Page 130 of Prince of Pain

Saying goodbye to him was hard because I needed more time, but he promised to visit us in a month or two when we were allowed visitors in rehab. He dropped a kiss on my cheek, cupping my chin to force my eyes to his as he stood.

“You’re going to do great things one day, babe. I believe in you.”

“I’ll see you soon?” I was delaying him leaving, I knew that, but my throat went tight at the thought of not seeing him again.

What if he decided while I was gone that it was better?

Would I have anyone left other than Ryder when I got back?

He gave me a knowing smile, starting to walk backwards towards the door. “Soon. I’ll come and visit. I promise.”

The only thing that stopped me calling him back was that Mom returned at the same time with my coffee in hand, making me forget all about my fears for five more minutes.

“Everything okay?” she asked as she sat back in the chair beside me, handing me my coffee.

I smiled, actually believing my words for once as I spoke. “Yeah, Mom. Everything’s fine.”

I wasn’t sure what the next few months would bring, but I was going to be okay.

Probably not for a while, but eventually.

My phone buzzed with a text, and I checked it to see a photo of Ryder in front of the rehab clinic.

Ryder: See you soon, baby. I’ll talk to you when you get here. I love you.

I quickly replied, never getting tired of telling him I loved him.

I never thought I’d be excited to go to rehab, but I’d be counting down the days until I got to see the man who saved me in more ways than one.

That day would be the first day of the beginning of my new life, and I couldn’t fucking wait.

Epilogue

Ryder

Two Months Later

The first month in this place was always the hardest. I thought for sure by the second week that Tempest was going to break out of here.

It had been difficult to watch, but she’d done it.

She’d managed to push through and was turning into a whole different person.

Her eyes were brighter, and her face was a little rounder, her acrylic nails were gone, and her hair needed bleaching again, but she was fucking perfect.

Mason had started visiting from the second we were allowed to have visitors, and I was grateful that he seemed to be working towards forgiving her too.

Watching her find herself again was beautiful in a way that I couldn’t describe properly.

Tempest rediscovered her favorite things from when she was younger, like snacks and TV shows. She’d spent hours binging Netflix in our downtime, obviously dragging me to the couch with her, and it was nice to just curl up together and relax.

The first month had been an issue for Onlyfans, but now that we were allowed our phones back, we had the cameras rolling again.

Well, the quality wasn’t as good because it was just on the phone camera and we couldn’t edit it properly without the laptop, but we kept pushing content and growing our following.

We were doing pretty well if you asked me.

I smiled, eyeing Tempest from across the yard as she sat at a table under a tree with her family. She was still struggling to trust them, but their visits were positive, which was all that mattered.

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