by Delisa Lynn
“So, my tattoos make me sexy? Well, if that’s the case, I’ll get as many as you want me to.”
“Stop it. You know exactly what I mean.”
When we pull in front of the shop, Liam walks around and opens my door. I see Ashton’s bike sitting in the parking lot. I had a feeling he would be here. We see Ashton working with a client when we walk in. He is a good artist, but I just can’t fathom the thought of him tattooing me. We’ll see, though. I may change my mind. I guess it would be better than some stranger I don’t know.
“What’s up, Liam? You here to get some ink, man?” Toom asks.
“Yes, sir. The little lady and I want matching tattoos. I would like Ashton to do the piece he has been working on for my side and I think Lila wants you to put hers on her wrist. Is that right, babe?”
“Um, Ashton can do mine, but before he does yours, if that’s okay.”
Damn it. I knew that was going to happen. You walked right into that, Lila. Sometimes I should think before I speak.
“Aight, y’all give Ellis some time. He’ll be finished with the other client soon and then he’ll get y’all started. Did you need any piercings while you were here?”
“No, we are okay. We only want the tattoos,” I say. I didn’t realize how loud I was until Liam starts laughing and everyone stares at me
“Are you nervous, baby? You seem so tense. Are you sure about this?” he asks, running his hand down my arm.
“Yep, I’m good. You know I don’t want any piercings. I mean, if you do, that’s fine with me. I’ve heard that they are very pleasurable,” I say without thinking. I turn ten shades of red. Not only did Liam hear me, but so did the other men.
“Hmm. Maybe I’ll get a piercing, just for you. Hell, I didn’t think our sex life could get any better, but if you say so.”
“No, I was kidding. No piercings.”
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Lila
Now that I’m done being the laughingstock of the shop, it’s our turn to get our body art done. We walk back into a room that has two tables and about four chairs and mirrors everywhere. Liam still hasn’t showed me what he is getting. He and Ashton have it all planned, I guess.
“Okay, so I’m first. Let’s get this done. And Ashton, if you hurt me or fuck this up, I will break your neck,” I say in a serious tone.
“Oh good. So no pressure to do a good job, right?” he says as he puts on a pair of gloves.
“This is what I want, and I want it in this deep purple trimmed with pink. Can you do that? Will it look okay?”
“Yes, I can do that, and I think it will be perfect,” he says.
I sit down and place my wrist on the table. I take a deep breath. Liam holds my other hand. Ashton cleans my arm and starts working with the letters. This one is more painful than I remember the others being, probably because of the location on my wrist. I squeeze Liam’s hand with my eyes closed. I don’t want to look at either of them.
“You okay? Do you need to take a break?” Ashton asks, the needle still in my wrist.
“I’m good. Keep on working, mister.”
“Li, it looks good and the colors are amazing. I can’t tell exactly what it says just yet, though,” Liam says.
“You will see soon enough.”
I grit my teeth. If I can birth a ten pound baby, then I can get a little tattoo, I keep saying to myself.
“Okay, Li. What do you think? You can open your eyes now,” Ashton says. It’s been a good hour and my butt is numb.
He holds my wrist up in front of my face. It looks so amazing, I’m in awe. I didn’t think he could pull it off.
“Let me see. What does it say?” Liam asks.
He looks at my tattoo and reads what it says aloud. “Embracing Us.” His brown eyes gleam. He hugs me and whispers, “Always.”
“Thank you, Ashton. I love it. Although it hurt badly, I’m not going to lie.”
I wipe a tear from my cheek, knowing I look like a big baby. I hate needles and pain.
“It looks amazing. Now it’s my turn,” Liam says.
“Can y’all excuse me?” I stand up and stretch. “I’m going to the restroom.”
I walk to the back of the shop. I know where the bathroom is from the last time I was here. I pull out my phone, take a picture of my new tattoo and text it to Nikki and Megan. I know they’ll both want to see it. I call Sofia and check on my babies.
I walk back in and see Liam laying on one side. Ashton is working on Liam’s other side. I still don’t know what he is getting, but whatever it is will be huge. It’s taking forever. I sit next to the table and he looks at me, smiling.
***
“All right, brother. You ready to show her?” Ashton asks.
“Yep, more than ready. I think she will be pretty happy with it, but if not, then you’ll have to cover it up with another design,” he jokes.
It better be huge, considering a few hours have passed. “Oh, stop it. Let me see what it is,” I say.
Ashton moves aside so I can have room to look at Liam’s ribcage. It’s perfect. I gasp and hold back tears. He also got the words ‘Embracing Us,’ but in banner style. My name and the names of all three of the kids branch off from ‘Embracing Us.’
“I love it. When did you guys plan this?” I ask, looking at it closely.
“See, I told you she would,” Ashton says.
“I’ve wanted to get the girls names for a while, but I figured I’d wait once we found out you were pregnant.”
“Well, I hope you have room left for another name. I had a voicemail from Dr. Brewster. When I went for my check up, they ran a test and it looks like I got pregnant the night of Nikki and Brody’s wedding.”
I kiss Liam’s hand. His mouth is hanging open and Ashton just stares at me. Leave it to me to make the two of them speechless.
“I’m only five weeks. It’s still too early to tell anything, so I’d be happy if you guys keep this between us. I don’t want to tell the kids or our mothers until I’m in my second trimester,” I say to them, wiggling my finger at the both of them. Let’s see how long they can keep quiet.
“That’s great, baby. I would love to have a house full of Ellis’s running around.” Liam kisses me.
“Well, I guess a congratulations is in order. You two are so damn fertile. So, you two banged at the wedding? I hope you at least waited until after everyone left, unlike at your wedding. Yeah, I know about that.” Ashton says. I glare at him. “Okay, never mind. Y’all are some horn dogs. And you talk about me. At least I don’t go to weddings looking to get it on.”
He laughs and gives Liam a fist bump.
“Shut up, man. We’re leaving. I’ll leave your money upfront. Remember, don’t tell anyone. Can you do that?” Liam says. He hugs Ashton.
“Yeah, yeah, I guess. You know Kade and Megan are going to find out soon, though.”
“We can tell them, but no one else,” I say.
Epilogue
A Year Later
Liam
I always wonder what would have happened if my parents hadn’t passed away, if I hadn’t moved and met Lila. I knew that day, when I was only fourteen, that I would marry her someday. I never dreamed all the other stuff would have happened, but it did, and it was all meant to happen. All of it: me being injured and missing; her being with Evan and her accident; Addison getting murdered; Lila’s father dying. Everything is for a reason. When I found out she was pregnant with Greyson and that he may not be mine, I could have left. Hell, people probably think I’m crazy for not leaving.
But we all make mistakes. There was no way in hell I was going to leave her. I was hurt and I wanted to kill Evan. Thinking about it still pisses me off, but we are all only human. I would hope that if it were me who had fallen in love with someone else while she was away that she would be just as understanding. I could never love anyone as much as I love this woman. Every day she seems to amaze me.
We just celebrated Greyson’s fir
st birthday. Rory is a few months old. Poor Greyson is outnumbered with three sisters and another sibling on the way. We are hoping for another boy, but if it’s a girl, we will love her just the same and keep on trying. After all, we are pretty good at making beautiful babies.
Watching her with our children daily always puts a smile on my face. The love she has for them and me makes me understand why I looked past everything that happened with Evan. I can honestly say I’m completely happy with my life. There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t fall more in love with Lila. There is no other woman in the world I would want to be the mother of my children. She supports everything I do and understands every aspect of both of the Winery and Ellis Boys Investigations. She helps out any way she can.
I’ve learned that letting things go is hard to do. It burns a hole in your heart, but, in the end, it’s always best to let go. Embracing the one you love can make you mad, but looking in Lila’s piercing blue eyes and knowing she is mine and only mine makes me feel like one lucky man.
Our love was salvaged.
The End
Playlist
These are all the songs I listened to while writing Salvaged. Each one has a meaning for different characters. Not all of the songs are in the book. But I’ve listened to each one over and over. I love music of all generations, so all of my playlist will have a little of everything. You can listen to this playlist on Spotify.
Gorilla by Bruno Mars
Stay by Rihanna and Mikky Ekko
Someone Else Calling You Baby by Luke Bryan
Everything Has Changed by Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran
Just Give Me A Reason by Pink and Nate Ruess
Fuckin Perfect by Pink
Until The End Of Time by Justin Timberlake
Fall Too Pieces by Avril Lavigne
Unfaithful by Rihanna
Love The Way You Lie by Rihanna and Eminem
Mad by Ne-yo
Without You by David Guetta, featuring Usher
I Cry by Flo Rida
Fix You by Coldplay
Missing You by Brandy, Tamia, Gladys Knight
Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke
Nothing Without Her by Nelly
Get Low by Lil Jon
Yeah by Usher, Lil Jon, Ludacris
Better In Time by Leona Lewis
The Scientist by Coldplay
Apologize by One Republic
Secrets by One Republic
Acknowledgments
I’m always afraid, I’m going to leave someone out. I like to ramble and I feel like that’s what I’m doing. So please forgive me if I do.
First thank you to all of my readers, without your support this wouldn’t be possible.
To my husband, thank you so much for putting up with me, and my characters. Although you think I’m on Facebook half the time instead of writing. You’ve always told me to chase my dreams; and without you this wouldn’t be possible. I would have never leaped without your encouragement.
Jessika Harper, although we’ve never met...I feel like I’ve known you all my life. You have become one of my best friends. Thank you for everything! I love you hard BT!
Ashley Johnson, thank you so much for putting up with me. I would’ve never made it through the revising of this book without you.
To my Limitless Publishing team, thank you all so much. Thank you for taking a chance with me. I’m honored to be a part of such an amazing team.
My IndiePendent girls, thank you for always being a message away. I love you all.
Embracing Ladies, you all rock. Thank you for loving my characters as much as I do.
Robin Harper, you’re amazing! Thank you for all my beautiful covers and all the hard work you put into them.
Joyce Cumbo, thank you for being a wonderful friend. Your support means so much to me.
The Hype PR, thank you for all of your help with the cover reveal, blitz and tour.
Thank you to all the blogs and bloggers. You all are a huge part of this community .
We would be lost without you.
About the Author
Delisa Lynn grew up in Columbus Ohio, she is currently residing in Western New York with her husband and fur daughter Sophie. During the day she works as a Medical Assistant and at night, she types away on her laptop, allowing her characters to escape her mind. Pink is her favorite color, and she loves anything animal print. She loves traveling, shopping and baking. When Delisa isn’t working or writing you can catch her snuggled up with her kindle reading about her newest book boyfriend.
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