Clutch
Page 27
I had to chuckle at that. He wasn’t wrong.
Dad led me through the house to the backdoor. There, he paused for a moment. I knew it was for my benefit, giving me a second to prepare myself, but I didn’t want it. All I wanted was to get out to where the man I loved and my little boy were waiting. Dad must have seen how ready I was, because he opened the door without a word.
Across the yard, in the space between two big oak trees, the club was gathered. They had strung a long length of white fabric between the branches of the trees so it draped down and created a rustic altar, all the more lovely for its simplicity. All of our loved ones stood in two rows facing each other, creating an aisle leading me right to Gauge.
He was there, exactly as he had been when I’d left him: black t-shirt beneath his cut, road roughened jeans, and dusty shit kickers. His hair was free, not knotted at the back of his head as it often was. He looked exactly like he might any other day, and I realized that was exactly how I wanted to marry him. I wanted him exactly the way he was.
Levi was in his arms, Ham standing at his side. Deni was to the left of the altar, standing as my bridesmaid. In the center, behind Gauge, Stone stood, ready to marry us. Pres was a licensed officiant, I knew. He had married Slick and Deni.
Dad stepped up beside me and took my arm. “Ready?” he asked.
“Absolutely.”
As I moved toward him, Gauge’s eyes locked on mine and I could not see anything else. Even as I walked between the walls of brothers, of our friends and family, my eyes never strayed from his. I only looked away to accept a kiss on the cheek from my dad when we reached the end of the makeshift aisle. Then, I stood in front of Gauge, more than ready to make him my forever.
In that moment, without a word said from either of us, I felt more loved than I ever had before. Gauge’s eyes said it all. His love, his devotion, his adoration, his desire—he looked at me like I was the only thing that mattered on earth besides the little boy in his arms, and I felt the exact same way.
Stone cleared his throat before he spoke. “We’re here today to celebrate three of our own. Today, Gauge and Cami not only become man and wife, but they create a family with their boy.”
The weight of what he said sunk in, and I gasped. Levi’s birthday meant it had been a year without Stacey being involved in his life. That was a milestone we had been awaiting. It meant she could be stripped of her parental rights without her signing off on it. It meant I could finally adopt Levi as my own. Somehow, Gauge must have already had that taken care of early.
“I’m not a man of many words, so we’ll keep this short and sweet, but Gauge has some things he wants to say first,” Stone continued.
Gauge took a step closer to me, grabbing my hand with his as he held Levi to one side. “I’m sorry for springing all of this on you, darlin’,” he started, “but I couldn’t wait anymore. I have Levi’s adoption papers ready, but I couldn’t let you sign them without making you mine in every sense of the word first. I hope you’ll take me, shotgun wedding and all, because I want us to be a family.”
“Yes,” I choked out, trying not to cry. “A thousand times yes.”
“Alright, then,” Stone took over, “Gauge, do you take Cami to be your wife, to love and protect, for richer or poorer, in sickness or health, to the end of your days?”
Gauge held my eyes still as he said, “I do.”
I was going to cry. I was absolutely going to break down from everything he made me feel.
“Cami,” Stone pressed on, “do you take Gauge to be your husband, to love and respect, for richer or poorer, in sickness or health, to the end of your days?”
There was only one answer. “I do.”
“Then I pronounce you man and wife,” he said. “Fuckin’ kiss already.”
With our son cradled between us, we did just that. I kissed my husband as he kissed me, feeling all the love we shared and the promise of our future together flow through me. All around us, the Disciples cheered, their roaring voices surrounding us, a audible manifestation of our family’s love.
“Love you, darlin’,” Gauge said against my lips.
“I love you, Gauge.”
He kissed me again before leading me over to a table set up nearby. On it were two documents for us to sign. The first, a marriage license. With my signature at the bottom, I became Camille Baxter. Then, with another signature, Levi became my son.
With both papers signed and dated, Gauge pulled me back into him. My arms wrapped around both of my men, my husband and my son. Gauge held Levi and me tight as he said, “We’re finally a family.”
“We’re finally a family,” I repeated.
But that wasn’t really true. We had already been a family. We had been a family since Gauge clutched onto a Disciple’s daughter. And we would be a family forever, I knew. Because when it came to Disciples, there was no letting go.
Shift
(Disciples’ Daughters #2)
After the death of her father, Ash knew one thing for sure: being a Disciple was dangerous. She begged the man she loved not to commit himself to the club, to a future she knew would be too short.
Sketch had been in love with Ash since they were both in grade school. He loved her every damn day until she took off, ripping his heart out in the process. So, Sketch did what he could to move on, and sealed up that cavernous hole she’d left him with.
Now, four years later, Ash is back, and she isn’t alone. She has a daughter. A beautiful little girl about to turn four years old.
Sketch has no idea what to do with the woman who shattered him, but his whole world is about to shift again with the return of this Disciples’ daughter.
Drew Elyse spends her days trying to convince the world that she is, in fact, a Disney Princess, and her nights writing tear-jerking and smutty romance novels.
When she isn’t writing, she can usually be found over-analyzing every line of a book, binge watching a series on Netflix, doing strange vocal warm ups before singing a variety of music styles, or screaming at the TV during a Chicago Blackhawks game.
A graduate of Loyola University Chicago with a BA in English, she still lives in Chicago, IL where she was born and raised with her boyfriend and her fur babies Lola and Duncan.
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Amazon Author Page
Pinterest
The Dissonance Series
Dissonance
Harmony
Table of Contents
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Coming Soon
About the Author
Books by Drew Elyse
filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share