She tutted at me, heading to the kitchen without responding, while I dug out my phone and nosed through the messages from the guys. The ones who hadn’t been back to the hospital had checked in via messages, or called. I thought I only got on with a handful of them, but I was starting to realise that there was a deeper sense of family there than I’d realised. Or maybe things like club on club clashes were building a tighter brotherhood.
Even Grimm had checked in.
Grimm: Heard you took a beating, man. Hope you’re doing okay. Bring your girl to the club for a free night, on me.
Such a great guy. I had no idea if he’d heard from Micro yet, but so much had been happening that I figured I’d know when I knew.
A text from the Pres popped in while I was still staring at my phone.
Micro: Glad you’re home, brother. Rest up, and we’ll get you patched in when you’re capable.
Patched in. At fucking last. I couldn’t wait. I was half tempted to message him back and say now. Let’s do it right now.
“Here we go, tea, biscuits, and oh… I should make you some lunch, it’s almost that time.”
“Glory, sit with me, sweetheart. I’m all good. Or I will be once you’re right here.” I patted the seat beside me, reaching for her with an arm that ached a little less than it did yesterday.
She eased down onto the seat beside me, and waved the pack of chocolate digestives at me.
“Nah, I’m good, thanks. Hey, Micro wants to patch me in as soon as I’m up and about.”
“That’s good, right? That’s what you wanted this whole time?”
“You’re what I wanted. What I’ll always want.” Whoa, guess I was feeling intense now I had her beside me. Way to come on strong, right?
“You have me. So, how does the patching in thing work?”
“They could do an old lady ceremony too. I mean, if you want to be mine.”
Okay, that’s like proposing during sex, what the fuck. I did want that, of course I did, but why was I just coming out with that shit on the spur of the moment? She’d say no. Of course she’d say no. There’d been no prior discussion about this at all, and now I was just springing it on her after so little time?
“Okay.”
“What? Just okay?”
She giggled. “Okay please? Come on, Henley, I’m sure you could use that talented mouth to convince me…”
“Seriously, sweetheart, are you telling me that you want to be my old lady? Getting ink and all that?”
She sobered a little at the mention of the tattoo, but nodded.
“I didn’t wait this long to be yours just to start dithering now. You said you want me, and I definitely want you, so once we both have ink calling us each other’s, you can’t leg it on me.”
I grabbed her face gently with one hand, leaning closer.
“Leg it on you? I’d never fucking go anywhere. We waited too long for this. For us. So, as I said, you’ll be my old lady.” Oh wow, look at me now, just making declarations like I’m the boss of her.
She passed me my tea, sitting back against the sofa with me.
“It’ll be nice to have a tattoo again, my first ink in years.”
“He made you remove them,” I said, without making it a question, because we both knew it fucking wasn’t.
“Yeah, but he’s dead and in bits now, so who won really?”
That’s my fucking girl. “He’s worm food, babe. It’s party time for all the little worms.”
She loved it when I hit her with Red Dwarf quotes. See? There’s that little giggle.
