I put her through some horrible shit, shit I don’t remember. I don’t ever want to be in that place again. I don’t want to know how I threatened to hurt her on more than one occasion or that I was so drunk I don’t remember making out with an old fling. I want to be the man she deserves to have and the father my kids deserve. They don’t need to grow up the way I did, with the booze and yelling. I don’t want that to be my legacy as a father. When someone asks them about their childhood, I want them to say it was perfect. I want them to be proud of their old man.
Delilah is walking toward me, wearing an ivory chiffon dress. Her blonde hair is flowing down her back and some rests over her shoulder. She looks like an angel as she floats down the aisle on her way to become Mrs. Jake Evans. The bundle of wild flowers stands out against her dress, looking stunning next to her tan skin. And when she makes her way to me, I am blinded by her beauty.
Damn, I’m one lucky fucker.
“Jake and Delilah chose to write their wedding vows,” the minster says and looks toward Delilah after she stops by my side.
“Jake, we’ve been on a journey. It feels like an eternity since we first met, yet it also feels like it was only yesterday. The best moments of my life have been with you by my side. From the birth of our children to the J&D adventures, our life together has never been short of a laughter and good times. But some of my worst moments in life have been with you by my side, as well. From burying my best friend to losing my relationship with my mother to all our drama, it has always been you holding my hand and walking me through. I love you, Jake Evans, and I am so excited to see the many adventures our married life will take us on from here.” After Delilah pulls my gold wedding band from her middle finger and slips it onto my ring finger, she bends down and presses her lips to the ring, as if she’s sealing her vows with a kiss.
My heart swells when I hear her beautiful words. I was sweating when I wrote mine. I’m not a fan of showing so much affection publicly, but I wanted my family to know how much this woman means to me, so here goes nothing.
I begin, “Delilah, the only thing I have to say is thank you. Thank you for taking a chance on a slum kid, looking past all the shit I’ve accumulated in my life and never giving up on me. Thank you for being the wonderful mother to the four best kids a man could ask for. Thank you for leaving me and making me realize the precious life I was quickly losing. Thank you for making me finally see I wasn’t living at all; I was dying. Thank you for saving my life. Thank you for laughing with me, being devoted to me, crying with me, supporting me, embracing me, and simply loving me.
“If I do anything right from here on out, it’s dedicating myself solely to you. I will be the shoulder you can lean on when you’re sad and the man who will go to the ends of the earth to make you smile. You are the one, and thank you for wanting to become Mrs. Jake Evans. I love you, baby.” I place the simple gold band on her finger and bend down, kissing the top. I have sealed my vows to Delilah with a kiss, and my heart finally feels full.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
With that, I smile like the idiot I am and pull my wife to me. “Damn, dude. I thought you’d never say that,” I respond to the minister.
Delilah merely giggles. Then, when my lips connect with hers, sparks ignite and love floods my soul. I wrap her in my arms and kiss my wife with every shred of adoration I have for this woman.
The audience claps and yells as we finish our kiss and smile at one another. I thread my fingers with hers and hold our joined hands in the air, feeling like I have won the lottery. In fact, I think I have. I have this wonderful woman vowing only to be with me. I have the best brothers who would move Heaven and earth to fight for those they love, and I have four healthy and happy kids.
We walk to the end of the aisle, keeping our hands raised in the air as I yell, “Fuck yeah!”
When Delilah swats me with her flowers and motions with her eyes toward the minister, I move out of the way and allow him to walk around us. “Sorry, minister, but this is one of the best days of my life.”
He only laughs and walks toward his car. He’s the only person at this wedding that isn’t family.
I look over to my wife and then out to the water surrounding us. “It’s hot, isn’t it?” Delilah nods her head, and I look to her forehead, watching a bead of sweat form. “You know what we could use right now?”
She looks happily at me and smiles. “What?”
“A J&D adventure.”
“Oh, yeah? And what exactly will we be doing?”
“We are going to run down this dock, straight into the lake, clothes be damned.” I tug on her arm, and she halts, planting her feet firmly on the ground.
“Jake, we’ve got our wedding clothes on, they will get ruined and they will think we’ve lost our minds.” Delilah looks back to our family and smiles.
“So, maybe we have. Come on, cupcake.” A wicked smile spreads across her face as she turns fully to me. “Whatcha say, cupcake? Are you in?
“Oh, you can count me in, Jake Evans, but don’t call me cupcake!” she shouts, and then darts toward the dock.
I quickly catch up to her and grab her hand before we plunge off the end. The water is cold, but her smile is unforgettable. We wade in the water awhile, holding each other and kissing as our fancy wedding clothes get ruined by the lake water.
Then, the next thing I know, small bodies wrapped in life jackets come shooting off the end of the dock and start swimming around. Kade, Hale, Jett, Mia, Hunter, and even little Quinn are swimming with us in the water.
When my brothers jumped in, I let out a full blown laugh. Four grown ass men running and jumping off the dock like we are twelve again is a sight I thought I would never see. And here we are, every member of my family spending a perfect summer afternoon swimming, laughing, and simply enjoying our little piece of Heaven.
***
All fun aside, Delilah and I are finally left alone, tending to a very serious matter. We have had our fun, so now it’s time to get to business. We booked a special room for the night, and I have to say I am a nervous fucking wreck. Lord knows, I know what I’m doing, but it’s been since Memphis that we have been together.
It was important to Delilah and myself that we work on mending our problems before we got lost in our physical relationship. We put in the time with the head doctor, and we both agreed to wait until our wedding night to have sex. Now, that moment has finally come. The longest fucking six months of my life is about to come to an end when I look at my beautiful wife standing naked in front of me.
Jake and I are standing in front of one another, looking at each other’s naked bodies. It’s like we are in high school, discovering sex for the first time. My stomach is fluttering with nerves because I know how badly I want to be with Jake, but I also know how hard it was to get to this point. We put in a lot of hours filling in the gaps and repairing what broke months ago. Now, it’s our time to enjoy the fruits of that labor.
I run my eyes down his body and find myself holding my breath. His figure is flawless. Jake looks as sexy as he did the day I met him. In fact, I think he’s sexier. His chest is well-defined, muscles formed and hard. Every line in his abdomen begs for me to run my fingers over them and then follow the path down to his sexy V as my fingers ache to touch the manliest part of him.
I haven’t let my breath go when I connect my eyes with his very sexy part. I can feel my insides slowly start to tingle in anticipation of what’s to come. Jake and I have done this many, many times; however, this will be the first time since he’s been sober and the first time since we declared our love as husband and wife.
I am nervous.
Hearing my silent plea, Jake strolls his way over to me and smiles. It’s the smile I wanted to smack clean off his face when we first met and the one I can’t live without.
“You ready for this adventure, D?” he asks as he lifts my hand and kisses the top.
“As ready as I
’ll ever be,” I whisper back, barely getting my words out.
“Good, because I’m about to bust a nut just looking at you.” It’s not very romantic, but it’s classic Jake.
He doesn’t allow me to have another thought as he ravages me. Like in the hotel room in Memphis, Jake thinks about what he’s going to do then attacks.
As he pulls my face to his and kisses me hard, I don’t hesitate. I kiss him back with just as much force. He tastes likes peppermint, and his full lips feel like soft, smooth pillows pressed against mine.
I stand on my tiptoes and wrap my arms around his neck then pull him down to me. Jake bends down and pulls me into his arms, holding me like the bride I was earlier. He walks over to the bed and gives me a little toss. I bounce on the mattress, but Jake is there in moments, covering my body with his. With him lying on top of me, it feels like nothing will ever fall apart again. It tells me that, no matter what we face in life, I will always have him to protect me and be by my side.
While I feel his lips work their way over my skin, tasting every inch of me, my body trembles, and my core really starts to ignite. He passes over my belly button and lands his lips on my c-section scar. I feel him run his finger over the raised mark, the look on his face pure appreciation, before he leans down and kisses it again then catches me watching him. He winks and finishes moving his way down, stopping at my clit. His tongue slowly starts to work me over.
I immediately fall back on the bed and swallow down the moans I’m sure to make the moment he makes me skyrocket up to the Heavens. It doesn’t take long, either. Jake kisses and nips my sweet spot until my vision is flooded with stars, and my head is floating. My legs shake and my back arches when I don’t even get a reprieve before he’s making me come again. Only this time, I scream out his name, and I scream it loud.
“Jake!” My body is convulsing, and I can safely say I have never felt this good in my life. I am floating as my core explodes in unadulterated pleasure.
After Jake leans up and looks at me with his trademark smirk, he kisses his way up my body and says, “Adventurous enough for you?”
I only nod my head because this feeling cannot be formed into words. It’s just … yeah … amazing.
I’m the fucking man, this I know. My wife practically melted away when I tasted her body. She has never been so overwhelmed by an orgasm in her life, which proves once again that I am the fucking man. Not too long after her epic display, I had to be inside of her. My dick was dying to feel her from the inside, and once it was in, it was me trying to control the volume of my voice.
Delilah and I have always been great at this. We have known from the first time we were together that we fit perfectly. We are the perfect match. Emotionally, it took us awhile to get there. However, I know without a shadow of a doubt that there is no one else I am meant to be with. She is perfect for me, and I’m perfect for her. We are hot and cold, oil and water, but that’s what makes our relationship so great. Every day is an adventure—we never know what is around the corner, and it will be me following her wherever she wants to go. I will follow her to the ends of the earth. And it will be me protecting, loving, embracing, fighting, making love, and comforting her. I will be the husband she deserves.
With the wedding night over, we are heading back to Reggie’s place for a picnic lunch and some good old-fashioned bonding time. I help my wife into the truck and take the twenty minute trip to the country.
Never in a million years did I think living in a small town would be an ideal fit for me, but the moment I came here, it felt right.
After Randy was arrested for burning my shop to the ground, Delilah worked with the insurance company, and we got a pretty decent settlement on our claim. We were able to afford to build a cabin on the lake, and lucky for me, Reggie will be right across the way.
He gave us part of his twelve acres to start our home on as a wedding present, and soon, we will actually see it come to life. In fact, Reggie has given all of his brothers a piece of his land, and hopefully, Jeremy and Drake will follow suit. How fucking awesome would that be to have all of us living around the lake? We would have our own Evans’s compound.
When we pull into the drive, the barbeque is going with Reggie standing in front of it. Darcie and Cami are watching the kids run around the play set, and Zoe is getting practice with babies while holding Jeremy’s little boy, Ace.
Ace was born while I was in rehab, but from what Jeremy has shared, it was the best day of his life. After not being there when Hunter was born, I can appreciate the sentiment. There is nothing like seeing your child being brought into this world. I can completely understand how awesome he felt.
Delilah walks to the swing set to see her children and hold baby Ava in her arms. She nestles the little one’s cheek and kisses his on the forehead. Delilah is an amazing mother, and I wouldn’t mind having more kids, but she had that taken care of after we had Quinn. She said she got her girl, and she was perfectly content with the four we had.
I walk to my brothers standing around the grill and inhale the great smell of burgers cooking. “What are you losers talking about?” I say, trying to get in on the conversation.
“We were talking about your son, actually,” Drake says, a little smirk forming on his face.
Hmmm, what the hell is that about?
“Well, I’ve got three of them, so you need to be more specific.”
“Kade,” Reggie says, trying to hold in his laugh.
“There’s not much Kade can do that will surprise me.” He’s a funny little shit, always coming up with random thoughts that mostly stun his mother and make me fall to my knees laughing.
“So, you’re well aware of what he calls his farts, and that he likes to do it often?” Reggie says.
I laugh because I know exactly what he’s talking about. I shake my head, knowing he is a chip off the old block. That kid is hilarious.
“Well, last night, he came into Darcie’s and my room ask—”
“Daddy!” Kade yells from the other side of the yard then jumps off the swing and starts running over to me. “Daddy, Uncle Reggie told me what you were doing last night.”
Reggie, Jeremy, and Drake bust out laughing while I stand there, glaring at my brother. Yes, I have said some choice things around their children, but I never explained the details of their sex lives to their kids. I mean, come on, let’s have some class, Reggie.
“Umm … well …” I am speechless. I have nothing to say and soon eat the words of saying my son could not surprise me.
“Dad, I just want to say that you shouldn’t make any more babies.” The laughter resumes, and I do my best to keep my face straight. “I like my brothers. Quinn is kinda a pain in the ass, but I kinda think she’s cool sometimes, too. But I just don’t think you and Mommy need to make any more. We have enough, okay?”
I yank my son up in my arms and laugh my head off. He is, without a doubt, my son. I’m not even going to say anything to him about using the word ass. It was fucking funny.
I put Kade down, and he scampers off to the other kids. When I look at Reggie, I punch him in the gut and call him an asshole under my breath. He merely shrugs and goes back to the grill.
As I stand here, holding my Mountain Dew, I look over to my family. The road has been a long one. We have all suffered in our own right, and we have been put through hell. It’s been said time and time again, but I will just say it again: Life can tear the Evans family to shreds. It can beat us and break us, but we always manage to find a way to be put back together. We are indestructible. We have a bond that will withstand the shit life will ultimately toss our way.
Hell, we may not always agree, and you can bet your ass we’ll fight, but we are happy. We are strong. We are the fucking Evans family.
Do I need to say more? I didn’t think so.
“I’ll Follow You Down” by Shinedown
“To Make You Feel My Love” by Adele
“Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica
“Use Somebody” by King of Leon
“The Kill” by Thirty Seconds to Mars
“Lost In You” by Chris Gaines
“Family” by Noah Gunderson
“Fast Car” by Tracy Chapmen
Stand By Me” by KI: Theory “Falling” by The Civil Wars
“Until I’m One with You” by Ryan Bingham
“Can’t You See” by Black Stone Cherry
“Say Something” by A Great Big World
“White Suburban” by Skylar Grey
“Uninvited” by Alanis Morissette
“You” by The Pretty Reckless
“Love Song” by Adele
“Salvation” by Citizen Cope
“Release” by Pearl Jam
“Poison and Wine” by The Civil Wars
“Better Days” by Goo Goo Dolls
“Back From the Dead” by Skylar Grey
“Annie” by Johnnyswim
“Pay Dearly” Johnnyswim
“You Ain’t Alone” by Alabama Shakes
“Weight of the World” by Young Guns
“Die With You” by Type O Negative
“Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley
“Heartbreaker” by Alabama Shakes
“Stubborn Love” by The Lumineers
“The Boys are Back in Town” by Thin Lizzy
“I Want to Believe You” by Lori Carson
“Hold On You” Ponderosa
“Glycerine” by Bush
“Be Mine” by Alabama Shakes
“The Story” by Thirty Seconds to Mars
“Ready for Love” by India Arie
“Iris” by Goo Goo Dolls
“Untitled (How Does it Feel)” by D’Angelo
Everlasting Love finally closes out the end to the Sulfur Heights Series. I feel very honored my fans adore the Evans family so much they needed one more book before it was officially over. I am sad to see the series end, but I am unbelievably happy I was able to bring it to all of you.
Everlasting Love Page 22