.

Becks stiffened behind me, and I squeezed his thigh in support. We hadn’t seen Michael since the day he’d broken into the apartment. We had tried to stop by his boarding house, but he hadn’t been there and no one had seen him in a while. Beckett tried to act like he didn’t care, but he was worried. It was why Wesley had offered to put some feelers out to find him.

“What happened?” I asked when Beckett still didn’t speak.

“He’s in jail. He got picked up about a while back, trying to rob a liquor store. He had an unregistered gun on him and enough drugs that they could hit him with dealing. He’s going to be away for a while.”

“That’s good, right?” I was still looking toward Wesley, but the question was geared to Beckett. It felt good. Who knew, maybe he’d even manage to get cleaned up in prison.

Beckett nuzzled my neck. “Yeah, butterfly, that’s really good.”

Wesley shifted and took a sip of his beer. “There’s something else. We talked to Mr. Chase’s other victims. The ones we knew about. They know he’s gone.”

My chest expanded. It was one of our worries, that all those other poor kids would always be looking over their shoulders, wondering if their monster was gonna come back and haunt them. I wanted them to have the closure we did.

“Thank you.” Becks’s voice was breathy, like he couldn’t quite believe it.

“You don’t have to thank me for that, but you’re welcome anyway.”

We fell into silence after that, and eventually I went back to snuggling with Becks. Jay and Mav were playing horseshoes on the other side of the yard. Dakota was sitting in an oversized lawn chair, sipped some pink fruity drink and was deep in conversation with Luca. Wesley had gotten up and gone inside with the two other guys, Brooks and Diego.

I was dozing off when Skye came and sat on the edge of our lounger. “Hey,” Beckett greeted sleepily.

“Hey. Are you still coming to training tomorrow?”

Becks made an agreeable sound. “Yeah. I work till 6 so after that?”

“Sounds good.” Skye looked toward me. “Don’t forget to send me your school schedule and we can work out something around it.”

“Thanks, Skye.”

He got serious again. “Have you two thought about what I said?” The other day, Skye had brought up the topic of therapy again. Wes had tried right after everything had happened, but we’d immediately shut it down. So apparently, the new approach was to have Skye constantly drop it into casual conversation and talk about his own therapy until we caved. It was starting to work.

“We’re thinkin’ about it,” I told him honestly. And we were. Or at least, I was. I wasn’t sure Beckett was there yet. Logically, we both knew Mr. Chase was the exception, but it wasn’t as easy as that.

“That’s all I ask,” Sky said sincerely. “No pressure.” He left after that.

Becks kissed my nose. “You know I won’t be mad if you decide you want to go.”

I sighed. “I know. I’m just not sure yet.”

“That’s okay. Whatever you choose, I’m here for you.”

I closed my eyes, breathin’ in Beckett’s typical scent that was now mixed with sweat from bein’ outside all day and the smoke from the fire.

“Forever?” I asked with a small smile on my face.

He smiled back. “Always, butterfly.”

-The End-