Cherry Wine {lex luthor}

epilogue

Four Months Later

Somewhere on the Adriatic Sea

A man stood at the back of a yacht, the butt of a cigarette dangling from his fingers. His suit fit impeccably over narrow shoulders, flame-coloured hair curling to the collar.

The locals called him dyavol. The devil. There was a hardness in his eyes, in his shoulders. He had appeared four months earlier, along with his luxury yacht and a host of mercenaries. The men who sold his staff food and housed them while they weren't working all told the same story. The man had come from America, running from crimes even he wouldn't speak of. He had lost his love; the story differed from man to man. In some, she died of sadness from his crimes. In others, he killed her for knowing too much. In more still, his best friend murdered her in order to protect her from his cruelty. One man said she was alive, hanging onto life by the tips of her fingers. No one dared ask the man. He never spoke, never came to shore without soldiers flanking him. He had a stare like rocks, but when he saw one girl, a girl with brown hair to her waist and a glinting grin, his eyes filled with tears.

The yacht bobbed and dipped as the wake of a smaller speedboat hit it. There was yelling from the soldiers on board as someone climbed the ladder, a loud discussion the man didn't care about. He stared up at the church on the mountain top, his fingers running over the silver and amethyst cross he wore around his neck. He had had it in his pocket the day of the crash. He had wanted to surprise her with it when they'd arrived. He'd known she wouldn't have wanted to leave that final reminder of her parents behind. Now, it was the only thing of hers he had, the only thread still holding them together.

Her hand had been in his when the SUV had hit. He felt it every night before he went to sleep, heard her muffled laugh. Sometimes, he woke in a sweat, and he could smell her on his pillow. She had always smelled like earl grey tea, somehow. On the bad nights, he heard that last strangled scream. It made it worse that he couldn't see her, could only rely on Benji for updates.

She had been comatose for four months. He was beginning to lose hope she'd ever wake up. He'd spent every day since then in a daze. The first two weeks had been the worst, unsure if she was even alive, unsure if he could live in a world without her. That had been before the yacht, before he had settled here. He had buried his sorrow in the mouths and beds of brown-haired girls in Venice, in Athens. The guilt was almost as bad as the grief.

Heavy footsteps mounted the stairs. The man didn't turn around.

"Mr. Luthor." The messenger had a heavy italian accent. "Mr. Luthor, please."

He turned around, hope suddenly alight in his chest. The messenger handed him a glass phone. He lifted it to his ear, his hand shaking.

"Hello?"

"Lex?" Benji's voice was grainy, cut by the interference by the sea.

"It's me."

There was a long silence, and the hope drained from Lex in a long motion. He slumped heavily against the rail, nausea rising in him.

"She's awake."

A/N: And that's it!!!!!!!! The end of Cherry Wine! 

What a ride! I cannot believe the places this book took me, and how much joy it brought me. Thank you for everyone who read it, voted, commented. 

There will be a sequel, called 'Art Deco', coming sometime either november or december. I am starring in a movie in November. I will not have much time to write or plan a novel, so expect it later November :)

Please let me know what you thought, and what you think will happen next. 

Kisses and hugs because I know you need them

-Ivory Faye