Page 70 of Unconditional

Epilogue

Misely- Six Months Later; Oregon

Thecomedownafteran orgasm from Talon never failed to surprise me with how utterly remarkable it felt.In fact, it served to be almost the opposite of a comedown, but more like a comeup.The second my breathing regulated again, I felt like I could climb on top of him again and start over.

If it hadn’t been for my best friend banging on the bedroom door only moments before, I probably would have done just that.Our skin was sticky with sweat, the sheets beneath our tangled bodies damp with it.The sound of Talon’s heart pounded against my ear while I rested on his chest, enjoying the way his fingers skimmed down the curve of my side and over my ass before trailing back up again.

Talon still wasn’t much of a cuddler, but in these moments it was as though neither of us could stand the idea of separating.There were no awkward words of encouragement, hoping the other got the hint and left.There was no rushing off or hurried goodbyes like I’d allowed myself to grow used to in the past.

Just utter contentment.Talon was my person and I was his.Things had been far from perfect, and we argued.A lot.Like when he told me my parents had never been in anyrealdanger—oh man, did we argue.And our personalities clashed.A lot.And old hurts and traumas shook things up.A lot.But somehow, we managed to climb the cliffs as they emerged, finding each other on the other side of them.My definition of ‘unconditional’ changed, a lot.

Because even when he was an insufferable prick, I found him charming.And when I was being an argumentative bitch, Talon found me endearing.And when we came together it was like a chemical reaction bursting through my skin and my heart and my mind.It made me want to use silly little phrases like ‘meant to be’ again.Made me let myself think about my dreams again.And for that I knew I would love him forever, unconditionally.He allowed me the room to be imperfectly myself and I provided the same for him.

I pressed a kiss to his chest, unable to help myself.“I love you,” I murmured, my lips stretching into a smile on his skin.Moving lower, I kissed just below where his heart rate was already increasing again, trailing my way down to his hips.

Looking up, I caught his grin, beautiful and full as his hand went up to tangle in my knotted hair.“I love you too.”My smile grew, happiness warming me to my very soul.I reached down and grabbed him at the base of his cock, reveling in the way those gorgeous brown eyes rolled into the back of his skull at the contact.

Mine.I pulled him into my mouth, focusing on the tip.Glorying in his shuddered breath.Mine.Sucking him deeper until his length hit the back of my throat, and then pulling myself off.Mine.Again, I swallowed his length, thrilling at the burn of his grip on my hair.

“Yours.”I must’ve spoken out loud on the last breath, because his whispered groan answered and I whimpered.I felt him grow thicker in my mouth, pre-cum salty on my tongue.Close, so close,so so close.

BANG!BANG!BANG!

“You guys can fuck each other’s brains outaftermy wedding!It is official, Misely!You are the worst maid-of-honor ever!”

I lifted up off Talon’s cock right at the crest of his impending orgasm, my mouth making a distinctpopsound at the loss of contact.The man glared at me furiously, his eyes darting from his still leaking erection to where I stood smirking devilishly.

“Finish what you started,” He ordered, pointing.Instead, I stuck my tongue out at him, twisting to launch myself off the bed.

I was not fast enough.Talon lunged, catching me around my middle and flattening me to the bed beneath him.“Thesecondthis wedding is over, you’re going to pay for this Blondie.”He ground his hips downward, thrusting himself between my thighs and sliding his length along the sensitive flesh of my clit.My moan was punctuated by an echoing slap of Talon’s palm to my ass as he lifted off me, shooting me a new glare paired with a devious curl of his lips.

Mine.

Birdie’s wedding was so perfectly hers.It was small, quiet, and discreet tucked away in the forest that was her backyard.Sure, an overzealous rooster decided his voice was more important than the witness-protection-approved officiant’s.Twice.And for a hot second there, there was significant worry that the ceremony might be done in the rain.

But nonetheless, the sun came out, shimmering beautifully through the branches of massive evergreens and illuminating the bride and groom.Talon stood behind his brother in a simple black suit, the only color the pale yellow tie Milo had chosen for the men to honor Birdie’s brother Nick.Birdie had cried, of course.Which made me cry, of course.

Only to cry all the more when Birdie’s mother and stepfather pulled up in a rental, and none other than John Mitchell stepped out of the back seat.Milo’s former boss and landlord from Wisconsin had grown on Birdie and me in such a big way in the months leading up to our departure from the state.From the emotional reaction of Milo, two things were made obvious—he hadn’t known John was coming, and it meant more than any of us could possibly understand that he had been able to be there for this huge moment in his life.

The crying amplified by one more when Milo revealed that he’d named his bar—Nina’s—after John’s daughter, who had passed away long before any of us had met him.I wasn’t surprised.Milo and Birdie were probably the most sentimental people I’d ever met, of course they would find a way to bring John and their old life here with them in some beautiful way.

With all the most important people to them in attendance, Birdie and Milo were officially married, and there wasn’t a dry eye in sight.I watched with a full heart as my best friend’s dreams came true, feeling the full weight of another’s eyes onme.I turned to meet them, my smile unstoppable as I caught the pure affection in Talon’s eyes.

For all the doubts I’d held only a handful of months ago, there were none now.My future was right in front of me, and if the way he was looking at me right now was any indicator, he wasn’t going anywhere.

fifty-one

Extended Epilogue

Talon- Milo's Wedding; Oregon

Itwashardtofocus on the wedding when Misely was right there, looking radiant in her silky pale yellow bridesmaid dress.As happy as I was for Milo and the woman he just made my sister, I only had eyes for the leggy blonde that stood only a few feet away.Still, I heard the officiant as he spoke of forever, to have and to hold, for richer or poorer.To cherish.To love without reason.And it all applied.She wasit;she was everything.That first week we’d spent together hadn’t been enough, and neither had the last six months.

Fuck Kyle and Bri and anyone else who thought they had a say in what I did with my future.Unless they were Misely Fisher, I simply didn’t care.Because all I could think about was the day that this would be us.I already knew how I was going to ask and when.It’d be soon, now that the dust was beginning to settle and we were falling into the comfort of trust.Real, genuine trust and loyalty to a family we’d created ourselves.

I already knew what she’d want too, despite her flair for the extravagant.A quiet little wedding, even if it were just the two of us—though I suspected she’d need Birdie there, and maybe even Suzie and Patti.And I’d vow my life to her to do with as she wished, and hope and prayed she’d vow the same to me.I’d give her my last name and we’d spend every day for the rest of our lives making MacArthur into somethinggoodafter all these years spent wearing it like a shackle.

And what could anyone do about it now?Kyle was in prison, and likely to stay there a very long time after the combined testimony from myself and Milo.Kenna had been furious about her life being uprooted, but she’d complied when witness protection agents explained in detail everything that had led up to this moment.She trusted that this was in their best interest, whether they liked it or not, and knew now more than she ever had before that I’d only ever wanted to do right by the boy we’d made together.It had been determined to be in the best interest of all parties that I didn’t know where they were placed, but I knew they were safe, far out of the line of sight of Kyle and anyone he was or ever had been involved with.An agent acted as a third party liaison on my behalf, delivering the monthly payments I still insisted on making to Kenna for Leo’s care.

Leaving us all free tolive.And love.

I’d spent all my life hiding from it, too afraid to let myself have it if it was just going to be taken away.Too afraid to give up the careful control I’d curated over my own pathetic existence.And in the least suspected place I’d found someone to hand it over to anyway.For the first time since I got the news that our parents were gone, I was no longer resigned to living each day like a series of things I didn’t really want to do being checked off.Real happiness was in my grasp, right in front of me.My future, myeverything, was standing right there in that sinfully tight dress, and I wouldn’t be letting her go for anything.