Page 91 of Eternally Devoted

“Who am I?” the man scoffs. “I’m Howard Cox’s brother.”

Howard Cox. The name bounces around in my brain until it falls comfortably in place.

“Number six. Two years and eleven months ago,” Juniper murmurs.

Howard’s brother’s eyes pinch at her response. He doesn't lunge or move, but keeps the knife pointed in her direction. “He came to the farmers market every week. And after he died, I had to clean out his house. Everything was normal except a smear of jam on the counter. My brother hated jam. Absolutely hated it. Hated how it got your hand all sticky if it got too high up on the knife. Hated the sweetness. He wasn’t a man who liked sweets. So imagine my surprise to learn he was eating jam the night he died.”

Little does this asshole know that his brother wasn’t eating it but using it on sex toys.

Juniper glances down at the jar of jam at her feet as I cautiously and very slowly slide my feet one by one, moving closer as inconspicuously as I can. I notice Dash doing the same.

“His autopsy came back. Said he was full of drugs. Fentanyl, to name one.” He narrows his gaze, emotion taking over as he waves the knife toward Juniper. “He was a drunk, but he didn’t do drugs. A boozehound, but by God, he never touched drugs. But now my brother is dead and all I know is he died consumingtwo things he didn’t touch. Jam and drugs.” He steps closer to her and Dash steps closer to him.

“I started to think, maybe that jam had drugs in it. Then I started to think, but who would put drugs in jam? Because that’s kinda fucking crazy.” He taps the side of his head with the tip of the knife. “Looked up all the vendors at the farmers market. Imagine my surprise to find out that Juniper Ellington has a jam stand, and sells the exact flavor that was smeared along my brother’s kitchen countertop. So I started calling your place, trying to figure out who all lived with you, who all may be involved.”

Carefully, I reach down to collect the massive jar of jam from the ground.

Juniper’s bottom lip trembles. “Howard was a bad, bad man. And if I could do it over again,” she says, her nostrils expanding with each painful truth, “I would.”

I raise the jar in the air as Dash garners Howard’s brother's attention by edging closer.

“I’m sorry I have to do this today of all days,” I say, making my move. Dash lunges back, taking the man’s focus, giving me room to move in another two steps, fast. With the jar in the air, I bring it down over his head once, the loud knock of glass against skull a noise I’ll never forget. He blinks, and I do it again, and again, and I hit him in the head with the solid jar until it shatters, until he’s lying in a pool of preserves and blood, sweat beading on my upper lip.

When the man stops twitching on the ground, Dash calmly turns and pulls the barn doors closed, slipping a piece of wood through the handles so no one can open them from the outside.

“He was a loose end,” Juniper says, matter-of-fact.

“It was necessary,” Dash adds, returning to my side.

Juniper pushes down the straps of her white dress, and lets it pool at her feet. In a white lace thong and nothing else, she padsacross the barn, pulling down one of Dolly’s biggest painting tarps.

“We’ll roll him up now and chip him tomorrow?” she says, fanning out the tarp as Dash takes the other side, helping her.

If this man wasn’t a threat to my family, he would still be here, and I suppose that is why I have no remorse. He was onto Juni, and we can’t have that.

The three of us roll the man in the tarp, and tuck him underneath the tractor’s counterweight. Standing over the body, Juniper reaches for my face, and pulls me in for a deep, tender kiss. She does the same to Dash and waits as he and I share our own kiss.

“This is the weirdest wedding kiss,” I say, chuckling. “But it’s… us.”

“Yeah,” Dash grins. “We’re… unique.”

Juniper takes our hands as she steps on Howard’s brother’s wrapped-up body, gaining a few inches so we’re all nearly eye to eye. “It’s the three of us until the end. We’re devoted.”

Her words echo through me. We’re devoted to one another. She’s so right and that’s all I’ve ever wanted. “Devoted,” I repeat.

“Eternally devoted,” Dash adds.

Eternally devoted. That is the best way to describe us.

The End

EXTENDED EPILOGUE

THAT IS THE BEST WAY TO DESCRIBE US.

Dash

“Viagra, so much Viagra.” Juniper beams, spreading jam over her tight tipped breasts. God she’s a fucking vision with her body nude, legs spread, splayed across our bed, just waiting to be fucked.

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