#FinishLine (GearShark #5)

by Cambria Hebert

  “You meant that, right, babe?”

  “I meant it, Hopp.” I vowed. “Anything.”

  “I got us a wedding present. Not sure how you’ll feel about it, though.”

  I made an impatient sound. “Tell me.”

  “That was my tattoo guy. He cleared his afternoon. He’s on his way over.”

  “You want to get another tattoo?” I asked, smiling.

  “I want us both to get one.” He held up his left hand between us, pointing to his ring finger, right above the ring I put there. “Wedding bands.”

  “Wedding band tattoos,” I echoed. It was fucking brilliant.

  “I’m getting your name, babe. I’m having your name tattooed around my finger, right above the engagement ring. So if I ever, for some unfathomable reason, have to take this ring off, your name will still be there.”

  “Now I feel even worse for being such an ass over a shirt,” I quipped.

  Hopper threw back his head and laughed. His laughter faded, but I didn’t say anything more. I just stared at his ring finger, imaging my name there.

  It was incredible. He was incredible. This life was incredible. Hopper was more than I could ever have hoped for. And now not only was he marrying me, but my name was going to be permanently part of his body.

  “I can call him back, cancel the appointment,” Hopper said, clearing his throat.

  “No!” I burst out, rushing forward. “I want this. I want your name on my finger, too.”

  “Yeah?” He seemed relieved.

  “Oh yeah. More than anything.” Lifting his hand, I brushed a kiss over his finger. “Tattoos here aren’t exactly painless.” I warned him, kissing the spot again.

  His eyes sparkled with warmth. “You gonna hold my hand, then?”

  “Always.”

  The tattoos were small, but what they represented was so large.

  Little fuckers hurt, too.

  I didn’t complain, though; I didn’t even wince. There was far worse pain in life than getting the name of your infinity etched on your finger.

  We got matching art—same font, same black ink. The only difference was what the letters spelled.

  The artist wanted me to take off my ring so he could work. I was an ass and refused. I wanted to make sure everyone would be able to see the name when I had the ring on. The best way to do that was to have it done with the ring in place.

  It probably made his job harder. I didn’t fucking care. I paid him well. Better than well. Not only did he get extra for being basically on call that afternoon, but he got paid more because he came to our hotel rather than us going to him. It was just another precaution because of the press.

  A left his ring on, too.

  We sat beside each other the entire time he worked, our free hands clasped together. And though we made small talk with the artist, I felt the pull between us.

  I honestly thought getting married was just one more way to make him mine… like, on paper. In the eyes of the law. I already thought he was totally mine in all other ways.

  I was wrong.

  A marriage was more than rings and signatures on a paper. It bound us in a way I likely would never have known without doing this.

  I felt as if the energy always surrounding him stretched out, changed shape, and entangled with mine. Like we were two trees planted beside each other in the forest, but when we started to grow, when our roots started to spread out, they were together.

  Inseparable. There was no beginning or end to either of us as individuals because I was no longer made up of just me. Arrow was no longer made up of just him.

  My stomach quivered; my entire body was buzzed and jittery, as if I’d had too much caffeine.

  We were knotted together, tied in ways that would never be undone.

  Our fingers were wrapped in identical white bandages as the tattoo artist tucked away the stack of crisp cash I handed him and picked up the case of his equipment.

  We followed him to the door. I shook his hand. Then he shook Arrow’s.

  “Thanks for coming here,” I said.

  Nodding, he grabbed the door handle, then paused and turned back. His stare moved between Arrow and me for a moment before he spoke. “I’ve done a lot of tats on couples.” He gestured between us with his finger. “But you two? You two got some serious vibes. You’re the real deal. It’s been a long time since I did tattoos like this and didn’t know, without a doubt, the couple would be back in a couple years to have them covered up with something else.”

  “That’s not gonna happen,” Arrow said. “These are here to stay.”

  I nodded.

  “I actually believe it,” he replied, then let himself out without another word.

  We grinned at each other like a couple of fools the second we were alone.

  “You keep inspiring me to get tats, babe, and I’m gonna have a full sleeve like you in no time.”

  “I love you just the way you are,” Arrow shot back instantly. “But you want tats? I’ll hold your hand for all of them.”

  I backed him against the door, covering his body with mine. His lips parted, allowing my tongue to slide deep. Arrow growled, grabbed a fistful of my shirt, and increased the pressure of his mouth against mine.

  Dragging my fingers through his hair, I tipped his head back, forcing our lips apart to kiss down his chin and neck. The arrow on the side of his neck called to me, and I answered. I sucked into the hollow just behind his collarbone, and he moaned.

  Arrow started fidgeting as if even though I was plastered against him, even though his flesh filled my mouth, it just wasn’t close enough.

  Releasing his skin, I pulled back, grabbed his waist, and lifted. Knowing what I was going to do, Arrow pushed up off the floor, wrapping his legs around my waist.

  Backing away from the door, I carried him into the room to sink down on the couch. Arrow rocked, our hips ground together, and his teeth scraped over my earlobe. A few deep sounds vibrated in the back of my throat. I reached around, filling my palms with his ass as he rode me.

  A pulled back, grabbed the neckline of my T-shirt, and yanked, revealing some of my chest. His lips moved over the bare skin, kissing as much of it as he could.

  “I like the way you taste, Hopp.” He spoke against my skin.

  I took his face, lifting it so I could surge upright and attack his mouth once more. Our mouths collided like a ten-car pileup. Kissing and licking, biting and stroking each other until the furious way we were going at each other dissolved into something smoother. Our lips stopped coming back with fervor. Instead, everything changed into one long, languid kiss. We stayed locked together, lips rubbing in a continuous motion, tongues caressing endlessly.

  Between us, our cocks were rock hard. The feel of his against my abs was deliciously sweet, but I didn’t make a move to get more of it. Kissing him was enough just then. It was speaking without words; it was like reciting our wedding vows before we even got to the wedding.

  My brain grew heavy, all thoughts weighed down with passion.

  A low buzzing sound began in my ears. I gave myself up to the heaviness. To the deafness. I gave myself up completely and got lost in him.

  Eventually, Arrow pulled away. Before sitting back completely, he licked my lower lip, then kissed the end of my nose.

  No one had ever kissed the tip of my nose like that.

  It made me smile.

  As if he knew, he kissed me there again.

  Between us, Arrow picked up my left hand, gently peeling back the white bandage. I watched him stare down at his name, which was now inked into my left ring finger.

  I loved the rings; hell, they were my idea. But his face as he gazed at them? The barely-there caress of his thumb rubbing just above where his name now resided?

  It was the thing about all of this I loved most.

  “With this ring, I thee wed…” Arrow murmured quietly, still looking down.

  Goose bumps traveled down my spine. The good kind.

&nbs
p; “It’s me and you, babe.” Curling my fingers around his hand, I leaned down, kissing his fingers. “Love you.”

  “I love you, too.” I watched him wrap the tattoo back up, taking care to do it just so. As I watched him, I noted a slight change.

  “You hungry?” I half teased. “It’s been a long day. We missed lunch.”

  “I’m good.” He surprised me further by leaning in, lying against my chest, fitting his face into my neck.

  Rubbing up and down his back, I frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  Reluctantly, he replied, “I got you a wedding present, too.”

  “Yeah? Why don’t you seem too excited?”

  “I’m not so sure you’re gonna like it.” He sat up, his deep-brown eyes wary.

  Sitting forward, I cupped his cheek. Tenderness surged through my fingertips and brushed across his smooth skin. “I don’t like that look, babe,” I murmured. “You gotta know I’m gonna love anything you give me.”

  He half grimaced. “This is different, though… maybe not something I should have given you the night before our wedding.”

  I flashed a smile, my heart still squeezing with love. “You worried whatever it is might make me change my mind?”

  His gaze skirted away.

  My feet dropped off the coffee table. I sat all the way up, taking him with me. “Look at me.”

  His eyes obeyed.

  I tried to look fierce. I tried to make sure the words I said translated not only through speech, but through my eyes. It was hard to look at him fiercely, though. It was hard to look at him with anything other than serious love.

  “Nothing. And I mean absolutely nothing will ever make me change my mind.” I lifted his left hand, giving it a slight squeeze. “With this ring, I thee wed.”

  His pouty lips curved upward. Interestingly enough, Arrow pulled out his cell and made a call of his own.

  “Hi,” he spoke quietly into the line. “We’re here. Come on up.” His stare met mine as he listened to whoever was on the other end. “I am, right now.”

  After ending he call, he climbed off my lap. I was kinda sorry to see him go.

  I followed him over to the window overlooking the strip, wrapping my arms around him from behind.

  “I keep going back and forth with the decision I made. Sometimes I think it’s going to be good, and other times I wonder if I’ve just stuck my nose where I shouldn’t.”

  My chin hit his shoulder. “Just tell me, babe.”

  “I called your mom. I invited her here… to our wedding.”

  I sucked in a breath. My hold around A’s waist went stiff. His hand covered mine, pressing it against his chest like he was truly afraid I would shove away from him.

  I was shocked. This was the last thing I ever would have expected.

  Even so, I would never shove him away. Something like that would cut him deep, a cut I would never intentionally make.

  “You miss your family. I know you think about them, think about calling, and I know you worry if they would even answer. Thing is…” His voice faded away.

  Squeezing him a little tighter, I said, “Thing is?”

  His head turned toward the sound of my voice. Without thought, I kissed his cheek. Arrow’s hands gripped mine a little tighter.

  “Thing is I know what it’s like to not have many people. To feel alone, without family. To think I wouldn’t have one ever again. I want better for you, Hopp. You have an entire family who loves the shit out of you. They accept you, and for that, you’re lucky.” He turned his head toward me again.

  In his ear, I promised, “I’m listening, babe.”

  He nodded once. “I thought you might someday regret it if we got married and she wasn’t here.”

  I blew out a shaky breath. “You called my mom.”

  “You still had her number in your phone.”

  I laughed lightly. I did still have her number. Even after all this time, I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it. “I’m surprised it still worked.”

  Arrow turned, placing his back to the window, and looked at me. I saw the knowledge in his eyes. He knew what I was afraid to say. What I was afraid to know.

  “She cried,” he told me. “As soon as I said your name and who I was… she started to cry. She’s been waiting for you. Your whole family has. They’ve missed you.”

  My eyelids fell. Relief and something more pooled in my feet and began to rise, like the slow rise of a building flooding with water. Except I wasn’t filling with water; I was flooding with emotion.

  “She booked a flight while we were still on the phone.” He grabbed my forearm. Just the feel of him soaked into my skin. He grounded my body, kept hold of all the feelings that tried to float away. “She couldn’t get to you fast enough, Hopp. She wanted to come to our place, but I was afraid that would be too much. At least here in Vegas it’s neutral territory.”

  Just knowing after all these years my mother still claimed me, still cared enough, even after I shunned her and all of them, made moisture gather in my eyes. The center of my chest was so tight and heavy, and even though I was apprehensive, I was also so fucking grateful.

  My worst fear, the thing that kept me from picking up a phone these past few months, was the dread of rejection. Even though I was the one who ran, I was responsible for pushing them away, for isolating myself completely, if they turned me away, it would feel like losing them for a second time.

  I wasn’t good with loss… not at all. So I told myself it was for the best. Better for all of us if I just lay in the bed I made and didn’t attempt to call. I had Arrow now; he was enough. He would always be enough.

  Arrow didn’t accept that. He wanted better for me.

  Bless him. Every single thing about him.

  Without a word, I shot forward, grabbing him hard, yanking him against me. Our bodies crashed together, and my arms tightened around him until they trembled with effort. Or maybe they quivered because my body was trying to say what my tongue could not.

  Embracing me, Arrow didn’t shy away from the strength with which I held him. After a few moments, he asked, “So does this mean you aren’t pissed? We still getting married tomorrow?”

  I made a gruff sound, pulling back from him. I grasped his jaw, holding it so I could stare into his face. “In my heart, we’re already married, babe. Tomorrow is just details. I’ll be there. There’s nowhere else on this planet I would rather be.”

  Relief flooded his face.

  There was a tentative knock on the hotel room door. I felt my eyes widen, looking to him for help. “Is that her?”

  Arrow grasped the front of my T-shirt. “Breathe,” he instructed. I sucked in a loud, sloppy breath. His lips twitched. “That’s her. You still haven’t told me if you want this.”

  Glancing around at the door, then back, I felt my fingers shake. “I’m nervous.”

  “I know.”

  With more bravado than I felt, I made a choice. “I want to see her.”

  Like a lover who truly cared, Arrow smoothed out my shirt, pushed the hair off my forehead, and ruffled the hair at the back of my neck. Before leaving me and stepping to the door, his gaze latched on mine. “I love you.”

  “I love you,” I echoed.

  The sticky feeling of my palms was gross, and I was rubbing them up and down on the fabric of my shorts when Arrow yanked open the door.

  Because of where I was in the room and the way the door opened into the suite, I couldn’t see her. Just the fact that Arrow could affected me.

  Even though my eyes didn’t touch over her features just yet, I still saw her through the lines of Arrow’s shoulders, the tilt of his head. He was smiling at her.

  Maybe not the kind of full-on smile he gave me, but it was a smile. I sensed it. I felt it.

  “Is he here?” A voice so familiar reached into the room. The tone was like a punch to the gut. Quick memories flashed over me. Her calling up the stairs for me to come down to dinner. Yelling off the front porch when it
was time to come inside.

  It hurt. God, it fucking hurt.

  But even with the pain, my eyes sought her out, waited to see if she looked the same. If the fact that I’d been gone all these years would echo in her eyes, if it would create some sort of chasm between us that I never knew before.

  Arrow nodded, saying something so softly I couldn’t make out the words.

  Charged silence filled the room, but no one moved. Then sluggishly, as if everything was forced into slow motion, Arrow stepped back. The hand holding the door pushed so he could invite her inside.

  She burst in the room like a prisoner who had finally been unchained. I stood physically frozen, but everything inside me was like a storm. Wildly, she gazed around, seeking me, until finally I was found.

  “Jayson.” She said it as if I were revered. Like her longstanding prayer had finally been answered.

  Just like the storm inside me, she blew across the room as fast as her still freakishly small feet would go.

  Just before wrapping me in a hug, her body halted. Sweeping her eyes over me with one long glance, she hesitated for a moment, as if she wasn’t sure what she should do. The sound of the door clicking closed jarred her. My mom swept forward again and wrapped her arms around me.

  She smells exactly the same. A rush of familiarity enveloped me. With it came even more flashes of memories. Of feelings.

  It was the feelings that were the hardest to recall.

  All the things I ran from. All the reasons I hid came flooding back.

  In a strange way, it was like recalling a movie, a film about someone who wasn’t me. About another man who was so different from me.

  Yet somehow eerily the same.

  Her hug reminded me of that most of all.

  Still standing stock still, my arms at my sides, my mother hugged me tight. Sniffling against my shirt, then rubbing her likely running nose against the fabric.

  Fondness—no, love choked me.

  I swallowed, desperately seeking Arrow, who was standing near the door. Just seeing him there calmed me. Reminded me who I’d been was okay because it led me to where I was now.

  He smiled slightly, more of an encouraging expression.

  I was able to move again. Lifting my arms, I hugged my mom. She started crying just a little harder, wiping her nose on my shirt again.