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“You think I’m going to go back there knowing you’re carrying my kid?”
“No time for dramatics,” Tobias Mitchell says in a deep voice, standing above the dead body.
“Hello, little one.” He looks at Base. “Sebastian.”
Unless we count my apartment in Stirling – though it’s probably blown up as well – I have no home. I glance over at Stacey, and the thought vanishes.
“She looks like fucking Gollum in a wig.”
Kade owns me, but that’s okay, because he belongs to me too.
You’re everything to me.”
Kade smirks, pulling aside the duvet and getting in beside me. I yelp as his warm hand grabs my cold thigh and hikes it over him, then he wraps his arms around me so the warmth of his body bleeds into mine. He feels like home.
My eyes widen. “Why does that look like a human head in the freezer?” Tobias chuckles and lifts the plastic bag holding a man’s head. “It’s her driver. He tried to stop the ambush, so I cut his head off with a meat cleaver.”
I laugh derisively. “I hope it kills you a little inside to know that Kade Mitchell will always choose me.”
She’s unpredictable.” “I know.” I sniff. “Your dad has a decapitated head in the freezer.” He laughs. “Sometimes I forget how psychotic he can be. Come on. Let’s go back to bed, Freckles. It’s cold without you.”
“You see how beautiful she is? I need her more than I need fucking air.”
“You need to force people to be with you, but me and Kade? We have people who love us. We love each other. And you tried and failed to screw with that. Every time you ordered me into your bed, you thought you were breaking me. But up here…?” He taps his temple. “Stronger than ever. I’m going to be a father, and I’ll make sure I’m the best damn father that I can be.”
“Kiss me, Kade.”
“You make me feel alive, Stacey. I’ve been dead for such a long fucking time.”
I was a nervous eighteen-year-old who couldn’t stop obsessing over her. It seems nothing ever really changes because I’m still fucking obsessed. It feels like I’ve been in love with this girl since I was born. I don’t remember a time I didn’t feel this way about her.
I thought I’d lost everything, including my mind, yet here I am, smiling down at my girl, wondering what comes next.
Happy. I’m going to be fucking happy.
The devil trapped me, but I got myself out of her hold. She’s gone, and I’m fucking free.
No matter what I thought she did to break my trust, I was still in love with her. The fifth rule never existed. I’m even more in love with her now. My girl.
“Do you think I’d be a good dad, Aria?” Her brows rise as she stabs a chunk of steak and dips it into gravy. “Is Nikita pregnant?” “No,” he replies. “Your daughter is.”
“Who’s the dead one and who’s the one with her boyfriend in bed, waiting for more cuddles, and a life ahead of her?” Me. That girl is me. I have my entire life ahead of me, and I get to spend it with Kade Mitchell. I get to love and be with Kade Mitchell, and there’s nothing in our way.
“Maybe I need you. I always need you.”
“I always fucking need you,”
“Having a normal life with you was all I ever wanted, but I don’t have that luxury. I don’t have time. All I have are the memories with you, and they’ll keep me fucking going.
“I’m so sorry, Stacey. I’m sorry for everything. For not seeing what was happening at home, for leaving you, for taking so long to get away from Bernadette. If I could go back to being eighteen and carefree with you, I would.”
“I love you, Stacey. So fucking much. I love you. I’ll never stop.”
“So beautiful, even when you cry, my Freckles. You’re amazing, do you know that? I was lucky to have you for even a short space of time. There aren’t any threats left. No Chris, no Bernadette. You can dance and sing and live.”
It’s the strong connection between us. The love. The possessiveness of what we have. We’ve belonged to each other since we were fifteen, in a way.
“We don’t have time to debate this. It’s done. You’re going to kiss me, then you’re going to go to your brother and go live your life. You’re going to dance. You’re going to fall asleep next to the dogs every night, and you’re going to be there for my sister and my niece or nephew. You’re going to live, Stacey. Fucking live for me.”
“I can’t live without you.” “I love you. I’m so proud of you,” I say, my eyes burning as I hold her against me. “So, so fucking proud.”
“I’m going to wait for you,” she tells me. “I’d wait forever for you.” I nod and let the first tear fall. “Forever, Freckles.”
STACEY - 5 YEARS LATER
“Then I guess we’re both dying. Because there isn’t a life for me without you.”
“You’ll always be my girl,” he says.
“See you on the outside, Freckles.”
“You waited for me,” he says against my ear, kissing my temple. “I hope you’re ready for the rest of our lives, Freckles.”
“I love you,” I tell her. “I’m so proud of you. Thank you for giving me everything I’ve ever wanted. You. A son. A daughter. A life with you.”
Four hoops lower from the ceiling, and she leads the rest of the routine, and I can’t take my damn eyes off my wife. She’s breath-taking in every form.
Kade Mitchell and Stacey Rhodes – the fifteen-year-olds who met by the pool twenty years ago – finally get to have their forever.
