Page 112 of Break Me Not

We’re together.

We’re safe.

It’s over.

In reality, we still had some clean-up to do, but at least for now we could rest.

I pushed myself up onto my elbows and wiped the hair from her face.

“I’m sorry for everything again.”

She gave me a weak smile, and I leaned into her fingers as they traveled my face.

“I got you out of it, so it was more than worth it. And it would be a lie to say that I had no part in it. Remember, I’m the one who bought you.” With that, she sat up, surprising me. “What did you do with the money exactly?”

I gave her a smile.

“Paid off my debts and then, with what was left… Well, you’ll see soon.”

She raised a brow at me. “Keeping secrets?”

“I guess you’ll find a way to get them out of me somehow.” My thumb brushed over her lips. “I love you. I can’t say it enough. Will you still be mine forever?”

“As long as you’ll have me,” she said. “I love you too, Liz.”

This time, when our lips met, I couldn’t pull myself away from her. Not that I’d ever want to.

It might have taken me more than forty years to get here, but now there was no way I was letting anyone take my happiness away from me.

Never again.

Epilogue

Six months later

“Oh my, what a treat.” I murmured when I opened the blinds to my new bedroom and saw Jax right outside, sweaty and hard at work.

She was wearing a crop top and shorts with a backwards hat that I’d teased her about that morning. But I was eating my own words as I looked at her cleaning the pool as the sun shone down on her.

Behind her was the open sky, skyscrapers, and tall buildings. She looked positively radiant.

She turned to the side, her eyes catching mine.

Sending her a sly smile, I took a seat on the large, fluffy bed and shrugged off my green robe just a tiny bit.

She stopped, turning to face me completely, and, well, I made a show of running my hands up and down my body all while looking elsewhere.

The new room was everything I ever wanted. Deep wood with hand-painted accent walls, a chandelier I had searched high and low for, and a bed that hugged me just right when I slept.

And a lover who let me go crazy and fill our new apartment with everything and anything I saw fit.

I refused to move upstate. So instead, we bought the apartment of my dreams in a reasonable part of the city. I used the leftover money from the auction plus the money I got from him—part of the agreement for taking down that video was getting a lot of what I’d given him back.

We were close to both of our works. Close to Claire. And it was a very spacious three-bedroom apartment that was enough for us and a workspace. Jax was still trying to convince me to turn the extra room into some type of sex dungeon, but I was still not fully sold on the idea.

I undid the tie of my robe and bared myself to her. Enough so that she could see I wasn’t wearing anything, not enough to give it all away, but more than enough for her to disregard the task at hand and come to stand near the glass dividing us.

I got up, letting my robe open as I walked, and grabbed a toy from the dresser before sitting down with it.