Renegade Path

“Easy,” I laughed.

She wrinkled her nose. “Sorry.”

“Now that you’ve exchanged rings and said your vows, the love shared between you has been strengthened. In accordance with the laws of the state of New York, it is my honor to declare you husband and wife. You may now seal your vows with a kiss.”

I wrapped my arms around Juliet, lifting her in the air so fast, she squealed and squeezed me tight. Our mouths met and fused together.

Our friends clapped and whistled. Dex thumped me on the back, either to congratulate me or to warn me to cool it. I didn’t know or care.

Juliet pressed our foreheads together. “You’re all mine now, Roman.”

“I’ve been yours from the day we met. But I’m so happy to be your husband now.”

She curled her fingers in my hair at the back of my neck and reached up to kiss me again.

The hurricane of life had stolen my family when I was too young and powerless to do anything about it. I’d been tossed around in an ocean of brutality for years. My whole life, more than anything, I wanted to belong to someone.

And now, Juliet and I had created our own family.

Chapter Sixty-Six

Juliet

“That’s everything.” Roman plopped a milk crate of tools on top of our already precarious stack of cardboard boxes.

The only things that mattered to us fit into fewer boxes than I’d expected. I couldn’t stand to sell Mrs. Shields’ car yet. So we’d rented a garage to store everything while Roman and I hit the highway. The larger tools and equipment had been either sold off or given to our friends.

“Excellent.” I checked off one more entry on our “to do” list.

“I talked to Pip earlier,” Roman said.

“Is his new house okay?”

“Yeah. He seems happier. Said the kids are closer to his age. Eraser promised to pop by the school and check on him once in a while.” He pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket. “I have the address and said we’d send postcards.”

I plucked the paper from his hand and pulled out my phone to snap a picture. “There. That way we won’t lose it.”

He curled his arms around my waist. “So clever.”

“Mr. Porter has the keys. He said he’d contact us if we need to do anything else for the closing.”

“We won’t be far at first. Dex hooked me up with their charter near Virginia Beach. We can hang there for a bit.”

I couldn’t stop my nose from wrinkling. Roman’s time in jail still haunted me. But as much as I wanted him to stay away from Uncle Dex’s motorcycle club, they always seemed to help us when we needed it. “No side work, I hope.”

One corner of his mouth curled. “Nothing dangerous.”

“Roman,” I sighed.

“Everything’s going to be fine. I’m never leaving your side again.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” I poked him in the chest and he winced. “Oh, no! I’m sorry.”

I peeled his T-shirt up and checked the bandage covering his freshly inked skin.

“I’m fine. I should change that before we go, anyway.”

I grabbed my purse and followed him into the bathroom. I bit my lip while he carefully eased his T-shirt over his head.

“Stop looking at me like that, butterfly. There’s no furniture left in the house.”

I fluttered my lashes at him. “Who needs furniture?”

“Juliet.” He growled my name like a warning.

“Okay, okay.” I carefully eased the tape away from his skin and uncovered the grinning skull tattoo. Roman had created the design himself and I loved it. A butterfly in shades of red, orange, and yellow perched on a skull resting in a bed of daisies and roses. He said it represented us. The way he didn’t truly feel alive until we met. It still made me choke up every time I thought about it.

I studied the tattoo carefully. The skin under the lines was still slightly red and irritated but otherwise everything looked like it was healing. “Does it hurt?”

“Just itches a little.” He raised his curled fingers as if he wanted to scratch, then dropped his arm to his side.

He stood still, quietly watching me in the mirror as I cleaned and dried the area.

I took out the plastic bag of supplies and instructions from the tattoo artist, then carefully applied the thin sheet of tattoo film over the area. “Looks good.”

“Thank you.” He leaned in and kissed my forehead. “Still think you’re going to sit for yours?”

“Yup.” I tapped my left shoulder where I planned to have a matching skull-head butterfly inked.

He brought me to life the day we met too.

Roman

“Are we ready to go, now?” I asked.

I was sure ready to leave. Juliet’s Uncle Jared had gotten out of prison not that long ago. Dex and I had thrown him a special “welcome home” party. So now was a perfect time to get lost on the highway.