Maverick held the handset to the phone up from where he stood behind the front desk. “Your mom’s on the phone.”
I glanced down at the notepad I was drawing in, and my gaze traced the lines of the lion’s back. I found animals more fascinating to draw than anything else, but not many people wanted them tattooed on their skin permanently. The lines and shading made an animal drawing come alive, and although they were difficult, it eased a part of me—it always had. Planting my feet on the floor, I then pushed off my stool at my workstation and made my way through the shop—my shop.
The other two tattooists—Jez and Lara—had clients at their stations. I glimpsed at what they were tattooing. They both had different styles of tattoos they specialized in, and they were damn good. Lara loved to do watercolor pieces, and Jez was more old school with Jerry Sailor–type drawings, which made the three of us a perfect mix because my passion was portraits and modern black-and-white styles. I liked to play with different ways to shade and come up with my own collection of styles. I wasn’t one thing or another, but I always preferred to work in black and white for maximum effect.
I halted at the front desk, took the handset off Maverick, and told him, “Set my station up. I have a client coming in ten minutes.” He’d been my apprentice for the last four weeks, and although drawing came easy for him, he wasn’t afraid to put in the hard work and do the shitty jobs.
Maverick nodded and walked toward my station as I pressed the handset to my ear and murmured, “Hey, Mom.” I kept my back to the shop, my gaze focused on the blacked-out windows with white writing on the front, showcasing the logo I’d drawn myself. East Ink was my baby, a pipe dream I hadn’t thought I could make a reality, not until I left the military and realized I only had one life, and I had to take every chance available to me.
“Finally!” she screeched down the line, and I could imagine her shaking her head and the straight line of her lips as she scolded, “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for three days, Asher.”
“Sorry.” I gritted my teeth and pushed my hand into the front pocket of my jeans. “I’ve been busy with clients.” It wasn’t a lie. I had been busy. I’d struggled after the Marines for a few years, but I’d opened this shop two years ago, and I’d never imagined the number of hours it would take to get it off the ground and up and running. The clients came in a steady stream, and we were only just now in a place where our seats were full around sixty percent of the time. There was so much more to giving someone a tattoo than only the actual tattooing. You had to research and draw and go back and forth with designs.
“You work too hard,” Mom admonished, but I didn’t answer her. It didn’t matter whether I’d been in a war zone or had my face beat in at an MMA fight, I’d always be the baby of the family she felt she had to protect, no matter how old I got.
“Mom, I’m at work—”
“I know you’re not about to give me the ‘I’m busy’ line again, Asher Easton. I cooked you for nine months inside my body and raised you for eighteen years. The least you can do is have a five-minute conversation with me.”
I blew out a breath. “Okay, okay. Sorry.” I was always thinking about what I had to do and the next task at hand. Standing still and talking to someone felt like I wasn’t doing everything I should be.
“Damn straight you’re sorry, which is why you’ll come over tonight and keep me company while your dad is out of town.”
My shoulders straightened at her words, and I pulled my hand out of my pocket. “Dad’s out of town?” She rarely stayed on her own when Dad wasn’t there, but it wasn’t because she didn’t feel secure on her own. I think she felt safer with someone else in the home, especially after the number of criminals my dad had sent to prison. I was sure he’d lost count at some stage in his career in the DEA.
“Yep.” She sighed. “He’s giving a speech at that conference in Washington.” She paused. “And I’m all alone. I’m so lonely in this big house on my own, Asher.”
I chuckled at her words because I knew what she was asking without her having to say the words. “You know I can’t actually see you batting your eyelashes at me, right?” I raised a brow even though she couldn’t see me.
“Who said I was—never mind. Come have dinner with me tonight.”
I let my head drop back and silently went through the clients I had coming in today. “Okay, but I won’t be there until around nine. I have a late client.”
“Okay! I’ll cook your favorite.” My stomach grumbled at the thought of meatballs and spaghetti. “And you may as well stay the night. There’s no point in traveling the thirty minutes back to your house afterward.”
The door opened, and my client walked in, but it wasn’t any client. He was also the closest friend I had, and a brother I’d made in the Marines. Someone who I knew I could rely on no matter what. “I gotta go, Mom,” I murmured. “I’ll see you tonight.”
“Love you, Asher.”
“Love you too.” I placed the handset down on the receiver and stared at Jax as he moved closer to the front desk. I’d known him since the very first day of basic training, and he’d been at my side through some of the worst moments of my life, but also some of the best. What we’d been through together couldn’t compare to anything else in the world, and knowing he’d had my back out there trickled to when we came home.
“Hey.” I stepped from around the counter, and we hugged, hands slapping backs.
“'Sup.” Jax’s dark-brown gaze met mine. The first time I’d looked into his eyes, there had been nervousness shining inside them, but from the moment we both departed the airplane in a foreign country, they’d looked different—darker, sadder. No one else could understand or decipher what his eyes told me, but I could. I knew what he was thinking when he went to a new place, or when a sudden noise happened. He thought he was right back there, just like I had done earlier.
“How you been doin’?”
I opened my mouth, about to tell him I was fine, but I closed it and shook my head instead. It was all the signal he needed to know. And we didn’t have to talk about it. Sometimes simply being in the presence of a person who got it—truly got it and understood it—was enough.
“Let’s get started,” I murmured, clearing my throat. The rhythm of tattooing and the buzz of the machine against my hand would soothe me, even if it were only for a little while. I didn’t wait for Jax to say anything as I moved back to my station, which Maverick had set up. The echo of Jax’s biker boots hitting the ground followed me. My lips lifted on one side as I remembered the first time his boots sounded out in this room. Jax had been my first client—a client before I even had the walls painted and the window blacked out.
I didn’t need to tell Jax anything because he knew the drill, so I washed my hands at the sink next to my station, sat down on my rolling stool, and placed my gloves on. I’d already gotten the stencil ready for the next piece to be added to his sleeve: a skull wrapped in barbed wire with blood dripping from its eyes. The pain in his tattoo was clear—at least to me anyway.
Silence surrounded us as I cleaned and shaved his skin, then placed the stencil. I asked him to check the placement, and as soon as he gave me the okay, I set my machine up, opening a new needle and placing it inside. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed as I got mesmerized with tattooing him, but when I looked up to stretch my back out, Lara and Jez had both finished with their clients, and we were the only two people in the main part of the shop.
“How’s everything going?” I asked, feeling free to talk to him now that other ears weren’t about. I didn’t want everybody knowing my business, especially the people who I had to see on a daily basis. They knew I’d been a Marine, but they didn’t truly comprehend what it had entailed.
“Same shit different day,” he replied, shuffling on the chair. I flicked my gaze to his knees, where he’d draped his leather cut. He’d been part of a motorcycle club since the moment he took his first breath, and he’d prospected before he’
d joined the Marines. He was part of the reason I’d decided to open my shop here instead of the next town over where I grew up.
There’d been a couple of months when I’d first gotten home that I’d debated joining the MC. I’d hung around with them and attended the parties, but it wasn’t until Jax told me I needed to keep on track with my dream of drawing for a living that I’d stopped getting drunk every night to ease the nightmares, and really bucked up my ideas. From then, all I’d focused on was opening East Ink. I still joined the club at the local strip joint they owned from time to time, but I didn’t get wasted like I used to.
“Al got back from his tour a few days ago.”
I paused and lifted the needle from his skin. “Yeah?” My stomach dipped as I thought about Jax’s little brother, Al. He’d wanted to follow in Jax’s footsteps, and there was no talking him out of it, no matter what stories we told him. But sometimes you had to experience a situation to understand it, so that was exactly what he’d done.
“How is he?” I asked although I didn’t need to because, deep down, I knew what Al was feeling and thinking.
“Keeping to himself.” He stared at me knowingly. “You know how it is.”
I did know how it was. The first few days after you came home were the worst. People never spoke about the transition and how hard it was. They assumed because you were no longer in a war zone that you were okay, but it wasn’t reality. Reality lived inside your brain and tricked you time and time again.
“We’re having a party for him tomorrow night. You should come.”
I didn’t hesitate. “I’ll be there.” It wasn’t a question in my mind because Al needed support, whether he wanted to admit it or not. Marines were there for Marines—always.
Chapter Two
ELODIE
I leaned my face on my hand as I stared at the front of the class, not really understanding what Mr. Matthews was saying. Learning French wasn’t something I found interesting, but I wasn’t sure if it was because I couldn’t get my head around it, or because I didn’t like the subject.
Mr. Matthews pointed to the board at the front of the class and was using all these big words, but I didn’t get it. I huffed, knowing I’d have to read the pages from the textbook when I was on a break at work tonight—either that or admit I was failing this class in an epic kind of way.
I had to graduate this year. It wasn’t an option or a choice. There was no summer school to help me catch up with next year because there wouldn’t be a next year. I’d either graduate high school or have to get my GED—something which would cost money and put a huge wrench in my plans.
My gaze roved around the room, taking in all the students listening intently and making notes, and I finally stopped on the person sharing the desk with me. His hand was moving furiously over his notepad, his gaze flicking to the front and back down at lightning speed. And just when I was about to lean over and copy his notes, the bell rang out, signaling the end of the day.
Everybody rushed out of the classroom, but I took my time, having nowhere to be for at least thirty minutes. If I were lucky, I’d take too long, and Knox would leave, and I wouldn’t have to appease him and put on a show for everyone around us. It was exhausting having to pretend to be happy, but most of all, it was so much effort not to pull away when Knox was kissing me. I shouldn’t have felt that way. I knew I shouldn’t have. Maybe there was something wrong with me? Maybe I was broken?
A throat cleared next to me as I pushed my pad into my backpack—a backpack that was falling apart—and I whipped my head up to face it. My desk buddy stood in front of me with his gaze focused on the floor as he moved from foot to foot.
“Yeah?” I asked, raising a brow even though he couldn’t see.
“I erm…I…” He pushed his hand through his hair and yanked on it. “I’m Leo.”
I waited for him to say something else, or at least look at me, but when he didn’t, I shouldered my backpack and answered, “I’m Elodie.”
“I know,” he blurted out, and my lips quirked in response as his cheeks reddened. “I…I noticed you’re not good at French.”
I snorted and moved around the table. He was honest, and it was refreshing in a way. I was so used to being surrounded by people who thought lies were the only thing useful to say. But damn if he hadn’t hit a raw nerve. “How long did it take you to figure that out?” I asked, and finally, his gaze met mine. His hazel eyes were framed with lashes so long and dark that there was no way any girl wouldn’t be jealous. It wasn’t fair when guys got lashes like that.
“About three minutes into the lesson.” He followed me as I walked to the door. “I could…you can…ugh.” He huffed out a breath and pushed his hand through his dark-brown hair. “I’m good at French.”
“Okay…” I halted in the doorway and stared at him, waiting to see what else he was going to say. He seemed younger than the rest of us in senior year, although he was already taller than me. And then it clicked. This was Leo, the kid who had been moved up four grades because he was that smart—he shouldn’t even be in high school yet. Maybe I really should have copied his notes.
“Wait.” I held my hand in the air. “You’re the new smart kid, right?” He nodded and looked down again. Apparently, he hadn’t mastered the art of being able to look a girl in the eyes, but there was something about him that made me feel protective. Maybe it was because he was four years younger than the rest of us. Or maybe it was because he was so shy. Either way, he could be the answer to me not failing this class, and—
“Hey, babe,” another voice said, and the deep but whiny tone told me who it was before I spun around and came face to face with Knox. His two best friends—or followers as I liked to think of them—stood behind him, their gaze fixated on Leo behind me. “What’s takin’ so long?” Knox asked, pushing his shoulders back, but his nostrils flaring told me he didn’t like the fact that he’d not only waited for me but found me in a classroom with another guy.
My instincts told me to tell him to mind his own business, but the part of me that knew what his reaction would be sighed as I stepped forward. “I was asking Leo for notes on today’s class.” I hadn’t gotten that far, but that was what I was about to ask Leo had Knox not turned up.
Knox didn’t answer for several beats, not until I laid my hand on his chest and brought his attention to me. “Yeah?” His almost blond hair moved over his forehead, and although I itched to move it because it was annoying me, I left it where it was, waiting to see what his reaction would be.
“Yeah.” I smiled and hoped it didn’t look like the grimace I felt. I had to appease Knox, at least until I was in my car and on my way to my dance lesson. There I could be me—the real me. The one who bled every time I turned the music on and let the rhythm take me away to a land where I didn’t have to worry ninety-nine percent of the time. A world where my mom wasn’t addicted to drugs. A world where I didn’t have to go to high school and work a job to make ends meet. A world where I didn’t have to pretend to be someone else almost all of the time. When it was only me, the studio, and the music, I was truly myself. The me I liked. The me I craved to be one hundred percent of the time.
Knox flung his arm around my shoulders and yanked me to his side, pulling me out of my thoughts and back to the here and now. “Let’s go,” he demanded, and not one of us refused. We all did as he said like dutiful followers because not following wasn’t worth it. Nothing was worth it anymore—at least, that was how it felt.
I turned my head and looked back at Leo as he pulled me down the hallway. This time his gaze wasn’t focused on the floor, but directly on me, and as soon as I stared into his hazel eyes, I turned back around and concentrated on leaving school. His gaze was too knowing, as if he’d read between the lines. I’d never seen that look in someone’s eyes before, and I didn’t want to overthink it. I didn’t want to entertain what he was thinking as he watched us leave, because then I’d have to be honest about the situation I was in, and right t
hen, all I needed was to survive today and make it to tomorrow.
“That kid is a fuckin’ freak,” Knox grunted as we walked out of the front doors to school. He stopped at the top of the stairs and looked out at the senior parking lot where most of our classmates were gathered. “Who the hell is in senior year when they’re fourteen? Thinks he’s better than everyone else.” He snorted and cracked his neck to the side. “Don’t talk to him again, El.”
I gritted my teeth at his nickname for me, but the majority of my anger wasn’t at the last word he’d said, but the five before them. “What?” I raised my brows and stared up at him. He may have had seven inches of height on me, but that didn’t mean he could tell me who I could and couldn’t talk to.
His blue-eyed gaze met mine and his eyes narrowed. “You heard me.” His hand gripped my hip harder and he pulled me flush against his side. From the outside looking in, it seemed like he was simply bringing me closer to him, but the bite of his fingers told me he wasn’t fucking around. “Don’t talk to him. He thinks he’s better than everyone else.”
I opened my mouth, about to tell him that he didn’t know that because he’d never even spoken to him, but he cut me off. “And as soon as he finds out you live in a trailer park, he’ll just look at you like a piece of scum.” His other hand moved to the side of my face, this one gentler than the one still holding me against him. “You know people talk, babe.”
My chest heaved on a breath because I did know that. I’d been listening to the whispers practically my whole life, but it was when people found out what my mom did when the whispers became shouts. They only lessened when I started to hang with Knox, and sometimes I wondered if that was the reason I continued to be what I was to him. If he wasn’t standing next to me, then I had no doubt the students here would turn on me.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t handle it if it happened. I didn’t have the energy. Sometimes you had to take the easy way out, and lately, I was doing that more and more. But it was only for now. As soon as I graduated and I was out of this town, I could be whoever I wanted to me.
Burned Duet: Asher & Elodie: Fast Burn & Deep Burn (Easton Family Duet Boxsets Book 4) Page 2