Epilogue

Emily

SEPTEMBER 19

ZAG AND JESSICA’S WEDDING

The wedding went off without a hitch. My cuts were on their way to healing, and the light cardigan I wore helped hide the worst of my injuries. I certainly wasn’t feeling a twinge of discomfort as I twirled around the dance floor.

Although the magic of Reb’s arms around me might’ve been to blame for my high. Or the three glasses of champagne I’d already had. What? This was a night to celebrate—Zag and Jessica tied the knot, I was alive, and Nicole got a promotion at work. Things were definitely looking up.

“What’s got you grinning so hard? Or do I even need to ask?” Reb whispered as he rubbed the proof of his arousal against me.

I laughed as I swatted him on the shoulder. “You cut that out. We’re in public, and there’s no way I’m leaving before they cut the cake. It looks yummy.”

“You just want to stick around and catch the bouquet.”

I couldn’t stop the snort of laughter that escaped. “No. God, I hope Jessica doesn’t do the lining-up-the-single-women thing. It’s so embarrassing.”

“Don’t you want to get married?”

“Yes. Eventually. One day. But I don’t get the whole spectacle of the bouquet toss. And we’re supposed to fight over a clutch of flowers? Ugh. Pass.”

“I guess that told me.” Reb’s hand brushed over his coat pocket, and my heart sank.

Oh God. Was he going to…Did I just ruin his whole proposal plan? My scalp prickled as my face heated. We’d only been dating for two months. I wasn’t ready for a proposal yet. Oh God. I didn’t know what to do or say. Should I accept? I couldn’t just humiliate him in front of all his friends, but I really wasn’t ready for that. I mean, we were barely, kinda, sorta living together. What was I going to do?

Just then, I felt a tug on my dress.

I pulled away from Reb and looked down at Tucker standing between us, and I had to smile. The kid was just too damn cute for words.

“Can I dance with you?”

Reb opened his mouth, but I jumped in before he could say anything.

“Sure.”

Reb raised his eyebrows. After a beat, he stepped away without a word. I took Tucker’s hand and let him do his interpretation of slow dancing, which mostly consisted of holding our arms in a large circle and occasionally spinning around. I had a blast. My cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much.

It was good to see Tucker laughing, too. He’d asked a few times where his mom was, and Reb had told him she was visiting family back east. But actually, we didn’t know. After she ran up the stairs at Joker’s house, she’d never been seen again. She hadn’t shown up for any of their scheduled custody exchanges with Tucker. Odder still, her car hadn’t turned up, either. So either she ran or Joker did something to her and got rid of her car, too. But he hadn’t fessed up, so we didn’t know where she was. Reb was loath to tell Tucker the grim truth, so for now he went with a gentle lie.

Reb also had a debt to settle with Michael and his family, since he hadn’t been the one stalking me these last couple months, after all. I wasn’t losing any sleep over it. After the hell Michael had put me through for so long, he’d been karmically due some pain. But apparently something else had happened at Michael’s house the night Joker and Rhonda had kidnapped me. Reb had been kinda light on the details—club business and all that. He’d tried to get ahold of the family over the past few days but so far hadn’t had any luck. It seemed like they’d all maybe moved to Texas or something.

My pale pink bridesmaid’s dress billowed out as Tucker twirled me around for the fifth time. I was starting to get dizzy, but the music blissfully came to an end. I curtsied to my partner as the DJ took the mic.

“We’d like to gather all the single ladies for the bouquet toss. Please, will all the single ladies come to the center of the dance floor.”

I froze and threw a panicked look Reb’s way. He just laughed as he shrugged. Bastard.

Tucker was oh so helpful, pushing me toward the center of the dance floor. “Come on, Emily. That’s you!”

Yay.

Soon I stood in a cluster of ten or so single women. I hung in the back with Nicole—who, like me, wore a pale pink bridesmaid dress and had her long hair twisted up in a complicated bun. Jessica had been adamant that we both have our hair up while hers was down. She’d gotten so high-strung the last week before the wedding, if she’d wanted us to wear poufy layers under our dresses we’d have agreed. Anything to get her to stop freaking out.

Nicole passed me her longneck bottle and I took a gulp of her beer. God, this had been an endless week. But we both survived.

I passed the bottle back to her and lamented as we watched Jessica take her position on top of a chair with her back to us. “I forgot to talk to Jessica about this farce. Why do brides still insist on having a bouquet toss? Do they love public humiliation or something?”

The crowd around us chanted. “Five…Four…”

“I tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn’t listen to me,” Nicole lamented before taking another pull on her beer.

“One!”

The three women in front of me dived out of the way like a grenade had been tossed onto the dance floor.

Wap.

The bouquet smacked me right in the face. I put my hands out reflexively and caught the clutch of roses.

Dammit.

I smiled bravely and held up the bouquet as the audience cheered.

Nicole smirked. “Better you than me.”

I gave her a one-finger salute behind my back as Reb appeared in front of me and took my hands.

Oh God. He really was going to ask me. Here. In front of everyone. Oh God.

My respite had ended. Now I had to figure out what I was going to say.

Reb bent toward me and kissed me hard. After a second I relaxed into his kiss as I forgot my nerves, the crowd, and, for a few seconds there, my own name. Soon Nicole cleared her throat loudly.

“Um, guys. That’s really hot and all, but you do know you’re still in public right? And we have some young eyes here?”

I pulled away with a gasp and batted Reb’s hand away from my breast. He chuckled at my glare, then grabbed Tucker by the hand and pulled him into our minicircle. My face flushed deeper at the knowledge that Tucker had seen us. Again. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to that.

“We have something we want to ask you.” Reb’s voice rumbled, making me turn my focus to him. “Tucker?”

Oh God.

Tucker blinked his beautiful blue eyes at me, and I melted.

“Emily? Would you move in with us?”

I sagged with relief as my laughter bubbled up. “Yes.” I looked down at Tucker as a huge grin swept my face. “Of course I will.”

“Yay!” He jumped in the air, then gave me a huge hug with his scrawny little arms.

Reb’s arms enveloped us as we shared a group hug in the middle of the dance floor. I gave Reb a wobbly smile.

“I thought—”

“I know.” Reb smiled back at me. “Neither one of us is ready for that yet. But we might as well make our living arrangements official.”

I had to laugh. He knew me so well. “God, I love you two.”

“Right back at ya, sunshine.” Reb kissed my forehead.

“Me, too!” Tucker smiled up at us.

My heart melted all over again. God, I was so lucky.

So lucky and so loved.