Cami
Three years later
I loved Brand. I did. With everything I had in me and more. Every day I’d wake and not believe how lucky I’d gotten. Every night, he would prove to me that our love was forever strong. It may sound a bit too romance novel, but it was the flipping truth.
Over four years I’d been by his side. I had been there for the hard times and in return, I got a lot of the good. I’d been there for his brothers as well because they’d taken me in and treated me like one of their own. I was never alone and I never felt that way for a single second.
Life had been crazy and the shop was constantly busy. Even Thursdays had their fair share of appointments and walk-ins. I was proud of these guys and this place. And I was lucky to have a room here too.
I wouldn’t have said that my first tattoos came out amazing, but they were honestly better than I’d expected. Over the years, I had figured out what worked for me and what didn’t. I finally felt like I’d gotten my groove and could turn an amazing piece out in a decent amount of time.
The thing that mattered the most though, was that I was happy. I loved walking into that shop every day and I hated to leave most nights. And sure, there were bad days and really awful clients, but I handled them. I also had back up if anything ever got out of hand.
In other words, I wouldn’t trade this life for the world.
Especially now.
I made my way down the stairs and into the back of the shop, my face hurt from trying to bite back my excitement and elation.
“Hey, beautiful,” Brand said giving me a soft smile as I stepped into the doorway to his room. Lucky for me, he wasn’t busy. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold it in. “How are you feeling?”
“Better now that I took a nap,” I replied and held a smile of my own.
I could hear Sketch and Blade out in the front of the shop. And I was positive that I heard a few of the brothers and Chris as well. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to tell him when there happened to be so many ears around but it seemed I had no choice if I was going to go about it the way I had planned.
“I think I want something done,” I said as I slid into his room and then plopped down onto his chair. I honestly had no plans to get something done, this was just part of my act. I wanted to catch him off guard a little because I knew that it would only add to the shock of the news.
“Yeah?” His eyes lit up with excitement.
So, I may have been a tattoo artist, and I flipping loved it, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t covered head to toe in ink like you might have expected me to be by now. I actually only had a handful of tattoos. All given to me by my now husband. Each and every one of them special in their own way.
“So, tell me, beautiful, what do you have in mind?” he asked, rolling his stool as close to me as he could. His warm hands gripped my knees like he couldn’t stand to be that close to me and not touch me.
I was trying too hard to bite back my smile. This was big. I mean huge. Part of me was a little nervous even though I knew I didn’t need to be. It was something we’d talked about for a while now. Not only talked about but really tried at, as well. The last year had been met with a number of disappointing attempts.
But here we were and it was time.
I couldn’t hold back my excitement, but as I pulled out my phone I did my best to tone my smile down.
“I was thinking something like this,” I said as I pulled up the picture I’d taken about fifteen minutes ago.
I handed him my phone and waited as he took in the image on the screen.
That image, you wonder, was of my fingers holding up the stick that informed us that our life was about to be very different. The good kind of different. The kind we’d been hoping for.
“You’re…” His eyes snapped up to mine, only to flick back down to look at the screen. It was like he couldn’t believe it and had to do a double take. “Oh, hell yeah!”
I knew the outburst wouldn’t have been lost on everyone up front, even over the loud shop music.
“What’s going on?” Chris said as he peeked his head into the open doorway.
“Fuck, man. Look at this.” Then he showed Chris the picture of the positive pregnancy stick. I’d been smart enough to buy the ones that literally spelled it out for you. And ours clearly said pregnant.
Chris smiled and his whole face lit up with happiness.
While I knew it was a little early to be blabbing the good news, I knew I couldn’t stop it from getting out now. And truth was, I wanted Chris to know anyway.
“Congratulations,” Chris said pulling me up for a hug.
“Everything alright?” I knew that was Ky without even having to look.
“Ky,” Chris said excitedly as he turned to face the man he was talking to. “We’re going to be uncles.”
“Did I just hear that you’re gonna be a daddy?” Sketch said before Ky could respond, though by the sweet smile Ky was sporting, I could tell he was happy for us. “Nice,” Sketch said to Brand and then raised his hand for a high five. I expected nothing less from the guy.
Then I was smashed into a giant hug of man bodies and arms. I loved it though. The security and love that came with these guys. I wouldn't trade my life for the world. And now, Brand and I were going to have a little one that would get all that love too.
This was our life.
These people were our family.
And there was never a second I didn’t feel loved and cared about.
“I love you,” Brand whispered into my ear and then I felt his lips against my temple. I still melted every time he did that.
“I love you. So, so, so much,” I said as I looked deep into his beautiful chocolate eyes.
The End