by Sam Crescent
Now, it was time to move on again. King’s Ridge cemetery was to his left where Carla was buried. It had been some time since he’d been here. The last time, he’d ended up talking to Taylor, and he’d not come back since.
Picking up a single white rose, he climbed out of the car and made his way to where she was buried.
Staring at her name, Easton didn’t feel the pain or the guilt.
“Hey, Carla, it’s me. It’s the fucked-up boyfriend. I don’t know if you can hear me, but I wanted to say sorry for so many things. You shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t be dead. In fact, you should be arguing with Taylor right now, or maybe even doing your hair, or any of the list of things you wanted to do. I thought, for a short time, I loved you. In a way, I did, but it wasn’t the love you wanted or needed. This was the kind of love of two friends finding something more, and I’m sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t enough. I will always regret what I did to you. What I did to all of us. If I could take it back, I would.”
“You can’t take it back.”.
Easton turned to see Taylor with an entire bouquet of flowers.
“Hello, Taylor,” he said. For the first time, he didn’t flinch at her words or the glare she was firing at him.
“You shouldn’t be here. You have no right.”
“I have every right. You can hate me all you want to, Taylor. It’s not going to change the fact I’m happy.”
“She’s dead because of you.”
“Maybe, but I didn’t hurt her. I never hurt her. You seem to be under this impression that you and Carla were tight. You had the whole best friend thing.”
“And? What is your point?”
“If you were such good friends, why didn’t she tell you we were together?”
“You told her not to.”
Easton laughed. “I know best friends, and when they want to, they tell each other all of their secrets. Carla and I were together a lot longer than you think. I enjoyed being in her company, but what she loved was the secrecy. She liked having a life that didn’t revolve around her friend.”
“She can’t even defend herself.”
“And I can’t defend myself to a fucking woman who refuses to listen. I didn’t kill Carla. I never wanted to. I was more than willing to do the right thing.”
“But you’ve found your happiness, haven’t you? You’ve got a son and a whole new family, and you get to live your life while she doesn’t.” Tears fell from Taylor’s eyes. “She will never get to hold my little girl, or know what it means to fall in love, or have any of those things, and I can’t handle it.” Taylor dropped the bouquet of flowers, and he realized, Taylor wasn’t angry with him. She was angry with herself, and with it, she was guilty. That’s what she felt, guilt.
Sinking to his knees, he wrapped his arms around her. “She wouldn’t want this.”
“She would have wanted to live.” Taylor sobbed. “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t keep coming here.”
“Axton doesn’t know you’re here?” Easton pulled away to stare at her.
“No, he doesn’t. I’m fucking that up just as I do everything else. He’s talking about a break if I don’t get my shit together. I can’t help it. I feel so guilty all the time. When I look at my little girl and Axton, I’m so happy, and in the back of my mind, I know she’ll never have that.”
“We’ve got to let her go. I know Carla, and she wouldn’t want us to be hurting for her. Think about it. Carla would want us both to live and to have a life that meant her death didn’t hold us back.”
Taylor nodded. “Yes, she would.” She laughed. “I can see her now, angry with me.”
“Pointing that finger that she loved doing whenever she got angry.”
Taylor nodded. “She always pointed her finger and glared at me. Always told me to live my life how I wanted. I’ve spent so much time angry and hating myself for not knowing the truth. I heard about your dad.”
“Don’t for a second tell me you’re sorry he’s dead.”
“I’m not. He was a monster, and he deserved what he got. I’m sorry you’re related to him. I’m sorry for all the pain I’ve caused you. I’m really glad you didn’t die,” she said. “Your head.”
“Yeah, I’m glad too. I get to be with my son.”
Taylor nodded. “I can’t promise you this isn’t going to be easy. I’ve had my anger for so long it seems a part of me.”
Easton took her hand, and they laid their flowers on her grave. “This is going to be the last time I come here. I need to make a clean break, and I think you should as well. Carla doesn’t want this. We both know that. You should talk to Axton. I hate to hear of you two fighting, and I know it’s killing him as well. I’ve seen the way he is at the office, and he’s worried about you.”
“I know. I fucked up. I’ll make it right.”
They left the cemetery together. He saw her car parked a little behind his.
“You didn’t ram my car?”
“No. I didn’t want Axton to know I’m here. I’m going to tell him though. I owe him that.” Taylor was still crying.
“I’m not going to let you drive home like this, Taylor.” He held her hand.
“I’ve got to. My car.”
“I’ll have it towed back or I’ll drive Axton back, but regardless of if you can stand me or not, I’m not going to let you kill yourself.”
He pulled her toward his car, opening the passenger side and helping her in.
“I don’t want to be too much trouble.”
“You won’t be. Believe me, I’d like the company.”
“I’m not very good company.”
“Then we can both be miserable together, but I’m not going to abandon you. We’ve allowed this distance to build between us when it doesn’t need to be there.” He started up the car, and turned the car around, leaving King’s Ridge behind and going straight home.
For the first couple of minutes, Taylor was silent.
“Thank you,” she said, finally speaking up.
He glanced over to her.
“What?” he asked.
“For not abandoning me, and for not throwing everything in my face. You’re a good man, Easton, and I’ve been the worst bitch in the world.”
Easton laughed. “Apology accepted. We can move on. I know it’s what we all want. I don’t expect this to be easy, but we’ll make it work.”
Just like he, Liam, and Scar were making it work, and he also had another plan as well. Today had been about closing off the past and moving onto the future.
For him, his future was with two people he loved more than anything else and his son.
He dropped Taylor off at the office and went straight back to his home.
Parking the car, he stared up at the house.
This was his home.
Climbing out of his car, he made his way inside and found Liam, Scar, and Junior in the sitting room. They were playing a board game, and he leaned against the doorframe, and watched them.
This was his family.
“I need to go pee,” Junior said. “Dad! You’re back.” His son hugged him tightly, and Easton felt at home. This was his life.
“I am, and I’m staying. Can I play as well?”
“Yes, yes. I’ll be back. Got to pee.”
“Language,” Scar said.
“Let Dad play.” Junior rushed off, and Easton looked at Liam and Scar.
“You okay?” Liam asked.
“I want to stay,” Easton said. “I don’t want to be anywhere else but with the two of you. I love both of you, and I want to have this life with you all.”
Scar stood up, and Liam looked shocked. He stood as well.
Easton stayed perfectly still, not moving, watching them.
“You love me?” Liam asked.
“Yes. I know I don’t want this with anyone else. I’m willing to give it a shot, if you’ll have me. I fucked up all those years ago, Scar. I won’t fuck up again. I promise you.” Tears filled his eyes, and he st
epped away from the doorframe.
He stepped in front of both of them, reaching out, grabbing both of their hands. “I will never do anything to hurt what we’ve got. I love you both and I want to share you and to be shared. Please say you’ll have me.” He’d never begged for anything in his life, not since his father showed him begging wasn’t going to get him anything. Sinking to his knees, he pressed his head between them.
Easton felt their hands on him, running fingers through his hair.
“You belong to us,” Liam said. “I’m not giving you up, Easton. We’re your family now, and if I could, I’d bind you to us in marriage.”
“I would gladly marry you.”
“Then how about we start a family?” Scar said. “I want to have another baby, and this time, we can all be together. I know Junior wants a brother or sister.”
“You want our children?” Easton asked, looking up at her. He couldn’t believe this was happening.
This was more than he could have ever hoped for.
Scar sank down to her knees as did Liam.
“We finally found each other. It wasn’t right before, but now it’s perfect,” she said. “This is our life, and I will love you and Liam for the rest of my life.”
She kissed his lips before Liam did.
Cupping both of their faces, Easton knew he’d finally come home. His broken world was no longer shattered. He was finally whole, and he wasn’t ever going to fuck it up again.
Epilogue
Five years later
Liam sat in the yard, watching as his wife, his husband, and his children all ran around. Easton and Scarlett were laughing so hard, and he couldn’t help but smile as he watched them.
They were crazy as they shot each other with water guns.
“You’re too cool to join in?” Liam asked, looking toward Junior.
“I need to finish up this paper.” Junior looked toward the group.
He was sixteen years old, going on seventeen, but Liam recognized the yearning in the young man’s face.
“Go, your paper can wait. I know you’ll get it done. You need to have fun as well.”
Junior closed his folder, lidded his pen, and rushed off to join in the water fight.
Axton, Karson, and Romeo would be joining them all soon.
It was a family picnic in his home, but it was also a celebration.
He, Easton, and Scarlett had taken their vows on this very day. Easton’s friends knew of the momentous day as Easton wanted them present.
Liam had made them all sign non-disclosure agreements before they were allowed near them. He’d been fighting for his happiness all of his adult life, and he wasn’t going to allow three young boys to spoil it for him.
When he met Scarlett, he had no idea she would have such an impact on his life. Slowly, month by month, year by year, he’d fallen for her, and she had brought him Easton. He had no doubt if it wasn’t for Scarlett, Easton wouldn’t be in his life.
Liam didn’t care.
This was his family.
Scarlett broke out from the fight and rushed toward his side. She threw herself into his arms, and he wrapped her up in his arms.
In the past five years she’d given birth to two more children, and after seeing the test in the trash today, he knew she was going to give them a third. The family he had always wanted. It didn’t matter to him who had fathered them. They were equally his and Easton’s.
“Hello, beautiful,” he said.
“Hey, you.” She kissed his lips, and he groaned.
“You’ve got to take it easy.” He put his hand on her stomach so she knew he was aware of her condition.
“What?” Easton asked, startling them as he approached.
Scarlett went bright red. She took Easton’s hand and placed it over her stomach. “I was waiting for the right moment to tell you, I’m pregnant. I took the test this morning. We’re going to have another baby.”
“Another baby?” Easton pulled her in close, and Liam wrapped his arms around both of them.
Their family knew they were all together. For Junior, he’d been happy to have two dads.
Against all the odds, it had gone smoothly for him. Liam was always prepared for any potential backlash. To the outside world, they were the best of friends, making the most of their situation.
Behind closed doors, the truth was there for the three of them.
“Yes. Are you happy?”
“Happy? I’m fucking ecstatic. I want us all to have a big family. There are a lot of bedrooms for us to fill, and I want us to fill every single one of them.”
The broken man had been healed, and Liam watched this man thrive. All he’d needed was patience, love, and stability.
Surrounded by his family, Liam knew he’d made the right choice in not destroying the Four Kings. He could have done so easily.
After all, they all had skeletons in their closet, and one day soon, someone was going to fall. Liam would catch Easton; he would protect him.
The love he had for Easton and Scarlett wasn’t fleeting. This was the kind that lasted a lifetime, and he intended to make every single moment with them count.
The End
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BONUS SAMPLE CHAPTER
THE INITIATION
Darkness Within Duet, 1
Sam Crescemt
Copyright © 2019
Sample Chapter
One year ago
“I don’t want you causing trouble,” her father, Ian Miller, said as he pulled up outside of his mansion.
Harper stared up at the large, pristine-looking house that fit in on the streets of Stonewall. One look and instantly she knew she was in the wealthy side of town. The nice side. The place everyone wanted to be and those that were there were happy to make others feel small.
She held her bag in her fist.
Of course, there would only be the best for his new wife, the twenty-something blonde he’d left her mother for years ago.
“I’ve never caused trouble,” she said.
She hadn’t.
Anyone who spoke of Harper Miller always talked about her being a good girl. A nice girl. The kind of person who was nice to everyone, sweet, kind, generous. Her mother had taught her to be nice.
“There’s enough badness in the world, Harper. The least you can do is be a reason for someone to smile.”
She adored her mother. Even after the divorce, her mother found a reason to keep on smiling.
That had all been a lie.
She stared out of the window as she recalled the tub, soaked with her mother’s blood, the water spilling over the edge.
For a few seconds once she saw her mother’s dead body, she didn’t react. There was no fear. No pain. Just … shock.
She couldn’t register what she’d seen, what was right there in front of her.
None of it made sense.
Then reality set in.
Her mother had slit her wrists in the bathtub while Harper had been at school.
Harper didn’t know if she did it first thing in the morning, the moment she left, or just before she arrived. She hadn’t taken too long to get home. She never did.
Unlike her father, Catherine Miller had been poor, and the divorce had kept her poor.
Up until this moment, Harper had lived with her mother, opting to stay on the wrong side of the tracks rather than go up in the world.
Her father’s new wife had already had a baby, and th
ey were a perfectly happy family. With her raven hair, Harper wouldn’t fit in. She had her mother’s hair, her mother’s blue eyes, and she hated her father.
“Yes, of course. Sorry. I guess we should grab your stuff.”
By stuff, he meant the few bags of clothing he’d allowed her to take.
“I’ll get Hannah to take you shopping. She loves to shop, and there’s no expense. You can buy what you want.”
She wanted her mother’s old furniture, but she wasn’t allowed that. He’d tossed it aside as if it was nothing.
Pulling the bag onto her shoulder, she climbed out of the car, staring up at the house.
This was her life for the next year until she went to college, if she even got into one. Hannah appeared in the doorway. The perfect little blonde wife.
“It’s so good to see you, Harper. So happy to have you here.”
Before she could stop her, Hannah had her arms wrapped around her. Staying still, Harper counted to ten, then to twenty.
Could it get any more awkward?
Finally, her stepmother let her go.
She couldn’t even believe she called her a stepmother. The woman that ruined her parents’ marriage didn’t deserve to be anything.
Staring at her, Harper didn’t let her feelings show. She waited as Hannah grabbed her hand, and either ignored the blatant lack of response or didn’t care.
“We’ve got you the perfect room. You’re going to love it.”
She was dragged up two flights of stairs. The house they lived in was way too big for three people. Four now if she counted herself.
She had to count herself.
There was nowhere else for her to go, and when she suggested a rented apartment so she didn’t impose on his life, her father refused.
Hannah opened the door at the end of the long corridor.
Pink. Everywhere. Also teddy bears with unicorns and other shit.
