Sketch: A Steel Paragons MC Novel (The Coast: Book 12)

by Eve R. Hart

  I let the buzz fill the air as I thought about it.

  Yeah, I’d done a lot of things in the booth. It wasn’t a big room but I could get creative. However, I couldn’t really remember a single one of those things. Couldn’t recall a person that I’d done them with. Didn’t want to, honestly. But I was damn glad to have the image of Melissa here. I wouldn’t be forgetting that, for sure.

  “All done,” I said as I wiped her down and looked over my work. There was a wide smile on my face and I didn’t even try to hide it as she stood up.

  “Can I see it?”

  I handed her a mirror and pointed to the full length one beside the door.

  I could see her eyes tracing over every line and color, taking it all in.

  I bet y’all thought it was a peach, right?

  Nah. Though I had drawn a few of those on her before. They might have looked more like hearts by the time I was done with them, but so what.

  No, this was even better. Or I guess she thought it was.

  It was cute, I’d say that much. Got that young love thing going on. Something I never really got to have and maybe that was why it had come out more than once.

  The tree wasn’t all that exciting. The whole thing done up in that new school style, a little bit cartoonish and exaggerated. It almost looked like it could have a soul and start dancing at any minute. It was a happy tree, if that was such a thing.

  And in the middle of the tree, there was a carved-out heart.

  Yeah, can you believe that?

  And I’d simply added the letters S and M in the middle with a plus sign between them.

  Then for good measure, I put forever under it.

  Because we were fuckin’ forever, bitches!

  Her smile matched mine as she took in the ink in the reflection.

  I rolled over to her and grabbed her hips. My lips met her stomach and I worked my way up, giving each nipple a long lick, causing her whole body to shiver.

  “Did I get it right?” I asked as I tilted my head so I could meet her eyes.

  “Perfect,” she whispered, lookin’ all dreamy, you know, like one of them cartoon princesses.

  She let me get her wrapped up, and then got dressed, though I wasn’t thrilled about that part. Habit had me going over the instructions on how to take care of it. She listened intently, even though she knew damn well that I’d be there to make sure she was doing it right.

  “So…” I started and grabbed up her hand in mine. “This might be like weird and shit, but I got this for you.”

  Why was my hand shaking as I pulled out the little black pouch? I think I was sweating too. I brought her hand up to my lips and kissed it before I let her go. After I let the ring fall into the palm of my hand, I held it out to her.

  “It’s a ring,” I rushed to say as if she couldn’t tell by lookin’ at it. “Listen, it don’t gotta mean nothin’. I just see you sometimes playing with your finger like where your ring used to be. And I got to thinking about it. I wanted you to have something there to play with. Then I really got to thinking about it, and I wanted you to have something that reminded you of me every time you touched it. So then I went out and got this. Looked at a buncha rings but they were ugly. I saw this and I knew…”

  Her mouth hung open as she blinked at me.

  “It’s not like an engagement ring or anything. I get you’ve been there and all and I’m perfectly happy just knowing you’re by my side. Hell, you got my ink on you now, so that’s just as good as gettin’ married for me.”

  “Sketch,” she breathed out.

  “I know it’s crazy. And you probably hate the ring. It just reminded me of you. It’s real gold, I swear. And the stone is real too. It’s called… Morgan something, I think.” I shrugged. I didn’t really care what it was, I just knew it was perfect.

  “It’s peach,” she said. Her hand reached out for it but she didn’t get close enough to grab it.

  “Of course it is. ‘Cause—”

  “My pussy reminds you of peach pie?” She cocked a brow at me.

  “Well, yeah,” I said with another shrug.

  I grabbed her hand and slid the ring on, surprised that it fit just right.

  “That good?” I asked.

  She looked at it, smiled, then reached for my face.

  She kissed the fuck outta me, makin’ me feel like I’d done something right.

  “Perfect,” she told me.

  I loved the way that she used that word. And the way she said it, like everything I would ever do would be perfect.

  I really loved that thing she had in her eyes as she looked at me right now. Like there was love and happiness causing this little sparkle to shine in them.

  Fuckin’ magical.

  And we lived happily ever after and shit.

  But first, we fucked in my booth.

  What? You knew it was coming…

  And so did I.

  Ha ha!

  Epilogue

  Sketch

  The waiting room was full, let me tell you.

  Like we were all up in here as we waited to hear the news.

  I wasn’t a fan of going to the hospital. Didn’t know many people that were. But since I wasn’t here because one of us was busted open and leaking guts, I was alright as long as a doctor wasn’t gonna try to look at me. There was no need for one to, so it was all good.

  Why were we here?

  Oh, right!

  You see, Cami was about to pop that little human out of her body. It was just a matter of time now. Some of us had been waiting for hours. I was one of those people and I’d been pacing like mad. I knew it was slim that something would happen, but I still worried. Lis had been here too, right there in the chair just hanging out in case I needed to hold her hand. Which I did a few times when the brothers got me to finally stop wearing a line in the carpet.

  But now most everyone was here because they couldn’t stay away until the new one came into this world.

  There were some people huddled in the corner looking at us as if we were going to start slaughtering people any second now. I kept shooting them smiles, but I didn’t think it eased them at all.

  Hey, I was trying.

  Whatever, that was on them.

  I didn’t feel bad that we were all here takin’ up most of the space. That little one was damn lucky because that baby had this huge pack to watch their back.

  I looked up and there was Brand making his way down the hall to us.

  I rushed to the front of the room, but still gave him space so he could tell everyone without me being all up in his grill.

  Chris was right there at my side, waiting just as eager as I was. I suppose I should have stepped back and let the bros have their moment. Yeah, they were tight like that. Only, I couldn’t. I had to make sure my girl Cami was alright.

  “We have a girl,” Brand said and though he was beaming with pride, there was this terrified look on his face.

  Yeah, B-ry got that exact same expression on his face when he found out he was having girls too. I laughed inside knowing the hell they’d be put through when those girls got older. And I felt a little sorry for the girls when it came that time that they wanted to start dating. Not only would their dad’s be overprotective, but they’d have a whole club of uncles that would be doing the same thing.

  I took two wide steps and wrapped my arms around Brand. He clung onto me like he needed that hug.

  We both took a step back after a long moment and cleared our throats at nearly the same time.

  Then Chris rushed in and thank fuck, their hug lasted longer. Now I didn’t look so weird.

  “We don’t have a name yet,” he told everyone but his eyes were on me. It freaked me the fuck out. “She wants to see you first. I’ll wait out here.”

  “Okay…” I said with a shit-ton of confusion in my tone.

  Something was going on and that shit made me nervous.

  “Don’t take too long,” he warned me.

  I fel
t Melissa’s hand on my back like she was giving me some of her strength to move forward. I turned my head and met her lips before following Brand’s directions on how to get to the room.

  “Hey, C-money,” I said playfully as I opened the door. I was quiet about it in case the little one was sleeping.

  When she looked up, there was this huge-ass smile on her face.

  “Sketch.” The way she said my name it was almost like she wasn’t sure if I’d come back here.

  Damn.

  That kind of got me, if I was being honest.

  “Come sit.” Her eyes dropped to the spot on the bed by her knees. I hesitantly settled in. “Would you like to hold her.”

  I wanted to… but what if I dropped her? I mean, I knew babies were resilient and shit, but I didn’t want Brand to slice me open because I banged up his kid.

  Scared as shit, I held out my arms.

  This wasn’t the first time I held a baby, but I had to tell you, it felt like the first time every single time I cradled one of those things in my arms.

  Cami settled the weird-looking bundle in my arms. She was cute and I knew she’d only get cuter.

  “Meet your Uncle Sketch,” Cami said with, like, this whimsical happiness in her tone.

  I swore I wasn’t going to cry.

  Kept swearing it even as the water leaked out of my eyes.

  “Melissa mentioned that you were never really given a name,” Cami said softly as her face told me she wondered if she’d said too much. I wasn’t happy about Lis talking about that stuff behind my back, but I trusted her. “She didn’t say anything more than that. It’s just that we all wondered about it.”

  “Yeah, well, shit wasn’t good until I got here,” I told her.

  “Everyone should have a name.”

  I shrugged because I wasn’t real sure why the hell she was talking about this now.

  “If you could give her one, what would it be?” she asked me, her voice sounding nervous and strong at the same time.

  “What?!” I snapped in a shocked tone.

  The little girl in my arms wiggled as if she was offended by the noise.

  “We might not be here if it wasn’t for you. If you hadn’t… If it weren’t for you, she might not be here. You kept me calm. You told me it was all going to be okay and I believed you. It was everything to me then. And though I’m still scared out of my mind from it, I’m glad now too.”

  “Couldn’t let anything happen to you, you’re my girl. Shop would seriously suck without you there.”

  She smiled sweetly.

  “No one should be nameless. Not someone as wonderful as you and not my precious baby.”

  “So give her one,” I said looking at her like she was making this shit way too complicated.

  She laughed and shook her head at me.

  “What would you name her?”

  “I suppose Little Bitch is outta the question, right?”

  “Sketch,” she scolded with an eye roll.

  I looked down at the baby in my arms again, this time really thinking about it.

  I knew Unicorn would be out. So would Magical. Got to admit those names would be cool as fuck though.

  “Hope.”

  That was what she was.

  She represented hope even when I’d temporarily lost it.

  Knowing I’d fucked up back then was still eating away at me, but right now, this little, squishy being in my arms gave me hope that we’d get past it all. That Cami would feel nothing but happiness every time she looked at her baby. That what we all went through would ease and eventually fade to the background as this one got older.

  Hope that we’d move on and be strong.

  “I think it’s perfect,” Cami told me as I handed over her baby.

  “I mean, if you like it and all,” I said with a shrug as I got to my feet. I leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll get your man so he can give you a break. You looked wiped out.”

  “Thank you, Sketch,” she whispered as I walked to the door.

  “Nah, got nothing to thank me for. Just happy as fuck to be a part of all this.”

  I rushed out of the room, but all smooth-like, of course.

  As I walked back to the waiting room, I did my best to dry my tears. Yeah, those little bitches kept sneaking out.

  But I couldn’t really hate them all that much.

  If ever there was a time to get all sappy, this was it.

  Right?

  Whatever.

  I decided to just let them come, I’d own that shit.

  And it felt real fuckin’ good.

  Melissa

  Sketch didn’t have a birthday.

  It was hard to believe that since everyone had a birthday.

  But after knowing what he’d been through, I understood it.

  He didn’t know when he was born.

  Most of his life he’d spent guessing how old he was. When he finally was able to grasp the world around him, he latched onto one of Ronnie’s working girls and silently celebrated his birthday along with hers. That was the date he’d held onto all these years. It wasn’t his, and I had a good feeling that he thought of that person every year that date came around. Which, of course, led him to remembering times in his life he’d rather forget.

  For the longest time, he brushed it off whenever I asked about it.

  Then I finally was able to get him to open up about it.

  He hadn’t wanted to celebrate his birthday, but I wasn’t one to let those sorts of things slide. It was an important date. I, for one, was glad that he’d been brought into this world.

  I’d also found out that since the club wasn’t sure on the date, they’d kind of made up their own one. They never called it a birthday because they suspected Sketch wouldn’t be happy about it, but over the years, they’d held a party and made a cake just for him.

  After a long talk with Claire, who I’d learned knew Sketch the best, I found out that while they were living on the streets, Sketch had encouraged them to pick their own birthday. It was sort of a thing that Sketch had come up with to help them move on from the life they no longer had.

  Yes, that broke my heart all over again.

  He was always that person that wanted to take a bad situation and make it better. And the thing was, he never saw it that way.

  Hearing Claire talk about him only made me fall deeper in love with him.

  So, here I was, picking a date for him.

  I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do, but I felt the need to do something.

  This date would be his.

  And I hoped that when he looked back on all these celebrations, he’d see his life. He’d see that it was a special day for him.

  I’d roped the girls into helping me, though that hadn’t been hard. They’d been eager to help me and the club make this a special day just for him.

  I made him peach pie. Yes, I did. He loved my peach pie and I was very aware that it reminded him of me. Parts of me, to be more specific.

  And now it was almost time.

  I’d talked to him earlier and I knew he hadn’t had the best of days, even if he tried to hide it from me. I hoped this made it better.

  They had closed up the shop after he’d left so he wouldn’t suspect anything. Everyone was going to be here for this.

  I might have led him to think that I’d be home when he got off work. I also might have let him believe that I’d be waiting for him naked.

  Yes, I felt bad about it, but we needed the extra time to get everyone here and ready.

  He’d forget all about it when he arrived here, I was sure of it.

  “Okay, Blade, Brand, and Cami just got here,” Claire said and her eyes were dancing with excitement.

  That was when my phone rang.

  She looked at me with wide eyes. We both knew who it was and I had to take in a deep, calming breath so I could play it cool.

  “Hello,” I answered.

  “Where you at?” he asked
sounding a little hurt.

  “At the clubhouse,” I told him trying my best to play dumb. “We were supposed to meet here right?”

  “Fuck!” He huffed under his breath. “Nah, thought you said you was makin’ me dinner after we fucked.”

  My eyes fell closed and I shook my head. There was a smile on my face though. I expected nothing less from him at this point, and though I wasn’t really used to it yet, I still loved it.

  “Alright. Fuck,” he breathed out before I could think of something to say. “Don’t move, I’m coming.”

  Then there was dead air and I had no doubt that he was tearing up the pavement to get back across town.

  “He’s on his way,” I told Claire.

  Then the place turned into chaos, this time it was a good kind.

  The ladies were carrying all sorts of food out to the lot behind the front building. Brothers were dragging out cases of beer and coolers. We were running a little behind with everything. I might have slacked off with Claire, Bridget, and Chris for the better part of the day.

  “The candles!” I called out.

  We couldn’t forget those. Especially not the huge unicorn one I’d somehow managed to find. I wasn’t sure how well they’d hold up in the pie, but I was going to try. He’d get his candles, even if I had to hold every single one of them myself. Because he deserved to make all those wishes, he deserved to believe that they would come true.

  In no time, one of the Prospects was rushing in to tell us that Sketch was pulling up.

  We all rushed out to the back and waited.

  The back door blew open and I could tell he was a little irritated. That was my fault. But I was convinced it would all be worth it.

  “The fuck?!” he said as he slid to a standstill. “The hell is this shit?”

  “Happy Birthday!!!” we all yelled almost as one.

  He stood there, so still that I began to wonder if we’d surprised him so much that he’d gone into shock.

  “Sketch?” There was no hiding how scared I was with the way his name came out broken and shaky.

  “This ain’t my birthday,” he said looking rather confused.