Chapter 17
Leo
Yesterday came and went, and it was torture. Working a full shift at a bar while having a hangover is not for the weak. And I don’t think I belong with the strong ones. It’s around eleven a.m. when I wake up fully and grab my phone to text Noah. I should have told him earlier about Kai kidnapping Rachel, but I thought it would be too much to text him during the night.
I find his contact and press the call button; it only takes a few rings before Noah’s voice creeps into the room from the speaker. “Leo, what the hell did Kai do?” He practically shouts at me, and I realize he might already know about Rachel’s kidnapping.
“He kidnapped his girlfriend. Are we surprised?” I sigh.
“Fair, fair. I am going to tell Danielle Rachel isn’t feeling well, and I will take the rest of the day off. Come pick me up from the Salon in twenty minutes. We need to pay a visit to Kai.” This is a bad idea, but I am not sure my husband will appreciate an argument right now.
“This is not going to go well.” I say as I leave my bed and pick up my clothes from the chair I left them on last night. I don’t bother with a new outfit; this will do for now.
“Yeah, yeah, I don’t give a fuck.” The call goes silent, and I have no options but to force myself to leave my house and pick up Noah.
How did I manage to get myself all those crazy people in my life?
Epilogue
Noah
IT’S BEEN A FEW DAYSsince my husband and his stupid friend kidnapped Rachel. I am sitting in her living room with Ripley, her adorable new puppy, on my lap reading my book while my husband is cooking us dinner. We have been staying here for the last few days since Kai decided Rachel needs a vacation until Friday. Which is tomorrow. I have a full day at the salon, and I won’t see her until later in the evening for our book club night. However, staying here for a few days has helped me and Leo settle into a routine that makes this marriage feel so real it hurts. It’s hard to admit that this is not fake anymore, but was it ever? Things sure happened fast, and maybe a sane person would be a little worried about marrying a guy he’d known barely for a week. But when you know, you know. And I do. I truly do. I think Leo knows, too.
I have my phone next to me with the feed from Kai’s house open. I check from time to time like a little stalker to make sure he hasn’t killed my best friend. However, they seem to be having a honeymoon of their own, playing house. They settled into a nice routine a day after he kidnapped her and since then I have only needed to check a few times. It’s funny how life happens sometimes. You meet people whom you would never expect to meet. They enter your routine by force, and even though theydisrupt your nice little life, you know in your gut that they were always meant to be there. That’s how it’s been with the guys. From the moment Rachel kidnapped Kai, we all got tangled in a web so complicated we’re never going to be free from. Do we really want to be free from it? Probably not.
“How’s the book?” My husband asks as he carries two plates with our food in one hand and a bowl for Ripley. Perks of dating someone who owns a bar, this man is my personal waiter.
“It’s decent. What are we eating?” I place my book on the living room table, and Ripley hops off the couch, rushing to his food. He is kind of adorable, and I will miss his little paws pushing against me in my sleep when tomorrow his mom takes over taking care of him.
“Shrimp pasta.” I smile. He didn’t even have to ask if I like it. This man somehow has a natural sense of knowing what I need. It’s weird and comforting all at once.
He hands me the plate and I balance it on my knee as I swirl my fork into the creamy pasta. I bring a forkful to my mouth, the smell alone making me drool. Once the taste hits my mouth, I almost moan while chewing. “This is amazing, Leo.”
He chuckles. “I know. It’s my best dish.”
“Calm down, chef.” I joke, and he laughs again. He settles into Rachel’s armchair and hits play on the remote control for the TV, switching from the camera feed to the streaming service Rachel uses. The movie we have already set up starts playing, and just like that we stay silent, eating our food and watching a movie as if this is our normal. And it is. It’s a normal we quickly found. As if we jumped right in the middle of a five-year-long relationship that feels right on every level.
I look at him smiling. He is everything I’ve ever wanted, and more. He is everything I could have asked the universe for, but I didn’t have to ask. He landed at my friend’s doorstep all on his own. And if you told me that a year from now, or two years,or even a lifetime after today, I will still be with this man, I will believe you in a heartbeat. Because I know I will be.He is here to stay.
A year later.
It’s been a year since everything happened, and with Rachel out of the way for most of it, since Kai kept her busy, Leo and I were able to fix our issues. And by fixing our issues, I mean we are actually together, not in a fake marriage, trying to avoid the prison-type of way, but in an actual relationship. No one knows about our secret marriage still, unless you count Rachel, who pieced everything together. And Logan, who it turns out was never caught with the body, just wanted to push Leo and me together. Also, I am pretty sure Melanie knows. Probably Kai too. Okay, I take it back, our marriage is far from secret. It’s more of one of those situations that everyone knows but pretends they don’t, and I am okay with it. I don’t need a big acknowledgment of the fact that this man is mine. I know he is. He was from the first ‘hello’ that came out of his mouth. That night at Rachel’s house, when he came to rescue his idiot friend. The same friend who never needed rescuing to begin with. If you think about it, everything that happened from the fact that we chose those people as our best friends, to the books we read, to even the fact that Rachel thought following a meme as a tutorial was a good idea... Everything happened just to get us here, in this moment in life, and I am not regretting it for even a second. I wouldn’t change it for anything. This is where I was always meant to be.
“Are you coming? We need to get there before the baby is old enough for a graduation gift and not a ‘welcome to the world’gift.” I call out to my husband as he rushes from our bedroom with a white ferret in his arms. Our white ferret. The one he insisted we needed to adopt.
When Kai and Rachel moved into Kai’s family home, we took over the apartment that Leo shared with his best friend. Leo insisted that we needed a pet to balance things. I am not sure what exactly this white ball of chaos is supposed to balance, but right now it’s making us late.
“You can’t take the damn ferret to the hospital, Leo,” I say as I pluck the white fur ball out of his arms and let her onto the floor. She makes a weird clucking noise at me, which she only makes when she is angry, complaining like her daddy. “You are not allowed in the hospital. It’s not me that doesn’t want you there.”
“Daddy doesn’t want you coming with us, Chanel.” Leo tells her. We named her after the iconic fashion designer because a ferret like her, white and beautiful, needs a fucking legend of a name.
I place a kiss on Leo’s cheek. “We can spend the rest of the afternoon with her on the couch watching movies after we meet our new nephew.”
He sighs. “Fine, but our child should be a priority too.” I laugh, because this man has managed to become a complete goofball since I met him. Completely different from the man who barely held himself together last year.
“Gloria, let’s go.” I call out for Kai’s and Rachel’s adoptive daughter. A few days ago, before Rachel went into labor, she came to stay with us until her parents are able to focus on her again. We wanted to allow them time to adjust to their new reality and take advantage of having our favorite niece with us. Kai’s old bedroom has been changed into a guest room, but unofficially the room belongs to Gloria. It belonged to her from the moment she came into our lives.
“You don’t need to yell, uncle Noah.” She comes out of her bedroom with the guinea pig Leo bought for her yesterday.