Page 116 of Manhattan Tormentor

Sometimes we love in between the spaces of a breath that hurts at first.

His torment started our entanglement, but mutual obsession keeps us alive.

We’ve already given everything to our relationship that was hard, and now we’re living in the good.

Finn’s father, as expected, cut him off. I’d hoped for Finn’s sake the guy would reach out and fix their relationship, but it never came. Sofia surprised us all and married a surfer dude from Cali right before Finn’s visit to his dad that day. No wonder Jeremy was salty as hell once the deal fell through with Sofia’s father.

Finn’s father ignored the invite to our wedding. No surprise there.

Finn’s mom is another story. The moment she divorced Jeremy, she became a new woman. We see her a lot, she loves to travel, and she’s started dating.

My family more than made up for anything Finn might be missing. There was no choice. When they took him into the clan that was it, he was one of us. He had to deal with mom’s overzealous coddling now she has a new son.

I hear a click of a camera and turn to see him looking at me.

Smiling. I smile back at Finn.

I wouldn’t change a second of our life.

E P I L O G U E

S E Q U E L

Sage

MONTHS LATER

“Are you sure about this, Sage? We can back out. I’m more than good, just you and me.”

Cuffing a hand around Finn’s neck, I draw him in until his forehead touches mine. My husband is the most ridiculous man if he thinks I have any doubts about this. We haven’t gone into it on a whim. It’s something we’ve discussed for two years. “We want this, don’t we?”

“Yes,” he exhales, half-smiling. He leans to the left and kisses me lightly and then bites me on the bottom lip. “I want to make sure.”

“I’m sure. No pics in here though.”

He grumbles and steps back. And Finn is the one who unbuckles my belt. “I wasn’t going to,” he insists. We both know it’s a lie. He’s never without his cameras, and snaps pictures of me all the time.

I’m incredibly proud of my photo journalist partner. He’s a two times award winner. Between assignments, he’s working on a commissioned photography coffee-table book by a big publishing house here in New York. Last month, he was selected to be the photographer for the Swedish royal family on their trip to the states. He’s so fucking brilliant. My pride peacocks seeing his work in publications and talked about on the news channels. He got there through sheer hard work and determination. My man goes to war-torn countries. He photographs leaders and dictators. He’s one of the youngest in his field to have achieved so much, and he deserves every inch of praise from his industry.

But he’s not the photojournalist star in our Manhattan townhouse bathroom right now. He’s just my Finn, and he’s nervous. So am I, to start the process of our new chapter.

“I love you,” he says.

“I love you too.” I reply, “now jack me off into this cup so I can get a woman pregnant.” We share a laugh to break the tension.

I always knew it would be good between us once we got on the same page. It’s surpassed everything I could have ever wanted.

My engineer consultancy business means I can work remotely from anywhere. When Finn is on an assignment, we typically go together.

Being apart is something we found we don’t like, so we make it work where we can.

“Are we doing this?”

“We are if you get on with it,” I smirk, nodding down to his hand wrapped around the base of my cock.

“Bossy.”

“Impatient.”