Page 49 of Brand
CHAPTER TWENTY
Cami
“Here,” Laurel said as she pushed a huge wineglass full of deep berry red goodness in my direction. “You need this.”
And if that wasn’t the darn truth. I tilted the glass back and chugged down what I was sure was an unhealthy amount. I didn’t care. I was a mess, and that was putting it lightly.
Lucky for me, Laurel took one look at my face and pulled me into her arms. She didn’t ask what had happened and I had a feeling that she’d already gotten a call from our mother. She had to have known something by now. But she didn’t know my side and I was so desperate to talk that the words started pouring out of my mouth almost as fast as I was pouring wine down my throat.
“I think I’ve screwed up,” I blubbered then thought about those exact words. “No, I mean. I haven’t. I don’t believe that, at least before today, I hadn’t thought that. I couldn’t take that stupid job at the museum, it wouldn’t have made me happy. So, I’m not sure if you know or not, but I’ve been working at a tattoo shop. Kind of like a shop girl, but Brand, the guy who owns it—I think—has slowly been teaching me all about tattooing.”
I took in a shaky breath and emptied the rest of the wine into my mouth. She didn’t hesitate to grab the bottle and fill my glass back up.
“I don’t know, I can’t explain it, but I really want to be a tattoo artist. Brand, he was going to teach me. He’s so amazing…”
“Brand?”
“Yes,” I could feel my head nodding frantically. The wine was hitting me pretty quickly. “I think I’m in love with him.” The words threw themselves out of my mouth. Though I maybe hadn’t meant to say them, it didn’t mean they weren’t true.
“Awww, honey.” She leaned in and hugged me, her hand rubbing up and down my back in a comforting way.
Right then, she was the sister I’d always wanted and needed. I hadn’t realized how starved for it I was until that second. And she didn’t let me down. I swatted the tears away with fast hands.
“I do. I love him. He seesme. He likes that girl that I’ve tried so hard to hide all my life. I just…”
“Then what are you doing here? I mean, not that I mind one bit, but if you feel so strongly for this guy, Brand, then why didn’t you go to him?”
“Because,” I took in a deep, shaky breath before I continued, “because,shethreatened him and his club. Oh, yeah, he’s part of a motorcycle club. I’ve met some of them, they seem like nice guys. I mean, for rough-n-gruff men that wear leather and ride a bike and all.” A fit of giggles slipped out of me at how ridiculous I sounded.
“Bikers?” Her eyebrows went to meet her hairline. “Really? Is that…safe?”
Her question was a good one and after the night I’d had, I would have said not really. And while I’d been scared out of my mind, it hadn’t been enough for me to want to run.
“Honestly, I don’t know. Before last night, I’d never seen anything that made me feel like I needed to worry. But last night, a group of people shot up the shop.”
“While you were there?!”
Okay, clearly our mother hadn’t filled her in on everything.
“Um, yeah. I’m fine. Brand is fine, I think. He got hit by a bullet, but he said he wasn’t bad. They took him to jail, it was awful.”
“Cami,” Laurel said with a tone that made me pause. I guess I could see where everything I’d just said sent up red flags. “I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, because I support you and what you want to do, but that sounds really bad. Horribly dangerous, even. How can you be so calm about it? I mean, for Christ’s sake, you wereshotat.”
“Yeah, I really can’t even begin to explain any of it. Despite all that, I feel safe when I’m with him. I feel…whole.”
Her face softened at my words. There was simply no other way to describe it. He had worked his way into my heart and imprinted himself onto my soul.
“Anyway, what I was getting at, is that mom threatened to bring the club down if I went anywhere near the shop or any of them again. So, I feel like I’m stuck. I don’t know what to do. She wasn’t just saying that to have the last word, though it did work. I finally got the courage and strength to stand up to her and then she went and knocked me back down.”
I could tell by her face that she didn’t know what to say. I didn’t really either. I loved Brand, and the most important thing to me was keeping him safe.
“It will all be alright,” she said with false comfort ringing in her words. “Don’t do anything crazy. You’re welcome to stay here as long as you need to.”
“Thanks, Laurel.”
Though I was sure that our parents would have just loved that. They were the ones paying for the apartment, after all.
“They took my car and phone. I have nothing, Laurel. I don’t even have his number to tell him goodbye. And frankly, I’m too afraid to do so. I have a feeling that I’d crack. I could call the shop but honestly, I’m so scared that mom will find out, even though I know that’s dumb. How would she know if I called him?”
