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“I’m not a murderer,” I whispered, my hand rubbing at the bandage over my chest.
“That’s what you said that night, too,” he told me, his hand smoothing up and down my calf over my jeans. “I don’t know how you didn’t pull that trigger. I still want to kill him for what he did to you.”
“But it wouldn’t change anything,” I said, rolling my lip between my teeth. “Kenny would still be gone, and we’d still be here, right? Or worse, I’d be in prison for shooting an unarmed man.”
“I wouldn’t have let that happen,” Griffin said firmly.
“You might have been the Prince of Detroit,” I teased him. “But you don’t decide what’s law in an actual courtroom.”
“Whatever. You didn’t kill him and he’s cooling his heels in a federal prison, where he’ll stay for the rest of his life.” Griffin’s eyes narrowed as he raked his gaze over my face. “You need to take your pill.”
“Not yet,” I insisted. “Help me get my shirt off.”
“I don’t think you’re in any fit state for that,” he argued.
“I’m not getting frisky,” I snapped, rolling my eyes. “I want to look at my chest.”
He got up and walked over to me, tugging gently on my shirt and lifting it over my head. Then he peeled the gauze off my pec. I stared down at the mass of stitches.
“Did he do it on purpose?” I asked softly, raising my hand to touch the incision, but stopping just short of actually doing it.
“Do what?” Griffin asked.
“He shot me in my brand,” I whispered.
“I don’t think so,” Griffin said. “But when you went into surgery, I asked them to remove it.”
“Thank you.” I felt tears welling in my eyes, and I didn’t bother trying to hide them. He’d been there for me. Through all of this. He’d come for me in that warehouse. He loved me. He could see me cry. “We’re really free?”
“We’re really free,” he promised me. “And if you don’t want to be with me anymore, I totally understand. We can get the arrangement amended any time you want.”
“I don’t want you to go anywhere,” I said, reaching up to swipe a tear off of my cheek. “I want you here.”
“In your normal house?” he teased.
“With my normal fence and my normal husband and my cat.” I agreed.
“I think it’s time to take your pill,” he said firmly. “You’re starting to become delusional.”
“Fine, no cat,” I grumbled. “But Griffin…” I trailed off, grabbing his hand and tracing my fingers over his. “I don’t not want to marry you, either.” I looked back up at him, dropping the last vestiges of the mask I’d worn for so long. Letting everything fall away that wasn’t truly and wholly me. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he said, his face lighting up as he grinned at me. He leaned forward and kissed me gently, then pulled away and shook two pills out of the bottle he’d set next to me. “Take these. We can work everything out when you’re better.”
I swallowed the pills and let him help me to bed. I’d expected him to leave once he had me settled, but instead he climbed up next to me and wrapped an arm over my waist.
“You’ll never get rid of me now,” he warned, pressing a kiss to my neck.
“I should hope not,” I said, my voice slurring as the drugs started to take effect. “You’re my real family.”
I knew that things weren’t going to be easy. Eventually I’d have to actually mourn the death of my best friend. Mourn the loss of the life I’d built and subsequently destroyed back in Detroit. And I’d have to learn to live as a normal person. Something I couldn’t even remember doing before.
But none of that mattered right then. Because I had my normal house and my white picket fence and my normal not-quite husband in our normal bed.
And for just a moment, I let myself believe that everything was going to be okay from then on.
Epilogue
~Matt~
