Before you read this you need to know one thing. This isn't a real epilogue. Since this book as a sequel there normally wouldn't be an epilogue.
So this epilogue is for anyone who doesn't want a sequel and just wants to move on. If you read this, know that anything that takes place in here will no exist for the sequel.
**********************************************************************
One month later.
The Pull yanked Taylor from the novel she read as it dug into her stomach. Wincing, she gripped the book's edges. Around her the cafeteria clashed with voices and laughter. As the pain intensified, she glanced towards Dominic's table. He met her gaze and shook his head.
Wanting a second and better opinion, Taylor glanced to Clint at the other side of the room. Despite not having his own sixth sense, Clint locked eyes with her. The Pull jerked at her, urging her to help. Clint narrowed his eyes, reading the signs in Taylor's face. He frowned, uncertain.
Deciding both boys were idiots, Taylor stood, her chair scraping against the floor. Bailey lifted her eyes.
"Good luck saving the day," she said.
Taylor froze. Despite the twisting sensation in her gut, she stared at Bailey.
"What?"
Bailey offered her a mischievous grin. "Thanks for saving my mom's life." She shrugged. "And the lives of her bobble heads. She hasn't forgotten it."
Not having enough time to sort out this new revelation, Taylor backed away.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Bailey nodded, not at all concerned with Taylor's denial.
"Right, my bad."
Smiling, Bailey returned to her book. Half baffled, half impressed, Taylor made a quick retreat from the cafeteria. She hadn't gone far when she heard the beat of hurried footsteps behind her. Clint fell into step beside her as they headed for a storage room.
"What level?" he asked.
"Eight."
"Let's go."
They ducked into the storage closet and Taylor grabbed a backpack they'd hidden in a corner. As she slipped on her hoodie and settled the hood on her head, Dominic appeared in the closet. Clint yelped and jumped back.
"Why do you have to do that every time?" Clint growled.
"Because it makes you jump every time," Dominic said, grinning.
"I thought you weren't coming," Taylor said, having found the best way to deal with the alpha males was to get into between them.
Dominic took the third hoodie out of the backpack. "And let you have all the fun, nah. Besides it feels like an eight, you'll need me." He jerked his thumb towards Clint. "I'm not sure we need Gym Boy."
"I can handle myself better than you can, Jock Head."
"Shut up or I'm leaving both of you behind," Taylor said. "And that way if I die, you'll both feel guilty."
Making a face, Dominic adjusted his hood. "I still say three's a crowd."
"Great, we'll leave you here them," Clint said.
Taylor placed her hands on both of their arms, glaring at them.
"I can't believe I have to deal with you both. Time Stop now."
The world stopped and Taylor swept them away from the school, landing them in the heart of a bank. Spread through out were a group of four men with masks on their faces and guns in their hands. Bank tellers and customers all cowered on the floor, faces petrified with fear. Towards the back, two other gunmen led an older, well-dressed man towards the vault.
"This feels cliché," Dominic muttered.
"Why can't people get real jobs?" Taylor said. "I was right in the middle of a good chapter."
"What were you reading?" Dominic asked.
"A Secret Service. Ever read it?"
"No, you'll have to let me borrow it."
"Focus," Clint snapped. He shook his head. "And you say you don't need me."
"I still say we don't," Dominic said.
Clint smacked the back of Dominic's head and Taylor dug her nails into each boys' arm before they could break out into an all out brawl in the middle of a bank robbery.
"What is our game plan?" she asked, surveying the scene.
Afternoon sunlight shimmered through the glass front walls. Outside trees dotted the sidewalk with pink buds bursting open. The sky was a brilliant blue with wispy clouds. As far as days went the six gunmen couldn't have picked a prettier day to wreck havoc.
"I'll take care of the four gunmen out here," Clint said. "Taylor, deal with the guns, send them into the vault. Dominic if you can somehow manage it, deal with the two gunmen with the bank manager."
Dominic glared at Clint. "Why don't I deal with the four gunmen and you deal with the other two."
"If I thought you were capable, I would say yes. But I don't think you are."
Groaning in frustration, Taylor dropped her head back. "It's a miracle we ever get anything done."
"It's not my fault," Dominic said. "Gym Boy here is far too up tight. He needs to relax and get himself a girl."
At the mention of that, Taylor flushed and Clint looked anywhere other than Taylor. Clint cleared his throat.
"Taylor, send me behind the gunmen on the left," he said.
Nodding, she sent him away. He popped up behind the gunman, frozen, his face tight with concentration. Dominic looked from the unmoving Clint to Taylor.
"What was that?" he asked.
"What was what?" she said, feigning innocence.
"That completely awkward moment that seemed to last forever."
"It couldn't last forever, we're in a Time Stop and time doesn't move in here."
"Stop being evasive and answer the question, what's going on with you two?"
Annoyed, Taylor tossed up her one free hand. "We don't have time for this."
"As you pointed, we're in the Time Stop, I think that we means we have all the time for this."
Frowning, Taylor gazed at Clint, a tiny bit of her wanting to smile at how determined and focused he was.
"I don't know. We kissed that one time, I told him that I didn't want a relationship but we did dance at Winter Formal which was nice. Since then though it's all been training and not a lot else. I think he likes me but I don't know." She rubbed her forehead. "I don't know what to do."
"Ask him out."
"What?"
"Ask him out. He seems like the kind of idiot that has so much respect for girls that he wouldn't dare make a move when you say you don't want a relationship. So tell him you do."
"What if he says no?"
Dominic grinned. "Then every time we team up it will be super awkward and I will find it hilarious."
"How nice. Go deal with your two men," she said and sent him away.
The world crashed in around her as he left her side, whimpers and shouts rang in the air. Bouncing back into action, Taylor jumped through the bank, touching the barrel's of guns and making the disappear, each time bringing on a new wave of shock from the robbers. Her job complete, she dropped herself in a corner and took out her phone.
As she listened to the rings, she watched with awe as Clint took on four men. He moved with a grace that never ceased to surprise her. Each kick perfectly aimed. Each punch landing exactly where he intended. Though she would never admit it to him or herself, she knew she could watch him for hours.
"Aren't you supposed to be at school?" Weston sighed.
Her brother's voice snapped Taylor out of her admiration session.
"I am," she said. "But somehow I found myself in the middle of a bank robbery instead. Education is all around us. For instance today I'm learning, don't rob a bank. You never know when a ragtag team might come and stop you."
Weston snorted. "A ragtag team I have yet to met. Where are you?"
It had taken weeks for Weston to come around to accepting what Taylor did, but eventually he understood that pushing her away wouldn't help her. So instead he'd started talking to her about how to assess situations when she was on her own and with a team. The latter lesson almost made Taylor laugh since he wasn't aware that she had someone who knew how to stop time.
"And you won't because I know you'll threaten them," Taylor said. "I'm at the Williams bank on Third and Hamilton."
"So this team has boys on it, interesting. I'll send two squad cars over. Do you need help? Or will they be hand delivered as they usually are."
"I shouldn't have said that. Sounds good. No. And yes."
As if to back up her claim, Clint landed on final kick to the only remaining gunmen and he crumpled to the floor unconscious.
"I will have to met then eventually," Weston said. "And get back to school, Tay."
"True but I'm holding off on it, I like my team in one piece. And fine, but education is dull in comparison."
"I know. Have a good day, Shadow."
"I take it back, I still hate that name."
Weston laughed as Taylor hung up. Moving over to Clint, she helped him secure the robbers' ankles and wrists as the surrounding group of people stared at them in utter shock.
"Are you losing your touch, Gym Boy?" Dominic asked. "I feel like it took you ages to take down those men."
Clint crossed his arms. "It took me the same time to take down four as it took you to handle two. What does that say about you?"
Scowling, Dominic said nothing and Taylor smiled.
"Let's go," she said.
As she reached for their arms, a trembling voice spoke.
"Who are you?" a bank teller asked.
Taylor, Clint, and Dominic all exchanged glances.
"Nobody of consequence," Taylor said and jumped them back to the storage closet.
All of them tugged off their hoodies and stuffed them into the backpack. Shoving the backpack into the far corner, they exited the closet and headed back to the cafeteria.
"I think we need to bring up the subject of sitting together again," Clint said. "It would be easier then having to meet up in the closet to discuss what decision we make on which crisis to attend to."
"Not this again!" Dominic said. "I'm not sitting with your geeky friends."
"Hey! They're smarter than you are."
"Yet all they talk about is Skyrim."
"Better than you're jock friends who only talk about how they mistreat girls. Taking advantage of a girl is not something to boast about!"
Taylor barely listened to Dominic's comeback, her attention only on Clint and his anger at how Dominic's friends talked about their exploits. A different kind of flutter invaded her stomach as she stared at him, struck by how much she liked him. How much he truly saw and cared about the people around him. People he didn't even know. How he stuck to his morals no matter how it might make people look at him.
Taylor knew Dominic was right, as hard as that was for her to admit, even silently, to herself. Clint would respect her decision to keep things simple, no relationship. But right then, she didn't want simple anymore, she wanted Clint.
Taking hold on a new type of courage that didn't involve facing masked gunmen, she stepped in between the two arguing boys, cupped Clint's face and kissed him.
He froze for second before softening into the kiss, his arms sliding around her waist.
Taylor pulled back. "Clint, I want you to ask me out."
He blinked, dazed.
"Ummm..." He swallowed, completely lost.
Dominic smacked the back of his head.
"This is where you say, 'Taylor, will you go out with me', Gym Boy."
It spoke to Clint's rattled state that he didn't even blink at Dominic's nickname for him.
"Taylor, will you go out with me?" he asked.
"You take care of the time and place," she smiled. "And I'll take care of getting us there."
**********************************************************************
"Agent Romanoff, did you miss me?"
I will say it again THIS EPILOGUE IS NOT REAL! Well, it is for those of you who plan to ditch me and never come back for the sequel.
I know that you want a real epilogue but it ain't gonna happen. I see this book dovetailing straight into the next and an epilogue would ruin that.
But go ahead and tell me what you thought of this anyways! 🦸🏼♀️🦸🏽♂️🦹🏻♀️
Also dry those tears, you can read the first chapter of the sequel here. It should give you something to look forward to!
Also as I'm working on getting the sequel in order, are there any one shots about these characters you would be interesting in seeing? Just asking for a friend.
Also yes, yes it is possible to get your own physical copy of A Secret Service, the link is in my bio, no need to hound me about it. 😁
Vote, comment, follow but only if you leave this book in your library because there is more to come!