Priceless Ink: A Small Town Romance

by Lagomarsino, Giulia

  I cleared my throat and stared out the window. “No, I can’t say that I have. I’m expected to still be…I’m only supposed to give myself to my husband.”

  You could have heard a pin drop in the car. It wasn’t any of her business, and I wasn’t even sure why I said anything.

  “So, I’m not trying to judge, but why? It’s not like he waited for you.”

  “Of course, you’re judging me.”

  “Like you haven’t been judging us with all your comments about how lowly we are down here? You were judging me when you tried to sit in the backseat of my car.”

  I pursed my lips, not wanting to admit that she was right. “Alright, maybe I was a little judgmental-“

  She laughed beside me.

  “Fine, I was judging you. So, what happened between you and…”

  “Eric,” she finished for me. “We started out pretty rocky, but we eventually found our footing.” She took a deep breath and sighed. “And then at eight months, our daughter was stillborn. It pretty much tore us apart.”

  My chest hurt at hearing the emotion in her voice. I could tell she was trying to hide it, because I did the same thing every day of my life. “How did you…”

  “It took some time apart for us to see all that we were missing without each other. And his family is great. They pretty much became my family from the moment I found out I was pregnant. Andrew was especially wonderful.”

  “Andrew? Joe’s roommate? He’s disgusting. He had a hooker at his apartment,” I hissed, finding the whole thing so distasteful.

  She grinned at me. “I’m sure she wasn’t a hooker. She was probably just one of his friends. You’ll just have to deal with it. At least until he finds someone to settle down with.”

  She pulled over to the side of the road and honked her horn. A woman came out of a townhouse, waving at us before she turned and locked her door. She ran down the steps and got in the back.

  “How come she gets to sit back there?”

  Kat looked at me incredulously and huffed out a laugh. “Because she’s the last in the car. Would you like her to sit up here with us?”

  “Ah, you must be the rich bitch,” the woman grinned. “I’m Carly.”

  “Sofia,” I said, staring at her hand in disgust.

  “Wow, I guess Joe wasn’t lying.”

  She leaned back in her seat and stared out the window with a smile on her face.

  “What do you mean? What did he say?”

  “Oh, just that you’re not like us. That you were…raised differently.”

  “You mean, with manners?”

  “Hey, I tried to shake your hand.”

  I rolled my eyes at her. “It takes more than a handshake to prove that you can behave in polite society.”

  She let out a low whistle. “Wow, why did you invite me along again, Kat?”

  “I just thought this would be fun,” she grinned. “Oh, did I mention that Carly was part of the Scavuzzo crime family?”

  “What? Like thugs on the street?”

  “No, like Italian mafia. In Chicago,” Carly grinned. “I’m sure your father has had many dealings with my family. Not that they’re around anymore.”

  “Oh?” I pretended like I was curious, but why would I care about her thug family. “All in prison?”

  “No, I killed them.” She was grinning at me, and I was sure in that second that she was absolutely insane. One minute, I was thinking that Joe’s family was nice, just poor. But now, I was thinking that they were all certifiably insane. What was I even doing here? I should be back with my own people where I belonged.

  “You know, I think you should just drive me back to Chicago.”

  “Joe said that you were turning over a new leaf, or something. He said that you didn’t want to return home.”

  I turned to Kat, making it perfectly clear what I thought about her and her opinions. “If I wanted to stay in a trashy town with people that aren’t even of the same class as me, I might choose someplace that didn’t have murderers.”

  “Well, we’re here now, and Joe asked me to help you out, so let’s just get this over with.”

  She pulled into a parking spot and shut off the car, leaving me alone with the devil in the red dress.

  * * *

  “Um…I think you’re mistaken,” I whispered to Kat as we walked toward a store that very clearly said Nifty Thrifty. “I don’t shop in discount stores.”

  “Oh, this isn’t a discount store,” she reassured me. “That would be Marshall’s. This is a thrift store, where people donate clothes they don’t wear anymore.”

  “I’m aware of what a thrift store is. But what I don’t know is why you would bring me to one.”

  “Well, because Joe only gave me fifty dollars.”

  My eyebrows shot up. “He was serious about that? I can’t buy anything for fifty dollars.”

  “You can in here.”

  “I can’t believe this. Is this the way he would treat his wife? Tell her to shop at a thrift store?”

  Kat turned to me with a glare. “Considering you’re nothing more to him than someone he’s helping out, you should be glad that he gave you the money at all. Joe’s not rich and he’s just starting a business. I’m sure he would rather put the money into that than spend it on your greedy ass.”

  I stared at her in shock. No one ever talked to me like that. But since she stormed off with the she-devil, I didn’t have much choice but to follow. I wished at this moment that I had a handkerchief that I could hold in my hand, to press the door open with. Sucking it up, I pushed the door in and took in the musty smell.

  Surprisingly, the store was quite organized. I started going through the racks, looking for anything that would be passable. In a town this small, I would guess that most everything in here was from the mall, which was why I was surprised when I saw a few designer labels. I looked at the price tag, shocked when I saw that a blazer was only five dollars. That couldn’t be right. It had to be severely damaged. I pulled it off the rack and looked at it. There were no signs of wear and tear, and it even still had the original price tag on. I couldn’t believe it. I quickly tucked it under my arm so no one would grab it. I started rifling through the racks, my eyes landing on a very pretty top that I recognized immediately. I had worn this last season. I pulled on the hanger, but it was stuck on something. I tugged again when I heard a low growl.

  “I had it first.”

  I peered over the rack and saw Carly on the other side glaring at me. “Well, it’s obviously on my side, so you’ll have to find something else. Besides, this isn’t exactly your style.”

  “Like you could pull off red,” she snapped, tugging the hanger back in her direction.

  I narrowed my eyes at her, refusing to give in. “I actually wear red all the time.”

  “Huh, that surprises me. I would think it would wash out your skin.”

  I smiled sweetly at her. “You’re right. Red is more your color, the color of a harlot!”

  She shoved the rack into me, knocking me backward. I tripped over my own feet and fell into a rack behind me. I grabbed at anything I could, pulling at clothes as I fell to the ground. But I still had the hanger in my hand. I grinned in satisfaction, but then Carly was on top of me, tugging at the shirt.

  “Just hand it over, bitch!”

  I gasped at the name. “How dare you! I’m a lady!”

  “A lady shopping in a thrift store.” She pulled at the shirt, trying to pry it out of my hands, but I wouldn’t let it go. There weren’t many nice things in here and I was determined to have this shirt.

  “Let go! It’s mine!”

  “Never!”

  When she wouldn’t let it go, I saw red. I saw my mother telling me what I could wear. I saw my father telling me that something looked trashy. I saw my fiancé fucking Cheri the night before our wedding. Dammit, there was something I was going to hang onto. I leaned forward and closed my teeth around her hand, biting down hard as I waited for her to re
lease the shirt.

  When she finally did, I grinned in satisfaction, but only for a second before I saw her fist coming right at my face. I cried out as I fell backwards into the clothes again. She got off me and marched away with the shirt. Carly was just like every other person in my life, walking all over me and taking what they wanted from me. I wasn’t going to stand for it again. I pushed myself off the floor and let out a war cry as I tackled her from behind into the rack of shoes at the end of the aisle. Shelves came crashing down around us and in my bloodlust, I picked up a shiny, silver stiletto and started beating Carly with it. After just a few swings, she kicked out, catching me in the stomach.

  I bent over, heaving and gasping for breath, but then she was on me, yanking back my hair as she punched me in the side. Pretty soon, she was shoving me down on the ground, my face being smashed into the red shirt that we were just fighting over.

  “Is that what you want? You need that shirt so bad? Here, take it! I hope you suffocate on it!”

  “Carly!”

  I barely glanced up to see Kat standing over us, staring down at us in shock.

  “What are you doing?”

  “She took my shirt!”

  I shook my head, still gasping for air. One thing I now knew about Carly, when she said she was mafia, she wasn’t joking. I was pretty sure that she was their henchman, sent to kill all the bad guys.

  “That’s it! All of you out of my shop! Now!”

  I felt Carly’s weight lift off me and then Kat was dragging me to my feet, but I could barely stand. I was pretty sure my ribs were cracked and my eye was swelling up from that very first punch. I leaned heavily as Kat led me out of the store, all the while the store clerk was yelling at us about pressing charges.

  “Come on,” Kat yelled at Carly. “We need to get out of here before the police come.”

  Carly shoved her shoulder underneath me and together, they helped haul me to the car. After tossing me in the back, Kat got in the front seat and drove like a bat out of hell. Before I knew it, we were stopping and the girls were pulling me out of the car.

  “Where are we?” I asked, staring at the country landscape.

  “My house. I didn’t think it would be wise to drive through town right now,” Kat informed me.

  A man came running out of the house, a look of concern on his face. “What happened?”

  “Carly decided to beat her up in the middle of the thrift store.”

  “You did what?”

  “Hey,” Carly snapped. “She started it. She beat me with a shoe!”

  The man shook his head at her and took her place, helping me into the house. “Carly, she’s no match for you. Why would you go after her?”

  “Because she’s a spoiled bitch,” Carly spat.

  I didn’t even care right now. I just wanted to sit down and nurse my wounds. “I’ve never been in a fight before,” I said, smiling to myself as the man pushed me down in a chair in the kitchen.

  “You still haven’t been in a fight,” Carly laughed. “That wasn’t fighting. That was…”

  “Shopping with another woman,” Kat finished.

  The three of us looked at each other and then we all burst out laughing. I couldn’t help it. As much as I wanted to be pissed, it was hilarious. Carly and I had started a fight over a shirt. I had never in my life behaved that way, but it felt really good.

  “Unbelievable,” the man said, running his hand through his hair. “You’re laughing.”

  “Oh, like you’ve never done anything like this before?” Kat asked.

  “Or your brothers?” Carly said. “Wasn’t it just a few months ago that Will shoved Joe through the door of the bakery?”

  “What?” I asked, needing to hear this story.

  The man turned with a sigh and grabbed an ice pack out of the freezer, handing it over to me. “Put this on your face. I’m Eric, by the way.”

  “Sofia.”

  “I figured.” He sat down and shook his head. “You guys are all crazy.”

  “Um…this may be a stupid question, but who’s Will?”

  “My brother,” Eric answered.

  I sighed. “Another brother. I swear, they’re coming out of the woodwork.”

  Carly leaned over and pulled the ice pack from my face, examining my eye. “Ouch, I may have hit you harder than I thought.”

  I huffed out a laugh and then winced. My ribs really hurt. “Now I understand what you meant when you said you killed your family.”

  “Did you think I was joking?”

  “Well…yeah.”

  The three of us stared at each other for a moment and then burst out laughing again. It wasn’t funny. Not really. If my mother could see me right now, her head would explode. I couldn’t stop chuckling to myself. This was so outside of my normal behavior, but it was a release I had long needed. In fact, it was actually a little fun in a weird way.

  The sound of a car pulling down the driveway had everyone staring outside.

  “It’s just Corduroy,” Eric sighed.

  “Who’s Corduroy?”

  “The town sheriff.”

  My eyes widened in shock. “The sheriff is here? Isn’t that bad? Do we need a lawyer? If my father finds out about this, I’m in so much trouble!”

  “Relax. Robert’s a lawyer. And I doubt that the owner will press charges. If anything, you’ll just have to go clean up the store and pay for damages.”

  “But I don’t have any money! That’s why I was shopping in a thrift store!”

  “Calm down,” Eric said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “I won’t let you go to jail.”

  Jail. My breathing picked up and my heart raced out of control. And then the ice pack slid from my hands and the room went dark.

  Joe

  My phone rang just as I was getting set up for the night. I was short-staffed tonight, which meant I would have to work the front desk as well as do all the other shit I had to do. Sometimes I really hated being the owner.

  “Hello?”

  “Joe, it’s Corduroy.”

  I sighed and continued to gather paperwork. “What do you want?”

  “Oh, I just thought you’d be interested to hear about a little fight that broke out.”

  “And why would I care about that?”

  “Well, the call from the store said that Kat and Carly, along with a very attractive blonde were caught in a cat fight. Destroyed part of the shop before they fled. You wouldn’t happen to know who that would be, would you?”

  I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose. This day couldn’t get any worse. “Where did they go?”

  “They’re at Eric’s house, and I wouldn’t waste too much time getting over here.”

  “Alright, I’m on my way.”

  I hung up and tried my best not to scream in frustration. This woman was going to be the death of me. “Smitty!” I called out to my tattoo artist. “I have to run out. I’ll be back soon.”

  He waved at me, not bothering to look up from where he was organizing his station. I got on my bike and headed out of town toward Eric’s house. This was fucking ridiculous. Why did I even care about this chick? She was more trouble than she was worth. And the longer she stayed here, the more trouble she caused. I had to take her back to her parents’ place before she got into any real trouble. I couldn’t watch her all the time.

  Pulling down my brother’s driveway, I killed the engine and stomped up the steps to Eric’s house. But when I walked through the door, I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. Sofia was laughing with Carly and Kat as she held an ice pack to her face, and she actually looked…happy.

  “What the hell happened?”

  Sofia turned to me with a grin and moved the ice pack.

  “Shit,” I said, moving quickly in front of her, squatting down to eye level. Her whole goddamn eye was swollen shut and was quickly turning dark. Whoever hit her was going to get his ass beat. “Are you okay?” I asked, gently touching the skin around her eye.

  S
he winced, but pushed my hand away with a laugh. “I’m fine. Actually, I’ve never been better.”

  “Your eye is purple and you can’t see out of it, but you’ve never been better?”

  “Well, this was my first fight. I don’t think I did too bad. Although, my ribs do hurt quite a bit.”

  My brows furrowed at all the information and I yanked her shirt up, wincing when I saw all the bruises along her torso. “Who the fuck did this to you?”

  “Carly,” she grinned. “But I did give her a few good shots with a very nice stiletto.”

  I stood up and stared at Eric for more information. He just shrugged, looking just as baffled as I was. So, I turned to Corduroy. “What the hell happened?”

  He shrugged. “Apparently, there was some kind of fight over a shirt.”

  “A shirt.” He nodded. I turned to Sofia and glared at her. “You look like this because of a fucking shirt?” I roared.

  She flinched back slightly, but nodded. “In all fairness, I had my hands on the shirt first.”

  “You did not!” Carly laughed. “I had it first. You just wouldn’t give it up because you were raised to think everything you touch is yours.”

  “I can smack you with another shoe.”

  “You’d have to catch me first,” Carly retorted.

  “And what part did you have in all this,” I said to Kat accusingly.

  “I was just shopping when I heard this big crash. And then when I got there, Carly was shoving Sofia’s face into a shirt.”

  “Is that what you want? You need that shirt so bad? Here, take it! I hope you suffocate on it!” Sofia said in a mocking voice.

  She threw her head back in laughter, wincing and holding her side as all the women laughed at themselves. I shook my head, not understanding any of this.

  Josh stormed through the door, looking for Carly like he expected to see her dead. “What happened?” he demanded.

  The girls all looked at him seriously, then I heard a snort and they all burst out laughing again. I threw up my hands in the air and walked away. “Un-fucking-believable.”

  “What happened?” Josh asked again. “Carly, are you hurt? Who did this?” He pointed to Sofia.