Grey

Epilogue

One Year Later

The summer grass beneath me tickled my bare legs and arms as I stared up at the clear blue sky. There wasn't a single cloud in sight and the sun hung just behind us, its rays shining across the trees. I sprawled my arms out, stretching and feeling the earth underneath me. Music from his truck created a low hum over top of us, but the chirping birds made themselves more known than the song.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked me, his voice deep but soft to the left of me. I looked over. His dark wash jeans clashed against the lush green grass but his white shirt brought it all to life. His hands were tucked beneath his head, his eyes not on me, but on the sky.

I smiled, turning my head back to it was facing up, my eyes closed. “Surprisingly, for once, nothing.”

Thinking of nothing felt amazing. For the past year all I thought about was school, work, and finding a house. Grey spoke again. “I'm thinking of something.”

“And what's that?” I asked, peeking one eye open to look at him. He was watching me, his biceps flexing as he tightened them behind his head.

Grey sighed, hesitation in voice. “How exactly I'm going to ask this,” he said. I twisted my face into confusion as I opened my eyes and turned to look at him. He sat up and stood. I watched as he walked over and stepped one leg on either side of my body, reaching both of his hands out to grab mine. I took his hands as he pulled me up, grunting.

I giggled. “Am I heavy or something?” I asked, crossing my arms.

He smiled and shook his head. He looked anxious. There was something in his eyes that I couldn't quite figure out. Grey half smiled as he untangled my arms from their protective state around my middle and took one of my hands again. He then dropped down to one knee and I swear I stopped breathing.

“Violet,” he said, looking up at me with those eyes I could never forget. The ones that I saw when I closed mine. “When we were kids I honestly just saw you as some sister that I never had. Then we got older. Around the time you turned thirteen I realized that wow, this girl was gorgeous. It was weird to think and all, knowing that your brother and I had been best friends since pre-k. I remember you started to wear makeup and different clothes. You grew your hair out, you started bringing boys over to the house while Ro and I were there. Vi, I was incredibly jealous.

“Then you were almost sixteen and it was a couple of months before the accident, but that dick...what was his name? Oh, whatever, who cares. Well, that dick stood you up and when Rowan told me he was going to kick this kid's ass I thought, 'I need to kick this kid's ass, too'. And I know this isn't as romantic as I was trying to make it, but let me just tell you that it was the best feeling in the world. Well, after that, I kept trying to sum up the courage to ask you out. It never worked out. I'd chicken out because you'd smile at me. Then I'd remember that Rowan was my best friend and your big brother and I kept wondering if I should ask for his permission but I never did.

“When I saw you a while after the accident I had to force myself to stop staring because you were so beautiful it hurt. I hadn't realized how much I had missed you and when you turned to walk away I knew that if I didn't say something I might never see you again. The first night that I kissed you I felt awful but you told me that it was okay. I'm glad you did. I never thought I could feel some sort of happiness again.

“But I'm sorry that I kept pushing you away and treating you like shit. It was hurting you and I was confused. I hadn't meant for it to end up like that for the first year or so. I had promised myself and I'd even silently promised Rowan that I'd take care of you like you deserved. Like I said, I made so many promises that I just couldn't keep. But you kept coming back even when I didn't deserve it.

“I did a lot of stupid shit but I promise now, and I will keep this promise, that I will never push you away. I will never hurt you. If we get in a fight I'm not going to leave, I'm going to face it. I'm going to support you in whatever you want to do and whoever you want to be. I'll go anywhere with you. I'll promise to tell you that you're beautiful every morning when you wake up beside me and kiss you goodnight every evening. I love you, Violet. So much. Will you marry me?”

Grey pulled out the most gorgeous ring I'd ever seen. Tears slipped down my cheeks, my free hand clasped to my mouth as I struggled to breathe and speak. Both of our hands were shaking. The words wouldn't come so I just nodded frantically, breaking into a smile as more tears fell. He smiled and slipped the ring onto my finger and then stood to crash me into him.

“Oh my God,” I whispered, wrapping myself tighter into him. My lips were near his ear, my hands still shaking as I ran my fingers over the back of his head, my eyes closed in disbelief. “Yes, yes. A million times yes.” He pulled me away from him to look into my eyes. He laughed, caressing my face into his hands and wiped my tear stained cheeks.

Some slow song began to play on the radio and he slid one arm down to take my hand again. “May I have this dance, my lovely fiance?” he asked, his eyes shining with so much love.

I smiled, my hair falling into my eyes. “Why of course you can.”

A/N: Surprise! Shitty epilogue but whatever, they're happy. I wrote this epilogue like six times so I finally just settled on this. I'm going to go back and edit Grey and probably upload the Writing Playlist for this book (it's nearly 50 songs).

Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone who stuck with this story and got it to where it is today. I never ever thought Grey would end up this big. I'm so over whelmed by all of the fans, readers, and votes of this story. I loved Grey and Violet's story and I hope you did, too.

Ah! God! I just love you all so much. I can't even explain it.

I didn't want to drag this story on so I ended it with Violet's freedom. She now got to start her life with Grey and look where it got them...marriage! Sort of. You can imagine how the relationships with their families changed, I already have an idea, but I'm going to let you guys choose for yourselves.

I want to thank GiveEmHell for making all the banners and reading Grey and giving me great feedback and pointing out things I needed to edit terribly. I would have never caught on to them. I want to thank Monst3rs for loving this story so much. I love so many of her stories and it's incredible to me still that she follows me and loves my stories. I want to thank all of the readers that loved every chapter, even if it was shitty and just awful. And I also want to thank my best friend for reading the first chapter when this story had a different title and characters. But she loved it anyway!

Thank you so much for being part of this ride. I love you all.

There really isn't need for a sequel, I mean...it could happen, right? Maybe told from Grey's POV after the proposal? Hmm....Comment if you want one. Who knows what I could come up with? :)