Page 94 of Our Preseason
As Grey sat himself down in the tattoo parlor’s reclinable chair, I could see that on his chest over his heart were already scrolled the names “Julianna,” and then “Canyon” underneath it.
“Alright, Mike, we’re adding ‘Gracie’ under Canyon. G-R-A-C-I-E,” he spelled out. He looked a bit self-conscious for a second, like he wanted to tell us something, but was shyingup.
Pride won out though, and he beamed at us as he said, “She’s named after me.”
“Way to go man,” TJ said happily. “She’s a lucky littlegirl.”
I felt the urge to give him a hug, but Mike’s needle was already firing up.
“That’s a beautiful name, Grey,” I told him, and he nodded his thanks.
“Hey,” TJ turned to me suddenly. “You wanna get tats?” he whispered as his mischievous eyesflashed.
I rolled my eyes. “Your mom would hate me if I let that happen,” I told him, thinking he was just testing me to see what I’d say anyway.
“No, I’m serious,” he pushed. “You and Nikki said so before- all the hockey guys are tatted up. And I finally feel like there’s something I want. Plus, this is just me continuing to push you out of your comfort zones, babe.”
I tried to look into his eyes and gauge how serious he was, but his excitement made me laugh. He was like a little kid when he wanted me to go along with one of hisplans.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but… okay,” I relented with a laugh. “A tiny one.”
“Let’s look around and see what they’ve got, yeah?” he asked.
The parlor’s walls were decked out with pictures of people and the art Mike drew on their bodies, and TJ and I began to scour the walls, looking at different potential designs.
My eyes stopped when I came across a picture of someone we knew…
Looking back at me was a younger Sav, probably around 20 or 21. She wore her hair in a messy bun and proudly showed off a newly tattooed “#33” in black skinny ink on herhip.
The curious thing about the picture was that… Griff was not #33…nor was he the guy in the picture with her.
The guy with her looked a lot like him with spiky brown hair, but he was a bit thinner and had brown eyes. He looked so much like him he could’ve been his brother. The guy was proudly flexing his muscles and showing off the inside of his arm, which read “Savannah.”
“Hey, TJ…” I called him over and pointed to the picture.
“Huh… that’s interesting,” he said as he came up behind me. “I wonder what the story is there.” He studied the picture with a crease forming between his eyebrows.
Grey spotted us from the chair and squinted at what we were looking at. He must’ve known the walls pretty well considering how extensive his tatt work was: he had a full, detailed sleeve beyond the names on his chest.
“Ah,” Grey said slowly, and rubbed his jaw. “That’s NickJohns.”
“I feel like I know him from somewhere,” TJ said, snapping his fingers.
Grey opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but then decided differently and began talking softly with Mike.
“Pst,” TJ whispered down to me. He tilted my chin up with his hand and kissed me quickly. I loved when he stole kisses like that. He made me feel cherished.
When he pulled back, I bit my lip and smiled up at him. “What was that for?” I
“I figured out a good design,” he said as he wagged his eyebrows at me.
I rolled my eyes. He was probably playing at some kind of inappropriate boy joke.
But he surprised me when he reached down to pull a folded piece of paper from his pocket, making me question when he could’ve possibly written it down.
I looked down at his crumpled piece of paper and felt my heart in my throat.
No… was this his wayof…?
“Those are our initials,” I saiddumbly.
“Yeah, and I wanna put yours on my ring finger.” He paused and looked at me nervously. “What do youthink?”
“I think,” I reached my arms around his neck to pull him closer to me, “that I love you, Theodore.”
“Hell yeah, Chellie,” he said in a husky voice and claimed me with a kiss while I giggled happily against his lips.
