“Take care of her,” Marcus told him, not holding back on the warning in his tone.
“Thank you,” Maddox said, to which Marcus raised a brow. Sensing his confusion, Maddox elaborated. “You kept her from falling apart when I fucked up.”
“Almost stole her away from you too,” Marcus joked. Despite the truth in his words, the humor wasn’t lost on me. Maddox took no offense, which I was grateful for. Even more grateful when he suggested that Marcus stick around for a bit, for at least until he’s had the chance to buy him a beer.
EPILOGUE
Eight Months Later…
My bare feet padded across the hardwood floor of our townhouse and I clambered over the back of the couch to fall into Maddox’s lap.
“Is it on yet?” I hissed, afraid that speaking too loudly would ruin the show before it could begin. Maddox hooked an arm around me and settled more comfortably on the couch.
“Nope. You’re just in time.”
I relaxed against him and grabbed the phone to call Marcus. When it rang, it did so just outside the door.
I looked at Maddox and he shrugged. The bastard was guilty. I was on my feet in an instant, swinging the door open to greet my best friend.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said and winked at Maddox over my shoulder.
“You know, as your best friend, I’d expect that we’d be the ones communicating.”
Marcus laughed at that. “Your husband extended an invitation. I took it.”
“My husband is trying to steal you is what he’s doing.”
“On that note,” Marcus said and turned toward the door once more. “I have a surprise for you, Maddox.”
Tammy peeked her head in and my jaw just about hit the floor.
“Seriously?” Maddox said, peeling himself off the couch. He looked just as shocked as I did. But there was no denying the perfection in all this.
Tammy looped her arm through Marcus’ and smiled. “We’re taking things slow,” she said.
“Slowly keeping secrets,” Maddox cut in and leaned forward to hug his best friend.
Not long after, we were all settled on the sofa. I reached forward and picked up the remote to turn up the volume on the television. Tonight, was the season finale of First Comes Love and I was so tense I could scream. After the Baggage Reveal, Pete and Phee had been the only contestants left. Which was fine with the producers. Just as the first half of the year had been to bring them together, the second half was dedicated to pulling them a part. In the last episode, not only had Pete finally met Phee’s daughter, Phee had agreed to hear her baby daddy out and the episode had ended with Phee walking into his room and closing the door.
“You think she-?”
“She doesn’t have it in her.” I assured him.
Maddox snickered. “Ten bucks says she has something in her.”
I elbowed him only to immediately hush him as the theme song of First Comes Love came blasting from the surround sound speakers. Since it was the finale, clips of the season’s previous episodes created a montage of memories.
“Ah.” I patted the side of Maddox’s face. “Look how cute you were.”
“Were?” I could hear the challenge in his voice and I shrugged.
“Sorry babe. You’ve put on a few pounds since the show ended. Not sure if it’s something medical or if you’re happy just letting yourself go.”
He jerked me beneath him with a growl and I cackled, apathetic about the finale now that I had 250 pounds of solid muscle at my fingertips. In the lamplight, the diamond on my finger glinted.
After the divorce was finalized Maddox was all too happy to exchange my generic ring for something more sentimental. The small silver band with its diamond inlay used to belong to his grandmother. It had embarrassed me at first because we’d needed to get the band resized to fit my finger but according to Maddox the woman had been a hobbit and the ring would have needed resizing for literally anyone besides the cast of Lord of The Rings.
Maddox had kept his word and we were planning a wedding for next spring. We were renting a modest townhome until we could find a house in Colorado near the tattoo parlor. We’d decided to stay not just for his business but because it was time Maddox and I put down roots.
Once we were settled, Maddox would travel to see his father a few times a month to learn the ins and outs of his future estate while I remained behind and ran the tattoo parlor. It turned out that Maddox had been right. Technically he’d fulfilled his half of the bargain and after all three of us sat down to talk after the end of the show, his dad agreed that despite the divorce he could see that Maddox had changed. At least in all the ways that counted.
The show had done its part by bringing us together and helping us realize just how much we mattered to one another, but Maddox and I both liked having agency over our relationship. I didn’t want someone maneuvering my happiness from the shadows as if I were a chess piece, something to be sacrificed at the drop of a hat for the sake of profit.
Now there was just us, no invisible presence manipulating our needs and wants. I’d never forget what the show had done for me. Not only had it brought me to Maddox, the therapy I’d received there helped me overcome mental blocks that had been haunting me for as long as I could remember. But I’d found true friendship in Marcus and Tammy. A family, of sorts, if you will.
I didn’t shy away from challenges like I used to. Instead, I welcomed them. I was my own woman and my past was something that had helped shaped me, but it no longer had the power to define me.
Once the show came to an end, Marcus and Tammy went on their way. Dinner plans being the excuse to not stick around for longer, though they’d both be in town for a few more days.
As soon as they were out the door, Maddox was peeling off my clothes one piece at a time and gazing down at me as if I’d hung the moon, the stars, and the sun itself.
Once I was naked, I wrapped my legs around his waist and urged him closer, gasping as he slipped inside of me with a surge of strength. I angled my hips for better access, meeting each thrust eagerly and crying out each time the head of his cock struck that sweet bundle of nerves over and over again. I would never get enough of this, of us and as we moved together I couldn’t help but think about the road that had led us here. First came marriage, then came love, then divorce inexplicably made an appearance. A right turn, a pit stop, and then love again. Bigger, stronger, deeper, than ever before. As long as we kept moving forward, marriage would one day come again but, in the meantime, we were working on the baby.
The childhood poem had clearly skipped several important stanzas and I would have laughed if I wasn’t already mid-orgasm.
If being on the show had taught me anything it was that there was no one way to love. No one path. It wasn’t a recipe you could whip up if only you had all the right ingredients. I used to think that if I were only skinner, or prettier, or smarter that love would come easily, that it would be as ingrained in my life as the air I breathed and the food I ate.
But I’d been wrong.
It turned out that the women I’d once envied were no more deserving of happiness than I was. For Maddox and I, love was something that came without warning and stayed despite the odds. It was something I’d been searching for my entire life and had only been able to find once I was willing to let it go.
Now, no matter where this road we were on took us, I knew that with Maddox by my side love would, forever and always, come first.
THE END
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