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He snickered, pulling me into the shower with him. “I don’t think Dante will let you keep him out of it, even if you wanted to. But I’m down to host if you are. It might make it easier on you.”

True. Last week was Hendrix’s night to host. Now that he was popularenough to play shows on weekends in fancy ass clubs, his Thursdays were free. But his place had too many things to trip over or run into. I skipped it for that reason alone.

“Call them. They’re your family. They’ve got your back. Just like I do.”

I always thought I’d have to keep the world at a distance. It made things less painful when I thought about losing it all. But Declan never stopped reminding me that I didn't have to think that way anymore. It wasn’t an easy lesson, but with him and Dante encouraging me, I was learning to trust again. My uncle had set out to ruin my life in a revenge plot against my parents.

He failed.

I was free.

EPILOGUE

DECLAN

It took a while,but the expansion of the shop was finally finished. We had to shut down the shop for a week for them to blow out the wall between the two spaces, but we made it work. And Aziel didn’t know it, but I had them do work on the upstairs as well. I wanted to make it easier for him to get around. Most of the walls were gone, aside from the bedrooms and bathrooms. The living room and kitchen was one big space and we would limit the amount of furniture we brought in so he wouldn’t trip. Even a few months after the attack, Aziel still struggled sometimes with bumping into things. His depth perception was off and it pissed him off to no end. This would be easier on him.

Manny was practically vibrating beside me, he was so happy. We got some new equipment for bigger clients, and we already had appointments for next week with both paranormals and humans alike.

“Ready to go inside?”

“Yes!” He coughed, rubbing the back of his neck to hide his embarrassment. “I mean, sure. Yeah. Sounds good.”

I bit back a laugh, leading the way inside. Manny had a sunshine personality, but he tried to hide it a lot. It didn’t have anything to do withme, we got along pretty well after I apologized for being an ass, but apparently he used to live in Hell, and it was a rough area. He had to be tough to not get pushed around. And yeah, it blew my mind that Hell was a real place, but had no religious context to it. It was a town in the Other Realm that was on the rough side. Az and Manny brought me so we could set up a shipping schedule with the guy who had the special paranormal inks. Not one human being tortured in sight.

“Wow…”

I nodded in agreement. The shop wasn’t a tiny space just big enough for two chairs anymore. It was roomy, with chairs of different sizes and two private back rooms for those who didn’t want an audience. The bathroom was bigger than a broom closet, so anyone of Manny's size could fit easily, and the storage room now had wards on it to protect the ink. Hell, the whole building had wards on it. Az insisted on that part. Only those with good intentions could walk through the door.

Letting out a slow breath, I felt some of the tension I’d been carrying the last few weeks fade away. Money was tight, and now we had a big ass loan we had to make payments on, but now that the shop was finished, we could have more clients, maybe even find another tattoo artist to join us. We had the space for it.

“You’re, uh… You’re having a party to celebrate it being done, right?”

“We,” I corrected. “We’re having a party. This isn’t just my shop. It’s ours. Besides, your cousin is catering.”

Manny beamed at me. He was a little awkward sometimes, unsure of where he stood, but that was my fault. Now that we could start working more, we’d be around each other more often and he could see that I was sincere about him being a friend.

Rubbing my hands together, I sucked in a breath. “Alright. Let’s get this place party ready. I need to pick up the boys from the park in a few hours.”

Az normally did it, but he said he had something to do this afternoon and refused to tell me what he was doing. I’d be dealing with that later.

AZIEL

“We look forward to working with you.”

It took time and a lot of help from my friends to find work. Declan wanted me to take my time, find something I would really enjoy, but I couldn’t stand being a freeloader. With the rent on two different buildings and the new loan, we were bleeding money, and I refused to sit around and figure things out without something to fall back on.

It was Felix who actually got me the job. All my friends offered to help and brought me to work with them to see which jobs I could handle with the vision loss. I’d been considering working with Hendrix. He said he could always use more security now that his band was so popular, and I had experience in that, but he traveled a lot now, and I didn’t like being away from Declan and Dante. Felix’s office was a lot quieter than I was used to, but I didn’t hate it. It would be nice to sit and do a job without fear of retribution. And his boss was understanding when I knocked shit over on her desk when I went to shake her hand.

Declan didn’t know I was here. I was a grouchy asshole on most days, and he had to deal with me during my recovery. I wanted to do something for him. Finding a job, contributing to our lives together, that was something I could accomplish. I wanted to surprise him.

Felix was waiting for me when I stepped out of the office, and his boss rolled her eyes when she noticed him.

“Shouldn’t you be working right now?”

“I’m on lunch. How’d it go?”

He looked as eager as a puppy and I had to twist my mouth to hide my smile. Felix came clean not long after he met his mate about what his friends meant to him. I felt the same way. So having me close by was a big deal to him. And it meant a lot to me that he cared that much.