Chapter 5
The next couple of months, Koz and I fall into this comfortable existence together. He is home almost every night, sometimes late but still home. He walks in the door, kisses the top of my head as he walks by and heads to the shower. Normally he talks to me so that made me follow him. "You okay babe?" I asked him as he is sitting on the bed taking his boots off. Looking up he responds, "Yeah babe, just tired." Looking in his eyes I can tell something else is going on. "Babe, talk to me. What's up?" I asked. He takes my hand and kisses my knuckles before pulling me onto his lap. "Things have been so good with us and I am so glad you gave me a chance." He says and I stand up fearing the worst. Standing up and pulling me to him, he says, "I love you Savy. So much." I pull back looking at him, "Then why does this feel like you are breaking up with me?" I asked. "No baby. I just don't know how you are going to react to what I want to ask you since we have never talked about it. I pull him over to the bed and we sat down next to each other, never releasing our hands, "Savy, will you be my Old Lady? Wear my crow?" he asks. My eyes got wide. Standing back up, I move in front of him, taking his face in my hands, I press a soft kiss to his lips and whisper, "I thought you'd never ask."
The rest of the night was spent making love and talking about things we wanted for our future. Talking about that I would want to get married someday and have kids. I never thought about wanting those things until Koz. He has made me open up more in the last few months than anyone has since I was 16. He lays his head on my chest and I run my fingers through his blonde locks while he rubs his thumb over my stomach. Laying there just enjoying the comfortable silence knowing we were looking at happy future together.
Walking into work the next morning, I am smiling ear to ear. "What has you smiling so big this morning?" Gemma asked. "You were right momma. Koz asked me last night to wear his crow." I tell her. "That's amazing baby. I am so happy for you." she says getting up and hugging me tight. "Thanks. We talked about a lot of things last night and, Gem, for the first time in a long time, I am happy. Truly happy." I tell her, still smiling. Now just to tell Opie and Daddy. "Are my dad and brother here? I want to be the one to tell them." I asked. "Yeah baby, they should be in the clubhouse." She tells me.
Walking into the clubhouse, I see my dad and brother together at the bar. I walk up between them "Hey daddy, Ope. Can I talk to you guys a minute?" I asked. I knew they would be okay with what I need to tell them but was still nervous. "Yeah sweetheart, what's going on?" Daddy asked. "Well, you guys know I have been seeing Koz, right?" I asked. "Yeah, why?" They look at me concerned. "I wanted to be the ones to tell you, last night he asked me to be his Old Lady and wear his crow." I tell them, waiting for their reaction. Opie reacts first by picking me up and giving me a bear hug saying "Congrat short stuff. It's about time." Putting me down, I start laughing and turn to daddy. "Congrats sweetheart. I'm glad you are finally happy." He kisses my cheek, knowing that for years I have been more withdrawn and not let anyone other than family close to me.
Of course, that night, there was a huge party and Happy was giving me my crow in front of family, friends and croweaters. We decided to place it on my ribcage wrapping around under my breast. Pretty good size but beautiful. The crow, itself, was in flight and held a banner from its talons that simply said, 'Kozik' so there was no doubt who I belonged to. Once it was done and Happy told me all of the aftercare instructions, my Old Man took me to the bar for a celebratory shot. Three more shots in and Jax, Opie and Happy had joined us. Before I knew I was feeling no pain and Koz was carrying me over his shoulder to the dorm that we were crashing in for the night.
After Koz 'claimed' me a couple of times, we fell asleep in each other's arms. Knowing the shop was closed the next day meant we didn't have to worry about getting up early and could just enjoy being together. To his brothers, Koz was this badass man that didn't back down and was tough as hell. But with me, he was sweet, gentle, and caring. I loved this man more than I thought that I could. I loved feeling his arms around me at night and waking up to him kissing my shoulders and pulling me closer to him. With us it was not just about connecting on a sexual level. We connected on an emotional level too. There were nights when things were bothering me and he would hold me while I cried and talked about it. There were nights that he would come in with bruises and cuts looking beaten and battered and I would clean him up and comfort him just as he needed me to. We didn't go by the rules most couples went by. Old Ladies were supposed to be the strong one for their man and come to each other when you needed to cry but that wasn't us. If I cried, I cried in my Old Man's arms. That was how we did things. That was us. We just synced.
I knew Koz's birthday was coming up soon and decided to a little shopping around town and see if I could find him something special. Walking down main street, I see a little shop has opened up and walked in to see what I could find. We had talked before about an old pocket watch that his grandfather had when he was younger that he used to love looking at. He told me that it had USMC on it because his grandfather was a Marine which was why he enlisted when he was younger. Walking up to the counter, I asked the sales girl, "I'm looking for something for my boyfriend, I was wondering if you have any pocket watches that have the military branches on them?" She smiles sweetly and says "Yes, what branch are you looking for?" Smiling back I say "He was in the Marines." She brings out this beautiful pocket watch with the USMC logo on it and I asked about having something engraved. "What would you like?" she asked, getting out a notepad. "I would like it to say, 'Love you always, Your Pretty Girl.', when could you have it ready?" I asked. "It will take a couple of days, but I could have it ready by noon on Friday?" she responds. "Perfect. Thank you." I pay for the gift and turn to walk out the door when I bump into a shoulder. Turning around I froze meeting the eyes of someone I never thought I would see again. "Savy, wow, Still sexy as ever." I couldn't speak. I just ran as fast as I could to me car and sped home, locking myself inside waiting for Koz to come home.