Brantley's POV:
When Blake headed upstairs to put away the jacket she borrowed, I quickly cancelled the girls' order and re-ordered the big golden dress for Blake, and the deluxe gown for addy, tiara included, and charged it to my card. I had the gowns overnights to Jake and Maxie's place. Blake would probably be pissed, but I was itching to see her in it.
After lunch the next day, I headed over to Jake's. While the girls all were having a tea party, me and Jake were gonna be in the garage working on his truck. He was in the middle of rebuilding the transmission, and could use an extra set of hands. I knew the minute they found the dresses. Blake yelled "Brantley Keith!" And I heard her storming towards the garage. When she came through the door I knew she was upset. But she stopped when Addy followed her. "Thank you uncle Bwantley! Now it's perfect! This is the best birthday ever!" She squealed and hugged me tight. Blake's anger melted and was replaced with a small smile. I mouthed an "I'm sorry" at her and she just shook her head and grinned. "Payback is a bitch. Just remember that." She warned before heading inside.
Once the party was over, things were still hectic in the house. Kids were running around everywhere. Music was loud. Dogs were barking. Blake stormed out of the house, looking around desperately. "Where's Brantley?" She asked frantically. I rolled out from under the truck. "Right here rabbit, what's up darlin?" I asked her. "Get me out of here before I kill someone." She begged. "Let's roll." I grinned and handed her the helmet. Blake insisted on taking the bike here this morning, so the ride home was going to be interesting. I wiped my hands and slung a leg over my bike, settling in for the ride as Blake hiked up the ball gown, which looked incredible, and climbing on. I glanced back and cracked up. "Beauty, are you seriously wearing combat boots under a ball gown?" I grinned. "Yes Beast! Now fire this bad boy up and take me home! Those kids can smell fear..." She shuddered. I cracked up again and hauled ass out of there. I'm sure we made quite the picture. Rolling down main street on a Harley. Me, in all my black clothes and chains, and Blake, in a super fluffy ball gown and combat boots. Beauty and the Beast for sure. Once we got home, Blake headed upstairs to change and get ready for our date, and I changed my shirt, opting for a black button down instead of a tshirt. I took off my rings. My chains. My hat. Swapped out my usual boots for a pair of plain, stiff dress boots, and my usual belt for a simple dress belt. Blake walked up just as I was about to trim my beard. I figured I'd clip it short, pretend to be a normal guy. "If you even think about shaving, I'll paint your motorcycles pink." She warned dangerously. I just looked at her and raised an eyebrow. She eyed me from head to toe and frowned. "What? I'm trying to be civilized for once." I said. She shook her head and huffed. Taking the clippers from my hand, she set them aside and hopped up on the counter in front of me, all my gear to her right. Without saying a word, she took off the dress belt, and swapped it out for my usual one. One by one, she undid the buttons on my shirt, then peeled it off. She slung it somewhere behind me and helped me into my tshirt. Blake grabbed my hand and slid my rings back onto my fingers, my cuffs back onto my wrists, my chains back on my jeans. She hopped down, grabbed my hat and my boots and handed them to me. "I don't want civilized, I just want you. The real you, not some pretend version you may think I want." She said simply and headed into the kitchen. I pulled on my favorite boots, and my hat then headed in behind her. I grinned at her then. She was in jeans and a tshirt. Nothing fancy, but it was perfect. "This is hard." She said and looked at her boots. "What do you mean?" I asked her. "Can I be brutally honest?" I nodded at her. "This would be easier if you had a different job. You're still two different people in my head. There's B, and then BG. I know it's confusing, I just can't meld the two together." She sighed. I pulled her to my chest. "I'm sorry I'm complicating things. But it's just a job, I'm the same person on stage as I am standing in this kitchen." I told her. "I know that logically. But I don't want you to ever think that I'm interested in you only because of-" I cut her off then. "Stop right there. I know that, darlin. You're not that kind of girl." I reassured her. She smiled then. "Well what kind of girl am I?" She teased. "You're the kind of girl who cringes at the idea of dressing up and going to a 5 star restaurant. But you love grabbing takeout and eating it on the tailgate of a truck down some old back road. Flashy cars don't impress you. But you'd spend every second of your day on a motorcycle if you could. You dress up in ball gowns to make your goddaughter smile, you hate my job, and would rather I flipped burgers at Burger King, even though I wouldn't give you free whoppers. You don't want me to change who I am, or be something I'm not. Even if it means I'd clean up and take you to a nice restaurant. In fact, it makes you downright pissy. Every emotion you feel flashes in your eyes, and I can read you like a book. You're tiny, but fierce. You're pretty incredible little rabbit." I finished and smiled at her, my hand cupping her jaw. Blake blinked quickly, her eyes misty. She sniffled and blushed, nuzzling back into my chest as she hugged me.
