“And we weren’t impossible.” I kiss his jawline. “And we weren’t destructive.” I kiss the side of his mouth. “And we were going to do this.”
Turning his face to me, it finally comes out. “Do you want to stay here with me?”
“More than anything else in all of existence.”
I can’t stop kissing him, even as he pours out all his worries in a harried stream of consciousness. “You can have it all back now. Your time and your old life, and your amazing job—you could probably get a Nobel Prize for what you did. And then there’s money. Because you must have lots more of that than I do, with your work. And it’s hard here. I’ve only got this place, and no real job, and-and you can’t have hot Coke at the cafe. At any cafe. And your movies and things that you grew up with and… and…”
I press a finger to his beautiful lips. “I just want you.” I kiss them. “And I’m going to stay here and tell you that until you believe me. And then I’m going to stay here and tell you that for the rest of our lives.”
His body yields to my caresses, and I pull him to me, face to face.
“You know what you’re like?” He raises an eyebrow in question. “You are like… the bridge of a song—the bit you can’t bear to turn off. The part where you pull up in your car at your destination, but you can’t get out. Instead, you sit there in the car park and blast the music as loud as you can because it’s impossible to stop. You’re that magic that makes life special. I couldn’t walk away from you. Not ever. What we have is beyond love, beyond time, beyond worlds. This is the most powerful force in the universe, and I feel it in my heart as much as I know it in my head. You’re my multiverse, August.”
His smile is breathtaking, and this time he kisses me without reluctance, letting his precious hand fall gently on my chest. “That’s almost Bon Jovi level poetic.”
“Almost? I’ll have to try harder.” And now, it’s more than kisses. I can’t resist him. Won’t resist him. Now it’s time to make it official in this world, along with all the others.
I’m never going back. My life has meaning. Loving August. Caring for August. Being loved by the other half of me.
Me.
Maybe we are impossible.
But that doesn’t make us any less right.
EPILOGUE
VERY GOOD AUGUST
It’s been six months since we saved the multiverse, and we’re back at Koko to celebrate Jon’s first big London show. Only a few days after we returned, he dissolved Non Jovi to strike out with his own music. It took a bit of convincing the other guys in the band, but it turns out he’d been writing his own songs for a long time. And they’re good. Really good. He just hadn’t had the confidence to show anyone. Now, with the band’s old connections, they’re going from strength to strength.
I’ve just been to the merch stand and bought the perfect thing. Admiring it in the bathroom mirror, I might be flexing a little. But I’ve been working on my arms, and the tank cut shows them off to perfection. And the midriff… Ugh, I hope August likes it.
But as I make my way out of the bathroom, beneath the red glow of lights, I’m perfectly confident that he will. I’m always confident in us. He’s never let me wake up one morning without telling me he loves me, that I’m gorgeous, and that it’s all worth it.
Of course, it hasn’t always been easy.
When I told Mrs Huang my identical brother was coming to London, she said he could stay with me. That she wouldn’t evencharge any extra rent. But August still had to wrangle a job, one he found working part time in the cafe with Kelly. We’ve been doing okay, saving what we can. Until today.
A few months back, August forged a very impressive looking certificate from Manchester University. For the degree he really did earn in his own world. He tweaked his resume to reflect the state of this world’s research about quantum physics and threw in some made-up experience at CERN. And this week, he signed the contract for his new position at University College, London, as lecturer in experimental particle physics.
I couldn’t be more proud of him. He’s going to change the world for the better. Make us part of that intergalactic conglomeration of advanced realities. He’s going to be brilliant, like he was born to be.
But that and Jon’s band aren’t the only things we’re celebrating tonight. As soon as he signed on the dotted line, he took me across town to that little shop space I’ve been fixating on. He arranged an inspection the second he got the news. And just like that, he insisted we sign the lease today.
I now have a dojo all of my own. Or a place for one. We’re getting started on the refurbishment next week.
It’s all too much happiness all at once, one thing after another falling into place, like some grand cosmic symphony. Perfect.
And all of it only outdone by the look on his face when I find him near the front of the crowd, and he clocks me in my new shirt.
I will never get tired of seeing that. He loves me. Adores me. Makes me feel like a million dollars. Like all boyfriends should.
“Sex Accelerator?” he exclaims.
“Do you love it?”
He holds out my arms, admiring my tiny new shirt, and all of me along with it. Then he wrenches me in, kisses my neck, andwhispers, “How am I supposed to make it through this whole show with you dressed like that?”
