Page 32 of Rough Night

Mia woke up with her body intertwined with Sage, it was pure bliss. She had never thought that she would get a tattoo with him, and after everything, she thought they would've kept their distance after he came back from the hospital. She had never expected him to change his mind when it came to her. He had seemed so sure of his decision to keep his distance from her, and so being with him was a surprise. She didn't mind it, of course. She had wanted it all along, and she smiled to herself as she looked over to Sage who was still fast asleep. She didn't want to get up, and she didn't want to leave him just yet. There was nothing urgent for her to attend to so she decided to stay in bed with him.

She wrapped herself around him, and in his sleep, Sage nuzzled closer to her, inhaling as he laid his head in the crook of her neck while he spooned her from behind. Mia's heart soared with happiness as she closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.

Mia was in a good mood as she walked around the grocery store. She pushed a trolley in front of her that was filled with food items. She leaned into the trolley and pulled out a bar of chocolate that lay hidden beneath a box of cereal. She craved the chocolate so badly she couldn't wait any longer as she rooted the packaging open and bit into the milky chocolate content.

"Hmm," she said. She was, of course, going to pay for it when they checked out.

"Sharing is caring, you know," Sage said from beside her. She eyed him as he watched her take another bite.

"You know how I feel about sharing chocolate," she said as she swallowed but as much as she wanted to prove her point, she decided to share her chocolate with him. They shared everything, so there was no point in keeping chocolate away from him.

With a slight laugh, Sage took a bite of the chocolate. He didn't have much of a sweet tooth, so one bite was good enough for him.

"We should probably leave before you either eat all the chocolate they have on their shelves or before you buy all their food," he said mockingly as he looked into the trolley. It was almost filled to the top.

"You should know better than to bring a hungry woman to the shops, especially when she’s eating for two," she said as she rubbed the tiny bump that was protruding from her stomach.

"You can't use the baby as an excuse," Sage laughed as he too placed his hand on her belly.

"Yes, I can because I'm right," she huffed as she ate the last bite of her chocolate. She knew she technically couldn't use the baby as an excuse but she would anyway. Not even Sage could fight with her logic, and he wouldn't fight with her either way.

They were still newly married, but the excitement of a baby had made their bond stronger. Neither of them wished things were different even though it hadn't been planned.

In her sleep, Mia sighed with happiness. She knew that getting married and having children might never be something in the future with Sage. He had tried to avoid any conversations that involved too much of the future, but Mia would be lying if she said she didn't picture herself having a few children with him. It would be the best thing she could ever imagine happening to her with regard to him.

A few more blissful hours of sleep passed them by, and soon they were both up to tackle the day. They both showered and cleaned their tattoos which hurt just a bit but both of them had lived through worse, so it didn't bother them too much.

"How is your tattoo?" Sage asked as they were both in the kitchen having coffee. Her hip stung a bit after cleaning it.

"It was fine before I cleaned it, but it's not too bad. And yours?" she asked in return. She stared at his beautiful piece of artwork and she still couldn't believe it was for her.

“It’s just fine," he replied with a gentle smile.

"No regrets?" she asked. Although it had been his idea, she was still worried he'd come to regret it. It was a rather spur of the moment decision after all.

"None whatsoever," he said.

She was glad she didn't regret it either. The fact that they both had chosen something to symbolize each other was pretty amazing too. Their ideas had been so alike.

They spent some of the day together, talking over breakfast before Sage went to his office to do some work while Mia did some painting.

Mia received a call from the Hell Kats in the early afternoon. They needed her to go back to the bar because Lorraine had shown up again. She was going to chat to her the day after she had taken her home the last time, but things got in the way, and with a sore hip from her recent tattoo Mia had also pushed it to the side thinking it wouldn't be necessary yet, kind of hoping Lorraine would have gotten the picture already.

It was clear she hadn't, or she just didn't care. Either way, it annoyed Mia that she was still around after the scene she had caused the last time. She really wasn't someone they wanted around. Her presence hadn't brought anything good to anyone, and she seemed to drink too much.

When she arrived at the club, she could see that Lorraine was drunk again, and this time it wasn't even 1 pm. Either she was an alcoholic or had some serious issues she needed to work on. Mia could never understand what could drive a person to be so intoxicated so early in the day. Whatever the reason was, Lorraine needed help in the long run. If she drank as regularly as it seemed then there was definitely something wrong with her.

Mia had never been one for drinking. Sure she had gotten into drugs, but that had been completely different. She had always felt drinking was just a waste of time. Many people would disagree, of course. You were more likely to die from an overdose than a few drinks when you think about it, but drinking had never done it for Mia. Maybe it was because she always wanted more, wanted more of a high, more of a feeling. She wasn't sure but drinking just didn't seem like a good idea, especially when out in public and you had no control over what could be said to those around you.

"Lorraine, why are you here again?" she asked as she stared at her. Lorraine looked at Mia and instantly got mad.

"It's because of you that I had to get a taxi here so I could get my car!" Lorraine yelled as she picked up her hand, made a fist and tried to hit Mia. However, because she was drunk, she missed completely, and her body swayed as she tried to keep her balance. It was shocking that she had tried to hit her. Everyone in the club settled to watch what would happen next. They all knew Mia shouldn't be messed with, and anyone was stupid to even try.

"You were in no state to drive, and clearly you've had too much to drink again," Mia replied with narrowed eyes. She couldn't believe Lorraine was mad at her for making sure she got home safely. After all, it really wasn't her job to look after drunk people.

Out of nowhere, Lorraine settled her head in her hands and started to cry. She was so overwhelmed with emotions that her cries sounded pained. Mia couldn't understand how someone could go from one extreme to the other. It was clear she was mentally unstable. Whatever had caused her to drink so much was clearly making her go a little crazy. Her mood swings were all over the place, and she had hardly made any sense all three times Mia had been around her.

"Sage used to love me," she cried. It took Mia a few seconds to realize what she had said. The shock of it drowned out all the other noises in the club, although most of the noise had stopped already.