Salty

Thirty-Seven | The Salty Epilogue That Lacked Salt

Eighteen months later...

Epilogue | Sloan

"Mikah is getting the last of it... and acting like a complete child while doing it, might I add." Hallie hurled a box much too big to be carried by just her to the kitchen table and slapped her hands together as a job well done.

I eyed the box, noting the sharpie-written bathroom on its side. The bathroom was on the opposite end of the house. Boxes labeled kitchen belonged in this room, as it was the kitchen. The blonde in Hallie was really rearing its ugly head today. Not having it in me to correct her for the tenth time this afternoon, I picked the box up myself—needing to readjust it to get a better hold—and began my journey to the hall. No use in complaining; I was just lucky to have the help today.

The bathroom wasn't nearly as stunning as the one in the apartment above Mulligan's, but it was an improvement from the one Hallie and I had shared for the last few years. The home was aged—what Ollie loved to call a "fixer-upper". It was good that he had a lot of enthusiasm about restoring it, because I had never touched a power tool in my life. It was beautiful, though, and we got it for a steal. An old farmhouse on the outside of Chicago, sitting on three acres. We had a chicken coop. And I, having never had a childhood pet, couldn't wait to name the chickens my boyfriend had promised me. But that wasn't the best part. The best part was that it was ours.

I dropped the box to the counter of the double sink—one that was about to be ripped out because of its atrocious pink color—and began unfolding the flaps of the box. All the contents were mine, ready to be mingled with Ollie's. There was something incredibly sexy about that, causing me to grin as I opened the medicine cabinet to place tampons beside Ollie's deodorant. The room already smelled like him. He'd moved in a few days prior. Today was the first time Mikah and I both had the day off for him to assist with his truck. It was a good thing I had little to move, because the poor guy not only had to move me outside of town, but later he had to move Hallie into the apartment above Mulligan's—the one that two brothers had been sharing since Mikah's final split from Shelby. Hallie and Mikah had been at each other's throats all morning. I cringed, thinking about them being roommates—even though Hallie was determined to be back out of the apartment as soon as possible. I knew better. As soon as my best friend would lay eyes on that bathroom, Mikah would have to put up a fight to keep it for himself.

Selecting a shampoo bottle with one hand and body wash with another, I pivoted on my heel to add them to the shelves of the shower, instead finding myself dropping both to clutch my chest. Damn it. "Hallie!"

Giggles erupted from the hall. My friend was already hunched over, clutching her stomach and unable to control her laughter. "I can't believe you didn't see them until now!"

"What the fuck do I need a blue one for?" I pointed to the obnoxiously large, erect, blue-marbled dildo that was protruding from the shower wall beside a limp Hulk. "I don't use the other one, as it is."

"His and hers!" Hallie's smile couldn't get any bigger, and tears had fallen down her, more than happy, cheeks. "It's a housewarming gift for Ollie. I wouldn't want him to be jealous of Hulk."

"He's not into ass-play," I attempted yanking Hulk from the wall first, certain it was going to bring the frail tile with it. Ollie could use the damn thing as a tool to pull the rest of it down.

"Not into it yet," Hallie attempted to correct me as she left the room.

"Says the girl who has never tried it herself!" I called after her.

It was too late. Hallie had already disappeared out of the vicinity. I gave a few tired yanks at Hulk before he popped free. I knew it was him that would pull a piece of tile with it. An entire chunk was now stuck to his suction cup base. I sighed, knowing that the bathroom had just become the first to be upgraded. I pulled the second dildo free.