For Better or Hearse

by Ava Hunter

He doesn’t know how to tell her. That he’s not okay if she’s not okay. That he’d give his own life to keep her safe. That she’s endgame. In his head, heart, blood, soul. She owns him.

“You’re staring,” she says. His eyes sharpen. “You’re beautiful.”

“I’m more than okay.” She narrows her eyes at him. “But if you ask me that again, you won’t be.” “Threats before dinner,” he says dryly. But there’s heat in his gaze. “I see you’re just fine.”

And he’s everything.

She loves him with all 206 bones in her body.

“The thought of not being with you makes me want to die.” “So morbid,” she teases.

“Yes,” she says. She’s unhinged. In the best possible way. “Yes, yes, yes.”

She’s allowed to have happiness, and it looks like Nathaniel. In every universe, it will look like him.

“There’s one thing you don’t know about me.” “What’s that?” “I sleep with knives.” “I look forward to it.”

She knows that look. It means she’ll be naked in a matter of minutes.

“He lives, he breathes, he annoys. He is Nathaniel Whitford.” Smirking, Ash shrugs. “He’s obsessed with me, so I kept him.”

She shouldn’t like it as much as she does. Two grown men swinging their dicks.

“Here’s a truth.” Nathaniel takes her chin between his long fingers. A triumphant gleam enters his eyes. “I’m low-key petty. If you thought for one second that I wouldn’t keep track of the asshole who hurt you, you’re wrong.”

Ash loops her arms around his neck. “Did I ever tell you vengeance turns me on?” “Then I better get you home,” he says.

The way she looks in his bed should be criminal.

Ash is the kind of woman who makes a man feel like he’s fucked up for taking so long to discover her.

She purrs, tugging him back into bed with her. “You leave, I kill you.” Hovering closer, he kisses her lips. “You act so tough until it’s time to cuddle in bed.”

He doesn’t know about anything except for her.

No free will with this girl. He only wants to fill his veins and blood with her. Obsessed.

“I love your mean. I know I will always get the right order at a restaurant because of you.”

“I love you. I am utterly and unfathomably in love with you, Ashabelle Keller.”

“I love you too, Nathaniel.” The wind’s knocked out of him. He stands there, stunned. Processing the fact that this fierce force of a woman loves him back. Ash smirks. Cups his jaw. “Speechless? I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“You more than anyone.” He pulls back. Cradles her jaw. Kisses her lips. “You more than anything.”

“You are,” he promises. “You are mine.”

“I love you. Until this world ends and our sun is nothing but a shriveled, dead star, I will love you.”

“You are more than your mess. You’re the love of my fucking life.”

“The sun will rise, and I will still love you tomorrow. Understand?”

All she has in her head anymore is Nathaniel.

It breaks her little black heart that they spent their last minutes together arguing when they could have spent them making love or planning their future or threatening bodily harm upon one another.

The audacity of her Very Tall Asshole to make her worry about him.

The only one who kills Nathaniel is her.

Nathaniel makes taking the risk easy. Worth it.

She has never loved anyone more on the earth than her Very Tall Asshole.

“Ash,” he breathes into her neck like a mantra. “Ashabelle.”

“Let me hold you. I just need to hold you.”

“God, you feel so fucking good,” he rasps, hands tracing over the curve of her back. “You’re all I thought of, Ashabelle. Getting home to you. I had to make it home.”

“Don’t cry, my morbid little beauty.” “I thought you were dead, you asshole,” she hisses, voice shaking with emotion. “I’ll cry if I want to.” “I told you. That honor is yours alone.”

“I choose you, Nathaniel. In every universe, in every afterlife, I will always choose you. I love you.”

“I love you. I am so fucking in love with you, Ashabelle.”

Love isn’t about fixing yourself so that someone loves you. It’s about finding the right person to love you as you are.

“Never do that to me again. I thought I lost you.” “Never,” he rasps against her lips. “You will never lose me.”

“For better or hearse?” she teases. “For better or hearse.” The corner of his mouth curves.

In every universe, yes.

Pearl earrings. But not just any pearl earrings. Her teary gaze lifts. Nathaniel watches her anxiously. She gives a watery laugh. “They’re black,” she says, awed. Gorgeous pearlescent black pearls. Pearls that scream Ash. That will always remind her of who she actually is. He leans down, finding her mouth, and whispers against her lips. “Just like your pretty little soul.”

Time doesn’t wait. And neither will they.

“Best way to die. Your legs around my face.”

Apparently, she’ll never stop swooning for her Very Tall Asshole.

Her husband’s broad palms smooth over her hips, move to cup her face.

Per usual, Nathaniel slays at everything he does.

“Do it,” he says fiercely, despite the mild concern on his face. “I have you.”