Off Ice.

Chapter Thirty-Six.

Avery

Grace and Casey are engaged. Finn's dad is hopefully officially out of the picture. We have our apartment. Things are going pretty good.

Well, besides the stalker - but one day at a time, eh?

We have a couple days left on this trip and uh- I'm not sure how we ended up where we are, but we're here.

In a tattoo shop. In the middle of Seattle.

Casey was the one who suggested it, which was a little surprising but only because he's the only one who doesn't have any tattoos. Obviously Finn has his sleeve and a few others scattered and I have my fair share. Even Grace has a couple small ones. But Casey's a blank canvas and I'm so fucking excited to see him get inked.

He's so fucking scared. I swear, I've seen that man get stitches on his face while sitting on the bench, Finn too, yet he's scared of a tattoo. I don't know how to explain it, but that just may be the most Casey thing I've seen of him in a while.

I'm not sure what I want to get. I've been looking at olive branch tattoos for well over a year now and I'm leaning towards that. I like that they symbolize peace and tranquility, I like that they're simple and a part of nature. I think I'd get it through my roses and wrap around my arm until it's just past my forearm. My floral half sleeve is really coming together and it makes me stupidly giddy.

Finn has an olive branch tattoo too, which would be the only reason I would shy away from it. But honestly, it's not seeming like a good reason at the moment. I've wanted it for a long time and not for nothing, we both have fucking roses and that doesn't scare me. And they're going to be different, I'm not getting them so we'd match.

Yeah. I think I'm going to get the branch.

"Did you decide on what you want?" I ask Finn as we fill out our paperwork. He glances over to me with the corner of his lip tugged up before back at the paper. "I think I'm going to get an outline of a shark in my sleeve somewhere. Nothing too big or crazy."

My fucking heart.

I know how much being a Shark means to him, I know he's feeling a bit bittersweet leaving the team. They took a chance on him and I think he did a fantastic job with providing for them. I know he's worried that the fans are going to hate him for leaving, but I actually think it's going to be the exact opposite. I think they're going to be upset he's going, but they're going to love him regardless. He'll have one of those video packages at the first game the Kraken play's at San Jose for him. I can literally see it perfectly.

"How about you?" he asks now. I finish signing my name as I lean back into my seat and look over at him. "An olive branch through my roses, I think."

His eyes light up as he looks back over to me, before down at my arm. I can't tell what runs through his head as his tongue swipes across his lips for a moment, but I'm not left wondering. He shakes his head with a smirk as goes back to his papers and signs his name, "That's so fucking hot, you really have no idea."

I roll my eyes but there's no point in trying to hide how red my face just got. It doesn't escape me that he finds my tattoos attractive, hell he says it all the time. It's not surprising since I find his just as hot.

I can't respond because Grace is bouncing over to us, on a continuous high from the engagement yesterday. It feels good seeing her so happy. I love that girl like a sister and I mean that with my everything in me. I only want her to be happy and to love her life and seeing her like that just warms my soul.

"I'm getting butterflies!" she grins, clasping her hands together as she rocks from her heels to her toes. She looks over her shoulder at Casey who is talking to one of the artists before back at us. "Red outlines of butterflies flying up my ribs."