I was having hot flashes with this particular pregnancy.
Which wasn’t looking good for me, seeing as I was only six weeks in.
My phone rang, but I ignored it as I made my way back to my husband and our club.
Or… I would’ve made it back to him.
But one second I’d seen him at the bar, and the next I was turning around and practically running into his chest.
“Oof.” I all but bounced off of him. “Jesus Christ, Tide. Where did you come from?”
“Go get your clothes back on,” he ordered.
I rolled my eyes and stepped around him, leaving him to the fight I knew that he wanted to pick.
When I got to the barstool, I snatched up my cut and threw it over my shoulders, happy when I didn’t automatically slide into another hot flash.
“Thanks,” I said to Banger.
She winked. “You said it was hot. I agreed. My dad won’t bitch if a customer asks for it to be cranked up.”
I shot her a happy smile and then moved until I was in the middle of the fray of family and club members.
Taking a seat at the closest empty spot, my eyes went to the little girl that was sleeping in her uncle Haggard’s arms.
“She okay?” I asked curiously.
Normally, our baby girl wouldn’t be in a bar with us. Normally, she’d be at home with us. But today was a special day.
Today, I celebrated being a year cancer-free.
It’d been a long, stressful road. But I’d ridden it, bumps and all, with Tide by my side.
Haggard flashed me a grin and said, “She’s fine. I think she’s asleep.”
“She’s not,” Sophia corrected him. “She’s doing that whole eyes closing and opening thing as she fights it.”
“That’s my kid.” I rolled my eyes. “A fighter like her daddy.”
“I don’t know what gave you the idea that she takes after me,” Tide said, coming back with blood all over his hand.
I gave him a raised eyebrow in reaction, causing him to laugh. “He had it coming. He shouldn’t have touched you.”
I didn’t say a word as he wiped his hand clean with a bar napkin, then came to sit at the seat directly beside me.
“You’re so full of shit I can see it coming out of your ears,” I told him.
Cannel laughed at the look on my face. Which, apparently, was disgust.
“Are you two ever going to be normal?” she asked.
I looked at my husband, who looked right back at me.
“Normal is for pussies,” Tide teased.
I agreed. Our relationship wasn’t normal.
We fought. We teased. We acted like we didn’t like each other half the time. But ultimately, he was my best damn friend. My ride or die. My bully and my husband.
I would love him forever and always.
And knew he would do the same.
He yanked on my short hair, pulling it back until my mouth was upturned.
“Kiss me, woman,” he ordered.
I puckered my lips and said, “Always.”
• • •