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"Matias, stay with me," I insisted as I fell to my knees and cradled him against my chest. The position was awkward because his hands were still tied behind his back. As the blood on his shirt continued to make it more red than white, panic began to take over. "Matias, open your eyes," I practically yelled when he dared to close them for a moment.
"No yelling, sweetheart," Matias murmured as his head lolled against my chest. "Gun burst my eardrum, I think."
The fact that he was talking to me had me crying in relief. I managed a wet laugh as I said, "It kind of put a hole in you too."
"Matias! Matias!" Cruz called. A moment later, he was there at our side. Someone had cut his hands and feet loose. I was glad to see that he wasn't seriously injured.
"No yelling," Matias growled, sounding much more like himself.
"Fuck," Cruz responded, his voice mixed with relief and fear. He quickly ripped Matias’s shirt as another man cut the zip ties. I heard someone calling Ronan's name, but it wasn't until the man who I'd learned was a surgeon appeared at Matias's side that I took in a breath. "Looks like a flesh wound, right?" Cruz asked Ronan.
Ronan examined the wound on Matias’s side for several long seconds and then finally nodded. "He'll need stitches but expect him to be his charming self in no time."
I let out a cry of relief as I dropped my head to Matias’s. I was sure I heard him say something in protest to Ronan about his attitude, but I didn't care what it was. I began to sob uncontrollably as the adrenaline rush consumed me.
"Hey, hey," Matias said gently as one bloodied hand came up to cradle the back of my neck. "It's over, sweetheart. It's finally over."
I shook my head and carefully pressed a kiss to his mouth. I smiled when he eagerly kissed me back.
"Not over, Matias," I said softly. "It's only just beginning."
Epilogue
Matias
FOUR MONTHS LATER
"Jesus fucking Christ!" Sam shouted when I stepped from the shadows along the fence line. I found myself smiling despite the string of curses that continued to fall from his lips.
"I figured you were pulling a Steve Martin," I said.
"A what?" Sam asked.
"You know, that part from the movie we watched the other night where the guy spent the whole reception keeping himself busy so he wouldn't have to watch his daughter leave with her new husband?"
Sam crossed his arms, a sure sign I was in trouble.
Good. That was exactly why I'd followed my man outside. I'd heard that weddings made some people crazy, but this particular one was having a pretty harrowing effect on my guy. I couldn't really blame him, of course, because anyone who watched their oldest get married would likely be just as emotional. Hell, as Cruz and Elliot had said their vows to one another, I’d found myself tearing up. It had caused me to actually shirk my duties as best man when it had come time to hand Cruz the ring he’d gotten Elliot.
Ryan had done a much better job in his role as best man to his big brother.
Sam had managed to hold it together through most of the ceremony, but when Elliot and Cruz had kissed, he’d been a goner and as soon as I'd had the chance, I’d hurried to where Sam had been sitting so I could draw him into my arms and remind him that Cruz and Elliot would only be a few houses down from us and that we would see them more often now that they were married than we had when they’d still been dating.
He'd assured me they were happy tears, and I’d believed him, but I'd also known that it was hard for him to say goodbye to that part of his life… the one he’d shared with the other man who still held a piece of his heart.
While Mac hadn't been able to be there in person to watch his son get married, he'd been there in spirit. It had been Cruz’s idea to have a huge picture of Mac just a handful of feet from where the two men said their vows. I'd helped Sam pick out the picture when he'd finally found the strength to go into the attic and pull out all of the pictures of Mac that he'd hidden away years earlier when he hadn't been ready to say goodbye. I'd loved getting to know both Mac and Sam through all the stories Sam shared of the man who'd never officially gotten to call Sam his husband, but whose ring Sam still wore around his neck. I hadn't pressed Sam to take the ring off his finger. That had been his decision. But when he'd asked me if it would bother me if he wore the ring around his neck on a chain, I'd responded by being the one who'd fastened that chain for him.
