Page 78 of Brand
CHAPTER THIRTY
Brand
The sun was barely up. Cami was clinging to my side like an octopus and I loved it, even if I was hot as fuck. At some point, the sheets had been thrown off and I now had a full view of her perfect, naked body.
“Is it that time already?” her words were muffled against my chest. Her voice was raw and sad. I wondered if she’d slept at all last night.
I had a good idea that this was going to be a bit hard for her. Not just the fact that I had to go and would be gone a few days, but what I was actually doing while I was gone. Though, she didn’t know what exactly this run was because she had made it a point to let me know more than once, that she didn’t want to know, but she wasn’t stupid. Even if the words hadn’t been said, she got it.
No amount of reassuring her that it would be fine seemed to help. And I thought I’d worn her out enough the night before that she’d just pass out, but by the dark circles under her eyes, I could see my plan had failed.
“Come here,” I said as I hauled her up my body and kissed her. “There’s nothing to worry about. I’ll be back in a few days.”
“I know,” she whispered. “I’m just not sure how I’m supposed to handle this you know? Like what do other girlfriends…or…old ladies I guess, do?”
Clearly, someone had been filling her in on all the club stuff she didn’t know about. I could admit I loved her naivety to the whole thing. I hadn’t bothered to break the old lady thing down simply because we were us, and sure, I wanted everyone to know it, but I knew I didn’t have to go throwing around some title for everyone around us to get it.
“Keep busy. Gwen is here. Chris is here. And you could go hang out with Laurel. Don’t think about it and before you know it, I’ll be back. There really is nothing to worry about.”
“Okay,” she agreed with a nod.
I kissed her one last time, then dragged her tired ass into the shower with me to give her a proper goodbye. Then I grabbed my stuff and headed for the door.
“A few days. I’ll call you, I promise,” I said, flashing her my dimples in hopes of distracting her from all the thoughts in her head.
“I’ll…I’ll miss you.” I didn’t like the hesitation in her voice like she was afraid to tell me how she felt.
Fuck that. If she was going to miss me then I for damn sure wanted to hear it.
“I’ll miss you, too,” I said, the honesty in the statement was at one million percent. “I love you.”
I ducked down and kissed her one last time.
“When I get back, we should look for an apartment.”
I could tell by the shocked look on her face that I’d taken her by surprise.
“Like, for us?”
“Yes, baby, for us. I want to move in with you and have a real place to call ours. One where I don’t have to worry about Ky banging on the wall because we’re disrupting his sleep or whatever.”
“Yeah, okay.” She flashed me the biggest smile I’d ever seen.
“I’ll call you tonight,” I said as I turned on my heels and all but forced my feet to take me away from her.
The whole ride there I let my mind get lost. I could see the future with Cami and it looked fucking amazing. I tried not to let my past make me question things. I wanted marriage and babies and all that with Cami and I was going to make it happen come Hell or high water. The boy in me wanted to throw my past relationships in my face. The fact that I’d once wanted all the same things with someone and it turned out my relationship had been a giant joke. But all it took was one look into Cami’s eyes and I knew, every damn time, that I was all she thought about. I was the only man she saw. And it was the same for me when I looked at her.
Feeling the miles fly by under my tires was always the best thing. I’d never get enough of taking long trips on my bike. I hoped that one day I would get to finish my cross-country tour. Maybe not all in one go, but I’d still love to see all the places I was going to go with my dad. I felt like I needed to do it to honor him. Maybe I could take Cami, share that part of me with her even more.
I couldn’t help but think that maybe this was the way that it was all supposed to turn out. Part of me wanted to go as far as to say this was some kind of slip of fate. That my dad’s death had led me to this very point in my life. That he’d been the one responsible for guiding me to Cami. Maybe it was a bit silly, but I didn’t care. If it made this thing more epic, then fuck it, I was going to go with it. Because I believed that Cami and I deserved epic.
As we pulled off into Moon Hill I was hit with a wave of emotions. It felt good to be back and I was excited to see everyone. As I parked my bike, I thought about everything that had happened here. I wasn’t that man anymore. Wilmington. The shop. Cami. All those things had changed me. And I wasn’t saying it was a bad thing.
We rode straight to the back of the compound and switched things off, then a handful of the head chapter brothers were off to handle the deal a few counties over.
“Good to see you, brother,” Loch said as soon as my boots crossed over the threshold to the clubhouse.
I was hit with a wave of nostalgia. The smell. The look. Even Dane sitting on the couch watching shitty action movies and Seven sitting at the corner of the bar, watching everyone but not looking like he was. It was all the same. Like no time had passed at all.
