“I’d love to!” Noah laughed, the sound slipping under Kaj’s skin like a balm. “I just want to make sure you’re not rushing things because you’re high on endorphins and dopamine.”
“I’m not.” Kaj bit Noah’s bottom lip and tugged, making him whimper. “It might have been three months this time around, but in the span of the last twelve years, I’d say the sum of the total is about… two years. And honestly, I think that’s more than enough time.”
Noah smiled that wide, genuine smile that always made Kaj feel like his heart was about to burst through his ribs.
“Then, please, make room for me at your place.”
“Ours.”
“Ours,” Noah whispered before kissing Kaj. “I love you.”
Kaj nuzzled Noah’s nose. “Always and forever.”
Epilogue
December 2025
Lifewasn’texactlylikeNoah wanted it to be—calm and drama-free—but it was fine. Not everything had to be perfect or go as planned. And honestly, at this point, if he had Kaj, he didn’t care about anything else.
There was still a dark cloud looming over his head, expectant that Jesper would open his big fucking mouth at any moment in a pathetic attempt to gain someone’s sympathy while he waited to be judged.
Xander had sworn he wouldn’t say a thing, that Noah beating the shit out of him had scared him enough. According to Aksel, the bassist’s death glare while tending to Jesper’s wounds, making sure they didn’t get infected so they wouldn’t end up with a corpse on their hands, probably had something to do with it, too. Still, Noah couldn’t shrug off the uneasiness.
Like Niels had pointed out, Noah hadn’t been defending himself from an attack, and he didn’t just hit him. He had nearly killed him. Did he regret it? Not even a little. In fact, he’d do it all over again. But, however low the chances were, if Jesper played his cards right, despite his own criminal record, Noah could face serious charges—assault, maybe even attempted murder. He’d acted on an impulse, on pure, justified fury, but an aggression was an aggression. And that was troublesome.
At least that monster wasn’t freely roaming the streets anymore. The evidence against him was too gruesome to ignore. He’d filmed himself sexually abusing not only Kaj but two more people, including one of his old roommates that they’d met years ago, and kept it all in a laptop he’d hidden in a storage unit.So smart, yet so fucking dumb.
He deserved far worse than the ten to twenty years a lawyer had told them Jesper could get. The harassment and threats he’d thrown at Noah had been mentally exhausting, but that was nothing compared to what he’d done to others. His biggest mistake, though, had been forcing Noah to see it.
He’d tried to be the boyfriend Kaj needed. The kind that could weather the worst and stand firm through it all. Kaj thought so highly of Noah, the vocalist wanted to give himself entirely to him. Heart. Mind. Soul. He wanted to show Kaj that none of what happened to him had diminished his worth. That he was there to hug him in his nightmares, fight him when his cravings got too strong, and worship him like the magnificent creature he was.
Because,god!Kaj was stunning.
That pouty mouth. Those pale blue eyes. The messy bleached hair. The almost permanent frown—when he was upset, when he was concentrated, when he was blankly staring into space. The piercings. The tattoos. The ridiculous deep voice. The fucking attitude. Every inch of him was so heartbreakingly beautiful, Noah sometimes wished Kaj could see himself through his eyes.
Like right now.
They were sitting in the living room, submerged in a trance-like state as the golden afternoon light seeped through the panoramic glass wall. Kaj had a guitar resting on his lap. All his talent as a kid had grown along with him, turning this man into a music prodigy who could play drums, guitar, and had even learned to play the violin.
He was barefoot, clad in a black long-sleeved T-shirt and his usual homeware sweats as he bent slightly over the instrument. His hair, which had grown quite a bit during the last few months, was falling into his face as he tried to create something from the quiet.
Noah couldn’t take his eyes off him.
Kaj was completely in his element, playing around with melodies and progressions, pausing mid-strum with a thoughtful frown, then picking right back up again like he was chasing a sound only he could hear. Every so often he hummed under his breath, tested out a chord, nodded to himself, then wrote it down in a battered notebook before it disappeared. There were guitar and drum notations along with some scribbled lyric verses.
If Noah ever told him how much of an inspiration he was, he’d deflect with sarcasm or a joke, so he kept quietly admiring him.
For months, that was all he had wanted to do—sit here and stare at him. To heal together. To make up for the lost time. But his world had turned upside down the moment Noah receivedthatvideo. Every ounce of anxiety and fear for his own safety greyed out, and he only saw red.
No matter what you do, he’ll always be mine.
Fuck. Just thinking about it made him sick to his stomach all over again.
Noah wasn’t a violent person—the martial arts thing was about self-improvement, respect, humility, and resilience for him. He hated conflict. It made his skin crawl. That was half the reason Kaj’s constant taunts and bullshit when he first joined Artificial Suicide had nearly driven him to quit, even though it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and the best shot his family had at stability since Trine’s cancer had come back. So he pushed through. And in the end, it was worth it.
But that day four months ago, Noah locked his common sense in a room and threw the key into the ocean.
There was no plan. Just a surge of instinct and rage. He’d sent everything to the private investigator to have proof of Jesper’s crime, made love to Kaj like it might be the last time, and once he fell asleep, Noah sneaked out of bed.
