Page 89 of West Bound

“Here, Sunshine. I’ll take those and put them in water. You and Red talk.”

Vaughan takes the flowers from her and walks inside, and Bishop and I follow.

He sees the beer we brought and thanks me, then proceeds to find a vase and set the flowers in.

“This is a great house. It’s exactly what I’m looking for. I’m tired of living in that damn hotel.” My eyes wander around the amazing kitchen and in all of the beautiful details.

“It is. And if I can convince Cam to move in with me well, you can buy it,” Vaughan says.

“How’s that going?” Bishop asks, twisting the top on a beer, the hissing echoing through the vast kitchen.

Vaughan scrunches an eye and teeters his hand back and forth. “Not well, but you know me. I’m not givin’ up until we’re loading up her stuff in my truck.”

I take a beer for myself and we continue to talk about baseball and various other shit that guys talk about.

The rest of the evening is full of laughter and great conversation as it always is with this group. Even CeCe, who lately has been in a rather uptight mood, is all smiles. Women get tossed in the pool, games of chicken are played, and Dagen gets rocket launched by all of us until our arms are weak.

At one point in the night, I sit back and look around at this new found family and realize I want this all the time. I want Vivian by my side, and I want us making memories with our friends. An idea hits me and I’m quickly reaching for my phone.

“Bish,” I call out. When he looks at me I wave him over. “You know a good tattoo parlor?”

“Yeah. A couple. You looking to add more ink?”

“I am. Tomorrow, hopefully.”

He tilts his head and pulls his brows together. “Why the rush?”

I shrug and tell him, “just want to get it done before the season gets even more hectic. It’s a good luck symbol,” I explain.

He tells me the name of two places and I excuse myself to make a call.

I’m able to convince the one Bishop told me to try first to open the shop early for a private session. It really wasn’t all that hard, actually. I told them who I was and then promised some pics for their social media and a mention of the studio on mine.

With a satisfied smile, I go back to enjoying the evening then take my girl home where I fuck her into a comatose sleep.

I wake to Vivian snoring and sleeping off the sex and booze hangover. Her hair is a mess, looking like wild flames spread across her white sheets. She’s nude with the sheet covering only her sweet cunt while leaving her gorgeous tits on full display. One arm is thrown over her head, and the other is draped over her stomach.

I want so badly to crawl under the sheets and lick her into oblivion, but I need to get to the tattoo studio soon.

I carefully get off the bed and do my morning routine. When I’m dressed with a change of clothes for after the game in my duffle, I make my way quietly into the room and kneel beside her.

Kissing her forehead I whisper, “Peaches. I have to go.”

Her eyes flutter and one of them cracks open. “Wha-what?” she rasps, her voice thick with sleep.

“I have an appointment before I head to the field. Call you later?” she closes her eyes again, and nods. “Okay, baby. Love you.” She mumbles something that faintly sounds like ‘I love you, too’ then falls back to sleep.

Her snores grow louder as I walk out of the room and leave for the day.

“And you’re all done,” Jax, the tattoo artist tells me. “Let me grab you a mirror.”

He swipes at the mixture of blood and ink that is left on my chest and grabs a handheld mirror for me.

I hold it up and see the lifelike tattoo popping against my dark skin and the other black ink.

“It’s perfect. Thanks, man. I really appreciate it.” I hand him back the mirror and he covers my tattoo with cream and plastic wrap.

He gives me the usual instructions on care and what not to do, then I put my shirt back on and we take some pictures. He got a few of the tattoo before he covered it up, but I asked him to wait to post them until tomorrow. I didn’t want the person this is for to see if before I had the chance to show them.

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