Chapter 18 #2
“Gideon, please. I do not want any of those niggas. Half of them are married, and the other half are too young.”
“Oh, that’s the only reason you don’t want them?
” he asked. His voice sounded like a low grumble mixed with a growl, but she knew how to tame him every single time.
That small hand to his chest held a certain magic.
As soon as he felt her hand there, he relaxed.
He was definitely wound tight that morning.
“Of course not. I don’t want them because I have you. I’m a married woman, after all.”
And he was a married man. It was still hard to wrap his mind around it most of the time. He couldn’t believe how the last couple of months had shaped his life.
“Okay, then what’s with the hesitation whenever I mention moving?
I want our own space, baby. I wanna to do things the right way.
We already did this shit ass backwards. Let me at least buy you a big house you can decorate and that we can settle into for the rest of our lives.
” He paused for a moment before he hesitantly asked, “You do want this for the rest of our lives, right?”
He hated sounding so unsure of himself, but he didn’t mind being vulnerable with Glimmer. She was his safe space.
“I just told you I love you, Gideon. God Himself is going to have to force me up off you. I want this for the rest of our lives, and I’m not hesitating.
I’m just comfortable. This is the first place I’ve felt comfortable since my daddy went to prison.
Even before he went to prison, we were in hiding and not living much of a life, so this has been refreshing for me.
I’ll admit that cooking breakfast naked does sound nice . . .”
He grinned. “So that’s a yes?”
“It’s a yes. Let’s find our forever home.”
Her words made his heart race with excitement. He wrapped his arms around her, and they settled into a comfortable silence for a while before he said, “The food is probably cold by now.”
She wiggled free of his arms. “That’s okay. We can warm it up.” She moved to get off the bed.
“Where you goin’?”
“To warm our food up.” Her head tilted as she looked at him in confusion.
“I can do that.” He moved to get up this time, but she stopped him.
“Let me do it. I would rather stay busy today . . . you know. To get my mind off everything.”
He nodded his understanding. She was able to smile and joke around, but he still sensed the lingering sadness within her. He knew it would take time for her to get back to herself.
While she got dressed and gathered their plates, he pulled his phone out and called the realtor’s office Haze hooked him up with. If his baby wanted to stay busy that day, then he would make sure she stayed the fuck busy.
“Yo, where we goin’?” Gideon asked for what felt like the hundredth time. It didn’t matter how many times he asked in the last twenty minutes. Glimmer wasn’t letting up on that information.
Her little ass insisted she drive after their last house viewing. They were currently riding up the coast, and it didn’t seem to him like Glimmer knew where they were going either.
Instead of responding to him, her eyes lit up, and she swerved the car into a parking lot. “There!”
“Aye, yo! There, what?” Gideon asked as he held on for deal life as she pulled into a parking lot.
Glimmer pointed to a storefront a few stores down, and Gideon’s brows rose. “All that for a tattoo shop? You even got any tattoos?”
She shook her head and opened her door. “Nope.”
Before he could get on her about opening her own door, she hopped out and slammed it. He shook his head and stepped out of the truck.
“Aye, man. You can’t be opening your own doors. That’s law.” He hugged her from behind when he caught up to her.
“Sorry. I’m just excited.”
Gideon opened the door to the shop and noticed how busy it was. “Did you even make us an appointment?”
“Nope. Never even knew this place existed.” Glimmer looked around with her eyes wide.
She seemed to be in better spirits since this morning. They had a great time viewing homes, even though they hadn’t found the one yet. It seemed like their day of distraction plan worked.
“Hi, can I help you?” the receptionist asked. She had red braids that curled on the ends and a hooped nose ring. She smiled kindly as Gideon shrugged and looked down at Glimmer.
“We wanted to each get a tattoo on our ring fingers. Something small and quick.”
Gideon’s brow rose. “We did?”
Glimmer nodded enthusiastically. “Yup.”
He grinned as the receptionist asked, “And what exactly did you want on your ring fingers?”
“A date. May second, 2025.”
Gideon’s brows furrowed. He figured Glimmer might be confused. “That’s not our wedding date, bae. That’s the day before—”
She nodded sharply and cut him off. “I know our wedding date, Gideon. That’s not what I want to commemorate.”
“Then what is?” Confusion swarmed him as he desperately tried to follow along with his wife’s pretty ass brilliant mind.
“The night you made your first vow to me.” She beamed up at him.
His smile was automatic. He leaned down to kiss her forehead. “I love it.”
The receptionist swooned at their exchange before she spoke. “We can definitely get you in for that right now. I just need you to fill out these forms, and I’ll go let one of our artists know what you want. She can draw up some different fonts for you to choose from.”
“Perfect,” Glimmer said as she accepted the clipboards and handed one to Gideon.
They found a spot to sit down and filled out the forms. “You know I could have called up my homie to come do this for us at home.”
Glimmer shrugged. “It’s more fun this way. I haven’t done anything spontaneous like this in a long time.”
“You mean since we got married?” Gideon joked.
“Outside of that.” She bumped him with her shoulder. “Besides, our conversation this morning left me feeling like you doubt how all in I am.”
“Why would you think that, baby?” Gideon asked. He put the clipboard aside and gave her his undivided attention.
“I don’t know. You get this look sometimes like you think I might run away. And then you asked if I wanted this forever . . . I just wanted to prove to you that I do. What better way than to get my first tattoo dedicated to you?”
He leaned over and kissed her deeply before he pulled away. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, and I’m not going anywhere. You’re stuck with me, buddy.”
They finished filling out their forms, and an artist called them back. They chose their font, and Glimmer decided she wanted to go first to get it over with. Gideon could tell she was nervous, so he held her free hand the entire time.
“Alright, all set,” the artist said. Glimmer chanced a look down at her finger, and Gideon chuckled. She had refused to look while she got the tattoo.
Her eyes lit up, and she squealed. “It’s so cute!”
“Glad you like it,” the artist said.
“I love it.” She showed Gideon, who held her hand gingerly and admired his baby’s first tattoo.
“I just need to clean up, and then we can do yours,” the artist said.
They waited patiently, and before long, Gideon sat in the chair. He pulled Glimmer down onto his lap and nuzzled her neck. She giggled.
“Where did you put your ring?” Gideon asked suddenly. He’d just thought to ask.
“It’s in my purse.” She patted her designer purse that was slung around her shoulder.
“Don’t lose that shit, Glimmer. Soon as that tattoo heals, that ring needs to go back on.”
Glimmer slid her purse off and pulled the ring out. She placed it on her right hand and looked at him. “Better?”
He grinned. “Much.”
“You know, you’ve vowed so many things to me, but I never gave you any vows.”
“You said vows on our wedding day.”
“Those generic vows don’t count.”
Gideon’s brows hiked. “Okay, then vow to give me that good ass pussy every night, and we good.”
Glimmer smacked his shoulder while the tattoo artist giggled. She held her needle and started on Gideon’s tattoo. He didn’t even flinch as he continued to look at Glimmer in amusement.
“I’m being serious, Gideon. I want to vow something to you. You’ve been so good to me, and I feel it’s the least I could do.”
“Aight, lay it on me then.” He was all ears. He always was when she spoke.
She cleared her throat and looked into his eyes lovingly. “I vow to never leave.”
He blinked. Most might ask “That’s it?” after the short vow, but not Gideon.
To him, her words meant everything. All his life, he just wanted the people he loved to stay.
It was why he was so protective over them.
Not having a mother and losing his father caused a deep yearning for people to simply stay.
Glimmer seemed to somehow understand that about him.
He had to work around the lump in his throat to speak. “That’s all I need, love. That’s all I need.”
He nuzzled his face into her neck and sat just like that for the duration of his tattoo so he could do his favorite thing and breathe her in. This time, with the peace of mind that she was never going to leave his side.