“You’re our woman now,” I heard Andre whisper huskily. “You can’t ever leave. We’ve hiddenbodiestogether…”
I would’ve laughed if it weren’t so absurdly, crazily true. Instead I gasped in pure exultation; as new lips found mine.
“And we’re yours,” the whisper went on, softly. My heart, ready to burst, never felt so amazingly full.
“Forever.”
EPILOGUE
JOCELYN
“SIR!”
The cashier cried out in a New England accent, nearly spilling her coffee in the rush to put it down. I couldn’t blame her. The crash on the other side of the store was catastrophic.
“Oh my God… are you alright?”
Her voice was bitter, rather than concerned. She rushed over, slipping through the narrow aisles with practiced ease. Near the entrance, a man stood amongst the glittering remnants of a hundred shattered shot glasses.
Damn, it was almost beautiful.
“I’m s—so sorry,” he stammered. “I guess I just turned too fast, and then—”
CRASH!
The cashier jumped again as an even louder noise diverted her attention. Near the front of the store, not far from where she’d just been enjoying her coffee, an entire display of ceramic ornaments had fallen from the cash wrap. These broke into even more pieces, skittering across the floor like tiny white flakes of utter ruin.
“WHAT WAS THAT?”
She sprinted over, just as another man leapt from the little shop’s back room. His face was confusion and fear. He had no idea what was happening.
“SIR!” he cried. “Did you just—”
“Sorry, sorry!” a second large man apologized. “I’m so clumsy.”
“Sorry!?” the cashier gasped. She stopped short of the mess and clutched her face with both hands.
“Yes. Very sorry.”
“Y—You’re going to have to pay for this!” she cried. “This is crazy! This is too much to—”
I stepped out from behind the postcard rack, where I’d witnessed the whole thing. I almost considered knocking it over as well, for good measure.
“Hello, Ashley.”
My ex-business partner froze instantly in surprise and shock. It was a payday moment. Watching the blood drain from her freckled face was worth every last mile it took to get here.
“How’s business?”
Ka-boom!
Another crash erupted out of nowhere, in another part of the store. Ashley so desperately wanted to turn her head to look, I could see it in her eyes. But those crazy green eyes were already prisoners of my own.
“J—Jocelyn!”
My other business partner — and her fiancé — slid quickly to her side. Upon seeing my face however, Jeremy’s heart dropped into his feet.
“Shit.”