Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 80197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Laughter bursts out of me the way it does when happiness is so large it has to overflow. This is it. Everything that I want is here. Everything that I'll ever need is wrapped up in these men.
No more games.
What we have is real, and I'm never going to let it go.
EPILOGUE
CELINE
It's moving-in day.
Travis, Elias, and Dornan arrive bright and early to help me shift my boxes and bags down the stairs into their waiting cars. I'm embarrassed about how much stuff I have, but they don't complain. Maybe it's because there are three of them, and they all want to be manly in front of each other. Or maybe I really have just hit the jackpot and found three perfect men.
I think it's the latter.
Since Travis returned, and we all admitted wanting the same thing, my life has transformed.
I'm not the Celine I was when Eddie was constantly forcing himself into my life. I'm not the Celine who wanted to take revenge on my ex and used three men to play ridiculous games.
I'm the real Celine, and they make me feel like a goddess every single day.
"Last one." Elias lifts the big box of books like it contains a feather pillow. His biceps bulge, and it takes every ounce of my self-control not to cross the room and lick him.
He lumbers through the door, and I'm left alone in the space that's been mine since the beginning of the year. It's seen some changes, that's for sure. Eddie helped me move in. Three different men have helped me move out. I felt trapped at the beginning of the year. I now feel freer than I ever have in my life.
It took Dad cutting me off to realize that it wasn't good for me to rely on him for money when he wasn't prepared to give me the love and affection that he should. It was an empty link with him, impacting my attitude toward money and my sense of self-worth. Now I'm working and earning for myself, I see everything differently. I don't spend out of anger. I spend it out of necessity.
I have love to fill the empty parts of me.
I look in the mirror and touch my dark hair. It's grown out at the top, and I have to use a brown spray to touch it in so my red roots aren't visible.
It's the last thing left over from a time when I wanted to be a different person.
Now, I want to be true to who I really am. I want my little niece Lonie to touch my curls that are just like hers and tell me how pretty they are. I twist my hair into a bun and decide it’s time, then I take one last look at the place I used to call home and leave it behind, ready for a new start.
Gabriella throws open the front door before any of us gets a chance to ring the bell and jogs down the front path before enveloping me in a fierce hug. "I can't believe we're going to be roomies. This is so exciting."
She's been saying the same thing since her mom told her I'm moving in. She doesn't know yet, but I bought us some sheet face masks and hand treatments so we can do them together later. It's been a while since I had Marie to do those kinds of girly things with.
Travis walks past us, smiling at his sister's excitement.
Last week, he asked me to move in with him rather than here. We've been hanging out so much since he returned from Germany. We all spend at least three nights a week at his place, thanks to the extra giant bed he added to his bedroom. It's the only place we can all get a good night's sleep together after our shenanigans.
And I need all the sleep I can get.
I turned Travis down, though.
Moving in is a big step, and if we're going to do it, I want it to be something we all do together. Travis's place isn't big enough for us all, and when we're together, our priorities aren't in the right place. Exams are looming. We need space to get through this chapter of our lives, and then we can focus on our relationship and not risk our futures because we can't keep our hands off each other.
I can't wait for the next chapter.
"Let her go," Travis tells his sister. "We need to get these boxes inside."
"Bossy."
Gabriella tosses her hair over her shoulder, grabs my hand, and marches us into the house. "I hope he doesn't boss you around like that," she hisses.
I snicker because she has no idea just how much I love his bossiness. I'm grateful that she's never asked me if Travis's kinky porn mags are reflected in our sex life! It's probably because she'd find her brother's sex life a gross topic to broach.