Barber Shop Ink: Always Blue in Memphis

by Penny Blush

  The next day he went out and came back with a big black box. ‘The Box’. Anything that had anything to do with my life with my uncle, my old life, my broken life I placed in the box and locked away forever.

  Jaxon wanted to get rid of ‘The Box’, burn it, bury it or throw it into the ocean anything to get rid of it permanently. But I couldn't. Not that I ever wanted anything that it contained again, but it was a reminder of what was, the damage that I fought to repair and what I would never be again.

  Memories of that time, rarely invade my thoughts anymore. If I met that version of myself the girl who was naïve, blind, gullible and stupid enough to be manipulated by Charlie the current version of me who was strong, confident, empowered and full of love for myself, wouldn’t recognise her.

  I was never going to be that person again.

  Chapter 31 Hedge

  Thunder crashing woke me from my peaceful slumber. I had; once again, fallen asleep waiting for Memphis to return from the ‘something’ that he had to do, the ‘something’ that he wouldn’t discuss with me.

  Bright lightning flashes were briefly illuminating my room, throwing sinister-looking shadows all around, as thunder rattled the windows. When the storm had picked up, I didn't know. It had been raining steadily when I went to bed. The steamy, humid heat of the day finally breaking, but now it was coming down in sheets, the wind lashing the rain into the glass-like stones against the panes.

  The driving wind and rain had sent the temperature plummeting. With the humid heat of the day now gone, the tank-top and boy-shorts that I had gone to bed in were now highly inadequate.

  Now that I was awake, so was my bladder. I rolled out of bed, pulling on my favourite hoodie that had belonged to Davan and headed to the bathroom. Walking back into my room, I grabbed my mobile, shoving it into the pocket of my hoodie planning on messaging Memphis to find out where he was and sleepily wandered into the kitchen in search of a drink.

  The lightning continued to streak across the sky as the thunder banged and crashed. I stood in the kitchen, leaning against the sink, looking out at the flash of the trees lining the river bank, like photographs revealing a brief moment in time before disappearing into the dark of the night.

  Dark.

  Trees.

  Dark.

  Trees.

  Dark.

  Some people are scared of storms, but not me. I find the flash of lightning, the crack and crash of thunder oddly calming, I find a kind of peace in the chaos.

  The clock on the microwave showed that it was a little after midnight and Memphis still was not home. Those two words, Memphis, and home went together, they fit, and it made me happy. I was going to tell him that when he got back. That he made me happy and that he was my home.

  After everything that had happened in my past with my uncle, I thought that what I need in my life was some quiet. My life had been so loud and fast for so long that I wanted the next stage of my life to be entirely different.

  Returning home, I made sure that I did everything differently. I dressed differently, styled my hair differently; I even decorated my apartment in an entirely different style to what I had in London. Then I met Thomas, and he was everything that I had never wanted. I remember thinking that this was the type of man that I should be with - academic, sophisticated and mature.

  What he turned out to be was boring! And well, gay.

  Then I met Memphis, and again everything shifted. Memphis turned out to be everything I never knew I wanted or needed. I soon realised that I didn't need a conservative and polished man, the type of person that you would want on your arm while in the company of polite society. Memphis made me realise that what I needed was someone who is relaxed and a little dirty. The type of man that would smack your ass and whisper in your ear all the naughty, deliciously dirty things he wanted to do to you, all while being introduced to polite society and not giving a fuck what they thought.

  I didn’t want missionary polite ‘Thomas sex’ that was scheduled and clean. I wanted ‘Memphis sex’. Passionate, intense, bone-melting sex, the type of sex that left you energised and exhausted at the same time. The kind of sex that has you pushing him away because you can't handle any more but simultaneously pulling him close because you can’t get enough. In short, I want Memphis, and I want him now, and I would have him as soon as he got home.

  I was heading back to bed, to wait in my Memphis scented sheets, when the rumble and crash of thunder sounded, odd.

  Once upon a time, I jumped at every strange noise, going on high alert ready to spring into action and battle to the death if needed. There was something in the sound of the storm that had me on high alert now.

  There was something different about that particular rumble of thunder, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I stood still, waiting for the next roll of thunder so that I could prove to myself that I heard things. That there was nothing to worry about and that I could go back to bed without fear. The thunder hit and I spun around towards the door.

  “That was definitely not thunder,” I said into my empty kitchen.

  I heard the sound again but it was not the rumbling roll of thunder, it was the thumping crash of someone trying to break into the shop.

  “Not gonna happen!”

  I grabbed the baseball bat that was leaning against the sideboard near the door. A house warming gift from Bear for my protection he’d said, only half joking.

  Slowly, I unlocked my door and silently crept down the stairs towards the shop rear entry door. I stood listening and watching the door intently, to see if the lock would turn or the door would fly open. My bat raised above my shoulder ready to swing for the fences.

  The crashing noise came again, but it sounded muffled. “What tha’?” I whispered.

  I stood on alert looking at the door, and then the crash sounded again to my left and the shop kitchen wall shook.

  "What the freaking hell is going on?"

  There was a muffled thump and groan it seemed like it was coming from the vacant shop next door. I tiptoed closer to the kitchen wall, pressing my ear against it.

  "Oh, fuck," the voice on the other side said in a pained groan. "Christ… Fuck… Damn," the voice floated through the thin wall again.

  A voice I knew intimately.

  “Memphis?” I gasped as recognition hit me.

  I took off out of the kitchen, fumbled with the lock of the shop back door before throwing it open running headlong into the storm.

  "Memphis!" I called out, shoving at the partially opened door of the empty shop. The door was jammed and wouldn't budge.

  “Memphis!” With the bat still in hand; I threw my shoulder at the weather swollen door until it opened enough for me to slip through.

  “Memphis! Memphis, where are you?” I called frantically into the darkness.

  A bolt of lightning lit the sky, momentarily illuminating the room. My eyes quickly scanned the room until I found him, crumpled on the floor, half sitting against the wall. The bat clanged and rattled across the ground as I dropped it, rushing forward, falling to my knees beside him.

  "Memphis! Baby, can you hear me?” I asked, panicked.

  I snatched my mobile out of my pocket, activating the torch app so that I could get a better look at him. The light from my phone flared, momentarily blinding my dark-adjusted eyes.

  I sucked in a shocked breath, "Memphis! Baby, please speak to me, what happened?" I begged.

  His face was swollen and bloody. His clothing was torn and dirty. His breathing ragged and shallow, he had taken one hell of a beating.

  “H…Hedge?” He moaned, barely above a whisper.

  “Baby, Baby, I’m here,” I said, gently placing a hand on his cheek. I pulled my hand back as he winced. “Oh, Baby what happened?”

  “H…Hedge… I …I’m sorry,” he groaned, his giant form slumping further down the wall.

  "Memphis!" I cried and gently shook him. His beautiful pain filled eyes fluttered open for a few seconds befor
e sliding closed again. "Shit!" I scanned his body with the torch light on my phone. "Oh, Fuck!"

  There was a dark mark on his shirt that was slowly spreading. I ripped his shirt up, seeing that the darkening mark was blood coming from an obvious stab wound. I flipped my phone over unlocking it to make a call.

  "Don't worry, Baby. I'm going to call for an ambulance. I'm getting help okay; you're going to be fine."

  His large blood-stained hand came up and knocked my phone away.

  “No, no am…bulance… No hos…pital. They…. They'll ask… Too many… Questions," he gasped out through halting breaths.

  “Memphis, Baby you’re bleeding badly I need to get you to a hospital!” I argued.

  “No please …. Babe … Promise me.”

  “Shit! Shit!” There was something in the way he asked me to promise him that had me going against my better judgement to call an ambulance. “I’m calling Jaxon,” I said, reaching for my phone.

  “No,” He groaned.

  “Memphis Stop! You won't let me call an ambulance, and I can't do this by myself I need help. I'm calling Jax!" Tears were blurring my vision.

  “Fine … no … no one else,” he conceded.

  The seconds seemed to pass like hours from the time I hit the call button next to Jax’ name and when he answered.

  “What the fuck Cuz? Do you know what time it is?” His sleepy voice greeted me.

  “Jax, Jaxon, I need your help,” I rushed out ignoring his greeting.

  “What do you mean you need help?” He asked.

  By the sound of Jax' voice, he has gone from asleep to fully awake in a matter of seconds. I could hear the rustling of sheets and imagined that he sat bolt upright in bed at the sound of my panicked voice.

  "Jax I need..." I did not want to ask him this, but I had little choice. "I need you to bring ‘The Box’ … to me now."

  "What do you mean you need ‘The Box’?" He asked through gritted teeth; my happy cheery cousin was now gone. “You promised me! You know what will happen if you ask me to do this!” Pure rage dripped from his voice.

  “I know Jax, I know but I need it, it’s an emergency, please hurry!”

  "No Fucking Way. You want it you come and get it, and when you're finished leave your key, we are through." There was so much disappointment in his voice, it broke my heart.

  “Jaxon, please,” I begged, “it’s Memphis!” I yelled into the phone, making Memphis briefly open his eyes.

  There was a moment of silence, and I thought that he had hung up.

  “Jax, please,” my whispered plea, drowning in my tears.

  “What?” His voice quietly asked, “what do you mean; it's Memphis?"

  "Jaxon, just grab The-fucking-Box and get your ass over here, please hurry!" A sob escaped my lips. "Memphis has had the crap beaten out of him, and he has at least one stab wound that I can see. I need you, Jax, please hurry,” my words trailing off at the end, my emotions getting the better of me.

  “Fuck! Where are you?”

  “The vacant shop next door.”

  “What the fuck are you doing there?” He asked.

  "I don't know Jax. I thought someone was trying to break into the shop and when I came downstairs, I could hear moaning and crashing sounds from the empty store. Then I recognised his voice. He's not doing so well Jax," my voice breaking again as I looked back at Memphis, who was getting paler by the second.

  I frantically search the empty store looking for something to stem the bleeding. I found a tee and hoped that it was clean enough; dropping back to my knees beside Memphis, I pushed the material against his wound, he groaned in pain.

  I could hear noises of Jax getting dressed and the thud of his boots on the floor as he pulled them on. The jingling of keys sounds of him digging around and then hefting the large box. The scrape of metal on metal as he slid ‘The Box’ into the bed of his truck followed by the banging of his front door, and the slam of the driver’s door.

  “What’s going on? What did he say happened?” Jax rapid-fire his questions as the truck roared to life in the background.

  "I don't know; he hasn't said much. He told me not to call an ambulance Jax. What the hell is going on?"

  “Fuck! I think I know.”

  A pain filled moan coming from Memphis had me forgetting to ask Jaxon my next question.

  “Memphis, hang in there. Baby, I need you to stay awake okay, stay with me Memphis.”

  "Hold on Cuz; I'm almost there." I could hear the squealing of tires as Jax took the corners too fast.

  “Hurry,” I whispered hanging up.

  I let a single sob escape as I looked at my bloody and beaten man. I allowed myself one minute to fall apart before, I shook myself and took a deep calming breath. Falling apart was not going to help anyone, and I was not going to be able to do what I needed to if I was a blubbering mess.

  I heard the crunch tires on the gravel at the back of the shop and ran to shove the door open as far as I could.

  “Jax,” I cried when he opened the driver’s door. “We’re going to have to move him; I can’t do anything in there. There’s no power, no light. I... I need to get him upstairs and onto the island bench.”

  "Fuck, is it that bad?" He asked, opening the truck tailgate to grab ‘The Box’.

  “I need you to put that thing upstairs,” I instructed pointing to the black box in his arms. My eye's flooded with tears again, "Jax, I had to ask you for ‘The Box’, so yes it’s that bad."

  “Shit! Right. Breath Cuz, we’ve got this he’ll be fine,” Jax said.

  He dropped a quick kiss on my forehead, and he hefted the large black box that I hoped never to see again upstairs. Moments later Jax heaved the weather-swollen door all the way open until it hit the wall. With the door open more light came into the room, not much but now we could see Memphis better.

  “Fuck Memphis!”

  Memphis had slumped against the wall in an awkward half sitting-lying position from when he slid down the wall. Jax shone his LED Mag-light over Memphis, and I could see a smear of blood left behind on the wall from Memphis as he made his way to the floor.

  “Help me get him up. We’ve got to get him upstairs now!” I yelled at Jax, snapping him out of his assessment of the horror scene in front of him.

  I reached over, lightly touching Memphis on the least damaged part of his face. "Memphis, Baby, I need you to open your eyes for me okay?" He fluttered his eyes and groaned in response before they closed again. "Jax is here, and he's going to help me get you upstairs." He groaned again, "it's going to hurt Baby, and I'm sorry for that, but you're going to have to help us out a bit."

  Jax bent down pulling, Memphis into a more upright position; the pain filled moan that the small movement caused, broke my heart.

  "Just … Just let me… Rest for a …a moment,” he begged, his eyes closing again.

  “Memphis,” I gently cupped his face in my hands again to get his attention, “Baby, look at me.” The forcefulness of my voice made him open his eyes. “You need to help us. You can rest just as soon as you get upstairs, okay?”

  "C'mon Memphis Buddy, let's get you up," Jax slipped Memphis's arm over his shoulder. "Okay Bud, now you need to put your legs under you so that we can move you," more incoherent moaning. "Memph, you're a big boy, and I can't carry you by myself, even with Hedge's help, and I guess you don't want me to call anyone else?"

  Memphis replied with the smallest shake of his head, and then slowly dragged his legs up towards his chest, planting his feet solidly on the floor.

  “Okay, on the count of three,” Jax said looking at me nodding, as I slid Memphis’ other arm over my shoulder. “One, two, three!”

  Using the wall as leverage, and with Jax help, we managed to pull Memphis’s large frame off the ground. I tried to keep my emotions in check as Memphis whimpered and moaned. My heart just about shattered when he cried out in pain.

  “Fuck,” he muttered. He looked tired and pale, sweat gathered on his f
orehead from the exertion of just getting up.

  “Right Memph, let’s do this. You just have to walk next door and up like twenty steps.” Jax said giving him time to catch his breath. “Piece of cake, yeah?”

  Memphis was so weak and had to keep stopping to catch his breath. Going up the stairs was torture. What normally, would have taken thirty seconds took at least ten minutes, but we finally made it up the stairs and into my apartment.

  When Jax had brought ‘The Box’ up, he had the forethought to cover the kitchen island bench in a sterile plastic sheet from ‘The Box’. All three of us were sweaty and exhausted by the time we got Memphis laid out on the bench. I couldn’t rest though; my work was just about to begin.

  “Take his boots off,” I said to Jax, grabbing scissors from the drawer.

  “What are you going to do with those?” Jax asked dropping Memphis’s boots near the door.

  "I'm going to have to cut his clothes off, there's no way he's going to be able to get out of them by himself, and they're ruined now anyway. Besides I need to know what I'm dealing with."

  I cut the blood-soaked, ripped and dirty clothes from Memphis’s body. Once I removed all his clothes, disposing of them in a trash bag that Jax was holding open for me, I placed a hand towel over Memphis to protect his modesty. I took a moment to take a deep breath to calm and centre myself before I turned to my cousin.

  “Jaxon, these are words I never wanted to utter again during my life.” I looked him in the eye gave him a sad smile and said.

  “Jax, could you open ‘The Box’ please?”

  To be continued………………………………………………………….

  About the Author

  My name is Penny Blush, I love all things book and book related. I’m hoping that the people who make the James Bond movies will call me to ask to use my name as the next Bond Girl *Fingers Crossed*