Darkest Descent

29. Epilogue

Epilogue

Asher

Five years later

We had our slice of the world. Not a private island or a large stretch of land far from any civilization. We still had to deal with others, pretend we weren’t siblings, that we weren’t all in love. But it was still ours, still hard to find unless you knew where to look. It was a place we were free to be ourselves, love each other as we wanted. In the nearest town, Alice and Hunter were a couple, and I was their friend, their handyman, fixing up the house even though it was something we all did. Because they looked slightly less alike, it made the most sense.

No one came out here to see, so it wasn’t a massive concern, but Alice didn’t want anyone getting suspicious, asking questions. Our life was good. Moving from here would hurt us all. It had taken a while for us to settle, to get used to the new lifestyle, but now I couldn’t imagine anything different .

We hadn’t lasted long in Northern Cali, relocating within a month after I found surfing too fucking hard and we almost got recognized by some internet sleuths with keen eyes and a death wish. We were dead, and that couldn’t change. There couldn’t be any suspicions. Despite dying our hair, changing our appearances as much as possible, and keeping a low-profile, we didn’t feel safe somewhere so public. The house on the beach had neighbors on either side, people walking past. We moved before the lease ran out.

Then came the mountains, but it was too cold for Alice. I loved it, the chill in the air and the views stretching out for miles, but when Hunter and I got stuck on a treacherous road because of the snow, and almost froze to fucking death, we decided Alice was right and continued our search. As long as we were together, it didn’t matter. In every place we tried, we were fucking like rabbits, pouring our hearts out in between.

We turned a corner when we found an old ranch house in the desert that had been languishing on the market for years. We snapped it up cheap and got to work fixing it up. The money we clawed from the mansion went into rebuilding the foundations of our ranch house, replacing furniture, adding a patio and tall fencing. The three of us worked our asses off, and by the time we were finished, it felt like home. Something we’d built as a trio, no other influence. And watching Hunter, sweaty and grunting in the midday sun, well, that was something else entirely.

We spent the first few years there just existing and thriving, healing. And we had a lot of that to do. Between what we’d done to each other, and what had happened in the past. It took time, online therapy and lots of tears, but shift by shift, we worked through it.

None of us woke experiencing anything other than contentment now. This life was perfect, fulfilling all we needed. Private, but not too far from a town with a grocery store, a cafe, a shitty strip mall. Remote, but not so cold your dick might fall off if you left a window ajar.

I grinned to myself as I strolled out onto the porch with a tray of morning coffees and pastries in my hands, finding my siblings and lovers lounging on the porch chairs, deep in conversation about something unimportant. I nudged the screen door shut to stop the bugs flooding our home and settled with them. They thanked me and took a streaming mug each.

“What you guys chatting about?” I asked, sipping the hot coffee. The sun would be stronger soon, so we took the opportunity to enjoy the fresh air as early as possible. Come 10am, this time of year, we’d burn to a crisp in anything but powerful AC. We all had online jobs that worked to bring in an income, and though it wasn’t much, it was all we needed.

“I was just telling Hunter about my tomato research again,” Alice said with a smirk. She’d been teasing him about setting up a farm for months now. It was something she wanted as soon as she saw the land, but decided animals would be too much work. After a too-quick google, she settled on tomatoes, chillis, maybe olives. We listened to her ramble, taunted her about it.

“And I was just telling Alice that she would be shit at growing crops,” Hunter teased back, laughing at her mock-shock. It was the truth, though. We’d watched her kill dozens of house plants over the years. His eye had never recovered. Despite visiting a doctor when we could, he never regained vision in it. Alice and I found his scar rugged, and a good reminder of how everything started. It took him a long time to come to terms with it, but he had.

“Well, maybe you could fucking help,” she griped back, a huge smile on her face.

I threw a pancake at both of them. One hit Alice on the cheek, and Hunter caught his, gnawing on it obnoxiously.

Truth was, Hunter and I had a bunch of tomato plants on their way to us. We’d ordered them a few weeks ago for our upcoming birthday. We’d both done enough research to at least give it a good go, and we were both excited to try. Hunter was building a trellis in the barn out back, and I couldn’t wait for her to see.

“Never,” Hunter said as he chewed, smirking at her when she hopped up in pretend anger.

“You guys are such a pain in my fucking ass,” she grumped, beginning to walk away, yelling over her shoulder. “When I’m making delicious chutneys and salsa, you’ll soon change your damn minds.”

Hunter jumped up, and she shrieked at the sight, running down the porch steps and down onto the dry grass, laughing and giggling.

He chased her and caught her with ease, swooping her up into his arms and kissing her, before throwing her down to the ground, settling above her. “I can be a pain in your ass whenever you want, beautiful girl,” he promised, pretending to fuck her, humping his hips into her as they both laughed and she squirmed.

They continued to laugh and play fight, not letting up until I joined in, diving right into the fold and getting elbows out until I landed hard jabs into both their ribs. Joy radiated between us through our cries of pleasure and pain.

Fuck it all.

This is where I wanted to be. Through everything. All the damage and suffering and despair we started with, through the taboo of our relationship and all the difficulties that came along with it. There was nothing else for me apart from these two people. My siblings. The loves of my life.

No one had ever come looking for us, and we’d been declared officially dead just a week after the fire. The family wealth was distributed to victims of our father’s businesses, to charities for survivors of human trafficking and sexual abuse, and Alice and I lay buried in empty graves. Hunter wasn’t ever mentioned.

We discussed plans for the future, the sad agreement we would never have children, and the happy decision to just live for ourselves, to experience all the joy and love in the world through each other. Hunter and I underwent matching vasectomies when I turned twenty-five, and we let it go. We were too fucked up to be parents, and that said nothing of how our genetics would mesh.

We knew we were wrong. That Hunter had tied a noose around our necks, roping us into this life of loving the people we shouldn’t. But between the three of us, it was just acceptance.

“One of you needs to get your cock in me right now,” Alice groaned from beneath the two of us, and fuck, she was going to have to fight me for Hunter’s cock. It was pressed against my thigh and so fucking hard already.

Hunter took charge, as he so often did. “Let’s go inside before we turn into a puddle of sweat, then I’ll make you both feel good.”

He carried Alice, and I trailed behind, following them into the house we’d built from the ground up. No shame or secrets between us. Only love.