by Anthology
Chapter 13
TAZ
She begged me to let it all go and I did my best to do so. I was enjoying things at that current moment. I had a woman in my bed. I fucked her whenever the urge got the best of me. I loved cooking her breakfast. She cooked me dinner. I went to St. Skin, worked, filmed some footage for myself and the shop, cleaned up with some serious cash, and hit the repeat button over and over.
It was amazing how fast the days went by.
I finished up a large back piece on someone to end my day and when I went to the front of St. Skin. Tate was standing there, staring down at a folder.
“Damn, we’ve been killing it,” Tate said. “You sure you don’t want a job?”
“No,” I said. “I have never had a job in my life. I’m not going to start now.”
Tate laughed. “You’re good at what you do, Taz. You should consider opening your own shop.”
“I’ve heard that for years,” I said. “I like traveling. Keep my options open.”
“You seem to be a little more settled right now,” Tate said.
“Thanks,” I said. “I’m heading out. You need anything?”
“No. I’m good. But just check out these numbers,” Tate said. He started to point at stuff on the paper. “This is what we’re bringing in here. Maddox would slit my throat if he knew I was sharing these numbers with you. This is just a taste of what it could be like.”
The numbers were nice. Hell, they were really fucking nice.
I knew it was all on my shoulders to decide what to do.
I left St. Skin and went to the apartment.
The smell of pizza lingered in the air.
I found Steph at the counter, a slice of pizza in her hand, a pen in her other hand. She looked a mess. She had notebooks scattered all around.
“What is this?” I asked.
She dropped the pizza and smiled. “I have an idea.”
“An idea?”
“This is going to sound crazy, Taz.”
“I love crazy. I embrace crazy. My fucking life is crazy, sweetheart.”
Steph held up a page in the notebook. “This is… you should open your own tattoo shop.”
I laughed.
“What?” she asked.
“That’s not the first time I’ve heard that in the last hour.”
“Taz, I’m serious. I’ve been doing numbers all day.”
“Numbers?”
“Okay, hear me out. I saw a bank statement. Please don’t get mad. So I took your last statement balance. I went through your checks and withdrawals to come up with some general monthly expenses. Then I estimated through careful research how much you’ve been making with St. Skin. I plugged in some numbers, looked into financing options, leasing options for buildings, and it’s… it’s there. You can pull it off.”
I walked to her and took the notebook out of her hand. I put it on the counter and put my hand over it. She had a glob of pizza sauce on the corner of her mouth.
I touched the glob of sauce and wiped it away. “Have you really been doing this all day?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Why?”
“Because you helped me,” she said. “Because you’re good at what you do and should have what you want. You have a place, right? But you’re never there. You’re always running, Taz. Ever since we first met, you’ve always been running.”
“And you’re the one who’s going to tame me? Keep me down. Keep me home?”
“No, Taz, I can never tame you. I never would. I used to do this for a living. I like it. It’s keep me distracted.”
“Distracted from what?”
“Us,” she said. “This isn’t real, Taz. This place. What you’re doing. It’s going to end.”
“Wow,” I said. I pushed the notebook away. “And you said I was going to crush you. But you, sweetheart, you just crushed me.”
“Taz… you know what I mean here.”
I leaned in and kissed her. “I got it. Loud and fucking clear. This is all temporary. I’ll hit a new city soon. You’ll do whatever you have to do for yourself. We survive and move on.”
I walked away with Steph grabbing for me. I shook her away. I regretted it. But I had to shake her the hell away. She was cutting through thick skin and I didn’t like it.
I went into the bedroom and shut the door.
I didn’t want her or Tate to tell me about running a shop. I had the money. I had the skill. I could find artists out there that would fit my style. I could make it big.
But I didn’t. I hid from it all.
Why?
I didn’t want to do it alone… I needed Steph.
Chapter 14
STEPH
When the shock wore off, I looked at the counter. I wasn’t trying to control Taz but help him. And maybe I was trying to help myself. Yeah, it was all a distraction. I’d have to face some sense of reality, and damn soon.
But first I needed to face Taz.
I opened the bedroom door. He sat on the edge of the bed, lip curled, nostrils flared. He looked even sexier when he pissed.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” I said. “Waking up next to you makes me feel safe. It makes me feel alive. I don’t want to lose that.”
Taz nodded. “And if I just grabbed a bag and went back to the coast, what would happen? You’d come with me?”
“Are you offering?”
Taz gritted his teeth. “Christ, sweetheart, you still don’t get it. I’m all in or all out. There’s no in between for this. You know why I left before. And now we’re right back at it.”
“So what do we do about it?”
“Open a tattoo shop?” Taz asked.
“I wasn’t trying to offend you.”
“It’s not that, sweetheart. You’re right. I’ve ben avoiding shit for a long time. That’s just how I do it. I don’t want to settle because when I do, I think about everything. And everything points back to you.”
“I’m standing right here,” I said. “I have no place to go.”
“Come here.”
I went to the bed and Taz pulled me on top of him. I straddled him, my body against his. He took a deep breath, inhaling me.
“Fuck,” he growled. “You really know how to shake things up.”
“I swear, Taz, I was only trying to help,” I said. “I was bored. Okay? I don’t know how to wrap all these things up lingering around me.”
Taz slid his thumb across my bottom lip. “Well we better figure out how to do that. I’ve been quiet about what happened to you. I’m not going to be that forever.”
“I know,” I whispered.
“Tell you what. I’m starving. I’ll grab something to eat and you can give me your financial sales pitch on this tattoo shop.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Taz said. “But first, I want dessert before dinner.”
“I only ordered pizza,” I said.
“You’re my dessert, sweetheart,” he said with a grin.
Fuck. Yes.
We started to kiss. I rocked my hips, thrusting down hard at his body. I felt his cock thickening through his jeans. I slid back and forth against him. It had been a long mental day for me. Now my body needed all the attention. It craved all the attention. It fucking demanded all the attention.
Taz slipped his hands up my shirt and slid it over my head. Before it fell to the floor his fingers grabbed the clasp of my bra. I was topless, sitting on him, his hands cupping my breasts, thumbs caressing my nipples.
I reached down and grabbed his shirt. I groaned as I lifted, starting to strip him. When he was shirtless he fell back to his elbows.
“I want my dessert first,” I said with a sexy grin.
I slithered down his body and opened his jeans. I pulled them down, just enough to let his beautiful dick pop free. He was thick and hard, standing tall for me. I grabbed his cock and squeezed, holding his thick root tight as I positioned my mouth over him. My lips trembled as I kissed the fleshy head of h
is cock. He was smooth and soft but that quickly gave way to a steel like hardness. I took him into my mouth as far as I could go with plenty of him to spare.
“Fuck, sweetheart,” Taz groaned.
I felt his strong fingers dig into my hair. His hand twisting, pulling my hair.
I kept going. Bobbing my head up and down on him, tasting his perfect thickness, testing my limits, wanting to keep going until I tasted all of him.
That would come later.
I eased up off his cock and made the same wet pop sound he made so many times against my breasts and between my legs.
I took a deep breath, my lungs desperate for more air.
I stood up and slipped my hands into my pants and my panties. I pushed them down to my knees and stepped out of them. I came forward again, climbing the bed, climbing over Taz.
“Yes, sweetheart,” he said. His hands trailed down my chest to my hips. He guided me right above his cock. “This is the beginning of our forever.”
I lowered myself down, feeling him penetrate me. He sank deep into my body. I clawed at his chest and let out a cry of relief.
“Yes!” I yelled. “Fuck, yes, Taz.”
I wasted no time in riding him. He wasted no time in thrusting up and kissing my chest.
We devoured each other for hours.
Paperwork… pizza… life… all that could wait.
But it wouldn’t wait long… everything was going to come to an end.
Chapter 15
TAZ
The numbers made sense. I had all the notes and notebooks in my bag. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it all. But it all made sense.
I finished my last person of the day and Tate greeted me with a shot glass and a bottle of whiskey.
“No turning this down,” he said.
“Tate…”
“You’re on your way out,” Tate said.
“What?”
“I sense it, man. The last few days you’ve been distant with things. You’ve been looking around with those eyes of goodbye. Plus, I know you. You never stay this long at a place. So either you’re going to let me make you an offer to come here full-time or you’re going to bounce.”
I grabbed the shot glass and threw it back. The whiskey burned good. “You couldn’t afford me, Tate.”
He laughed. “I’ve been known to overspend in my life sometimes.”
“Not this time,” I said. “I think I’m heading west. Take some time.”
“With that woman?” Tate asked.
“Not just any woman,” I said. “She’s the one woman. Trust me. You believe in fate?”
“No,” Tate said. “I believe in time. Life. Shit happens. At the end of it all, we’re going wind up dead. Right?”
“Wow, that’s pretty fucking dark.”
“Keeps me going,” Tate said. He drank his shot. “Now, you give me a date when you’re out of here and I’ll make sure we do something for you.”
“Thanks. For the opportunity here.”
“You know you’re welcome here anytime,” Tate said. “Money follows you. I like money. Almost as much as pussy.”
I grinned.
Tate left the bottle of whiskey.
I stood up and put a finger to the bottle. I tilted it back and stared. Maybe I’d take it back to the apartment and me and Steph could go wild with it.
I went to the back door of St. Skin and opened it. I wanted to get myself a little fresh air. Clear my head. Make a decision on when it was time to leave town.
A man stood just outside the door.
The second I met eyes with him, I knew it was trouble.
Then he spoke.
“You fucked my woman… now you’re going to die.”
Everything happened fast.
I knew it was Jon. The fucking asshole that swung at Steph. The fucking asshole that put a bruise on her jaw. The fucking asshole that could have killed her and taken her from me for forever.
I saw him reaching for what I assumed to be a gun. I grabbed him at the last second by his shirt and swung him around, slamming him against the back of the building. I threw a hard right, knocking him in the jaw.
He groaned and pushed back at me.
We broke apart and he brought his weapon forward. Not a gun, but a knife.
“You fucking hit her,” I said. “I’m going to break your fucking neck.”
Jon slashed the knife at the air. “She’s mine! I’ve been looking for her…”
I had to dodge my way from getting stabbed. But I wasn’t going to stand around with a fight.
Jon stopped and looked at me. “You have no idea who I am. What I’m capable of.”
“Try me, asshole,” I said.
“I’ll burn this place down. I’ll find her and kill her.”
“You found me,” I said.
“Only because I saw her on a video,” Jon said. “When I’m done with you, I’m going to find her. I’m going to make her pay. You think a fucking shot to the jaw was bad…”
I lunged forward, losing my cool. He baited me into the move and I knew it was stupid the second I moved. The knife slashed through the air and hit my arm. I felt a hot pain and spun to my left, grabbing for my wounded arm. From the corner of my eye I saw someone come around from the side of the building. He had a gun. He was on the move, fast, coming right at us.
That’s when I figured I was dead.
Again, I wasn’t going down without a fight.
Jon came at me with the knife again. I threw my right elbow up and smashed it against his nose. I spun and threw a weak punch with my wounded arm. It was enough to send him stumbling back. I went on the offensive as the man with the gun started to shout. Demanding that I stop and get down.
I was in a different zone though.
I got to Jon and put him against the building again. I threw two more punches before I felt a gun job against the side of my head.
“On your knees!” the man yelled.
I dropped down and looked at him. “Do it. Kill me.”
“I’m not going to kill you, asshole. I’m here to arrest him.”
The man put the gun to Jon and then showed me a badge.
A second later, the back lot of St. Skin was swarmed with unmarked cars, people pouring out of them.
I was allowed back on my feet and got medical attention from Tate and Prick. The rest of the place was on a total lockdown as I learned that there was an investigation into Jon for his drug deals. They were following him for months. They thought he was on a big deal when they came to Hundred Falls Valley. The lead detective - the man with gun, named Dale - said he wasn't fucking around anymore. He started to rattle off a list of charges and I personally didn’t give a fuck about them.
I only gave a fuck about Steph.
I watched as Jon was led away in handcuffs. I had to then explain to Tate who Jon was and why he was at St. Skin. Luckily all the action happened behind the building. That kept the eyes of the shop, which was good.
Right then and there Tate and I agreed that my last day at St. Skin had come and gone. We shook hands, we hugged, and then I left. The shop was in my rearview mirror as I went to the apartment.
I opened the door to the apartment to find Steph standing there with two beers and nothing but a white set of bra and panties.
“A drink?” she asked with a smile that made my heart skip a beat.
I shut the door. I locked it.
I walked to the love of my life and grabbed her by the waist.
I kissed her the way I wanted to kiss her everyday for the rest of my life.
“Did you have a good day?” she asked.
“I’m done at St. Skin,” I said. “We’re leaving tomorrow. And I’m opening my own shop.”
“What?”
I laughed. “Oh, and that’s not even the craziest part of my day…”
Chapter 16
STEPH
*MONTHS LATER*
I was bullied by detectives for a good few months. They w
anted to know everything I knew. Lucky for me I didn’t know all that much. I told them what I did, had to repeat it over and over, but slowly, Jon’s empire crashed. He was put away for the rest of his life and the detectives then left me alone to go find the rest of his dealers and suppliers.
Living on the coast suited me. Being able to stand at what felt like the edge of the world was something amazing. I’d go down to the beach at least twice a day and stand there, my toes in the sand, listening to the waves crash. And more times than not, Taz was right there with me.
Today was no different. I finished my little beach trip and then got changed to meet Taz at the shop.
His shop.
Taz’s shop.
It was going to be opening that weekend. Everything I put together financially had come through. I finally felt like I had a purpose again. Being with the man I loved and helping him create his own dream.
I pulled up to the shop and went inside.
The place was empty but full of life already.
Taz stood at the counter, looking around.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Taking this all in,” he said. “This is really happening.”
“Yes it is.”
“I interviewed three new people,” he said. “Trying to come up with my finalists and go from there. I started putting it online and people are eating it up. You can’t imagine the buzz this is creating. I think I may have stumbled onto something here.”
“That’s good. How booked up are you?”
Taz opened a notebook. “A month straight.”
“Already?”
“I stopped after a month,” Taz said. “I don’t look out that far.”
“You did it.”
“No, sweetheart, we did it,” he said. He came from behind the counter. “You really crashed into my world… twice. I hope you know that.”
“Yeah?”
“More than you’ll ever know, Steph.”
“I think we should talk about some marketing…”
Taz grabbed my bag off my shoulder and dropped it to the floor. “I want to show you something.”