My gut twisted around with nerves. Please let this work. “And next up is Kai singing to a girl…” the DJ said. Thankfully, he’d followed my instructions and not announced the song or the girl. If she didn’t know it was her then I was just plain giving up on women altogether.
I didn’t need to worry about giving up on love for long because the second she looked at me her pretty green eyes widened. Then I got the I’m-going-to-kill-you look. She wouldn’t though, she would be randy as fuck later and I knew she wouldn’t sleep around again.
I took the microphone and said, “Apparently, I have to be more obvious here, princess, so here goes…”
The music started. I sang her song to her and although I knew I was getting kicked I also knew it was having the desired affect on her. Her eyes never left mine and I think I also saw them tear up.
In that moment, as she stared at me like I was the only man on the planet, I knew we had something real and something lasting. I would do anything for her, even make a tit out of myself in front of a packed bar. Right then nothing but her, nothing but us, mattered.
I’d just started the second verse when she made her way over to me. I wasn’t sure what to do, stop singing, keep going, protect my manhood. She shoved my arm aside and the mic fell to the floor.
Gripping the front of my shirt, she yanked me forwards and her mouth smashed against mine. Fuck yeah! I kissed her back, holding her close and lifting her slightly off the ground. In the background I could hear cheers and wolf whistles from the crowd but it was muffled by the sound of my heart.
Her lips were so soft yet so rough against mine. It wasn’t a sweet kiss, it was months of pent up frustrating and want. It was a promise and absolutely everything that was right with this fucked-up world.
I loved her, plain and simple, and I was going to go on loving her until the day I died.
She pulled away first. “I love you, Kai,” she whispered. I stopped breathing.
I pulled her closer and pressed my forehead against hers, everyone else disappeared and it was just us. “I love you too, Tegan, so much. I promise I’ll do everything I can to make you as happy as you make me.”
“You already do make me happy. I’m just sorry it took me so long to realise that you’re it, you’re everything.”
I moaned and kissed her again. “So, I love you but you’re still in so much trouble for doing that in front of everyone”
Grinning, I replied, “Sorry. I just needed to tell you.”
She deadpanned. “You never thought to just tell me?”
“Yeah, I know. Well, before you kill me do you want to be officially mine?”
She rolled her eyes, wrapping her arms around my neck and the subdued cheers started getting louder again. I was pretty sure I heard a couple people say ‘get a room’. She looked happy, real happy and that was all I needed. I’d not felt that someone else’s happiness meant so fucking much to me since Isaac.
Kicking her eyebrow up she replied, “Yeah, go on then.”
Stroking her bottom lip with my thumb, I lowered my head to whisper, “The things I’m going to do to you tonight.”
Chapter Sixty
Tegan
I slowly lowered myself to the grass beside Dad’s grave. “Hi, Dad,” I whispered. Visiting him was easier but it would never be easy. I still missed him more than ever and I knew that would never go away.
Mum squeezed my shoulder from beside me. It was my eighteenth birthday and we’d decided to make a tradition of visiting Dad on birthdays. Mum and Ava followed me here, ready to celebrate me becoming an official adult. I hadn’t felt like a child, or teenager, for a long time, but I had finally grown up enough to be classed as one. It had nothing to do with age.
Ava poured pink bloody champagne into three plastic champagne flutes and handed them out. A tradition started by Dad. Pink champagne for breakfast for his girls, though it was only champagne and not pink lemonade once we’d turned sixteen.
We were all wrapped up in thick coats, hats, scarves and gloves. It was February 20th and last night a few inches of snow had fallen but there was no way I wasn’t going to spend at least a small slice of my birthday with Dad.
Ava raised her glass. “Happy birthday, Tegan.”
“Yes, happy birthday, love,” Mum added.
I smiled, genuinely smiled. “Thank you.”
“Your dad would be very proud of you both,” Mum.
Gulping down the emotion, I smiled at Mum as I finally realised she was right. I was a screw-up for a while but I faced up to what I’d done wrong, put things right and grown. “He would be proud of you, too,” I said. I wasn’t the only one who had been through a rough time and made it out as a better person. Mum didn’t take any crap from me anymore.
“Thank you, honey, but I made so many mistakes after he died.”
“Oh, hell, no!” I said. “I totally call that one. I was a big mess, a complete bitch and I made so many big mistakes that make me cringe every time I think about it.”
Ava laughed, tapping her acrylic nails on her glass. “That’s true, she did mess up a lot.”
“Thanks, Aves.”