20. Eli
Eli
The girls had their fun last weekend, but now it’s our turn.
Rem insisted that we not do anything crazy for the bachelor party.
Originally I wanted to fly to Vegas or Cabo for the weekend and go big, but that was immediately squashed by both him and Lainey.
I guess it was a good thing those plans never happened because there is no way I would be able to up and leave now that I have Wren.
And I wouldn’t want to. There is zero appeal to that kind of plan anymore to me at the moment, if ever.
It was hard enough to leave her with my mom for the night.
However, she reminded me that this was going to be good practice for when I go back to work.
Wren will spend a lot of time and a lot of nights with my mom at her house.
Over the past couple of weeks she has set up my old room, which she was using as a guest room, into Wren’s new nursery.
She got a crib from a friend, some cute girly mermaids and sea creature vinyl decals to decorate the blue walls and is thrilled at the idea of having so much time with her granddaughter.
It’s also been decided that she wants her “grandma name” to be Marmee, an ode to her favorite character in Little Women.
“She is going to be fine, Eli! I have done this, remember? Multiple times.” My mom puts her hands on her hips for emphasis.
I hug Wren tighter to my chest, her little fist gripping my shirt. “I know, Mom. I just don’t want to leave her. I can skip the party. Do all parents feel like this?” I ask, feeling slightly panicked.
She smiles at me, eyes shimmering with emotion and pride.
“The good ones. I’m so proud of you. Wren is very blessed to have you.
You are doing a great job with her, honey.
Your sisters told me about you not wanting to let them babysit her yet.
You need to get out once in a while. And it is okay to leave her with me for a night, safe and sound, to go celebrate your best friend. ”
“You’re right.” I give in.
“Of course I am!”
“You really don’t want to do anything else?” I ask Rem.
He’s laid back on the black padded table at Keller Shore’s station getting tattooed—a surprise for Lainey.
He drew up a massive peony flower with crazy detail, all in shades of black and grey.
Keller is making the vision come to life with his talent and needles, just like the rest of the ink on Rem’s body.
This one takes up all the space over Rem’s heart. Appropriate.
Rem insisted that for his bachelor party we would come to Keller’s shop in Norfolk, get tattoos for any of the guys that wanted some, grab dinner and drinks afterward, and then call it a night. As his best man I just need to make sure he’s getting what he wants.
“Yeah, man. This is perfect. I have been meaning to surprise Lainey with this for a long time. She knew Keller was going to my bachelor party, so this was the best time to pull it all together. Plus the guys are having some work done too.” Rem nods to the room.
It’s true, several of the other guys are sprawled out in various positions throughout the shop being worked on by Keller’s business partner and their employees. They had closed down the shop today to regular business for our party.
“Are you sure you don’t want something?” Keller asks me with a smug grin, knowing I have virgin skin.
“Fuck no, I don’t do needles.”
Those assholes both start to laugh at me. Rem chirps up and says, “Come on, Eli, if the girls can handle it, I know you can too.”
“The girls?” I know that he drew up a really special tattoo for Lainey that Keller did, but who else is he talking about?
“I’ve tattooed Lainey, Sutton, and Kendra,” Keller states easily, his focus wholly on the flower he’s permanently placing on my best friend’s skin.
“What?” I say in disbelief. “When?”
“You’ve seen Lainey’s and Sut’s,” Rem says.
“Yeah, I forgot about Sutton’s. What other friends have gotten ink here? You must be thinking of someone else.”
“Sutton came in a few months ago to get her wing,” Keller says with a stoic sadness to his voice. “And Kendra, it’s been quite a few years? I can’t remember the date exactly, but trust me, man, I know who I tattoo.”
“That’s bullshit. There’s no way she’d let you tattoo her.
She is afraid of needles like me.” I hate the idea of Keller touching Kendra more than I hate the idea of needles getting close to my own flesh.
And the fact that I have never seen this tattoo when she’s had on a sundress or skimpy workout clothes means it would have to be in a more intimate area .
. . and the idea of that makes me irrationally irate.
I have zero claim over Kendra, but hearing this makes me feel like a wild animal, needing to mark its territory and fight off any lurking males.
“How do you know she hates needles?” Rem asks, giving me a strange look, like he just caught me with my hand in the cookie jar.
Clearing my throat I say, “Hannah told me.” Yeah that works, right? She is good friends with my little sister, so that would be the most plausible answer.
“Well, regardless, I did tattoo her.” Keller looks up at me, grinning. Even I can admit that he is stupidly handsome. Tattoos, bright green eyes, crooked smile with fucking double dimples, tall, muscular.
I hate that he had his hands on my woman.
Fuck—not my woman.
“There is not a chance in hell. You guys are just messing with me. If Kendra really got a tattoo from you, Keller, I’ll get my dick pierced.” I cross my arms, determined.
Whoops and laughter go up around the room from our friends.
“You sure about that?” Matt Ryder asks from his seat by the window.
“Of course, because I know I’m right,” I say with smug confidence.
“Fine. I am going to call Lainey,” Rem says with a grunt as he shifts to get his phone, “but you all have to shut the hell up because she can’t know we are at the tattoo shop, remember?
” All the buzzing from the machines halt as the call rings and rings, the shit-eating grin on his face making my palms sweat.
Maybe I shouldn’t have made this bet . . .
“Hello, Remington.” Lainey’s kind voice echoes through the shop.
“Hey, beautiful. You’re on speakerphone, okay?” Rem says.
“Okkkkay? What’s going on?” Lainey asks suspiciously.
“You are with Kendra and the girls, right?” Rem asks.
“Yes, we are at Sutton’s house working on the favors for the wedding. What’s going on?” Her voice sounds worried now.
“Everything is fine, baby, we just had a question for Kendra.” Rem soothes her worries.
“Oh sure, hang on.”
“Rem?” Kendra’s sexy voice replaces Lainey’s a minute later.
“Hey, we are with the guys and talking about tattoos. Keller said he’s tattooed you, Lainey, and Sutton, and Eli is convinced that it’s a lie, that we are just messing with him.”
“Why?” Kendra asks.
“Because you are terrified of needles!” I exclaim.
Kendra growls, literally growls, on the other end of the line. “You don’t know everything, Hulk. Keller has in fact tattooed me. It was years ago. I bumped into Rem at the grocery store when I was visiting, admired his ink, and asked for a referral to his guy. He sent me to Keller.”
Keller, smug fuck, grins at me again.
“I’ve never seen it,” I state, like it will win me the argument.
“And you never will, but I can assure you, it is private and very much a permanent part of my body, needles be damned.”
All the guys roar with cheers and laughter, knowing I just lost the bet. Knowing that I . . . am . . . fucked. Because you don’t back down from a bet.
“Keller,” Kendra’s voice rings out over the raucous noise, “say hello to your brother for me. I’m looking forward to seeing you soon.” Keller grins.
Nope. Don’t fucking like that either.
“Will do,” Keller says as Rem takes the call back off speaker to talk to Lainey again.
“Let’s go over your options, big guy.” Marcus, one of the guys that works at the shop, claps me on the shoulder and steers me to the back of the room by his piercing setup, to the punishment of my own fucking cockiness and stupidity.