𝐆𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 [𝟏𝟖+] ✔

Epilogue

Three Years Later

Eric Osprey

Dan has my balls in the palm of her hand.

Figuratively, unfortunately.

While I shove on my hoodie and hunt for my trainers, finding them in a bright pink toy box, I kiss her moody head and leave the house.

To hunt for a jar of fucking pickles.

Love her. Hate this fucking pregnancy.

It's the middle of the afternoon and the house is quiet, yet instead of dragging me to bed and riding my face as I suggested, she's sending me out to look for food I'll unlikely find. If I didn't love her, I'd tell her to go fuck herself.

Yet here I am, walking around the market and searching shops until my eyes land on the largest glass jar I've ever seen. If I don't get a blowjob for this, I'm going back to Scotland. I pay the cashier using my points from work and head back home.

Home.

The place that I get to share with her. Where I get to raise my kids and wake up next to the love of my life every morning. I get to trace her freckles and run my fingers through her ginger hair. I get to kiss her, fuck her, and hear her moan my name. Home, for me, is where nearly every wall is full of pictures, even the ones of my sisters that I kept safe in that black box. It's where I try to teach Dan how to cook and fail. It's where each room has a meaning. Honestly, I feel like I'm living in a dream.

Maybe I'm trapped in the neurock.

I don't give a fuck if I am.

I'm happy.

It's still weird to think that I was hours away from wrapping a cord around my neck when the vehicles appeared outside the dome. Me, Richie, Gary, and a few others got drunk and spoke about our lives before all agreeing that we wouldn't let the lack of oxygen take us. Fair to say I kept some information about my past to myself. Only Gary and Richie know the shit I've done. The rest don't need to know that I'm basically a serial killer or that I tortured countless people in an act of revenge.

I'd do it again. In a goddamn heartbeat.

Richie was the one who spoke the most. About how he met Elaine, how they accidentally fell pregnant at the age of sixteen with Dan, and how she made their lives complete. He regrets being an absent father and wanted to try to make up for it. He ended up breaking down and I carried him home.

Gary stayed with me every night. Annoyingly so. He told me shit I didn't need to hear about Ainsley. He admitted that he flirted with my girlfriend when he first met her, then begged me not to kill him with my bare hands when I snarled at him.

We had a time set to end it all. We'd all meet at the town square where we'd say our goodbyes. I told Gary he could come with me to the area I once took Dan. Where I set the water system on and lay in the mud with her and watched the stars. I wanted to feel connected to her in some way in my final moments.

Richie wanted to be on his own for when he met his end.

Thank fuck they showed up.

I was losing my mind thinking about Dan and Orla. I was even worried about Ainsley and her sprog. To pass time, Gary and I worked constantly to get him back on his feet. We'd exercised, swam, and even fought to try to get his balance and coordination. The day he took his first few steps unaided, I felt so fucking proud of him. The way a big brother would be.

I even hugged the wanker.

When he ditched the chair, we worked on building his stamina through light jogs and leg workouts. Eventually, he was running beside me, working up a sweat and back to his usual, annoying prick self.

Said prick appears beside me, holding a bag of chocolate wafers. "Typical." He nods to the jar in my hand as we walk out of the market. "This is the fifth time we've bumped into each other doing the craving run." He notices I'm not holding a block of cheese. "Pickles?"

I roll my eyes. "Don't ask."

He raises the bag in his other hand. "Quick beer?"

I contemplate it. "Fine," I say. "But I'm in no mood for your annoyance."

Gary's my friend, but I can only tolerate him for so long before I want to choke him and kick his leg brace. Slowly, he and Ainsley are morphing into one person. Do you know how much they piss me off? A lot.

He smiles, because he thinks I'm joking.

I don't joke.

With his support still fixed to his knees, Gary stops at the bench in the park, uses his teeth to uncap my bottle and hands it to me. "I think Ainsley might hunt me down."

"I give it ten minutes before Dan texts me."

Ever since some of the satellites have been repaired and signalling towers have been rebuilt, mobile phones have made a comeback. When I'm at work, it's constantly buzzing in my pocket. Usually pictures and messages saying I'm missed, and a few explicit ones that have me heading home faster.

I blocked Ainsley. I told her I'd unblock her one day.

I won't.

After she sent me a video that made my eye twitch, she went straight on my blacklist.

I turn to scowl at Gary, now that I remember the clip. "If I ever see your son holding my daughter's hand again, I'll put you back in a wheelchair."

Probably too harsh, but I've never been anything but when it came to Gary. He knows that, too.

He chuckles and takes a swig of his beer. "Dramatic prick."

"Dramatic? Kenna is half his age."

With a raised brow, he replies, "Shane is three."

I open my mouth to give him a shitty response. Close it to think of said response, then settle for a grunt and a drink.

The kid needs to stay on his own fucking lane. Three years old or not. I might have a soft spot for him, considering Dan gets excited to have him sleepover to give Ains and Gary time together I'd rather not think about, yet she sleeps early and leaves me with the little lad.

But seeing him and my daughter holding hands and giggling together set my blood pressure far too high to be healthy. Dan slapped the back of my head when I told her to keep them apart. She called me an overprotective wanker and that I needed to chill out.

Safe to say I haven't mentioned it to her since. I know I have a few things to work on. I go to therapy twice a week, help with the school when Dan is hosting sports day or day trips, and even get involved in some of the planning for upcoming rescue missions. But I never leave. I'll never be away from my family.

"What site are you working on?" I ask, changing the subject.

"South, but since Ainsley's due soon, they've given me a few weeks off."

I nod. We've been helping with the reconstruction of surrounding towns, so we can take in more survivors. So far, the population is sitting at around nine thousand. And more are on the way.

"Typical that they are due at the same time. Those idiots definitely planned when to fuck us."

Gary snorts. "They did." He peels off the label from his bottle. "Richie doing better?"

"Yeah. He's got more tests, but the doctors are happy with his progress."

A year ago, Richie had a heart attack while on one of the sites. Elaine stopped working at the school to stay with him at all times. He really is fine, but I think he's just tired. Dan bawled her eyes out for days, even when he left the hospital. Ever since he was sixteen, he's been on the go. Always had something to do and somewhere to be. I think he's just taking longer than everyone else to settle.

Just like they plan everything else, both of our phones buzz.

We laugh. "Can they be any more predictable?"

DanOsprey: Um, hello? How does it take an hour to find pickles?! Did you go for a beer with Gareth again?

Gary shows me the same message from Ainsley.

Typical.

"I guess we should go," he says, finishing his beer as I down my own. "Hey, is Dan going to be breastfeeding? Ainsley said she was debating doing it again. But she found the last time exhausting."

I glare at him as we walk out of the park and down the path to our alley. "Don't ever ask me that again."

"Noted."

With a parting nod, we both enter our side-by-side houses with the pregnant partners' cravings in hand.

Last time with Kenna, it was cheese toasties and cups of ice.

Now I guess it's fucking pickles. But do you know what? I wouldn't trade it for the world. I get to experience it all alongside her. When Kenna was born, I was the proud dad who kept her strapped to my chest and walked around town holding Orla's hand. Dan was adamant it earned me flirty stares. But all I cared for were hers.

Something I never thought I'd get or deserved.

My soul was shattered and tainted, and all it needed was a fiery redhead with an attitude to rival my own. A miniature version of her with matching hair and my eyes to keep me on my toes, and a preteen who has me watching TV shows that I have no interest in. I swear, all Orla wants to do is take a selfie with me or read fairy-tale books out loud to Kenna.

Dan once told me that everyone has a darkness, it only takes someone or something to bring it out. Apparently, hers wasn't killing or being traumatised by kidnapping and torture, it was childbirth.

Because fuck me, she turned into the she-devil and threw every possible threat my way. I was terrified of her. As soon as Kenna was born, her angelic, sweet, ever-loving side popped back in place, but the damage to my hand was done from how hard she squeezed and even bit me when I told her to push.

I am fucking pushing, are you blind? Do you want to swap places and see how you manage to push a watermelon out of your goddamn vagina?

Fair to say I kissed the side of her head and pretended I didn't just meet with Satan for a second.

So, I'm kind of prepared for the next. Kind of. We already know he's a boy. Our Oakley will be here soon.

One thing I wasn't prepared for this time was Dan's sex drive.

And I'm certainly not prepared when I push open the door, jar of pickles to hand, and she's on me like a lion mauling its prey.

Luckily, I set the jar on the nearest surface while Dan's lips are fused to my own.

"God, you were gone for hours."

Forty-five minutes, but I don't correct her as I enjoy her mouth on mine.

I smile into the kiss and rest my hands on her hips, walking her back into the kitchen and lifting her onto the counter. "Miss me?"

She shakes her head, wrapping both arms around my neck with an excited glint in her eyes. "Nope."

God, I'll never get fed up with her smile.

I lick my lips, tasting her cherry ChapStick on them. "Hmmm... liar."

With a roll of her eyes, she tugs me between her parted legs and kisses me again. "Shut up and fuck me. The kids aren't home for another two hours."

And with those filthy words, my dick is instantly hard.

This is us. Pure love and sex and adoration for each other. Along with watching unlimited TV shows and walking around town, days at the beach, and sitting in the park while I try not to throw daggers at a three-year-old for giggling with my daughter.

It's fun. We're happy. And as soon as baby number two is born, I get to fuck her until her heart temporarily stops from how intense every orgasm will be.

But for now, with her being nearly eight months along, I'm far too paranoid to do anything too vigorous.

As much as I'd love to ride her until we're both raw.

Dan yelps as I pull her off the counter and turn her, so her back is to my chest. My hand travels from her hip, tracing her ribs and side of her perfect tit, stopping at the base of her throat while the other hand fists at the material of her summer dress. "What do you want?"

Breathless, she pushes back into my thickening cock.

I nip her ear and she gasps. "Words, Dan. We discussed this. Words."

"I want this," she says, reaching back and grabbing my junk. "Inside me."

Fuck, that was hot. "Is my girl wet for me?" She keeps her hand on my growing bulge as I slide mine between her legs, groaning against her throat when I realise she's sans underwear. "Fucking little tease."

My fingers are soaked when I lift them, humming as I lick each one clean.

Harsh breaths fall from her lips as she works her palm against me, but I stop her movements, grabbing both of her wrists and resting them on the counter in front of us.

"Bend over," I whisper against her neck, sucking until I leave a red mark. "Let me see how fucking soaked you are."

My dick is painfully hard, but I want to drag this out. She obeys my command, bending and arching her back to give me her ass.

My palm itches to spank her until she's screaming, but I have zero control right now. Instead, I drop to my knees and use my thumbs to part her, groaning when I see her glistening. She whimpers as I run my tongue up her inner thigh, devouring her when I bury my face until I can't breathe.

My balls ache to be emptied. "You taste as good as the first time. You remember that? Lying on my desk with my tongue in your greedy cunt?"

She hums in agreement, her legs shaking when I trace the tip of my finger from her entrance and up.

I stop before I reach her puckered hole. As much as I want to dive deep inside of there, she's not fully comfortable. She made it very clear when she gave me a bollocking for the night I decided to eat her out. Instead, I suck her clit into my mouth and fuck her with my fingers until I can't wait any longer.

Getting to my feet, I tug down my shorts, kicking them across the kitchen floor.

I need to be inside of that dripping cunt.

I'm addicted to everything about her. Especially as I free my strained cock, run my palm down her spine until I grasp a handful of hair.

"I don't think I'll ever get enough of you," I rasp as I drag the head of my dick against her entrance. She moans and tries to back herself, so I enter her, but I use my other hand to grab her hip. "You want my cock? You want me to fuck you senseless?"

I tighten my hold on her hair when she doesn't respond. "Fuck. Eric, yes. I want you. Now."

"Good girl." I take a ragged breath, sweat already a thin layer on our skin. "Are you mine?"

I nudge into her, just a few inches, and when she doesn't say anything, I spank her.

Her cunt clenches with a cried out yes, strangling my dick as my palm stings. I almost give in and fuck her into submission, but I control each gulp of air as my heart races, easing in and out of her slowly. She's like a soaking wet fist around me that has my eyes rolling.

The last few times we've slept together, it had to be quick and to the point. With kids running in and out the room and dogs staring at me bollock naked, we've not been in a position for us to fully go for it.

Even though I can't screw her brains out without worrying about the baby, I can still edge her until she's crying for a release. Hearing her moan my name and grip the counter, I slow my thrusts into a steady tempo.

My balls tighten, and I stop before I cum and cut this short. My cock thickens inside of her, my heart racing.

"The first time we had sex, do you remember what you said to me?"

She groans. "Really, Eric? You want to do question time n—"

She's silenced as I do one deep thrust into her. "Fucking tell me."

Panting, she clutches the counter until her knuckles are white. "It was four years ago; my memory is a little blurry."

I grit my teeth and press my chest to her back, making my cock bury entirely into her. She gasps as my fingers find her clit. Slow circles against the swollen bud, I whisper against her skin. "You said I was yours, and you were mine. You were very possessive about it, too."

Her pulse hammers against my tongue as I suck at her throat. Fuck. She tastes the same as the first time I ever had my mouth on her skin. Heavenly and fucking addictive.

Dan moans, my fingers working her bundle of nerves. "Please, Eric. Keep going. Keep fucking me."

"That dirty mouth of yours..." I ease out of her, rolling my hips, shoving myself back in and gritting my teeth from the heated pleasure wrapping around my spine. "It makes me want to do bad things to it."

"Yeah?"

"Fuck, yeah." I roll my hips into her again, and again, and again. Getting into a rhythm that has my balls slapping her thigh while I rub at her clit, using how goddamn wet she is for me to work her into a sweat of moans and pleads for me to go harder and faster.

I give her what she wants because I fucking love her.

From the day I knew I'd have her forever, when my eyes met hers on the beach, I was ready for a clean slate. A new life with Dan and Orla. I knew the moment she ran into my arms that she would be the mother to my kids. I'd marry her. I'd grow old and grey with her and march into the afterlife together.

I get to watch her unravel beneath me.

When I grind into her, my hand grips her shoulder right above the stickmen family she had tattooed there. We'll only add to the four figures and two dogs. She wanted to add to the snow globe on her thigh, with little glass houses inside, but the pain put her off.

I pull out of Dan before I cum, twist her to face me and kiss her hard enough to bruise both of our lips, running my tongue along hers. I lift her onto the counter that's the perfect height for me to enter her once more.

I watch her tits bounce as I fuck her.

My tits.

They fit perfectly in my hands. Her tightened, pink nipples in my mouth, her moaning my name and pulling at my hair.

When I feel her pulsing and throbbing around my cock, I keep going. Snatching the nape of her neck and lifting her to me, I bring my mouth to hers and push my tongue past her parted lips to deepen the kiss. To taste what's min. To swallow each whimper and gasp I drag from her lungs each time my cock hits that sweet spot that has her shaking.

I'll never get enough of this.

Ever.

I tug her bottom lip between my teeth until it pops back into place. Her pupils are dilated, face sweating as she keeps her hooded stare on me. Her entire body is trembling. So close. So, so close. "You gonna cum for me? You gonna cum all over my cock?"

With no words, she screws her eyes shut and drops her head back onto the counter, but I grab her by the throat.

"Eyes on me. Don't you fucking dare look away." She does as she's told, and I smirk as I hammer into her faster. "Atta girl. Keep looking at me while I fuck you."

And as she strangles my dick with each spasm and throb, her walls clenching around my shaft, liquid heat is injected into my veins from the intensity of my euphoric high slamming into me.

"Fuck," I groan out the word as my balls tighten, an explosion ricocheting every cell, burning every nerve ending. I'm filling her with every drop as she moans through her own orgasm. My vision blurs, but I keep thrusting until I can't anymore.

When we've hit our pinnacle and start to calm, both of us are panting and sweating. I move curls of her fiery hair from her face and kiss the freckles on her cheeks. "You okay?"

She hums. "Did you get my pickles?"

I huff a laugh and ease out of her, tucking my dick into my boxers. I fix her dress into place, give her round ass a tap, and run my fingers through my dishevelled hair.

"You didn't notice the huge glass jar in my hand before you jumped me?"

She smiles, her forest-green eyes sucking me into her world. "My focus was elsewhere."

"You're a sex demon now. I should get you pregnant more often." Then I think to myself. Give her a hungry look. "In fact, as soon as you're not pregnant, I'm going to fuck you so hard, you might die."

Her giggle goes straight to my chest like a ball of light battling the void. "I'm going to shower, you coming?"

And I do. Three more times, to be exact. By the time we lie in bed and spoon naked, we've got ten minutes before everyone's home. Her warm body fits perfectly with mine, and I kiss each scar on her skin as I make my way down, Mark's initials barely visible now.

"I'm completely outnumbered, mate. You need to hurry up and help me," I say as I rest my head on Dan's bump. "I warn you, though. They're animals. I've never seen so much pink in my life. Hopefully mummy is over the pickles by the time you're born, because her breath stinks."

A slap to the head. "Oh, shut up." My girl grins, running her fingers through my hair. "I think I'll be his favourite."

I snort, then chuckle with a smile. "No chance. Orla and Kenna always run to me first."

"Because you spoil them," she fires back, tugging at a strand of hair.

I shrug, placing my hand where I can feel Oakley kick. It always makes me giddy when I feel the kicks. "Of course I spoil them, they're daddy's girls. And when you're born, I'll spoil you as well."

"Am I still not allowed to call you daddy?"

I scrunch my nose as I glance up at her. "Fuck no."

She sarcastically huffs as I climb back up to her, and she stares at me as we lie on the pillow. I remember how nervous she used to make me, but I never showed it. Especially the first time we kissed in my flat. It's all I could think about. I refused to kiss anyone just to keep that memory alive. Even when we first slept together, a part of me panicked because I knew I'd fuck it all up. When she blew up Mark's building and ran into my arms covered in blood, barely able to stand, my heart was ripped out of my chest.

Then she put a bullet in Mark's head, and something in me changed. Not my feelings towards her. I still look at her like she is an angel sent to battle my demons. But that's when it clicked that she had killed to survive, partly for revenge.

Just like me.

And since that moment, I've not thought much about my past. My sisters will always have a place in my heart, and I'll make sure my kids know all about them, but this new version of me needed a fresh start in life. This new version of Eric Osprey has his girl by his side.

As her eyes travel over my face, I raise a brow. "What?"

"Your laugh lines are becoming permanent." She traces her finger against the corner of my eye, then the other, trying not to giggle. "Maybe you should be grumpy Eric again. I don't want to look like I'm going out with someone twenty years older than me."

I glare at her. Wait for her to take it back.

She doesn't.

Before she can keep studying my apparent wrinkles, I bat her hand away and stand from the bed. "Nope. No more dick for you."

"Hey! I was kidding!"

As I inspect the lines around my eyes in the mirror, I can see in the reflection that she's trying not to piss herself from laughing.

I think I might kill her.

"You're lucky you're pregnant."

She gets to her knees on the mattress, placing a hand on her hip when I turn to face her. "Because you're getting old? I mean, you are in your 30s. I'm in my 20s. That's a huge age gap, Eric."

I've counted three lines on my skin. "You're four years younger than me. Shut the fuck up."

"Denial looks cute on you," she says with an innocent smile. "If it makes you feel better, you're hotter than you were when you were nineteen."

"Nah, you fucked it." I sit on the edge of the bed with a smirk, hunting for my shorts. "Go screw someone your own age."

"Fine."

When I look over my shoulder at her, I narrow my eyes. "Fine."

"Maybe he'll propose to me properly."

I laugh deeply. "Asking you to be my wife while buried inside you wasn't enough?"

She crosses her arms. "Not even close."

I'll fix that soon. "And you still said yes."

"I was mid-orgasm."

"Will I ask you while you're in labour then?"

She gasps. "Absolutely not!"

We both burst into laughter. I pull her in for a kiss to silence us both. She hums, wraps her arms around my neck and whispers that as long as I'm here with her, nothing else matters.

I promise her that I'll give her the best goddamn proposal she's ever seen. Better than Gary's predictable beach one. I promise that I'll marry her and make it legally official. She's already an Osprey, already has my second name, and so do Orla and Kenna.

I promise to love her forever.

Because now, I can make promises I can keep. Do you know how fucking amazing that feels? I've always looked at Dan and thought to myself, you have her for the rest of your life. But she'll have a life after you're gone.

Now I get to wake up every morning to her bright smile. Every. Fucking. Morning.

When the door bursts open and two dogs gallop up the stairs, Dan and I are fully dressed and ready for the havoc. Elaine and Richie picked Kenna and Orla up from daycare and school to take them out for a while, to give us some time alone, but now it's all guns blazing.

My daughter's wide grin and wobbly steps toward me have to be the best thing ever. She mumbles a daddy, and cuddles into me when I lift her into my arms. Curly, dark ginger hair infiltrates my face, my own eyes staring back at me in awe, excited and wild. She's as beautiful as Dan.

"Did daddy's little princess have fun at daycare?" I ask, and she tries to find words to explain what toys she played with. "How was school Orla?"

She sits on the couch and pulls out her phone to play her game. "It was good! I got to visit Kenna and play with her."

Dan tells Richie to open her jar of pickles. He grimaces at the smell.

"We'll be off," he says. "See you at the memorial tomorrow?"

We both nod, and he takes his wife's hand and leaves.

Richie and Elaine have gotten closer than ever. They spend every moment together. She even likes me now, which is a fucking shock. Belinda lives a few streets up from us. She had adopted a teenage boy named Ali and has never been happier. We visit each other's houses for dinner, parties, and all the other normal people stuff.

Normal.

Weird. I've never felt normal, and now I am.

Kenna's little white teeth appear as she smiles like her mother and screams, "Daddy! Doggy Skye!"

Skye jumps up, her paws on my hip as she licks my hand. I pat her head and she runs off to play with Diesel with a deafening squeaky toy. One day I'll bin it. The fucker wakes me up at all hours.

My daughter asks to be put down, takes my large hand in her small one, grabs Dan's, and walks us to sit in front of her doll house.

Dan tries to kiss me, but I flinch and push her face away. "Pickle breath is a hard limit."

She mouths dickhead, and I wink at her as Kenna hands me a pink pony with a fluffy blue tail, saying, "Daddy... horsey." Then she yells, "Ola! Ola!"

Orla appears and takes the yellow pony and pretends to run alongside Kenna's black dragon. She's a great big sister. Sean and Sarah would be proud. I certainly am.

If this is normality, then I should have gotten us out of the dome sooner.

"I love you," Dan whispers to me as Kenna turns the doll house into a war zone while blasting Baby Shark from my phone speaker.

We lock fingers in the carpet. "I love you, too."

I can't imagine life without her. If Richie didn't save me from a prison sentence and assign me as her bodyguard, I would probably be dead.

I lost my family. My mum and sisters were ripped away from me. I got my revenge and suffered the consequences. I fell into a void, and that's where Dan found me.

Because that's what she does.

Every time I lose myself, she finds me.

Born four days before my thirty-second birthday, Oakley makes our family of five complete. Ainsley has a daughter named Poppy the week after, and Gary warns me that my son is to stay away from her.

And I spend every day of my life falling more in love with Dan. Even when she drives me insane, I'll still worship the ground she walks on.

Because after a decade of falling for her, the forbidden lines being drawn and crossed, rules being broken, and fighting what was inevitable, I finally have the rest of my life with her.

We finally have our years.