Contractual Obligations

“What is this?” Amy asked, tears streaming down her face.

For once, it wasn’t because of hot chicken. Sebastian laughed from where he was sitting on our couch.

“A romance novel,” I replied, smiling.

“Oh my God,” she said. “This is so good. How did you go from writing a bunch of murder in The Fair Originals to this?”

“I got away from my family,” I said, feeling at peace.

She was holding my newest novel, which was coming out under another pen name. I hadn’t written fantasy in a while, but I planned to go back eventually.

A few months after I told Sebastian, I told Amy too. She immediately read the whole series and was now a super fan, though she did go back to her romantic roots at times.

I’d told Jessie as well, and while she was proud of me, she still lived in LA, which wasn’t a place I wanted to visit. We remained friends, but her distance when I’d moved to Nashville wore on me. I was happy we could talk, but I found myself always seeking out Amy when I needed advice.

And true to her word, Amy never judged me. Just like I never judged her when she went through a ton of questionable men. It was a good friendship, one that I leaned on often.

As for Sebastian and me, writing a romance novel was a good example of how our relationship was going.

After we got back from LA, the first thing I did was get on a waiting list for a therapist. Sebastian did too. We both found someone around the same time and began working on our mountain of inherited problems ever since.

Most days it went well. Other days, it was hard.

But we were there for each other the whole time.

I dyed my hair back to its natural brown color and chopped off most of the ends. I’d also gained weight since going off all my restrictive diets. Both of these things made me unrecognizable.

Sebastian had grown a beard and let his hair get much longer since we ended the contract. People didn’t recognize him, either.

I knew from social media posts sent to me by Jessie that my parents wanted to know where I was, but we both refused to talk to them. I was waiting for the day they would try to come to the house.

I figured dropping the Miller name made our intentions clear.

And honestly, I was afraid of them finding us. Sebastian knew a lawyer who would file for a restraining order if they ever showed up to the house, but luckily, they hadn’t yet.

As far as The Fair Originals went, the TV show was set to premiere soon. I hadn’t been involved with the production because of my aversion to LA, but I knew the director was doing good work.

As for my book, the fandom was split on who liked the ending and who didn’t. Some wanted the dark ending where one of the main characters died. Others were thrilled that it ended happily.

I didn’t regret how I ended it. I didn’t regret much these days.

“This is going to destroy people,” Amy said, pulling me out of my thoughts. She still gripped my book tightly. “I can’t wait for it to come out.”

“I live for destroying people,” I said, laughing. “It’s a writer’s dream.”

“Can I take this home?” she asked. “I need to reread this alone so I can fully sob over it.”

“It’s yours,” I said.

“Yay,” she said. “I’m going to go cherish this forever.”

Amy darted out the door, clutching the book.

“She must have liked it,” I said to Sebastian.

“It is a really good book,” he said.

“I can’t believe I wrote a whole romance,” I said. “I didn’t think I had it in me.”

“You always could. You just needed your happy ending.” He kissed my neck gently, and I leaned into him.

I brought my hand up to thread my fingers through his hair. I glimpsed my simple white-gold band, smiling as I remembered both of us getting new rings after our contract ended.

“I love you,” I told him. “I really do.”

“I love you too,” he said, and I felt the jolt in my chest I always did when he said those words. I never thought I’d hear them, and now that I did, I couldn’t get enough.

“Let’s go to bed,” he said, mouth still on my neck.

“It’s seven,” I said, laughing.

“We’ll be busy until nine,” he said, smiling deviously.

“You know, Sebastian Solace, I might take you up on that.”

His gaze brightened at my use of our chosen names, something we both had decided on shortly after our contract ending.

“Well, Lily Solace, I sure hope you do.”