Dungeon Master by Golden Angel

Epilogue

Gavin

He couldn’t breathe. He tried to inhale, but all he got was… fluff?

A squalling, outraged shriek filled his ears when he pushed the thing off his face.

“Oliver!” Leah’s elbow jabbed into Gavin’s side as she sat up beside him. When he opened his eyes, the orange fluffball was firmly lodged in Leah’s arms, purring up a storm. “Oh, I’m sorry, baby. Did Gavin scare you?”

“Considering he just tried to murder me, I’m pretty sure I’m the one who should be scared,” Gavin muttered, falling back on the pillow. This wasn’t how he’d expected to wake up this morning, but since he was in bed next to a naked Leah, it wasn’t all bad.

“Was he on your face?” Strangely Leah sounded delighted.

“Yeah. How did he even get in here?” They’d closed the door last night when they’d come into the bedroom to keep him out, which hadn’t seemed to bother him at the time.

“He must have come in when I got up to use the bathroom. This means he likes you. I often wake up with him cuddled up to my head and sometimes on my face. Aw, you don’t know any better, do you, Oliver?”

If that was ‘liking’ him, Gavin could have done without it, but he had to admit the kitten was a cute little bugger when it crawled out of Leah’s arms and came to lie on the center of his chest. The vibrations of its purrs rumbled through him.

“See? He likes you.”

And that made Leah happy.

Sighing inwardly, Gavin stroked the little kitten’s back and was rewarded with little claws kneading his chest. They were fairly blunt, thankfully, and so more uncomfortable than painful.

“Look at you, making muffins.” Leah nuzzled the top of Oliver’s head with her nose, then moved upward to give Gavin a kiss.

Okay, he supposed he could get used to this.

“What do you want for breakfast?”

“Well, I was hoping to have you, but there’s a cat on my chest.” Not exactly the kind of morning pussy he’d been anticipating. “Am I allowed to move when there’s a cat on me?”

Laughing, Leah leaned over to give him another kiss. This time, Gavin caught her by the back of her neck, holding her in position.

With a sound of disgust, Oliver got to his feet and stalked away, allowing Gavin to move freely again.

In the now kitten-free bed, Gavin gave Leah a proper good morning fucking that made her late to work—not that she seemed to mind.

* * *

Leah

Having Gavin over to her house wasn’t a magical fix to everything, of course, but she had to admit that within a week, it made a difference. She felt happier, more open, more willing to be vulnerable, and less afraid she would be hurt.

If nothing else, knowing how dedicated he was to make things work this time, even doing things he was uncomfortable with, made all the difference.

For someone who had never been interested in having a cat, he’d started spoiling hers terribly, and Oliver couldn’t get enough of him. They were pretty cute together. Oliver was growing at a fast rate, but he still looked tiny when he was perched on Gavin’s knee—and sometimes his shoulder when Gavin was sitting on the couch. Seeing them together made her flush with happiness.

It didn’t entirely get rid of the little niggle of anxiety in her stomach things wouldn’t work out—and now she’d be left with a heartbroken cat along with her own heartbreak—but she had hope. She could look at her worries with a more critical eye and file them firmly under ‘currently baseless.’

She wished she could do the same for her friends.

Wednesday game night was a little awkward, what with Gavin and Leah’s knowledge of Jax’s lies. Aiden and Cyana were clueless but astute enough to realize something was going on. Thankfully, neither of them was the type to speak up without knowing more.

Jax seemed confused, and Esther was… well, she was putting on a good show of being herself, but those who were closest to her could tell something was off.

At least the campaign was going well. Their fictional dog was now armored, well-fed, and happily traveling with them, much to Gavin’s clear dismay. It cracked Leah up how annoyed he was at their investment in the fictional dog. He should have known better than to create that chart, so they knew who the dog liked the best.

Esther and Jax had been the last to arrive, and they were the first to leave without anyone getting a chance to separate for extra chit-chatting. Leah suspected Esther didn’t want to talk about it, and she knew she would have to if she left Jax’s side, especially with Cyana’s curiosity roused. Since Esther was keeping it to herself, Leah couldn’t tell Cyana either, so her nerves ticked up when Cyana pulled her to the side before she left.

Thankfully, Cyana didn’t want to talk about Esther and Jax. She wanted to talk about Gavin and Leah.

“You seem happier.” Cyana studied her face closely. “If he messes up again, I’ll kick his ass.”

“It wasn’t just him,” Leah said defensively. Yeah, there had been a lot of things he’d done wrong, from her perspective, but she’d been guilty of the lack of communication that had led to the deterioration of their marriage the first time around. “And he’s trying.”

Cyana smiled approvingly. “Good to hear it. Want to tell me what’s going on with Jax and Esther?”

Dammit. She’d known that was coming.

“I don’t know everything, and what I do know, I can’t tell.”

“Understood.” Cyana’s gaze was thoughtful. “Hopefully, Esther will feel up to telling me soon.” Probably sooner rather than later now that Cyana had noticed. Leah had the feeling Esther was still trying to decide what she wanted to do and wanted to be prepared with that before telling Cyana what was going on. As hard as it was for Leah to be patient while Esther figured things out, it would be even harder for Cyana, their Momma Bear friend.

Cyana went out the door with Aiden, who insisted on walking her to her car under the pretense of trying to get in her pants. They bounced insults off each other the whole way.

Grinning, Leah watched them go. Her smiled widened when Gavin came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

“How are you doing?” he asked, nuzzling the back of her neck. “Everything okay with Cyana?”

“Yeah. She was curious about Esther and Jax.”

Gavin blew out a long sigh, loosening his hold, so she could turn around and look at him.

“Do you think we should tell Jax?” The question made her anxious because she didn’t have an answer, but it also made her smile at him, glad he was asking her opinion.

“I don’t know.” He’d seemed to realize something was going on with Esther but clearly didn’t know what. Both of them had been pretending everything was okay, which meant everyone else followed their lead. For now. “Esther specifically asked for time to think about what she was going to do.”

“Then we’ll give her time.” Gavin’s gaze traveled over her face, his blue eyes introspective. “Eventually, if she doesn’t talk to Jax, I’d like to revisit the topic. Especially if things stay as tense between them as they were tonight.”

Jax was his friend, and he didn’t want to see his friend suffering. Leah got it. On the other hand, she wasn’t against seeing Jax going through some of the same confusion and doubts that had plagued Esther for months now. It wouldn’t do Jax any harm to stew a little. They wouldn’t be able to let the situation go on for too long without intervening.

“I’ll want to talk to Esther before you do that,” she said, feeling a little guilty since that was what Gavin had requested for Jax. At the very least, she owed her friend a head’s up, what Gavin had wanted to give Jax.

Gavin smiled, pulling her in for a reassuring kiss, and she relaxed. His lips left hers, and he tucked her head under his chin, holding her against him and letting her lean on him.

“We’ll figure it out together.”

That sounded good.

“Are we talking to Mitch tomorrow?” They’d agreed they wanted to let their son know what was going on—another way they were making things official between them.

Long ago, she’d thought the wedding was the big ending, the big happily-ever-after moment, and after that, everything would ride along smoothly, but that wasn’t how life or relationships worked. Happily-ever-after was a choice, a promise, and it took both people and working on it every day.

She believed she and Gavin were going to make it happen this time around.

“Absolutely.” Gavin kissed her thoroughly, setting her nerves humming, before pulling away. “I need to tell him I hope to ask his mum to marry me again by the end of this year.”

Laughing, it was Leah’s turn to pull him back down for a kiss.

She already knew she was going to say yes.

* * *

Esther

Thursday night, Jax texted to say he had to work late. Of course. He’d been working late every Thursday night for months now. Something she hadn’t told her friends because she hadn’t wanted to acknowledge the truth.

Something she’d read in every advice column about being married to a cheater.

I ignored the signs because I didn’t want to know.

Tears pricked her eyes, and she bit down on her lower lip. It had been a lot easier before Leah had told her Jax hadn’t been with Gavin and Aiden at the gym on Sundays. Now that she knew he was lying, it was impossible to ignore the unhappiness churning in her gut and the certainty she was losing her husband.

If she was in the stages of grief, she was pretty sure she hadn’t made it past the first stage yet.

Shock and denial.

There was still a part of her that wanted to believe in Jax, wanted to believe in them as a couple, wanted to believe there was some other reason he’d been so busy lately with so many late nights, some other reason he was lying about his whereabouts on Sunday afternoons.

A few days ago, she’d done the unthinkable and felt guilty. She’d gone through his phone. There hadn’t been anything suspicious, so she’d done something even worse—she’d downloaded an app that would allow her to use her phone to track his phone. Now, she kept bringing it up to see where he was when he was working late.

Before dinner, he’d still been at the university.

Now that dinner was over, and she’d sent Jennifer and Daniel off to their rooms to finish up their homework, she brought up her side of the app again. Unhappy anxiety swirled in her stomach, and she tasted bile in the back of her throat as if everything she’d just eaten was going to come back up again.

I have to know.

She had to know, then decide what she was going to do.

Something she’d been putting off for days.

Jax knew something was up, but he was working late tonight, anyway. She wasn’t great at hiding when something was bothering her. She wanted to believe he really was working, that he wouldn’t have gone to do… whatever it was he was doing, knowing there was something off with her.

When she pulled up the phone app, it was immediately obvious he wasn’t at the university. He was in a residential neighborhood, and her stomach dropped.

Thirty minutes of internet stalking later, she was staring at the Facebook photo of a gorgeous blonde, poised and put-together, who worked at the university and lived at the house Jax’s phone was currently still sitting in.

Shock and denial.

The latter was no longer an option, but the former was in full effect.

What did she do now?

******

Did you love Gavin and Leah? Find out what happens next with Jax and Esther in Dungeon Daddy - CLICK HERE to preorder so you don’t miss out.

Want something to read right away? Gavin and Leah’s son Mitch gets his happily-ever-after in the first book of the Masters of Marquis series - CLICK HERE to start reading Bondage Buddies right now!