No Midnight Mercy ☾ (gxg)

epilogue

"Jesus fuck, is this box full of rocks?"

Oliver struggled to pick up the large cardboard box, his pale face straining red as he carried it from the U-Haul. Gen pointed up at the name on the big moving truck and chuckled, "Hehe, U-Haul lesbians."

"And all it took was an alcohol addiction and a psychotic ex," Eden mumbled as she took a smaller box out of the back of the truck.

"Isn't that the start of every lesbian relationship?" Gen remarked, causing them both to chuckle.

Mrs. Larkson smirked to herself as she, too, grabbed a box and carried it into the large house. "Kids these days crack me up."

"Aye, why isn't Cecilia out here helping us?" Oliver questioned as he finished setting the large box inside and walked back to the truck, holding his back as if he were an old man who had pulled it. "Did she forget I carried her to the hospital after she tried to kill me because she thought I was a demon monkey?"

Eden held back the laugh that almost spilled from her lips, knowing how fuming and embarrassed Cecilia would be if she heard her friends bring it up yet again. "She said she had to go do something inside real quick. I'll go check on her." She carried a box inside, setting it down by the couch where all the other boxes were piled up. Wiping her hands, she jogged to the kitchen and dining room, wondering if the woman had just grabbed something to eat, but she wasn't there. She came back to the living room and swung around the stairs, jogging up them in her jeans and Rolling Stones tee.

"Cecilia?" she called, poking her head into the bedroom where her boxes of clothes sat on the bed. Seeing the brunette nowhere, she continued down the hall and opened the doors of the library. "Cec—"

Cecilia was there, leaning against the desk with one hand in her pocket and the other hand holding a bottle of unopened whiskey.

She'd been sober for a year. There had been tough times, especially when the legal battle of trying to get Ruth behind bars had begun to weigh on her. Ruth had gotten exceptionally good lawyers on her side, and it took many court dates and frustrating talks with the prosecutor, but they had finally gotten Ruth a sentence that she was now serving in Chicago's Metropolitan Correctional Center. The sentence mostly hinged on the fact that Eden was 17 when their relationship started and not on the abuse, even though Eden showed up with her fractured cheekbone still in the process of healing for most of the earlier court dates.

"This was the bottle of whiskey my dad gave me when I turned 21," Cecilia began, turning the clear, square bottle over in her hand, the smooth brown liquid sloshing against the wooden lid in the top. "It was only weeks before he died. I was saving it for whenever I felt accomplished in life." She looked up at Eden who looked a little worried and shocked to have walked in on Cecilia with a bottle in her hands. "I thought it would be once I graduated law school or once the firm grew successful, but even then it didn't feel right to open it. It's been sitting in that cabinet for 11 years."

Eden clasped her hands together and looked between Cecilia and the bottle. "Does it feel right now?"

Cecilia twisted the wooden cap out of the bottle with a pop and brought it to her nose, tilting the bottle around and inhaling the scent of the liquid that swished around the neck. Eden watched nervously, her palms growing sweaty.

"No," Cecilia finally answered. She turned and walked through the open doors to the balcony and poured over the edge the contents of the bottle over until it was empty. "Let the grass have it."

Eden's body relaxed with relief. "That's so good for the environment."

Smiling, Cecilia sauntered back into the room, putting the cap back on the whiskey and setting the bottle back in its place inside the glass cabinet on the wall behind the desk. She sauntered around to Eden and snaked her arms around her waist. "How's moving in?"

Eden smiled and placed her cool hands on Cecilia's grinning face, the diamond ring on her finger sparkling. "It's going well." Cecilia leaned the girl against the edge of the desk, and it reminded her of the first time she had seen that library. "Remember that time you tried to fuck me on our first date?"

Cecilia chuckled, her tan cheeks blushing slightly. "I was a little forward back then, I admit."

Eden shrugged, pulling away from their embrace and turning around, trailing her finger along the top of the desk. "We could recreate it." She smirked, knowing what was about to come next as she felt strong hands wrap around her hips, warm breath fanning on the back of her neck.

"Then bend over."