Page 103 of Deacon

I took Jax without thinking, settling his warm little weight against me. He tucked himself closer with a sleepy baby sound, all soft cheek and milk-warm heaviness, and I was still enjoying it when Evan came around the corner with a dish towel over his shoulder and stopped dead.

“Bitch,” he said, staring at the leather on her back. “Is that a property cut?”

Only then did I really look. The leather was fitted for Blue, feminine without losing what it meant. Her smile widened as she turned to show us the back, where the patch read Property of Priest.

“Oh my God,” I said. The patch should not have surprised me, but seeing the claim made tangible still landed hard.

Evan made a strangled noise, staring at the cut with the reverence he reserved for expensive shoes and fictional men. “Turn around again. I need to appreciate the full emotional devastation.”

Blue laughed and obliged him, clearly enjoying every second of our reaction. Then she lifted her left hand, and the emerald-cut diamond caught the light between two sapphires.

“Oh my God,” I said a second time, because apparently Blue had decided one surprise was nowhere near enough.

“Exactly,” Evan whispered, his gaze fixed on the ring with the solemnity of a religious experience.

Blue bit her lip, happiness already giving away the rest. “Priest proposed.”

For a second I could only stare at her. Then I shifted Jax to one arm and pulled her into a careful hug with the other. “Blue.”

She laughed softly against me. “Yeah.” The single word carried enough happiness to make my own throat tighten.

When I drew back, there was no mistaking what love had done to her. She looked settled and happy, with a little disbelief still shining through it. “You’re engaged.”

“I am.” Blue glanced down at the ring again, and the little smile that followed belonged entirely to her.

Evan clutched the counter, apparently unable to survive another second without making the moment about his emotional welfare. “I need everyone to stop having beautiful love stories without giving me at least twenty-four hours to emotionally prepare.”

We moved to the couch because apparently an engagement required soft seating and carbohydrates. I handed Jax back long enough to help bring lunch in, then settled beside Blue while Evan claimed the chair across from us, ready to enjoy every detail.

“So,” I said, still taking in the ring, the cut, and the fact that my best friend somehow looked like the heroine of every biker romance Evan had ever shoved at us. “Tell me everything.”

Blue tucked one leg beneath herself and settled Jax comfortably in her lap. “We’re having the wedding at the compound,” she said, her smile going soft. “Behind the clubhouse. There’s a stretch of trees back there by the lake. Priest wants it set up in front of the water.”

Evan pressed a hand to his chest, already looking personally affected by a ceremony that had not happened yet. “Of course he does.”

I could picture it: trees framing the lake, evening light on the water, Priest beside her with that hard-edged intensity that softened only for Blue. It suited them.

Blue laughed at Evan’s expression. “He’s already making plans.” The fondness in her voice took any complaint out of the words.

“That man was making plans before he even put the ring on your finger,” I said. Priest had never struck me as a man who waited for life to happen.

“That is true,” she admitted, turning the ring once with her thumb as if she still needed to prove to herself it was there.

“And the cut?” Evan asked, leaning forward. “Because I need the full sequence of events. I want details. I want emotional architecture.”

Blue smiled down at Jax before looking back at us. “He gave it to me when he asked me to be his Old Lady officially.”

Evan made a sound that belonged in a theater balcony. “I hate this. I love this. Continue.”

Her cheeks pinked, but the happiness stayed easy. “Then later he showed me his tattoos.”

I blinked, caught completely off guard. “His what?”

Evan went so still it was almost alarming. Blue touched her fingers lightly to her chest, and something in her expression softened before she told us why.

“He got Blue tattooed over his heart.”

Evan inhaled sharply enough that I thought he might choke, but Blue was not finished.