The Disciples: A Dark Romance Collection

by Sweet, Izzy

  Epilogue

  Beth

  Christmas

  “I want one,” Johnathan breathes into my ear, leaning over the back of the couch I’m sitting on with Amy.

  His hot breath sends a delicious shiver up my spine as I stare down at the baby in my arms.

  Noah, Amy and Andrew’s infant son, is wrapped up in a fluffy blue blanket, his eyes full of wonder as he peers up at me. He has his father’s dark hair and his mother’s warm eyes.

  “He’s so beautiful,” I gush to Amy. “And so small.”

  Noah’s little fingers are wrapped around my index finger and he keeps trying to pull it into his mouth to suckle on.

  For such a small guy, he’s surprisingly strong.

  “He is,” Amy agrees with proud pleasure.

  “Can I keep him?” I ask, half teasing and half serious.

  Seriously, I’ve never held a baby before and there’s just something extremely satisfying about cradling his warm weight in my arms.

  Amy tips her head back and laughs. “Maybe you can babysit him when he’s a little older.”

  “I’d like that.” I smile, and then look back down at Noah. “You hear that, big guy? You and I are going to have lots of fun.”

  Noah smiles up at me and my heart melts.

  I don’t know what it is, but I’ve been feeling extremely sensitive lately. My emotions are heightened and sometimes out of control. It could be because of all the crazy events that have happened over the past couple of months, but I just seem to feel everything a little more now.

  There was a memorial a couple of weeks ago for Lindsey that was hard as fuck to get through, but with Johnathan by my side, I survived it.

  Honestly, I don’t know how I made it through life up to this point without him by my side. He’s become my rock. Always there to offer his support and catch me when I fall.

  And I love him so damn much for it. So much, sometimes I think I might burst from the force of it.

  Ever since the night at the farm, things seem to have settled down a bit. Johnathan and I were officially married in a small, secret ceremony hidden from the press, and I no longer have to worry about my father coming after me if he decides to ignore Johnathan’s warning and gets a wild hair up his ass.

  We also legally adopted Charlie. I have no clue how Johnathan managed to pull it off so quick, but he’s officially ours now. And every day, we’ve been growing closer and closer as a family.

  I lean my head back and peek up at Johnathan. His eyes are molten and his expression is scorching.

  He’s made no secret that right now his mission in life is to knock me up. In fact, it’s all he tries to do. I think if he could get away with it in Lucifer’s house, he’d try to get me to sneak off with him right now and have a go at it.

  No doubt the sight of me holding a baby in my arms is making him hot.

  “Mommy!” Abigail calls out, skipping over to us. “Look what Charlie made for me!” she exclaims holding out a little blue flower made out of Legos.

  Amy smiles warmly at her daughter and it’s a little surreal. With her brown hair, and fine, delicate features, Abigail looks like a tiny replica of her mother.

  “That’s lovely,” Amy tells her. “Did you thank him for it?”

  Abigail’s big brown eyes widen and she turns, calling out, “Thank you for the flower, Charlie!”

  Charlie’s cheeks pinken as he shuffles over to join us. He looks at her and then down at his feet. “You’re welcome, Abigail.”

  Johnathan’s warm breath hits my ear again. “I think our boy might have developed a crush.”

  I think he’s right, especially because of the way Charlie keeps sneaking little peeks at Abigail but looks down at the floor every time he’s noticed.

  “Come on, Charlie, let’s go play some more,” Abigail smiles and skips up to him. She grabs his hand and starts to tug him back towards the gorgeous silver and white Christmas tree when Lucifer and his family finally appear.

  “So sorry about that,” Lily apologizes as she sweeps into the room. “The FaceTime call with my mother took a little longer than expected.”

  Amy and I both smile at her and tell her it’s no problem at all. With a look of relief, she joins us on the couch and starts cooing over Noah.

  Honestly, I can’t believe I’m spending Christmas in Lucifer’s house of all places. When Johnathan originally explained the compound to me, I envisioned a prison-like setting, not this gorgeous, multimillion-dollar mansion. Granted, the mansion is surrounded by prison-like walls, a couple of guardhouses, and twenty-four hour patrols and surveillance, but it’s still gorgeous.

  Lily has really outdone herself on the Christmas decorations. The entire room is decorated in white, silver, and gold, and under the ginormous Christmas tree are dozens of beautifully wrapped presents.

  Lucifer walks into the room carrying their young son, David, with his two other children, Adam and Evelyn, following behind him. Like Abigail, Evelyn seems to greatly resemble her mother, but her features are softer and more child-like in appearance.

  Lucifer walks towards Lily while both Adam and Evelyn breakaway and walk towards Charlie and Abigail.

  Adam seems to be glaring daggers at Charlie and it sets me on edge a little.

  Adam walks right up to where Charlie and Abigail are standing and glares down at their connected hands. For a moment, he looks so damn angry I’m afraid he’s going to do something.

  “Adam!” Abigail squeals, a bright smile lighting up her face. She immediately drops Charlie’s hand and throws her arms around Adam.

  The whole scene is kind of strange, and I’m not entirely sure what I’m witnessing. Adam seems to soften as Abigail hugs him, but I catch him shoot another glare in Charlie’s direction.

  Is he jealous? Isn’t he a little young for that?

  “Look what Charlie made for me,” Abigail says happily. She steps away from Adam and holds out the little blue flower Charlie built for her.

  Adam takes one look at the flower, snatches it out of Abigail’s hand, and snaps it in half.

  Abigail’s eyes widen in shock and her bottom lip trembles. She bursts into tears, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

  I look up at Johnathan and we both share a ‘what the fuck’ look.

  “What’s going on?” Amy asks, rising from the couch. I don’t think she witnessed what happened.

  “Uh… Adam broke Abigail’s flower,” I supply.

  “Adam,” Lily gasps angrily and stands. She marches over to Adam, who doesn’t appear at all contrite, and grabs him by the arm.

  Leading Adam over towards the fireplace, I politely turn my attention away as she starts to lay into him.

  Lucifer glances around the room, and then his gaze narrows in on Simon and Andrew who have been sitting on the other couch.

  Andrew stands and heads over to comfort his crying daughter.

  “Simon,” Lucifer grins, his eyes twinkling with mischief as he approaches him.

  Simon stiffens and eyes Lucifer warily. “Yes?”

  “Here,” Lucifer says, thrusting out David towards Simon. “Hold David for a moment while I have a talk with Adam.”

  Simon looks at David, who looks to be about a year and a half old, and looks ready to bolt, but Lucifer doesn’t give him the chance. He gently drops David into Simon’s lap and walks off.

  Little David is the spitting image of his father, and like Lucifer he’s almost painfully beautiful, even with the little bit of drool dripping down his chin.

  Simon stares down at David with wide, horrified eyes and his face goes deathly pale as David’s little hands grab his white shirt and he begins to babble.

  Behind me, Johnathan bursts out laughing and even Amy giggles.

  “I think he likes you,” Johnathan says.

  Simon glances up and shoots Johnathan a glare.

  Little David, though, appears to be completely oblivious to Simon’s discomfort, babbling non-stop before he decides to
try and shove one of the little fists gripping Simon’s shirt into his mouth.

  “Good god,” Simon gasps, causing all of us to burst into another fit of laughter.

  Simon grabs the little boy by the waist and holds him away from him. The two stare at each other, Simon at a loss of what to do and David drooling and smiling.

  “It’s okay, Abigail,” Charlie says, drawing my attention back to him. He picks up the broken Lego flower and has it put back together in two seconds flat.

  This seems to appease Abigail. She sniffles and smiles through her tears at him. “Thank you, Charlie.”

  Charlie nods his head and blushes. He’s so sweet, and I’m so proud of him.

  “Can you make me one, too?” Evelyn asks, looking hopefully at him.

  “Sure,” Charlie smiles at her. “What color do you want?”

  “Pink!” Evelyn declares and bounces with excitement.

  “Uh… hello?” a soft, feminine voice calls out, drawing everyone’s attention.

  I turn towards the sound to see a beautiful, dark-haired woman standing in the doorway.

  Her eyes widen in surprise as she takes in the room and all the people gathered.

  Is she another wife I haven’t met yet?

  “Who’s that?” I whisper to Johnathan.

  He frowns, his bushy brows knitting together, and says, “Shit. I think that’s Lucifer’s sister. What’s she doing here?”

  I glance towards Amy, but she looks just as confused as I am.

  I look towards Simon and see he is no longer staring at David. No, he’s staring at the woman and looking like someone just punched him in the gut.

  “Meredith,” Lucifer says, and slowly approaches her. The woman may be his sister, but he doesn’t look particularly happy to see her. “What do we owe the pleasure?”

  The woman glances nervously around the room again, at all the surprised faces, before her expression hardens with determination.

  She lifts her chin in the air with the regal bearing of a queen, and says, “Matthew, I need your help…”

  The End

  Playlists

  Beth’s Playlist

  http://spoti.fi/2jbyfVn

  …Ready for it? - Taylor Swift

  Immigrant Song - Karen O, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

  Black Wave - K.Flay

  Call the Shots - Louise Dowd, Toni Halliday

  River of Fire - In This Moment

  Into the Darkness - The Phantoms

  You’re the One - Charli XCX

  Rise Up - J2, Keeley Bumford

  No Mercy - Pvris

  Another One Bites the Dust (Epic Trailor Version) - Hidden Citizens, Jaxson Gamble

  What a Wonderful World - Joseph William Morgan, Shadow Royale

  Johnathan’s Playlist

  http://spoti.fi/2CLH4xz

  Stay Vicious - The Gaslight Anthem

  Sleeping Dogs - Zakk Wylde, Corey Taylor

  Gimme Shelter - Stone Sour, Lzzy Hale

  Absolute Zero - Stone Sour

  Stillborn - Black Label Society

  Lift Me Up - Five Finger Death Punch

  Trouble - Five Finger Death Punch

  Into the Fire - Asking Alexandria

  Where the Wind Blows - Blacktop Mojo

  Defy - Of Mice & Men

  Ho, Ho, Ho

  Andrew

  “You’re the one who wanted to go to the law firm,” John says heatedly to Simon.

  “I wanted to go to the law firm, yes, but…” Simon snarls as he looks around the pickup truck we’re all crammed in. “I’d prefer not to smell of dirt and animal feces.”

  “My truck doesn’t smell like dog shit, asshole,” John growls back.

  Looking over to James, I shrug my shoulders at him as I take a deep whiff of where we’re sitting. “Smells kinda like motor oil to me.”

  “Smells like domestication to me,” James smirks and then moves a Lego plane from under his ass.

  “Fuck you, Simon. You’re next, James. And Andrew… You’re good,” John grumbles then jerks his steering wheel to the side as he dodges yet another snow drift.

  “Heathens and barbarians, the lot of you,” Simon mutters before pulling a file out of his briefcase.

  Peering out into swirling white flakes of snow pelting down on us, I grumble to them all, “This fucking trip better be worth it.”

  Amy was pissed when I said I had to leave in the middle of Christmas decorating. Not that I was on the roof, putting lights up or anything. That was last week. No, she’s pissed because I won’t be there to help garland the whole fucking stairway and banisters.

  It also doesn’t help that I’m not available to help hunt down a decent fake Christmas tree, either. Poor Abigail’s body decided this was the year to break out in hives around our Douglas fir.

  I’ve never seen Abigail throw a tantrum before… She’s a good girl. Daddy’s little girl. But when she thought there’d be no Christmas tree this year…

  It took us two hours to calm her down she was so upset.

  It’s three weeks before Christmas and two weeks before school lets out for the break. I’m sitting in the backseat of John’s pickup truck in a suit and tie with James sitting beside me, pissed as a motherfucker at John. Simon’s been bitching like a little school girl about dirt and John’s antagonizing the fuck out of him. I would have paid to switch places with Jude right now, wherever the fuck he’s at in the world.

  But no, I get to babysit these fuckwits for the day.

  To be honest, I wouldn’t even trade places with Jude if I could.

  I’d rather be home with my boy and girls.

  Leaving them behind is getting harder and harder every day.

  Goddammit, I’m as domesticated as can be.

  This shit really better be worth it.

  “What’s the deal with the law firm we’re heading to?” I ask Simon as I lean up to see what he’s looking at.

  Huffing loudly, he hands me a file showing a shit ton of numbers that have been circled in red and bright orange.

  I can’t make heads or tails out of all the little circles and notations, so I ask, “Did Evie or Abi get ahold of your markers again?”

  “No,” he snips at me. “Though it wouldn’t be the first time they’ve done that. Those red circles are notations of missing funds or balance transfer inaccuracies.”

  “A couple of hours here and a couple of dollars there…” I say, looking at the sheet. “This is over a week. Probably a few hundred dollars total.”

  “Now ask me how many sheets I have like that for the last three months,” Simon says.

  “How many?” John asks.

  “I’d say you have a sheet like this for every week, and I’m betting each week doesn’t add up to a large amount. But combined, it’s enough to add up to a huge amount,” I say, handing Simon the sheet back.

  “Exactly,” Simon says. “Over thirty thousand over the last six months. And past that, I need full accurate logs of every billable hour that’s occurred. When we first hired this firm, these little charges weren’t as prevalent. Now they seem to be speeding up.”

  “So someone’s bilking a ton of money out of us under the guise of billable hours,” James says.

  “Yes,” Simon says with a nod of his head.

  “And they either think we don’t give a shit or they’re ramping up for a final payday before they split,” I say.

  “That’s my thought, but I need to figure out who’s doing it and why,” Simon says.

  “We’re all in suits… I’m taking it this isn’t a head-busting trip,” Johnathan grumbles as he tugs at the tie around his neck.

  “If this becomes that type of trip, you have your guns. Use them only if necessary. We’ll be bringing the responsible party back to the warehouse for Lucifer to greet,” Simon says.

  He’s got a point. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to torture and cap a fucker inside a law firm in the middle of broad daylight.

  Johnathan slows the tr
uck down to a middling crawl as we come up to a red light. I look around again at all the snow and icy shit being dumped on us.

  Lifting a cup of coffee to his lips as he settles in to wait for the light to change, John says, “Ya know, maybe we could talk the boss man into moving this whole enterprise of ours down south. Warm weather, sandy beaches, year-long bike weather…”

  Getting ready to take a drink from his thermos of coffee, Simon says, “And what? Have sand fucking crawling up my ass and dirtying my clothes?”

  My attention is dragged away from whatever those two are arguing about now by a shitty Honda that pulls up real damn close to my side of the truck. Looking through their fucked-up, tinted windows, I can see four guys sitting inside, moving about. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I can’t quite place what’s off about them until I notice all four of them are wearing ski masks.

  Ski masks inside of their car.

  Elbowing James as subtly as I can, I focus my attention directly ahead.

  “My side, black Honda,” I say out of the corner of my mouth so that everyone can hear me.

  James sits a little straighter as he takes a small peek around me. After a brief look, he says, “On their way to do no good.”

  None of us make a move, but it’s clear the fuckers beside us are up to something. I don’t think it’s us though. Probably want to rob a gas station or something.

  “When does the law firm close today?” I ask Simon.

  “Six, but they’ll all be staying over until we are through with our investigation,” he answers quietly.

  “Dude, it’s only four,” John grumbles.

  “We do have some time to kill,” James says.

  After a very long pause, Simon says, “I’d hate to arrive unfashionably early.”

  Holy fuck, he just made a joke.

  I grin. “Looks like we get to have some fun before the party then.”