EPILOGUE
LUX
I emerge from the campervan sweaty and flustered, a lingering smell of sex following.
Poised on the edge of the cliff, I look over the ocean, conditions ripe. “Mavericks,” I mutter, a tear rolling down my cheek as I think about Dad. I can’t believe I’m here again, but this time it’s not with sadness, but hope.
Deacon comes up behind me, hands around my waist, his cock still hard against the small of my back. “Where’s your wetsuit?”
I turn around and kiss him, pressing my tongue deep into his mouth before breaking away. “I’m not coming out today.”
He looks surprised, nodding down at the water. “Come on. It’s pumping out there, perfect conditions for Mavericks, and that’s saying something. This is once-in-a-lifetime stuff.”
I roll my eyes. “I’ve heard that before.” I reach into my pocket and take out a white, plastic stick with two vertical lines showing. “But you know what? So is this.”
He looks at it for a moment before he starts to register. “Holy shit. Is that…?”
I nod.
“Are we?”
I love the way he said ‘we,’ like we’re a team in this, a partnership. I nod again, the smile on my face growing because I want this more than anything, to bring a child into this world with his man.
He’s shaking his head, smiling, looking down at my belly like a baby will emerge from it at any moment. “Boy or girl?”
Men. “Now, now, it’s early days.”
“I can’t believe it.” He holds me away and spins me around until I beg him to stop.
“I’m a little queasy, sorry.”
He holds me straight. “Right, right.”
He looks around, shaking his head. “Holy fuck, I’m going to be a dad. We are going to be parents, our own little grommet… Razor! Bo!”
The two brothers emerge around the side of the camper with boards underarm.
“Baby, wait…” I’m telling him, but he’s too excited.
“I’m going to be a dad,” he announces. “Lux is pregnant.”
I roll my eyes. Cat’s out of the bag now.
They come over one by one, hugging me but not with the same gusto as normal, as if by becoming pregnant I’m suddenly to be handled like a Faberge egg.
Bo beams at me. His limp is all but gone, the remaining scar coming out whenever he gets a chance, especially around female company. “I’m going to be the most kick-ass uncle the world has ever seen. Uncle Bo.”
Razor shoves him. “Fuck that. It’s all about Uncle Razor, the cool uncle.”
Bo shoves him back. “No, man. I am the cool uncle.”
Deacon cuts between them. “Can you two asshats give it a break?”
He turns and stands on the edge of the cliff line, cupping his hands and bellowing into the distance “My wife is pregnant! I’m the happiest guy in the world!”
I’m shaking my head, other people who’ve come to watch the surf clap down the line, whooping like they did that fateful day at the Bluff.
Deacon reaches down and picks up his board. He looks exactly like he did the day we first met, the first time he brought me back to life. “We doing this?” he asks the others.
I place my hand on his chest. “You be careful out there now.” I look down at my belly, imagining the bump that will soon be there. “We want you back in one piece.”
He cups my cheek, liquid eyes glinting. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He shouts and hollers as he bounds away, the other two running after him, Bo winking as he passes me. I watch them head down to the water. The swell’s massive, but it’s clean. Deacon’s right. These are once-in-a-lifetime conditions just like Tasmania. The boys were famous after that, Bo’s run-in with the great white only added to the notoriety.
Back in the States, I expected more bikers to come, but they never did. The entire lot of them was wiped out when a rival club set off a fertilizer bomb at their annual convention. People said it was the cartels, but who knows? The money’s gone and they know it. If any of them did survive, they’ve got bigger trouble than a couple of surfers. Still, we’re ready for anything. We have to be, especially now with the Hunt family about to grow.
A guy walks over. He’s wearing board shorts and a plain white tee, head shaved. His eyes are bottle green, like Deacon’s. He stands next to me and watches the set roll in. He nods down to the three brothers making their way to the beach. “Your boy?”
“My boys,” I correct. “Sometimes I do feel like a bit of a mother to the three of them. I’m sorry, do I…”
He shakes his head, holding out his hand. “Sorry. Kelly.”
I shake it. “Lux.”
I look at him again. Holy shit. It could well be Kelly Slater, but I don’t want to embarrass the poor guy by asking.
“They’ve got real skills,” he continues. “I saw what they were doing over in Australia. Balls of steel.”
“Do you surf?” I question.
“A little,” he smiles. “They must keep you busy, no?”
I shake my head. “You have no idea.”
“You were out there too, yeah? Charging that wave, the Californian girl?”
I nod. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”
Kelly smiles with approval. “Some of the best surfing I’ve seen, and I’ve seen my fair share.”
I tilt my head down towards the water. “You’re not going out today?”
“We’ll see. I wouldn’t want to show your boys up, though.”
I laugh. “They love competition.”
“And what about you?” he asks.
My hands close around my belly. I’m still wrapping my head around the idea there’s a new life in there, a boy or girl about to shake up our entire world. “I think I’ll sit this one out.”
Kelly smiles. “Fair enough. Nice to meet you, Lux.”
“You too.”
He drifts away and I look again. It has to be. The boys are going to be so psyched when I tell them.
I look to the sky. “What do you think, Dad? Not bad, huh.”
There’s no ray of sunlight, no parting of the clouds, but still I know he’d be proud of me, of us.
I watch the three boys paddling into the break and my heart swells. I’m not worried. I’m excited. There’s a new beginning coming and I’m running towards it with open arms.
*
There’s a gentle sea-breeze coming in from the balcony, gauzy curtains floating like apparitions inside.
I try to recover my breath as Deacon rises from the hot space between my legs.
“You okay?” he says, face a portrait of concern.
I place a hand over my chest, the other over my fast ballooning bump. “We’ll be fine.”
He rolls up and climbs up the bed beside me, draws my face towards him with a solitary finger under my chin. I thought the whole pregnancy thing might turn him off, but he can’t seem to get enough of me lately, and I’m horny, like seriously, three-times-a-day horny. I guess it’s a good thing I chose a guy with stamina to spend my life with.
He kisses me, soft, a hint of my desire on his lips, the echoes of it continuing to ripple through my body.
He breaks away and slides down my side, places an ear to my belly. “You in there, little buddy?”
He gets a kick to the head for his trouble. “Damn, he’s a fighter, isn’t he?”
I roll my eyes. “There you go with the whole ‘he’ thing again.”
He prods my belly gently. “I’m telling you, I can feel it. The kid’s hung like a horse, just like his daddy.”
More eye-rolling, but I can’t stop smiling. It seems like the corners of my mouth are lifted twenty-four seven these days.
I push Deacon onto his back and, with a modicum of effort, manage to swing myself up and straddle him. I reach down and tug at his cock, lightly pull and stroke until it’s hard again. “Hung like a horse, you say?”
He moans. “That’s right.”
I lift myself up and press him into my folds, sinking down until I’ve swallowed him completely, his hands reaching to cup my breasts. “I suppose it is above average.”
He rolls a nipple between his thumb and forefinger, a snap of sensation running down to my clit. “I thought girls didn’t care about size?”
I smile down at him, place one hand above his heart to feel it beating firm and strong against it. “Only the size of this.”
“It’s beating for you, baby, for our family.”
Our family—It’s such a strange concept, but I couldn’t be happier. We’ve got a great place here in California. True, Razor and Bo are living next door—Deacon couldn’t bring himself to let them live any further away—but I don’t mind. They will make great uncles.
And as for Deacon? My love, my world. He was born to be a father. I know it with all my being. He’s even been working on a mini surfboard in the garage, can’t wait to get our little one into the water.
I pant and lift back up, dropping down to take him once more.
“God, I love you,” he pants.
“I love you,” I reply in turn, knowing with complete certainly that although the waves of change will continue to come, I’ve finally found my true direction.
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