23. Libby #4
He chuckles. “So let’s consider this our honeymoon.
We don’t have to marry right now, but we’ve already declared ownership.
Neither of us are going anywhere. So let’s fast forward to the honeymoon, we can have a nice time, I’ll prove to you that I’ll never run again, and in exchange…
” He stops, thinks, considers, “You’ll try this amazing turkey recipe I have. ”
“Ugh!” I try to hit him, but it’s soft and dumb, because I have no room to wind up. “You’re so stupid, I swear.”
Laughing, he grabs both of my wrists and pins them above my head. “Marry me, Libby. I already know the answer, so I’m not even nervous. You’re kinda obsessed with me, so…”
He’s the boy from the club. Silly, smug, and arrogant. He’s exactly who I fell in love with. “You already know the answer.” Despite my hands being pinned above my head, I still manage to lift up and draw his lips to mine. “So yeah, I guess. But–”
He pulls back with pursed lips. “ But . There’s always a but.”
I nod. “ But , I will marry Gunner Bishop, not Theo Griffin.”
“Babe!”
“Make it happen, Bishop. You can keep Theo for your company shit, and I swear, when in the office, I will call you Theo if that’s what you need.
But in our world, in our everyday lives, and on my marriage certificate, it will say Gunner Bishop, because that’s the name you were always supposed to have. ”
“I can’t do Bishop on the certificate, Lib.
” Eyes blazing with what may be regret, his voice turns serious.
“That kid went missing twenty years ago, he was declared dead a little while after that. I can’t resurrect him on paper unless I want some massive auditing problems.” Arranging himself over me, he frees up a hand to brush wispy strands of hair off my face.
“I would. If it meant that much to you, I could make it happen. But I should first mention the trouble I’d get into.
Possibly even time in prison. You know this, Lib.
You can’t just pick up a new name, forge documents, and expect to get away with it. ”
My brows furrow, because he makes a logical point. We would all be in a lot of trouble – even me, for not reporting what I know. I’m a cop, I know of crimes, and I’m not reporting them.
“Okay.” I hate how my voice cracks on my word. “Not on the certificate. But when it’s just me and you, you’re Gunner. I can’t make love to Theo. I can’t make babies with– Oh my God.” I hate the way my body deflates. “What would our babies’ names be?”
He swallows. “Griffin is a good name. It’s strong, worthy, and named for a good man.
It’s the name our children will bear, and the empire they’ll one day rule.
Stop thinking of it as a second choice, and instead remember that I chose it.
It’s not the runner-up, but the winner. It’s the choice I made when I could have picked anything.
” He drops a kiss on the corner of my lips.
“I actually like my new name. I’m proud of it. I hope one day you can be, too.”
“But… Gunner is what your mom named you. And Gunner is the name of that boy I watched run down a set of stairs. Gunner is the boy that hugged me in the cold wind, and he’s the boy I talked to about all of my deepest secrets.” My voice gives a pathetic wobble that annoys me. “I can’t let him go.”
“Just let him go on paper.” He releases my hands, and with a gentle smile, brings one to his chest so it’s almost crushed between us.
“I’m still the same person in here. I’ll still hold you when you’re cold, and there’s nothing you can’t tell me.
I’m still the arrogant kid that teased your knees, and I’ll forever be the guy that taught you ‘hard spot, soft spot’. ”
A memory from a million years ago races through my mind.
We were standing in that office of the club, and Gunner touched my knuckles in demonstration.
Hard spot . Then his throat. Soft spot .
He touched his elbow. Hard spot. His eye.
Soft spot . His knee. Hard spot. And finally, his crotch. Soft spot .
“I forgot you taught me that.” I clear my throat and swallow down the same grief I had to swallow all the way through high school. “It’s like, you showed me that day, and then it was washed out of my brain again before you even hit the bottom of the stairs.”
His eyes turn indulgent. “That was my best move, and you didn’t even listen to me. I’m kinda pissed right now.”
“I wanna marry you. And I wanna call you Gunner, at least when it’s just the two of us.”
He nods. “Deal. Because you had first dibs.”
“Okay.”
“But when it’s not just us…”
I nod. “Theo-Stupidface-Griffin.”
He chuckles. “Well… yeah, okay. We’ll roll with that.”
“Okay. Love you.”
He’s humored by me, but it doesn’t matter, because within seconds, he has my pants down around my ankles and the tip of his dick nestled against my opening. “Say yes.”
I nod, and fight against the need to close my eyes when he slowly begins to nudge inside. “Yes.”
“Spit shake?”
Laughing, I nod again. “Spit shake.”