“Let’s go then, because I am not spending tonight in prison.”
“Fuck no, I want you to spend it in me.” He grinned and slid his hand into mine, squeezing it tightly as he dragged me towards his car, his excitement so vibrant he was almost glowing.
I loved him so much it almost hurt, and while I couldn’t predict the future, there was something hopeful inside me that said this man was it for me. After all my searching and all my heartache, I’d finally found the man I’d been waiting for.
No, we’d found each other.
And together, we’d build the future we deserved, one day at a time.
It wouldn’t be perfect, but who wanted that? It would be messy and bright and imperfectly ours.
As long as we had each other, we’d figure the rest out on the way.
EPILOGUE
TEN MONTHS LATER
Danny
“We can definitelycross that one off the list. The kitchen cupboards were mouldy as fuck! And who the fuck puts carpet in the bathroom? Wankers, that’s who,” I said as I climbed back into the car, pulling a face as I remembered the state of the kitchen. That was the seventh property that Ezra and I had looked at as a potential place to rent together, and all of them had been shit.
Maybe it was naive of me, but I hadn’t expected it to be this hard.
“That second bedroom was too small as well,” Ezra said, frustration evident on his face. “I don’t think I’d even be able to get a desk in there.”
“Not a proper one anyway.”
He chuckled, because we both knew he’d need something sturdy. We’d already broken the small one he’d bought for his flat, and it was currently being held together with duct tape and glares. I hadn’t even been putting that much weight on it when it’d cracked! Fucking cheap-ass chipboard piece of shit. “Wehave two more to look at today,” he said as he looked at his phone. “What’s the betting both of them will be shit?”
“Like ninety percent? At this point I’m not sure we’ll find anything.”
“We will, puppy. I promise.” He leant across the console and kissed me, his fingers squeezing my thigh.
I was trying not to feel miserable and hopeless about the whole thing, but the longer our search went on, the more I felt like we were never going to find anything. If all else failed, Ezra could move into my flat—he already spent enough time there—but it was pretty small with only one bedroom, and we both agreed we’d be too on top of each other.
While we loved spending time together, we also wanted to have a bit of our own space.
Besides, we needed to make sure we had enough room for Ezra’s extensive wardrobe, which had only gotten bigger over the last year. He’d managed to get some more of his stuff back from his ex, but he’d also treated himself to a couple of shopping sprees to celebrate his divorce being final.
The whole process hadn’t been amicable, and eventually Ezra had given in and blocked Reed to force him to go through their solicitors. But by that point, Ezra seemed to have made peace with the end of that part of his life, and as painful as it was to see his marriage end in a torrent of verbal abuse, at least it was over.
The house in Manchester had been sold and the money split between them, and Ezra had recovered a few of his favourite belongings but let the rest go to Reed. I knew losing the house hurt, because Ezra had clearly loved it, but he’d said that even if part of him wanted it back, the whole place was tainted now, and it would be like moving into a haunted house.
It was partly why I wanted us to find a nice place to rent, so we could start building a new life together. Yeah, he might not be allowed to gut it and redecorate, but it would be the first step.Then maybe we could look at buying something in another year or two. I wasn’t in any rush. We had time.
“Where’s the next one?” I asked, since Ezra had the list of our appointments. He gave me the postcode and I put it into my maps app.
“If neither of these are any good, we can wait a few weeks before we look again,” Ezra said as I pulled the car out onto the road. “I think it might be a bit much trying to balance appointments with Charlie’s wedding and Crete.”
“Yeah, and knowing my luck I’d pack my suit in a box somewhere.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure your suit is safe.”
“But not the rest of my clothes?”
“I’m not sure you need the rest of them, do you?” he asked with a teasing smile, his fingers trailing up my thigh as I drove.
“I don’t wanna get a sunburned arse.”
