Epilogue
Beckett set the last tray of dip on the table before the doorbell rang.
“I got it,” Chris called from the other room. It was a cool November day in Virginia and they were expecting their friends to come over to see their place. They’d decided to get a small house in Virginia. It wasn’t where they would live most of the year. It just wasn’t feasible. Christian loved California and worked there. It made the most sense to spend the majority of their time in California since Beck could train there as well. Still, they’d wanted somewhere else that could be theirs. A place to go in the off season, for vacation, or just for much needed rest and relaxation and this seemed like the best spot.
He only had a year left on his contract and who knew what would happen after that? Maybe he would sign another one. Maybe he’d stop racing and take up training, which honestly was the most likely answer. He could help another kid who loved racing as much as he did. The only thing he did know was whatever he did, he would do it with Chris by his side. Nothing would ever come between them again.
Beckett looked over as Chris opened the door. On the small porch stood Landon, Rod, Drew, Justin, Nick and Bryce. Their friends.
“Hey, thanks for having us,” Landon told Chris as he walked inside, followed by a trail of men behind him. He was pretty sure they might be in the gayest town in Virginia and he fucking loved it.
“I brought some food.” Nick held up a pan, the light reflecting off the gold engagement band on his finger. Bryce had proposed to him a few weeks before. Landon had said it was pretty incredible. Beckett and Christian hadn’t been back yet so they’d missed it.
“Thanks.” Beckett walked over and took the dish from Nick. He wanted his ring on Christian’s hand as well, and it would be one day. There was no doubt about that. Right now they were just living, though. Enjoying life and loving each other. The rest would come.
“Am I going to see you tomorrow?” Drew asked Beckett.
“Absolutely.” He was going to teach Drew some of the workouts he used while training. The man was always looking for something new to do.
“Are you coming with him?” he asked Chris, who shook his head.
“No. I have a conference call with Quinn and I need to get some work done.” He was only working part time with Quinn at the moment but he was also able to do some other contracted work. The spare room was set up as an office so Chris could still work when he was away from LA.
Their lives would be hectic for a while, filled with a whole hell of a lot of traveling, but they’d make it work.
They had a great evening with their friends. Beckett couldn’t remember ever laughing as much as he did with this crew together. How could you not with Bryce and Rod in one place? They talked about Rod’s store which was thriving and Justin’s plans after graduation. Nick’s hopeful remodel of the restaurant, and an upcoming weekend spent with his nieces and nephews.
He realized the people in this room were all a family, and they’d invited him and Christian into it.
He was happier than he’d ever been. Despite how hectic their lives were, he was more stable than he’d ever been too.
This was the life he’d always wanted. He had his dream, yes, but he had more than that. He had a world outside of motocross, which was what he’d been lacking before he made the call that had brought Chris into his life again.
They had a good visit with their friends for a few hours, before everyone started packing up to head home.
He and Chris cleaned up and then headed to bed for the evening. The next day, he spent a few hours at the gym with Drew, before he stopped off at the store because Christian called him asking for eggnog. He hated the shit but he remembered back from when he and Chris were kids, he’d always drank it around this time of the year.
As he browsed the aisles for his spoiled boyfriend’s treat, he heard, “If it isn’t Beckett Monroe,” come from behind him. At first he froze up. It wasn’t often that he was recognized, but then the voice struck a chord with him from a day on a plane when his life had been so fucking up in the air.
“Margaret.” He turned to look at the older woman. He’d wondered about her more than once over the months. Had wished he’d gotten her phone number rather than just giving her his.
He’d wanted to check on her, wanted to make sure she was okay…but he’d also wanted her to know—“You fixed your broken heart,” she told him without Beckett having to say it.
“I did.”
“I saw it on the TV.” She smiled at him. “But even if I hadn’t, all it would have taken was one look at you to know it. Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” he told her, pulling her in for a hug. She returned it, her shaky arms going around him. “Do you live around here?” he asked her. “I wondered about you.”
She pulled away, a sadness in her eyes. “No. My Lizzy is buried in town, though. I come to see her often…the way I should have done when she was alive.”
He closed his eyes. He’d always wondered if that was the case. If she’d lost the woman she loved…if she had regrets the same way he used to have when it came to Chris.
“It was a long time ago. I married. Had kids. Lived a happy life. It’s hard to have regrets about her, when so many of the things I have now wouldn’t be in my life if I’d been able to keep her.”
He understood that. He didn’t know if his life would have been any different if he’d admitted to his family he loved Chris when he was eighteen. Maybe he wouldn’t have had his dreams come true. Maybe he would have. Or maybe he and Christian would have just accomplished different dreams together. All he knew was he felt damn lucky to have him now, and he wished there had been a way Margaret could have had everything she did now, and still have Lizzy.
“You can have everything in the world and still have a broken heart. You can still be happy and have your dreams but still wonder, What if…I’m glad you don’t have to wonder What if anymore, Beckett Monroe. I wasn’t brave enough to go for mine while Lizzy was still alive and now it’s too late. I’m doing my best to make it up to her now.”
He couldn’t help but pull her into another hug. He held her too long, too tight. When they parted, he invited her for dinner, but she declined. He asked her to please keep in touch, but he didn’t know if she would.
He thought about her the whole way back home to Christian. When he got there, he filled a glass of eggnog and took it to Chris in his office.
“What’s wrong?” Christian asked the second he laid eyes on him.
So he told him—told him about Margaret and their flight. How she told him to fix his broken heart and he had. He then told Christian about seeing her tonight, and about Lizzy.
As soon as he finished his story, Chris pushed to his feet and walked over to him. “You and that big, fucking heart of yours.” And then he kissed him. It was a slow kiss, full of love, of life, of possibilities and their future.
“I love you,” Beckett told him, so fucking thankful to have Chris in his life again.
“I love you too.”
“Hey…I always wanted to ask you, what was in that letter back then? The one you wrote when we were kids?”
Christian’s eyes darted away, and he actually looked embarrassed. “This…I just talked about this…having you. Being with you one day. Knowing you would always be mine. Wanting to spend my life with you. All that sappy shit.”
Beckett would never get tired of hearing things like that. “You’re stuck with me now. You’re never getting rid of me.”
“Don’t want to.” He nodded toward the door. “Come on. I kind of want to fuck you now.”
Beck couldn’t help but laugh. “What about your eggnog? I went all the way to the store to get it for you.”
Christian took a sip of the drink. “I know. Now it’s my turn to thank you for it.” He winked at Beckett and then it was Beckett dragging Christian to their room, and Beckett who worshiped Chris’s body, the way he planned to do every day for the rest of his life.
THE END