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I nodded, my cheek brushing his.
Miranda and Anthony were still engaged in a war of words when we left the Westons’ house and made our way back to Blake’s Prius.
As soon as we climbed in the car, Blake’s hands were on me, pulling me closer as his mouth crashed down on mine and his tongue plunged into my mouth, swirling with my own.
As his lips moved against my own, I still had questions.
There were still things that I needed to know, to understand, but this—the kiss—was everything.
It was a dedication to our past, an acknowledgment of our present, and a promise to our future.
Our future.
When I was a teenager, I laid out in No Man’s Land under the sky and fell in love with a messy-haired boy wearing ripped jeans and dirty Chucks.
Seven years later, things were different.
We were different.
But one thing had survived our story—the thing that defined it.
Our love.
EPILOGUE
Blake
Age 24
“How are you feeling?” I glanced over at Penny from my seat and smiled.
“Okay, I think. I mean, it’s all happening fast, and I’m a little scared about going there again, especially in court. But it’s time he was brought to justice.” She turned her head and pressed it to the cool glass as my stomach knotted.
So much had happened in seven months. Penny and I had moved in together. A nice little apartment in Grandview Heights. Of course, Uncle Anthony wasn’t pleased about it, but I wasn’t going to let him dictate everything in my life, including where we lived.
If he wanted to keep me in his life, he had to accept that I wanted to live by my own rules.
Part of me was pissed that it had taken revealing the true extent of what we suffered at the hands of Derek and Marie to make him understand why our relationship wasn’t just a silly little crush he took it for. But I couldn’t knock everything he’d done since.
“Why?” I waited until my aunt’s and Penny’s voices were far enough away.
I didn’t want Penny to hear any of this conversation.
This was between the man standing in front of me and me.
My uncle resumed his spot by the window, looking out over the yard. “You’re engaged, Blake. The wedding is planned. Brittany lov—”
“Don’t.” I hissed. “Don’t you dare use her feelings for me as an excuse for the stunt you pulled.” I started pacing back and forth. “Love has no place in business arrangements, isn’t that what you’ve been telling me for the last four years? Love is a fool’s game?”
“Blake—” Anthony turned to face me, but I cut him dead.
“No. I am done listening to you. I have sacrificed my soul to keep you happy. Played my role as the dutiful nephew for too long. I told you I didn’t want to marry Brittany. I told you I didn’t love her. You promised me she knew it was a business arrangement. Was that all a lie too? Were you secretly hoping I would finally fall in love with her?
“She threatened Penny. Twice. Did you know that? Did you put her up to that?” I stared at the man who had searched for my mother most of my life. He had never stopped looking for his sister, and I didn’t doubt that in a different time, love had guided Anthony Weston.
Family.
But losing Mom to a criminal like Jake Bellmont had changed him.
