Epilogue
Brand
One year later
“Do you know which bag the…ah, there it is. I got you, you little apple turnover.”
And no, she wasn’t talking about an actual apple turnover.
I still laughed at all her little sayings and I doubted there would come a day when I didn’t. Sure she tossed around the F word a little more freely now, but she hadn’t gone full foul mouth.
We were moving into our new place. A year later, yeah I know. The thing was, after looking for something that was close to the shop and the compound, we learned that it was slim pickings for something that didn’t look like it was going to fall down. And by slim, I meant zilch. So after talking about it for a while, we decided to turn the empty floor that was above the shop into an apartment.
Since the place had formally been a two-story nightclub, there was at least plumbing and electricity up there. It took many months and a lot of sweat and tears—mostly from Cami because she tended to be a bit clumsy—to get it done. We opted to do what we could ourselves, having the guys pitch in when they had some free time. Chris was a huge help too, he seemed to know what he was doing with the whole home repairs and remodeling thing. He’d had to do quite a few to his house back in Moon Hill.
The end result was nothing short of perfect for us.
And I wasn’t going to complain about the fact that we could run up the stairs and take a lunch break…among other things.
I even sectioned off a part for her to set up her easel. I loved her sketches, but her paintings always left me stunned and breathless, just like she did. So beyond beautiful and magical, it was unreal.
The past year had been a whirlwind of events. It seemed every time we turned around, something new was popping up. My plans for taking a few road trips with Cami dwindled down to just one. One week. One girl. And one bike. It was perfect though and I knew it wouldn’t be our last one. We didn’t make it to The Roadkill Cook-off but we agreed we’d hit it up next year. I couldn’t believe that she wanted to go and more than that, she seemed over the moon excited about it.
We did, however, make it to Moon Hill on that trip. She officially met my family there, Reagan and Ethel included. It was cute to watch Cami’s cheeks turn red at just about everything that came out of Ethel’s mouth.
Cami had officially gotten her tattoo license a week ago and now had her own room next to Blade. We celebrated by christening every surface of our new place, and some of the walls, too. Oh, there was also a huge cookout at the compound for her. I was so proud.
She’d come a long way from the girl that had walked into my shop over a year ago. I could still see that nervous rich girl in her every now and then, but I didn’t mind it one bit. When I said I loved all of her, I meant every single part.
“Okay,” I said making her look up at me from her crouched position on the floor, her hand frozen mid-reach for a bag I was sure she thought she knew whatever she was looking for was in. “You’ve been at this all day. Let’s go do something.”
“Um, but look at all this stuff. We need to put it away and get this place looking more like a home.”
While I agreed with her, and maybe the mess was making me a bit twitchy too, I had to admit that we both needed a break. It would get there, we’d eventually find a place for everything and decorate it in a way that made us smile, but I knew it wasn’t going to get done tonight.
“Up,” I said as I grabbed her hand and pulled her to standing. “Downstairs.”
“Wait…what…why?”
“Because it’s time. You don’t have so much as a dot of ink on you. And I know you want one but you’re too afraid to ask.”
“Okay, maybe,” she said and flashed me a shy smile.
“Tonight,” I said pointedly then tipped my head to the side indicating for her to go down the stairs.
“Now? You really think that’s a good idea to do it right now?”
“Why not? The shop is closed, it will be just you and me. That way, if you can’t take it then you can tell me to stop and no one will even know about it.” I knew without a doubt that she wouldn’t back out once I started, but if it helped ease her into it then I’d let her think whatever she wanted.
I took her into my room and pulled out my sketchpad. I’d been working on something for her for a while. I only hoped she’d like it. If she didn’t, well, I didn’t know what I was going to do.
The design was simple enough. A paintbrush with a long handle. The bristles fanned out like it was in mid-stroke. Trailing behind the brush was a long dash of color. The thing that I thought was so perfectly Cami was at the start of that paint stroke. The smooth line came from a burst of paint splatter. It was something I thought of when she spoke about life from time to time. The way she saw things in her head. It was messy, but out of that came something beautiful and elegant. I hadn’t added the colors I planned to use into the sketch that was sitting in front of her, but I had no doubt about them in my mind. Watching Cami’s face soften, I knew she could see them too.
I loved that I didn’t have to explain anything further. Her glassy eyes looked up at me and the tears trickled down her cheeks as she nodded her head. Her mouth hung open slightly and I knew she was at a loss for words.
“Kiss me,” she said in a whisper.
And so I did. I kissed her like I’d never kissed anyone ever. I gave her all of me in every look, kiss, and word. Every touch and thought. She was my heart and soul and I’d spend the rest of my life trying to get her to see that if I needed to.
“It’s missing something,” she said, causing me to come to a dead stop as I was in the middle of setting up everything on my table.
“Yeah?” I asked, my brows pinching tight in confusion. “What’s that?”
“I think it needs a B in there somewhere.”
She bit her lip letting me know that she was a bit nervous about saying what she wanted out loud.
She knew the whole tattooing someone’s name on you curse thing or whatever you want to call it. But in a way, this was a bit different. And yes, she was well aware of the whole property tattoo thing. She’d been around the club enough to pick up on things. Also, Gwen had been a big help in teaching her the ins and outs of it all.
“You are so amazing,” I said almost breathlessly and then kissed her again.
I got started, deciding I wanted to freehand the whole thing. She trusted me enough to let me.
“How are you doing?” I asked about halfway through. She seemed to be taking it like a champ. I didn’t even have to tell her to sit still or breathe, not even once.
“I mean, I wouldn’t say it tickles. But it’s not as bad as I had anticipated,” she said with a smile. “I don’t think I can see myself covered in them, but I might bet that I’d get a few more.”
The end result had her in tears. I had to admit that it was perfect and beautiful. The B was right there at the end, like all the colors made up that one letter. And that was how I felt about her, she lifted the little dimness that I hadn’t even realized I had. The tip of the brush was now pointed as if it was pulling away from the last curved line of the B. In a way, it was like the finalé to the piece. She was it for me and I could tell when I looked into her eyes, she felt the same about me. I knew there wouldn’t be anyone after her.
This was barely the beginning for us.