No More Tomorrows

Epilogue: Aidan POV

She was all mine! I had my rings on her finger and if I had my way I'd have my baby in her belly in the next twelve months.

The road here hadn't been easy. I knew that going in, but this day made it all worth it. I'd had to prove myself to her repeatedly before she'd let me into her heart. But once I was there, what a beautiful place it was. This woman gave out love like candy on Halloween and it was all mine. Her openly affectionate nature and gratitude for the smallest gesture fed something in me that wanted to be needed. She told me once my love language was acts of service. If that was the case I was okay with that, because doing things that made her smile was my life's purpose. 

"Hello husband." The way she smiled up at me still took my breath away. My girl with her beautiful eyes and an even more beautiful heart. I could tell she was a little tipsy by the glint in her eye. I loved her like this. Openly happy. 

It had taken us over six months to get to the point where she would acknowledge that we were officially dating. After what that bastard Grant put her through she was gun shy at the idea of letting herself be vulnerable to anyone again. I understood it. I didn't like it but I understood it. She eventually accepted that for me she'd always come first. If something doesn't sit well with her, it didn't work for me. Our path was a slow and bumpy one but fuck was it worth it. 

I took Bess's advice to heart and sold Club Rouge for a tidy sum. I used the money to set up a small customised cars business. I'd always loved working on cars in my spare time and didn't like the idea of returning to an office job so I thought while I had the money I'd give it a try. I was lucky enough to have one of our cars spotted by Hank the Hawk, a big name in Hot Rods, and from there everything exploded. Life became manic in the best possible way.

The first time I missed a dinner date with Emily I thought I'd lost her. Her baggage from Grant came figuratively tumbling down and almost crushed me. She was adamant we were through because she wouldn't sit at home waiting for anyone ever again. When I calmly pointed out that I had in fact messaged to let her know I'd be late because a courier had gotten lost she initially burst into tears for yelling at me and then apologised over and over for letting her issues impact me. I calmly explained that they were "our" issues. We were in this together and if she didn't give me a welcome home kiss then we'd have trouble. 

It seemed in her hissy fit over when I didn't arrive at the expected time she'd gotten herself so worked up that she'd forgotten to check her phone and see that I'd messaged. That night had taught me a lesson. Any time I was going to be held up I called her. I didn't message. I called and explained. Some might say that she was being unfair by putting her past trauma onto me but I didn't care. If a phone call made her feel seen then I'd pick up the phone. 

I lost count of the hours I spent holding her over the first twelve months of our relationship, when something we did, or something I said would send her brain to a dark place, where she'd get caught up over a memory to do with her ex and cry. I can't say it didn't hurt holding her while she cried over another guy, but I knew it was what she needed to heal and if we were going to have a future together, a future I desperately wanted I had to put in the work. So I held her while she cried and it was all worth it because underneath those sad moments we were building something solid. Something that would become unshakable. Our forever. 

We were an open book with each other from day one and seeing as we both brought our own trust issues into our new relationship it worked for us. We had each other's pin number to our phones and Find My Friends App was installed. I'd only ever used it once to check on her and that was when she got a flat tire and couldn't see a street sign to tell me where she was. About a year into our relationship she admitted that she'd initially checked the App almost every day but but as the months passed that paranoia slowly died away. We kept the App though, it gave us peace of mind that should those old fears arise they could be quickly quelled with one look at the phone. Again, not the way everyone wanted to live their lives but if it worked for us I didn't give a fuck what anyone thought. 

I realised last week that she hadn't mentioned Grant in over a year and knew the time was right, so I'd booked us a weekend to Nevada to see our old friend and she helped me spring a surprise wedding on her. Neither of us had family we wanted in attendance so I thought a Vegas wedding with our closest friend and her daughter was the way to go. 

And look at us now - we were married! 

"Hello wife. You having a good day?" 

"The very best. We're married! You're a sneaky man Aidan and my ring is just too much. Thank you."

She was beautiful in her slinky white dress. Her dark curls were down around her shoulders, just how I liked them and bright red lipstick covered those beautiful full lips. Her look reminded me of that first night back at Club Rouge and I couldn't wait to get her back to our hotel suite.

For our two year anniversary I'd come home to our loungeroom lit by candlelight and one of the dining chairs placed in the middle of the floor. When she stepped from the hall in white lingerie I almost embarrassed myself. I'd always dreamed of her recreating that night but didn't want to ask in case it triggered any past trauma for her. I remember how fast my heart had been beating when I'd asked her if she was sure about this. She'd given me a sneaky smile and the pulled an apple from behind her back and taken a big bite. That was a great fucking night!

Coming out of the memory of her performing a solo just for me I smiled down at her when she suddenly squealed and launched herself into my arms. 

"I'm a Mrs!" 

With her soft body pressed against the front of me I couldn't fight the need to kiss her, so I didn't bother trying. It was long and slow and had lots of tongue. Her little noises were going to cut this dinner even shorter if she didn't stop. 

"Get a room you two. There are innocent children here that don't need to see that kind of stuff." Bess, or Angelique as she was now called herself hadn't really changed, even after all the drama with her husband barging back into her life. Her hair might now be longer and darker, similar to my beautiful wife, but she was still mouthy and my wife's best friend.

"Sorry." Emily blushed at our PDA and I let her slowly slide down my body. Making sure she knew just how much I'd enjoyed our kiss. I didn't give a single fuck who saw me kissing her. If I wasn't so possessive of her I'd lay her out right here across one of the fancy tables and show everyone exactly who she belonged to.

"Don't give them a hard time Angel. They're newly weds, if you can't publicly make out on your wedding day when can you?"

His question which I think he meant in jest wasn't received that way by his wife and I saw her subtly shrug his hand from her shoulder before she took Emily's hand and headed towards where the cake was being set up.

I both felt and heard Mattia sigh before he whispered to himself.

"Fuck! I don't think she'll ever fully forgive me."

Unsure if he meant me to hear his comment or not I decided that I'd answer anyway.

"You broke her heart man. The two of you can never go back to the way you were on your wedding day. That ship has long sailed. But you can keep proving yourself and maybe one day she'll let you back in. You've got to decide whether the effort is worth it to you. If you aren't all in then let her go. She deserves someone to love her the right way."

With that I gave him a harder than necessary pat to the back, I still didn't like or trust the guy, and headed towards my beautiful bride. 

Life was fucking good.