Page 157 of Best Served Cold

“You’re enjoying this way too much,” River said.

“Maybe.”

Noah sat back on his stool and blew out a shaky breath.

“Babe, look at me.”

He did.

“I’m proud of you.”

A shy smile tilted his lips as he blushed. “Thanks.”

“Yeah, bro. Super proud.” River beamed at Noah. “You’ve got this.”

“Are you sure you want to do this now?” Noah asked, still a tad apprehensive. “We can wait.”

“I’m sure. Come here.” I leaned toward him.

Noah met me halfway, his kiss soft and sweet.

Even after all these years together, a simple kiss from Noah sill gave me butterflies. Catching his eye across the room and seeing that secret smile that meant one of us was about to get our world rocked still gave me a little thrill of excitement.

The last three years had been as rocky as they’d been wonderful. Both Noah and Becca started therapy to help them process the trauma they’d gone through because of their upbringing. The kids were doing great, and Becca was engaged to a guy who treated her right.

Noah finally got an official diagnosis for ADHD and depression, and after nearly a year of struggling to find the right combo of medications that worked for him, he was finally in a place where he had far more better days than bad ones.

He’d also gotten back into art, and he and River teamed up for a sort of skills trade where they helped each other refine their painting and drawing skills.

After enough encouragement from the rest of us, they’d set up an online shop to sell their work. They didn’t make a ton of money since it was a hobby and not a job, but the passive income was nice, and I loved seeing him and my brother bond and share their talents with the world.

A year ago, Noah had made the decision to become a tattoo artist. He’d worked on our crew with Quinn’s company before that, but he’d quickly fallen down the rabbit hole of tattoos with River and me, and now sported two full sleeves and had plans for more.

It took us nearly six months of saving to cover the upfront costs of his training. It wasn’t easy surviving on my income and what he made in the shop, but seeing him flourish made every penny-pinching moment worth it.

He loved his work, loved learning, and came home every night full of smiles and stories about his day.

“I trust you,” I said softly as he pulled back from our kiss.

He pulled in a deep breath.

“I feel like we should be doing a drumroll or some sort of introduction,” River mused. “It’s not every day you get to use your boyfriend as a guinea pig for your first tattoo on another human.” He snort-laughed and swung his knee back and forth in a quick arc. “Can you imagine if you fucked up? Awkward, party of two.”

“You’re evil.” Noah shot River a look.

“Who, me?” He smirked. “I’m just saying that’s a lot of pressure. I’m sure Zane would understand if you needed to bow out.”

Noah squared his shoulders, his usual confidence slipping back into place. “I got this.”

I threw my brother a smile as Noah prepped my arm. He winked and pulled out his phone.

“I’m about to start,” Noah called to Ben.

“’Kay,” he called back.

“Do you need to do something? Check anything?” Noah asked Ben.

“Doubt it.” Ben’s pencil moved fluidly over the page he was still bent over. “Did he set up right?”

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