Pieces of Summer(51)

I guess small towns aren’t always a bad thing.

Holding open Mika’s door for her, I turn and take one last look at the house as it folds in on itself. When I look back at her, she’s staring at me.

“I love you,” I tell her, leaning in to brush my lips over hers.

She throws her arms around my neck as she pulls back. “I love you too.”

When she smiles, I forget we need to be getting out of here. Until I hear the sirens wailing in the distance.

“We should probably get home. I have a surprise for you too.”

Her eyes light up. “Do I get to burn something down?”

I laugh while shaking my head, and she winks at me as I shut the door and round the truck to my side. After getting in and heading down the road, we pass the fire trucks that aren’t in any hurry to go put out the flames. I’m guessing they want that house to completely burn as much as I do.

I reach over and grab Mika’s hand, lacing our fingers together as I drive toward her house. I only let go when I have to start shifting gears.

We pass by the bowling alley, and I watch as her grin spreads. I’ve made two changes since she signed it over to me. One change was having her name added so that we’re both owners—just like we’d always said we’d do. The other change is that horrible fucking name she picked out to replace the corny one we chose as kids.

The corny name is now proudly displayed: Endless Summer. And two fucking bald eagles greet you at the door.

When we reach her house, she hops out first, and I slowly get out, looking up at the home that changed my life. It’s only right we stay here. It only makes sense that this is where we finally get our second beginning.

Mika is watching me when my eyes come down, and she cocks her head.

“Sorry. Just having a moment.”

“As long as that moment isn’t considering doing the same thing to this house, then we’re cool. Take all the time you need,” she says, smiling over at me.

Two days ago, she had a small episode after someone messed up the price at the restaurant and tried to change the tab. It wasn’t a huge deal, but plenty of people called her crazy. Not that I care. I’ve been called worse around here.

But I finally got a chance to prove to Mika that I don’t care, because I raised as much hell as she did. It really was a stupid thing to do, after all. I’d have bitched even if the numbers changing didn’t affect her.

One day, there will be a bigger episode. Dr. Stein has warned us both that with Mika’s emotions unleashed, it makes it much more likely for the agitated moments to make her more irrational.

I’d rather see a whole lot of crazy than a cold and indifferent shell of her. But I’ve also decided to put my own plan into action.

I move toward her, and she turns and walks in, leading the way. Hunter walks by with half a sandwich hanging from his mouth as he texts a mile a minute.

“Is it ready?” I ask him.

“Yeah,” he mumbles with the sandwich still in his mouth and his attention still on his phone.

“Is what ready?” Mika asks.

“This way, and I’ll show you,” I tell her, tugging at her hand.

Aidan is passed out on the couch after just flying back in today from a shoot somewhere across the country. Mika pauses at his side and pulls out a marker from her pocket. I have no idea why she’s carrying around a marker.

After she draws a 1920’s handlebars mustache on him, she puts the marker away like nothing happened and follows behind me. When we reach the old room that was used for storage, I push the door open and flip on the light.

I end up biting back a laugh when confusion covers her face.

“You… put a chair in here… with your tattoo stuff. This is my surprise?” she asks, turning to face me.

I smile while walking her toward the chair, and I move aside some of the sterilized packs.

“I think I’ve found a solution to your biggest concern,” I tell her, watching her face grow even more confused.

“I don’t think I understand…”

“Sit down.”

She does as I say without protest, completely trusting me, and I get my equipment ready in record time. I’ve done a few trial runs to make sure I can set up as fast as possible.

When I push her shirt up, she watches me. She doesn’t try to hide her scars from me anymore, even though I can tell she hates it when I look at them. She tenses when I brush my fingers over a few scars, but she doesn’t bat my hands away.

After I clean the section, I pull out a pre-made stencil I drew up, and press it to her skin. After temporary ink settles in, I remove the stencil and let her see the small eagle imprint.

“What are you doing?” she asks as I pick up the gun.

There will be times where I have to free hand this, considering how quickly an attack hits. I’m good at free-handing though, so I’m not worried.

“Giving you a tattoo,” I tell her as the gun starts up.

She doesn’t try to stop me, which is one of the many things I’ve always loved about her. Mika is spontaneous, and she trusts me.

When the gun makes contact, she doesn’t even flinch, even though the skin has to be tender. I take my time, going over the outline, permanently marking her skin. When I get done with the outline, I turn off the gun and look up at her.

“Feel that?” I ask her.

“Um… Yeah. I’m not numb.”

I laugh lightly while dabbing away the excess ink and blood.

“I mean do you feel what it does? It’s not as painful as cutting, but I think this could work for the worst times. To relieve the pressure, you know?”

Her eyes water as she stares at me, and I half wonder if I’ve fucked up by bringing this up. She swallows audibly then clears her throat.

“Yeah. I think it would work,” she says in a rasp whisper as a tear falls from her eye.

I smile at her before changing out the ink, but she catches my hand before I can resume the process.

“Something wrong?”

She shakes her head before tugging at me, and I lean in to press my lips to hers. She doesn’t kiss me hard, but the kiss is one full of everything she feels, and I half consider fucking her in the reclining chair.

When I pull back, she nods at me, and I flash her one more smile before resuming shading in the eagle. It might sound crazy, but maybe this is why I learned to be a tattooist.

Life is a bitch, but sometimes that bitch knows what she’s doing.





Epilogue



MIKA



Ten years later…



“Aunt Mika! Make him stop!” Kayla squeals while wrapping her little arms around my leg.

At seven, she’s freakishly strong, because I can’t pry her off me enough to pick her up. Laughing, Chase lunges, but she squeals and buries her face in my leg as though that’s going to protect her.

He wrangles her off me with very little effort, and a shrill scream pierces the air when he tickles her. She finally dissolves into giggles when he stops, and she breathes out in relief before racing back toward the house.

She loves spending the summers with us.

Aidan is locked upstairs in his room with Whit. Never would have thought they’d end up together, but I couldn’t be happier they did. They gave me a beautiful, precious, sweet niece, after all.

We’ve added on to the house so everyone had their own rooms. Aidan and Whit only stay the summers here, and visit on holidays. Hunter and his wife have their own room, and their son has his own room as well. We’ll have to add on again if they pump out any more babies.

Chase grins at me as he comes to wrap his arms around my waist, tugging me to him as his lips brush mine.

“Ever wish we could have had children?” I ask as I wrap my arms around his neck.

He shakes his head rapidly, and I try not to laugh.

“I love her, but every time summer ends, I feel like I need to sleep for a month to rest.”

I can’t stop my laughter this time, and he waggles his eyebrows at me.

“Besides, I still like having you all to myself instead of sharing you. I’m selfish like that.”

“Oh?”

He nods, but just as he lifts me from the ground, a wet spray slams into us, and Chase groans while I snicker and run away from the spray of the garden hose. Kayla giggles wildly as Chase goes to snatch her up from the ground, even though he gets soaked in the process.

Smiling, I wring out my shirt around my waist then head inside to change while Chase deals with the little girl who is still squealing and giggling like she couldn’t be happier.

When I reach the bedroom, I pull my shirt over my head and toss it aside. My eyes flit to the mirror, and my gaze lands on the numerous colorful tattoos. Chase found a way to deal with the worst days, but instead of leaving behind scars, he leaves behind something beautiful.

The high from the pain isn’t as intense, but I was never chasing the high cutting gave me. It was always about the relief, and there’s just enough pain to relieve the pressure when it hits.

That’s thinking outside the box.

I get a little better every year, so the roughest times are few and far between. The best part is that I don’t have to live without emotions in order to actually live. I even get to hug my brother whenever I want to—when he’s here. I get to snuggle with my niece when they visit, and watch movies I haven’t seen.

Chase, of course, makes sure there’s no major cliffhanger ending that would result in a minor attack.