Before & After (17 page)

Authors: Nazarea Andrews

Epilogue
:
Now

It’s raining, coming down in relentless sheets, and part
of me says,
Fuck
this. Stay home. But Scott needs this. We haven’t shared the stage in almost a
year, since before the accident. After all the shit we’ve been through, we need
it. So we play, and when the crowd is worked up into a frenzy, I take the spotlight,
grabbing my guitar and pulling out the song that took us from a tiny bar to
this crazy thing that we call real life.

He arches an eyebrow at me and nods to the corner of
the room, where a girl with flame red hair and the body of a fucking siren is
swaying along to the music. A blonde with glasses and a half-smile sits next to
her in a bright pink wheelchair, a small circle of space around them.

The audience knows who they are. They’ve learned to
give our girls room at shows.

“Here’s a throwback, to the early days,” Scott says
and I hit the first chords of her song. The crowd is going crazy, and lighters
are in the air. The fans love this shit.

She’s smiling, shaking her head just a little. Too
amused as I adjust the mic and croon.

Perfect girl,

She sits and
listens,
And
I can’t help but see

Everything that
she’s hiding.

She’s beautiful
and broken, Tears she tries to hide,

And I can’t help
but wonder what’s on the inside

You’re broken and
lovely,

Fire and ice,

And holding you is
painful,

But the payoff is
worth the price,

Because you’re
everything to me,

Yes, you’re
everything to me,

Perfect girl.

Everyone said she
was wrong,
When
she danced

to
a song only she
heard,

And I just want to
sing along to the music of her soul,

Because she’s beautiful
and broken, with the tears she tries to hide.

You’re broken and
lovely,

Fire and ice,

And holding you is
painful,

But the payoff is
worth the price,

Because you’re
everything, to me,

Yes, you’re
everything to me,

Perfect girl.

And all of us are
broken, all of us are flawed,

All of us have
battles, and times when we fall.

And I will love
you always, with scars and broken heart,

You’re beautiful
and broken, my perfect girl.

You’re broken and
lovely,

Fire and ice,

And holding you is
painful,

But the payoff is
worth the price,

Because you’re
everything, to me,

Yes, you’re
everything to me,

Perfect girl.

When we leave the bar, Peyton can’t keep her hands off
me. Scott and
Linds
are trailing us. Not everything
is smooth there—she’s fallen into a distance that bothers me, and even now,
almost a year after the accident, she hides behind managing the band. But he’s
patient and I’m hopeful. One day, her walls will come down, and I’ll have my
family back, whole and the way it should be.

But for now—I finally have Peyton, and she’s here. All
of the memories we built, and the love we shared. She said it wouldn’t matter.
She chose me, even before she remembered loving me. That counted—because we
fought hard to find each other, and we did. Twice. It’s the kind of thing that
doesn’t happen. And it did. Sometimes, that kept me awake at night, thankful
for things I can’t put a name to.

Her head cranes back and she grins at me. “Want to do
something crazy, Jokes?”

My eyebrows go up and I smile, slowly. “What’d you
have in mind?”

She smirks and prances away from me, twisting to give
me a siren smile, the one that’s sleepy and sweet. The one I’ve never been able
to resist. The one she gave me in a bar when I fell in love, and on a beach
when she promised me forever, and in a hospital when she woke up with no memory
and every fucking day since.

“
Wanna
tattoo your wife?”

Acknowledgments:

As
always, I could not have written this book without a host of people.

My
mom who babysat and didn’t even complain while I wrote through our vacation. My
kids who have been amazing with a mom on deadline during summer break, and
didn’t complain when I listened to the same 20 songs for four months straight.

JC
for keeping me laughing and didn’t whine when I vanished for a month to write.
Deadlines are a beast, babe.

Aj
, thank you for listening to all my
midnight panic attacks and for pushing me to be better with each story I write.
Even the fluffy ones.

All
of the amazing bloggers who have read and reviewed and tweeted. Thank you thank
you thank you!

For
Mike, who has been my favorite love story to
date.

A
special hug and thank you to Melissa for the gorgeous cover—you blew me away
with this one. And to
Bri
, for making my words look
intelligent.

And
finally, Jessica. For always being in my corner, with all of books I bring you.
This one’s for you—and look, no one died! :)

Coming soon:

THE SCION LEGACY

I was just a college student, trying to stay ahead of my
student loans. I knew the rules, and I followed them.

I thought I knew how the world worked—humans lived their
petty little lives in the safety of the sun. We fucked and fought and—when the
sun sank—we scurried behind our walls and lived in fear. That is when the
monsters came out to play.

An
d
even in the safety of the sun, we knew who ruled us.

The Houses. And their Scions.

Everyone knows the great Houses and their Scions—they are
feared and loved and hated and envied. They are the gods who walk the shadows and
rule all of our lives. They are salvation and death.

And somehow, I am one of them.

Join
the Legacy...

Fall
2015

About the Author:

Nazarea
Andrews is an avid reader and tends to write the stories she wants to read. She
loves

chocolate
and coffee almost as much as she loves books, but not quite as much as she
loves her kids. She lives in
south
Georgia with her
husband, daughters, and overgrown dog.

You can follow her on
Facebook
,
Twitter
,
Pinterest
and
Booktropolous
.