Chapter 18

EIGHTEEN

Samantha

I level my pool stick, knowing this is the final shot, the difference between winning and losing, and I need to win against Evander. He's too damn cocky for his own good. My phone buzzes with another text from Dr. Duncan. The skies are clear from dragons. We're safe, at least for now.

Evander comes up behind me and places his hands on my hips while laughing. If I wasn't so drunk, I'd slap him away, but instead I grind my ass against him. His laughing turns into a choking sound. I grin… and shoot.

The ball goes in the pocket and I stand up, throwing my hands in the air and cheering. He spins me around, and picks me up so I'm sitting on the edge of the pool table. Leaning over me, he kisses me, getting me hot and horny.

But Aydan is going to rip him to pieces if I keep this up, so I shove him away and climb down. Granger and Aydan are watching from the little table beside us, Aydan looking just as pissed as I thought he would. I skip over to the table and plant a kiss on his lips too, and he softens, before I pull back.

Scooting onto my barstool, I grab the pitcher of beer and fill up my glass again before snagging another piece of pepperoni pizza. Evander climbs onto his barstool and slams the rest of the beer in his glass, looking just a little drunk and happy, just like all of us.

"This is seriously the best fucking pizza I've ever had," Granger says, lifting his slice in the air.

Evander grins. "I stumbled upon this place purely by luck one evening when I was driving around with nothing to do."

"You were just driving around?" I ask, followed by a drunk giggle.

He shrugs. "What do you do when you inherit a billion dollar company after losing grandparents you never met?"

I frown, sobering up a little. "Didn't you have people to talk to?"

He fills up his glass, looking uncomfortable. "I moved around a lot as a kid even before foster care. I never really made a lot of close friends."

Granger offers his glass, which Evander fills up too. "I can't imagine living like that. The three of us grew up in the same neighborhood, and lived there all our lives."

Evander hesitates, then asks, "What was that like?"

"Blue Springs?" Granger says, snagging his glass. "It was honestly amazing. It wasn't so small of a town that we had nothing to do, but it was small enough that we knew everyone and everyone knew us. We were never lonely, but that might have been because our moms had us playing together from the time we were in diapers."

Aydan takes a drink of his fifth beer… no, wait, I think it's his seventh. Maybe eighth? "That's why no one will come between us. We're family. Our bond is unbreakable."

He and Evander are suddenly in a stare down. "Your bond is pretty fascinating to me. I mean, I knew I wanted Sam from the first time I saw her, but it took you, what, twenty something years to figure it out."

I set a hand on Aydan's knees as he stiffens, looking like he's ready for a fight. "That's none of your business."

"You think so?" Evander asks with a smirk.

A waitress stops by. My heart's hammering in my chest. "How about a bottle of tequila?"

"Tequila?" Granger repeats, lifting a brow.

"It always puts us in a good mood," I say, flashing a smile.

The bottle comes out with shot glasses. We start toasting. At first it's to things like kicking the green dragon's butt, but then our toasts get stupid. Granger toasts to my ass. Aydan toasts to the newest version of Space Dorks Unleashed. Evander toasts to dogs. Literally, just dogs. We're all laughing our asses off when we decide to call it a night and head out.

It's cool outside, but not uncomfortably so. Evander pulls out his phone to call his driver, but freezes and says, "Just a minute."

He dodges cars as he goes across the street, and I realize he's headed for a tattoo parlor. It's probably a bad idea, but I'm laughing so hard nothing seems all that bad right now. He pushes open the door, which jingles, and says he wants a tattoo. The place is empty, with three employees just watching the TV replaying the green dragon's earlier chaos.

Evander lays in a chair and starts talking to one of the tattooers while the three of us walk around the shop, looking at the tattoos on the walls and giggling. There are space aliens. Women with giant knockers. Lots and lots of flowers. And it's all pretty funny to us, for reasons I'm unsure of.

We hear the sound of the tattoo gun and head over and watch as they begin to work on Evander's bicep. His arm is lifted over his head as they work on small lines. It takes me a minute to figure out what it is, and when I do, I gasp.

"Evander!"

He grins.

"Are you tattooing my name?" I ask, shocked.

His grin widens, and I see him glance at Aydan. "I thought of a way to link us together forever."

I sigh, shaking my head, but I know it's already too late. "You're crazy. We were already linked forever."

Aydan turns and marches away. My heart aches. I can't imagine what he's feeling. I'd never want to see him with another woman, yet he'd accepted that this is the way things are. I can't change that. Evander is just as much a part of me as Aydan. He's making that very clear by tattooing my name on him. My name . It should be absolutely ridiculous, but I like it. I like knowing I've branded him in some way.

There's movement to my side, and I turn to see Aydan removing his shirt and climbing into the tattooing chair. My heart does a little flip, and I look at Granger. His silly smile says he finds this far too amusing.

"What are you doing, Aydan? Get out of that chair."

He shakes his head, looking stubborn.

The girl cleans up his chest, just over his heart, and there's a nervous thunder in my veins. "You've never had a tattoo. This is silly. A drunk mistake. You're going to regret it tomorrow."

His gaze finds mind. "I'll never regret this."

She gets to work, and my name is scrawled across his heart. My head says this is a stupid idea that he'll regret in the morning, but I also like it. Like with Evander, I love having my name on his chest. I love knowing no girl will ever see these men shirtless without knowing who they belong to.

"Fuck it!" Granger says, going up to the front.

I groan. "Don't get a tattoo, Granger! Don't do it!" But he's already chatting with the final employee.

Sitting beside my two men, I watch as their tattoos are completed. Neither man reacts to the pain of the tattoo gun, but I'm thinking that's because they're competing with each other more than anything else.

Granger ends up in a chair across from them. They're tattooing his wrist, and I might be afraid to find out what kind of tattoo he chose. Evander and Aydan finish. Their tattoos get wrapped, and then our group heads over to see what Granger has done.

I stare. And stare. On his wrist is a tiny dragon with the words, "Dragon Pack."

My heart aches. "Granger."

He smiles. "It just felt right."

Looking at his tattooer, I ask, "Can you do the same tattoo on me next?"

So, she does. She puts the same tattoo on my wrist, delicate but powerful. And when we're done, all of us have a tattoo. Something that connects us. Which just feels right.

Evander calls the driver. He comes and picks us up, and the ride home is silent. Several times, I touch around the outside of my tattoo, my heart feeling full.

We are the Dragon Pack, even if two of our members haven't accepted it yet. We're bonded for life.