Epilogue

EPILOGUE

CATLIN

While I am standing in the very spot I had envisioned when I moved from Galway to New York a little over a three years ago, things are so different from what I imagined. This isn’t how I expected my life to turn out.

Standing on the stage and waiting to receive my diploma from New York University, I stare into the crowd at my family. Finn, who has been nothing but supportive as I labored through grueling finals and countless late nights of writing papers to get here. Sitting to his right, his brothers and my new sisters gazing up at me as they wait to celebrate my accomplishment.

And on Finn’s left is Uncle Sean, clutching my husband’s hand as he beams at me with teary, pride-filled eyes.

A divine miracle is the only way to explain the two of them having grown so close.

“Catlin O’Flaherty-Evans.” My name pours through the speakers, and my family erupts with cheers and applause. The outlandishly obnoxious kind you see in videos online as Fiona proudly waves her sign in the air. Congratulations, Auntie Catlin!

It definitely isn’t the life I pictured, but there isn’t a thing about I would change. That loud, foul-mouthed, sarcastic bunch are my family, and I couldn’t imagine my life without them.

While I’m talking to my friends after the ceremony, I spot Finn weaving through the crowd to get to me. He pulls me into him and presses his lips to mine, kissing me hard and deep. Like how he loves me. Cupping my face, he stares down at me and purrs, “I’m so fucking proud of you, piscín .”

“We’re all so proud of you,” Liam chimes. “I just don’t think we’re all going to show you quite like that.”

“Speak for yourself.” Conor teasingly pushes himself between me and Finn.

“You’re just trying to get yourself in trouble, aren’t you?” I put my hands on his chest and shove him away.

Finn drapes his arm around my shoulders and holds me against him as we all make our way toward the parking lot. He helps me into the front seat of his Audi and reaches in to clip my seatbelt. His lips dust against mine, and he insists, “I really am fucking proud of you. After dinner with this lot, I intend you show how much.”

Dinner is loud and obnoxious—as it always is with my family—and everyone slowly excuses themselves as it starts to get late. By the time Finn and I walk from the now-closing restaurant, the streetlights are on and the sky has grown dark.

Lacing his fingers with mine, we cross the street and walk into Central Park. We leisurely stroll around the lake, talking about everything and nothing. Finn glances at his watch and squeezes my hand. “We should probably head home, piscín . It’s getting late.”

Pulling myself into his arm, I stare up at him and flirtatiously rebut, “It isn’t that late.”

Finn lets out a deep chuckle as he grips my chin. Tipping my face toward his, he places a soft kiss against my lips. When he pulls back, he gravelly whispers, “Then you better fucking run .”

I take off with a giggle—happy that I switched into Converse from my heels after the graduation ceremony—as I sprint through the grass and toward the trees. Glancing over my shoulder when I reach the tree line, he’s already on my heels.

“You know you can’t outrun me,” he shouts, closing the distance between us.

I know he’s right, and I can’t.

I never can.

Not that I ever really want to .

Ducking behind a large oak tree, I try to hide as I hear him getting close.

“I can hear you breathing. Your heart is fucking racing,” he taunts. “Is it with excitement or fear, knowing that when I catch you, I’m going to take what’s mine?”

Cupping my hands over my mouth, I try to muffle my increasingly heavy breaths as he stalks closer.

He’s so close .

“You know you can’t hide from me. You could run to the farthest corners of the earth.” His voice gets deeper as he gets closer to me. He can’t be more than a few feet away. “But the sweet aroma of your dripping cunt will always lead me right to you.”

I scream as he reaches around my hiding spot and roughly grabs my wrist. Futilely, I try to pull away from him, but he easily overpowers me and pins me to the cool grass as he climbs between my thighs. Pulling my panties to the side, he sinks into me as he grunts, “Mine.”

Wrapping my legs around his hips, I pull him deeper into me. “Always.”