Page 179 of Lessons In Grey
They were alive.
Grey’s eyes filled with tears as he inhaled, his breathing shaky and struggled. “Deep breath, Snowflake, we’ve risen out of the dark,” he said, his voice ever steady.
I inhaled sharply, the world blurring around me, my hand flying to my mouth. “What the fuck?” I breathed out.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little black box, flipping it open to reveal a beautiful silver ring with a Asscher cut diamond placed in the center of it.
Tears dripped from my eyes as he swallowed. “In a world full of raining stars, you’re the one I wished on,” he said, his eyes glassing over. “You’re who I have faith in. You’re who I trust. You’re who I love. My euphoria. I know you hate endings, so I’ll promise you something better. A brand-new beginning. Us, all of time and space, what do you say?”
My hands shook, my body shook, snot and tears mixed across my skin and all I could see, all I could focus on, was the fact that he was alive.
Grey was alive.
I released a breath and nodded, the entire world opening up before me. “Yes.”
Epilogue
Emily
November 30th, 2022
Ihissed as the tattoo artist began, the pain different than the pain I had endured while training with Grey.
Grey threaded his hand through my right one as I turned to him, trying to remain relaxed. “People enjoy this?”
He chuckled, squeezing my hand. “All the time. It’ll get easier, I promise.”
Hopefully, because I had a list of things I wanted to cover my body this was just the beginning.
“Are you sure it’ll be enough time for her to heal before the wedding?” Jeremy asked, looking through the magazine from a chair away. “I mean three weeks? You’re cutting it really close.”
Worry filled me as Grey shot Jeremy a glare and turned back to me, his eyes softening. “It’ll be fine.”
“Yeah,” Ash agreed from the next booth over. “It’ll be fine. It’ll be bright and absolutely perfect!”
Syn beamed, agreeing with her. “It’s theperfect time to get married. It only dulls with time, especially the red, so going three weeks afterwards was good timing on your part.”
I smiled, relieved at her reassurances. “What are you getting again?” I asked Ash.
She was laying on her stomach, her back exposed to the artist as he worked. “Spine tat. Syn’s favorite flower, which is a daffodil.”
Syn grinned, shining with love. “She says I always have her back, she wanted to get something to represent that.”
God, they were amazing. They had gotten their own place, a little house on the outskirts of the city with a yard and a dog, just like they had wanted. Their wedding was small and beautiful. They had invited everyone, including Malachi and the rest of The Family.
Azrael never showed, but I did get the chance to meet the other brothers, along with their sisters, and Rae, who called me to talk every day.
She was amazing. Beautiful inside and out, and so incredibly strong. I wish I had called her far sooner, but my fear of her rejection had gotten in the way. I couldn’t imagine a life without her now. Without any of them.
My publishing company,Sinners Publishing, which primarily focused on dark romance and dark fantasy, was up and running successfully. I even had an investor, Azrael, which shocked me more than anything else had this past year.
Our wedding was set for December 19th, and after that? I didn’t know. All I knew for sure was that I had a real family now. A father, brothers, sisters. Jeremy and I went for coffee on the weekends, and we had family dinners at either the loft or Ash’s new house on Sunday nights. Whoever wasn’t out on dangerous missions or working.
Grey was right, I had to live a life Charlie would be proud of. She had lost all those years, but that didn’t mean I didn’t deserve them.
The tattoo artist painted‘Halfway out of the dark’into my arm and I couldn’t help but smile as I found Grey’s beautiful hazel eyes.
He lifted my hand and kissed my palm gently. When the artist was done tattooing this rose, he would put another tattoo on my body. Right where Grey kissed me. An ‘X’ in the center of my right palm to remind me that even when he was far away, he still existed in this world.
