I went willingly, happy to show him just what my teeth could do.
EPILOGUE
Two years later
Iwatched Rod, his face gone slack in slumber. The lines of age smoothed out until I saw a little of the boy I had fallen for all those years ago. Puffs of air curled around me with each rise and fall of his chest, and I fought back the shivers, not wanting to wake him. The darkness was only punctuated by a sliver of moonlight, giving me enough cover to be free to indulge.
My lips parted slightly as I traced my thumb around the curve of his cheek. It was a motion I often enjoyed when he was sacked out after a twelve-hour shift and dead to the world. Those were the nights I got to indulge in drinking my fill of him and letting myself think about how I had gotten so lucky.
“You two are disgustingly happy.” Cameran often remarked that with a wide grin on her face that was always echoed by Julie. The two of them had taken to calling themselves matchmakers whenever they were within hearing distance of a conversation where people asked how Rod and I met.
It would be fucking annoying if it weren’t true.
Disgustingly happy was exactly what I was from the moment I gave in. It had taken a little longer for me to move in when Rod eventually asked, but it hadn’t changed even while we worked to blend our two lives into one. And I knew I would continue making people gag on my joy even more when I started planning.
The ring on my finger was a warm, comforting weight, the brush of the answering one on Rod’s as his hand pressed against my side even more so. Something soft and terribly fond bloomed in my chest and spread through my limbs. Where I once might have fought the feeling, denying it with all the strength in me, now I reveled in it. The feeling warmed me, and slowly, I realized this was something new I had never had before.
This was bliss.
