epilogue

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU...YOU'RE SO SPECIAL TO ME . Regardless of the fact that we don't know each other in real life, I appreciate every single one of you readers (yes, you, who's squinting at your phone and usually turns down the brightness when you read my stories!) I luh you, mami (or papi. who knows?) Happy reading.

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"I've told a million lies but now I tell a single truth: There's you in everything I do" – Imagine Dragons, I Bet My Life

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Two years, seven months, two weeks and five days later (but who the fuсk's counting?)

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JAKE

If this is what heaven is, I hope I'm dead.

I couldn't hear the music.

It had to be loud. I mean, the five-piece band was playing something, judging by how most of the guests were moving their heads as if in time to the music.

There was a white noise in my eardrums and if it weren't for the slight breeze outside whipping my hair about, making the summer heat slightly bearable, I would have been sweating fuсking waterfalls.

The truth? The truth was that I was nervous as fuсk.

But it didn't matter because once I saw her? Yeah. I knew that everything was going to be just fine.

She walked down the aisle with wobbly steps, her white dress such a contrast to the dark, curly hair framing her face, and if it wasn't for the older boy whose arm was linked with hers, she probably would've fallen. Instead of a little basket, she had a pocket that lined the waist of her dress, and every few minutes, she reached inside and scooped up a tiny handful of purple petals to scatter down the aisle. A pocket full of posies.

I felt a smile tug at my lips. My smile was probably just as huge as hers.

"Pretty, Daddy!" she squealed, flinging petals at my boots and laughing.

I hunkered down low and scooped her up, balancing her on my hip, pressing a kiss onto her head. "Pretty, baby," I agreed, allowing her to toss another handful of purple shіt over my head this time.

She laughed excitably, big gray eyes full of joy at seeing the petals cling to her daddy's hair. And I let her laugh. She had the best laugh. It got rid of the white noise in my ears.

The music changed abruptly. A new tune started. The Wedding March — that was what it was called, right? Hell if I knew. All I did know was that that was her cue. We'd gone over it in rehearsal. This song was branded in my memory. Hell, I'd hummed it before going to bed alone last night while Maya slept at Kira's.

I felt Baron's hand on my shoulder, squeezing. That one gesture told me that he was happy for me.

"You're one lucky Ford," he remarked from my right side. I heard Ghost and Sin, who stood beside him, grunt their agreement.

"Don't I know it," I murmured, transfixed, and even Lila was motionless in my arms now, silently watching the woman in white glide down the aisle.

Luke was giving her away, and I had to admit that as far as male friends went, he was good people. Maya loved him, and that was good enough for me. He was family now.

"Is it me, or is this aisle as long as the fuсking Mississippi?" I muttered, and even over the music, I could hear the priest let out a shocked gasp.

Ears like a hound, this old man.

I heard Baron laugh. "The woman kept you waiting for two whole years, bro. Shouldn't you have mastered patience by now?"

I didn't pay him the attention he so obviously needed.

Yeah, Maya had kept me waiting, but she'd been right to do it. As impulsive as I was, proposing like that — when she was still so fragile, so hurt — just hadn't been the right move. We'd had a lot of shіt to deal with in the aftermath of what had happened with the McNallys, and one huge problem was Sebastian's body turning up weeks later in some rancid hotel the next town over. The idiot hadn't had the first clue about where to score good dope and whatever useless shіt he'd shot up his arm had killed him. Maya had taken it badly, and it had been just another setback in her recovery.

Aside from that, she'd desperately needed a non-sexual relationship to get through all of it. Like the head doctor — who was actually sitting in the third row of white chairs — had said: A healthy relationship isn't just built on the enticing foundation of sex.

I had to agree.

Yes. I, Jake "the Ripper" Ford, could agree (with a straight face) that there were some things in life that were better than sex.

Holding my woman after a half-a-season marathon of The Blacklist on the couch? That was one. (And yeah, for the record, I finally get all the hype.)

Seeing her face light up at the first taste of whatever I cook her? That was another.

Welcoming our first baby into this world? That was the best.

See, Maya and I — we do things in reverse.

Have a baby long before we're married.

Fall in love with each other before we're actually together.

And I wouldn't have it any other fuсking way.

"Hey," she said, finally standing right before me. Luke melted away to his seat in the front.

"Babe," I said, my voice hoarse, "you look...beautiful."

The smile she gifted me with made my chest ache. "Thanks. You're beautiful, too."

"Am I?"

"Just gorgeous."

"And me?" Lila wanted to know, pulling at my beard. Facial hair fascinated her. I'd learned this the hard way.

I leaned in to peck her little nose, making her giggle. "You're my Lila Bear, the prettiest bear of them all."

The priest cleared his throat loudly. If he hadn't been a man of the cloth — and if I didn't need him to make this official — I would've told him to drink some cold medicine and shut the fuсk up.

But here we were.

I turned slightly and handed Lila to Baron, who was only too happy to hold his only niece. The guy practically squealed along with her.

"Dearly beloved..." the priest began.

I tuned him out. I tuned him out because honestly? I was struck dumb by my soon-to-be-wife's total fuсking beauty. The dress she wore was simple enough — she hadn't wanted to break the bank on this — but it was strapless and she had a huge pair of tits I was almost just as deeply in love with. Glitter even lined her cleavage. This woman... She knew how to tease.

Her wild curls were pulled up into a neat bun, exposing her neck — and no amount of make-up or jewelry could hide the pink marks my mouth had put on her yesterday morning. But the best part? The best part was the leather vest she was wearing over her gown. The black, sleeveless thing had her name across the back in blood-red — SILVER — and the large Phantoms' patch beneath it.

Made my fuсking life.

My woman outshone everything — the huge back garden on clubhouse land decorated with flowers and ribbons and other shіt she'd liked and chosen; her bridesmaids, Kira, Iris and Moira... Hell, even the goddamned ball of heat in the sky.

In that moment, I knew I was lucky. Blessed. After over two years of holding off on me, our engagement was finally coming to a long-awaited end.

But there was a frown on her face.

"Jake!" she hissed, tilting her head toward Father Whatever.

I blinked, realizing that everyone was looking at me expectantly. Shіt. "Huh?"

There went that priest again, clearing his fuсking throat in that way that could really start to annoy me. "Do you, Jacob Ford, take Maya Fenton to be your wedded wife? To love and to —"

"Hell, yeah," I cut in, not wanting to waste a second more. There were chuckles from our guests as Kira handed Maya the ring for her to slide onto my finger.

Maya shook her head, a smile creeping up onto her face. I flexed my hand while she continued to hold onto it. This ring — it was just gold. Meaningless in a shop window. But on my finger? It showed everyone that I belonged to this woman right here. And it was never coming off.

The priest recovered quickly, asking Maya the exact same thing — only, she let him actually finish.

"I do," she replied when he was done, and I let out a loud breath, slipping her ring onto her ring finger.

Mine. Always.

"I love you, Maya Ford," I whispered, so that only she could hear me.

"Right back'atcha, Ripper," she told me with a playful wink that brought the biggest smile to my face.

I put my hands on either side of her face and, closing my eyes, kiss her. Beneath my lips, hers parted and when my tongue slid inside, I tasted...pineapple.

"Pineapple juice?" I asked, after kissing her too hard, too long, ignoring the sound of raucous whooping and clapping from in front of us.

"For old times' sake," she said, breathless, her hands fisting my leather vest. My woman loved her pineapple juice – Patrón or no Patrón.

Her red lipstick — blood-red like her fingernails — was smudged. It was probably all over my mouth. I fuckіng loved that.

"I can't wait to taste that pineapple again," I said softly, my lips brushing her pierced earlobe, "when I'm down there tonight."

"Seriously? You're so bad, Mr. Ford." But she was blushing.

I couldn't wait to get her alone, but our guests had other ideas. We had to be introduced as Mr. and Mrs. Ford, greet everybody and thank them for pitching up, pose for pictures with the entire bridal party, and then head back into the clubhouse for the reception upstairs.

Maya was stolen from me the instant we went inside, but I didn't mind too much. Her aunt and uncle only wanted to congratulate her, plus her cousins, Will and Danika, were there, too. Leaning against one wall like a guest at my own party, I watched the joy play across my wife's stunning face as she hugged her family members in turn. They'd flown out from South Africa for this, days earlier, and I was so goddamned thankful that they'd done that. It made my wife happy, and I was all about that. Forever.

Imagine Dragons was playing from the speakers — I Bet My Life — and the place was crowded with Phantoms, Bloody Marys, and other guests dancing and drinking. Lila was dancing with Daisy, her favorite babysitter, stumbling and laughing in the clumsily cute way that toddlers do. She was a miniature version of her mother, thank God, and hardly even looked like me.

"Hey, Mr. Fenton," a teasing voice came from beside me.

"Fuсk you, Baron," I muttered, despite the smile that was threatening to split my face in half.

"That's what your wife's for," he countered with a laugh.

My eyes returned to my wife, who was in the middle of a conversation with Aimee, and our eyes locked. She winked at me. And holy shіt, I was gonna fuсk her brains out when we got even a minute alone together.

"Got something for you," Baron was saying, and I had to force my eyes away from Maya.

"What?"

He was holding out an envelope. I swallowed a lump in my throat when I recognized our mother's overly girlish handwriting. My name was written on the white envelope and I eagerly tore it open, pulling out the folded letter inside.

"Mom?" I asked Baron, although I knew.

"Yeah."

"What's this?" another voice said.

I hadn't noticed Maya approaching me, but here she was, eyeing the letter curiously.

"From my mom," I told her, handing it to her before putting an arm around the back of her waist.

"It was in the envelope I got after she died," Baron explained.

"Oh. I posted her letter to you in Paris, remember?" Maya said to him. "Why did she put another letter in there with yours? Especially one meant for Jake?"

Baron laughed softly. "You know how theatrical Mom was. Always one for showmanship. She wrote that I should give it to you on your wedding day. I've held onto this thing for nearly six years now, so the least you can do is read it out loud and put me out of my misery."

Maya handed the paper back to me. "You read it, babe."

I sighed. "Do I have to?"

"Yes," she said, smiling at me, nearly eye level in her heels. She took my free hand in hers and placed it over her rounding belly. "We love the sound of your voice."

How in the hell could I say no to that?

Jacob,

If you're reading this, it means you finally got your head out your ass and got rid of that dreadful, dreadful Capricorn boy (they just don't have a good aura, those Capricorns).

It means you respected my dying wish and took extra good care of my guardian angel.

It means Maya Fenton made an honest man out of you and that your ma always knows best (but you should've known that by now).

Jacob, I've always been so proud of you. Proud of how strong and loyal and intelligent you are (even though sometimes, you don't think you are). I've always prayed for only good things to come your way – and maybe all along, I was praying for you to find a wife who doesn't ride hard or die, or think that leather skirts are the newest thing since breast implants (like that racy young thing, Katy Perry. I don't like that girl, you know).

I love you, Jacob. You have gotten your shіt together.

I hope you name one of my grandbabies after me. It's the least you can do.

Love, Mom

P.S. Kiss and make up with your brother. After all, I could only handle making two of you, and two Fords are better than one.

~THE END OF THE BEGINNING~

Author's Note

Happy birthday, June 17 babies! Momma loves you <3 (And if it's still June 16 where you are, happy birthday to you babies, too!)

This story was a little out of my comfort zone in terms of content and length. I am not a full-length novel kinda girl. I prefer novellas because they're quick and fun and not as complex as plotting out a full-length book. Thank you to everyone who had faith in me that I could do it! I always love hearing what people thought of the entire story (once it's done), so please feel free to let me know in the comment section <3

Is this the last you've seen of Jake and Maya? Hell, no.

They'll be appearing in Ghost and Pussy (Cat)'s book, Branded freemium on Radish and will also be here on Wattpad), as well as in Sin and *mystery person's* book [SIN'S CITY] (FREE on Radish only). So you'll still see them, but as side characters!

So to recap: Branded (#2) = freemium on Radish (and will also be posted on Wattpad, same thing as with JTPR)

Sin's City(#3) = free on Radish only

Stay tuned for the Branded prologue tomorrow on here and on Radish, as well as a Khaos update. Thank you guys so freaking much. You're my ride-or-dies! *Vin Diesel voice*

Now...hold on a sec...don't run away so fast...