Page 69 of Only Ever Yours
“I had to be sure he would stick to his word about dropping the charges. The only way I could do it was face-to-face.” I paused. “Sometimes, it’s the only thing he understands. I threatened to report him for stalking, and funnily enough, he agreed what you’d done was accidental, self-defence almost. He had nothing on you.”
Jase almost smirked, but I knew there was no malice in it. “After everything we went through to get to where we are now, I couldn’t let anything ruin it.” He shifted position and placed his palms on each of my cheeks. “Nothing comes between us ever again. Not your brother,not Felicity Andrews, and definitely not Gil.” He leaned forward, close enough to meet my lips, then paused. “In case I hadn’t made myself clear, I love you, Hollis Sutton, and no one will ever change that.”
I surrendered to his kiss, glad we had taken the risk and ended up here because I felt exactly the same way.
Epilogue
Three months later
“Do you want me to do an accent wall here?” I lifted my hands to form a frame and pointed them in the direction of the wall surrounding the fireplace.
Hollis straightened up from where she’d been unpacking boxes in the kitchen area of our new, open-plan apartment. She frowned. “Where did that idea come from?”
I cocked a brow at her. “You know, like the one you wanted in your bedroom back at the old house.”
Confusion clouded her gorgeous features until the lightbulb moment. “How on earth do you remember something like that?”
“I remember anything to do with your bedroom.” I smirked.
She balled up a piece of the newspaper that the mugs had been wrapped in and threw it at me. Deftly, I caught it and threw it back to her, hitting her square in the forehead.
“Ow! Do that again and I’ll have to tell Finn you’re bullying me.” The pout that formed on her lips twitched, and I knew she was joking. “And anyway, I’m not sure the landlord will want us to decorate.”
“Thank fuck for that because I’m still shit at wallpapering.” I moved across the living room towards Hollis. “Now, what else can we unpack?”
“Um, not a huge amount. We have some serious shopping to do.”
The modest stack of boxes we had brought with us barely held anything to fill the small, recently renovated apartment in a block of flats not far from the old house. Once Hollis and I had made things official with Finn and our friends, it became clear relatively quickly that living with Finn long-term wasn’t going to work. When we’d wanted to do couple-y things, we both felt bad that Finn had to go out or go to his room. Not that we’d ever asked him to; he did voluntarily. And even though Finn was my oldest and closest friend, I certainly didn’t feel comfortable being around him when inappropriate thoughts about what I wanted to do to his sister crept into my mind. We’d sat down with him again and agreed the best thing for us to do was find our own place. Hollis had initially had second thoughts about leaving the family home again, but once we’d found this place, knowing how close it was to Finn, she’d been fine.
The only problem was that we’d moved in pretty quickly and, for once, for Hollis, with very little forethought or planning. Which was why we currently had a couple of deckchairs and a box as our living room furniture.
“What do you think about a couple of recliners there?” I pointed to a space that faced the wall we’d likely put a television on.
Hollis put her hands on her hips and glared at me. “Recliners?”
“You know, the ones that when they go back, you can put your feet up.”
“I know what a recliner is, thank you. And we arenothaving them in our house. I’ve seen a really comfy big sofa.”
“Big enough to…you know…” I winked at her.
“You’re incorrigible.” The corners of her mouth tipped up in a smile.
“What? I meantrecline.” Catching her around the waist, I pulled her towards me and placed a kiss on her lips, the fact that I didn’t have to hide it any longer making it all the more enjoyable. “Whatever you want, Princess. Although I’m not sure we’ll get it in time for the housewarming party tomorrow.”
Hollis drew back, looking up at me. “That’s why I told everyone to bring their own chairs.”
I thought she had been joking, but when I answered the door to Finn the following evening, he had a blow-up beach chair under his arm.
“Found it under the stairs. No idea if it will inflate, but I thought we could have fun trying.” Finn shoved another bag towards me. “Plus, some food for tonight. Hollis messaged me earlier to pick up a few bits she’d forgotten.”
I glanced over to the counter where Hollis had spread out all the food we had already bought: pizzas, salads, and other picnic snacks. “Remind me how many people are coming?” I called to her where she was fussing with arranging paper plates and cups.
She stuck her tongue out at me as she came over to take the bag from Finn. “Thank you, much appreciated.” She nudged me with her shoulder. “You’ll enjoy the leftovers.”
Ushering Finn into the living room, I watched him look around.
“This is a nice place, you two,” he said. “Perfect for starting out.”
