Page 98 of The Vows We Keep
“Hopelessly devoted?”
“Stop,” I say. “We’re romantic in a let’s-go-fuck-shit-up-together kind of way.”
“Can’t help but think Bonnie and Clyde had the same kind of energy.”
At this, I laugh. “I kinda like that though.”
“Of course you do.”
“Hey, are you seriously okay with a crew position? I’m sorry we couldn’t make it brother.”
She shrugs her shoulders once. “It’s more than I’ve ever been offered. And it’s progress. I’m going to be the best ever crew member, until such time as the club finds a way to vote me a brother.”
I run my thumb over her lips. “What if they never do?”
“I don’t want to believe that. But I’ll find a peace with being the most senior crew memberandyour old lady. We’ll be together, living our best life. It’ll be enough, and it won’t stop me from striving for more.”
“I understand that. I’m sorry King said now wasn’t the right time to attack Los Reyes, but I promise you that with every breath in my body, I would help you kill every last one of them if you wanted me to. Maybe not today, maybe not this month or year. But at some point in the future, I’ll help you.”
“Thank you,” she whispers as her eyes glitter with tears.
I kiss her until I start to get a boner, and then I playfully push her away. “Let me draw this for you before I flip you over the desk and rail you senseless.”
Catalina swipes beneath her eyes as I pick up my pencil. She watches as I sketch ideas, research things on the computer, and bring everything together. I learn the flor de Tonalá is a motif used on pottery from the region her family is from. She tells me her grandmother has a vase with the design in blue and white. I start there. With colors and flowers. I back the flowers with the pads of the nopal cactus. Wide and green and synonymous with Mexico. I play around with my font choice until I’m happy with it, and writePROPERTY OFin a sans serif font, thenNiroin script with a flourish.
“What do you think?” I say, showing it to her.
“I love it. To show the legacy of it, do you think you might be able to ink my mamá and papá’s initials into one of the cactus leaves, andIOMCfor the Iron Outlaws Motorcycle Club on another?”
I grin. “Of course.”
I incorporate her requests, prepare the transfer, then look at her. While I love the idea of her being half naked while I tattoo her, this is a shop that usually caters to bikers and a rougher crowd. The curtain provides some privacy, but there is still a chance some numbskull will wander in here.
I slip my button-up shirt off. I’m rocking a T-shirt beneath because it’s fucking cold outside still. “Take your top and bra off,” I say, trying to not to overthink it when she does. Perfectly perky and pointed nipples distract me before she covers herself with her arms.
“Here.” I slip her arms into my shirt the wrong way around, so her front is covered, leaving the back open to me. The sleeves hang down her arms, and I roll them up so she can use her hands.
Once the transfer is on her skin, I help her lie down.
What she doesn’t know is that I’ve drawn and positioned the tattoo such that if it is more pain than she can tolerate, we can leave it at one flower and two nopal leaves and it will still look great.
I stroke my fingers down her back gently. “You know, you can bail. Permanent ink like this, it’s a lot. It’s a life commitment. While it’s hot as fuck seeing my name on your back, and though I hope you and I go the distance, I’ll understand if you need a cooling-off period to decide.”
Catalina turns her head to look at me. “I love you. I don’t need a cooling-off period.”
Her words hit me hard. It’s the first time either of us have said them. My mouth is dry, but my chest feels like it’s about to crack open.
“You mean everything to me,” I reply. “You wanting to put this on your back for me is perhaps the most amazing thing anyone has ever done for me. You’re going to be connected to me forever.”
“That’s the point.”
She doesn’t ask me to say I love her back. Her eyes don’t show disappointment that I didn’t. I don’t know why I can’t.
“Forever with you is a blessing I don’t deserve.” I roll my stool a little closer to her face so I can kiss her. “You know I’m going to need to fuck you tonight, right? You on your knees, me looking at my name on your back.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
And with that, I begin.
