One Percent of You

by Michelle Gross

  “What do you mean?” I was confused as hell.

  “Your Instagram page for the shop has a million followers. When I mentioned to Holly that we were friends, she told me how popular your tattoos and drawings are.”

  A little uncomfortable with Hadley’s words, I pointed out, “Like you said, it’s my designs, not me.”

  “You created them,” she informed me.

  “You never ask anything about me. I wasn’t sure you’d want to know about my work,” I admitted while rubbing my neck.

  Her eyes widened as she processed what I had just said. “I guess I haven’t…”

  “Hey, Elijah. You got a piercing,” Waldo hollered from the front, eyeing Hadley’s ass as he did.

  It shouldn’t piss me off but it did. Waldo was closer to her age than I was, but I couldn’t fucking see her with the scrawny kid. I thought no one her age would know how lucky they’d be if they had her.

  “It’s one down below,” he added.

  Hadley’s mouth fell open, and I realized why the fucker said it. Not only because of Hadley, but I’d also have to warn him of saying shit like that. Some of our customers were private and didn’t want that shit said loudly. Luckily, this particular one simply laughed with her friend.

  Hadley turned around and saw the girl signing papers at the front. She glanced back at me. “Does he mean…” She waved her hands between her legs.

  “Yeah, a clit piercing.”

  Her mouth fell open. “You do those?”

  “Yeah… We’re both a tattoo and a piercing parlor.” It wasn’t uncommon which proved the naivety of my cute mom friend.

  “Isn’t that odd?” It was adorable the way she scrunched up her nose.

  “It isn’t any different from tattooing body parts. Just doesn’t take as long.” I shrugged. Her smile was more of a frown by the time her mouth closed. “Are you afraid of me becoming the guy from Idle Hands?”

  Hadley flinched when I spoke in a low voice.

  “Oh, shit!” I grabbed my hand ready to imitate the character from the nineties flick about a man with a possessed hand. I pretended it had a mind of its own, and I was trying to hold my limb back. “Whatever shall I do? My hand is bound to do something inappropriate.”

  She scowled. “That wasn’t what I meant.”

  I smiled as she stormed away and stood beside her friend, picking out a design. Did I tease her too much? When Wendy shook her head, I dropped my hand. Did I just fuck up?

  Thirty minutes later, I was finished with the clit piercing, and Lance was doing a small wrist design for Holly. Hadley walked outside to take a phone call. I figured it was probably Lucy or about Eli. When she stepped back in the parlor, I strode over to her. “What did you mean then?” I asked since I didn’t want her upset with me.

  She glanced down at her hands. “I don’t know what I meant. I just didn’t realize you did that type of thing.”

  “How is it any different from you wiping asses?” I asked her. “You’re a nurse, right?”

  “That’s different,” she protested weakly, not meeting my eyes.

  “How so?” I grinned. She was behaving strangely—kind of withdrawn. “Hadley, you do realize a pussy is a pussy unless it belongs to the woman you want, right? There’s nothing sexual about my job. I’m a professional and this is what I do. I’m slightly offended that you’re acting like I can’t be trusted with nipples and asses. In case you’re wondering, I see more dicks than I do clits.”

  I normally didn’t care what anyone thought. I knew what kind of person I was. But with Hadley? I felt more than a little crestfallen that she’d think… What was she thinking, anyway? That was it. I didn’t know. If she was negative toward my tattoos, jobs, and just everything, there was no hope for my piercing—a pubic bone one.

  Hadley stood speechless.

  My heart dropped, and a weird cold sweat swept over me. I caught myself. For a minute, I considered letting those thoughts I’d been having about Hadley become words. Honestly, I wanted to be her friend—Lucy’s too. But maybe I wanted something else too.

  Shit.

  Fuck.

  Damn it all to hell.

  I turned away, but she whispered, “Sorry. That was rude of me. I couldn’t tell you the number of butts and penises I’ve seen.” She touched my arm, and when I looked at her, Hadley gave me a bashful smile. “And you’re right. There’s nothing sexual about it.”

  And just like that my guilt evaporated. In that moment, I realized that I enjoyed having Hadley around. She was a better person than me.

  A sly grin spread across my mouth. “Just how many dicks are we talking here?”

  Her gaze flickered to the ceiling. “God bless America!”

  Yeah, God bless America for letting me steal a bag of chips from a kid.

  Chapter Twenty

  Hadley

  “Can we ask him, Mommy, please?” Lucy whined in my ear, and I shuddered from the sheer excitement in her voice.

  “He’s not home. He’s working. Just because I’m off today, doesn’t mean the rest of the world is.”

  I could tell the news devastated her. She sulked and stuck out her lip. “When does he gets home?”

  I stopped bouncing Eli in his seat and simply studied my four-year-old sitting beside me. “Why do you like Elijah so much?”

  She shrugged and rocked on her knees. “I don’t know.”

  “What kind of answer is that?” I leaned in and arched an eyebrow. “Lucy, do you have a crush on him?”

  She shoved my forehead, upset with me. “No!” She scratched her nose. “He always buys me stuff.”

  My jaw dropped. “Lucy! I didn’t raise you to be so shallow. If Elijah heard you say that, he’d be hurt.”

  She scrunched up her nose. “No, he won’t. He’s cooler than you. He’d just smile and laugh.” Wow, I was pretty sure I birthed a monster. I felt sorry for her future husband. “Can we ask him? I really want him to watch Big Hero 6. He’ll love it, Mom, like he liked The Croods.”

  I feigned annoyance, but on the inside, I was a tad nervous. I wouldn’t mind Elijah coming over too, but what if we were bugging him? I saw him over the weekend at his shop, but Lucy hadn’t seen him in a while. It was obvious that she really liked the man. Maybe Lucy and Elijah got along so well because of their brutal honesty manner of speaking.

  Their ease around one another made me remember my foolish reaction when I discovered that Elijah did piercings and tattoos for a living. I didn’t know why I was so surprised. Okay, I wasn’t as much surprised as I was… Frankly, I didn’t want to think it. All I had to do was look at the beautiful tattooed chick. Before Elijah took her into the back room, an awful surge of fear gripped me.

  Elijah mistook my response. I didn’t think he was a perv. Honestly, I didn’t know why I behaved like a girlfriend who’d just found out something she didn’t like about her boyfriend. He saw attractive women of all shapes and sizes and tattooed and pierced them wherever they desired. I’d never been a confident woman, but that day, I noticed my flaws all over again. Elijah had seen me at my worst. Fudge! He’d seen me on the way to giving birth to Eli. What changed to make me care about his opinion of me? I must seem like a walking disaster to that man.

  I’d had too much time to dwell on these feelings, but it shouldn’t have mattered. After all, Elijah was my friend. I’d admit that I liked him, but it was because Lucy did. Right? For me, it was admiration that a man like him could be friends with my daughter. So it didn’t matter if he saw naked, gorgeous women because Elijah and I were cool the way we were.

  Really?

  I asked the man if he was trying to get me into bed. How embarrassing! Elijah was attractive, big, had tattoos, and gave piercings to beautiful women all the time. … I didn’t care about all that. Right?

  Somehow, Elijah had become our friend.

  I smiled and swiped my finger across my iPhone.

  “Yay!” Lucy screamed. “Let me call him.”

  “I can
text him,” I told her.

  “No! Please, please, please, let me call!”

  Should I? Elijah was an upfront person. I’d never once noticed a hint of irritation or annoyance from him toward Lucy since we began this journey of befriending him. A guy like Elijah couldn’t pretend. He liked my child. Of course, I’d also spotted his obvious way of avoiding Eli. I had of feeling he was terrified of babies. Surely, he didn’t hate babies? Who could hate babies?

  Elijah.

  I groaned, found his number, and handed my phone over. “Here. He might not answer where he’s—”

  “Elijah!”

  I leaned forward, trying to hear, but she stood. Did he answer already?

  “Can you come over?” Lucy was bouncing vigorously as she spoke. Eli kicked his legs, getting excited with Lucy as he watched her. “There’s a movie you must watch! Okay! Yeah. Can you bring Funyuns? I also like chicken.”

  “Lucy!” My child was such a bum. She just shrugged and ran away with my cell phone.

  It wasn’t even a second later when she came running back out. “Oh, my fudge, Mom! He’s bringing us chicken.” There was a pause. “He said to ask you if Lee’s is okay?”

  “Tell him not to get anything. I can make us something.”

  He must have heard me because she yelled, “He said you can cook next time.”

  The moment the call disconnected, I squinted at my child as she handed me my phone. “So this is why you wanted him to come over? I could have bought us some chicken, Lucy.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her into my lap. “Mommy can buy us better food now.” I hated that I had to let her know that.

  “Yeah, but with Elijah, it’s better, right?”

  _____

  “You really didn’t have to bring food,” I said, feeling guilty. I smelled the delicious aroma of chicken, and my stomach growled. I sidestepped so he could come inside with the giant bag of food.

  “I think Bubby pooped.” Lucy strolled into the kitchen, holding her nose. Eli was on the floor on the blanket I laid out, kicking his feet in the air. “Can you make my plate, Elijah?”

  No hi, it seemed. She went straight to bossing him around.

  Before I could say anything, he chuckled. “You’ll have to tell me what you want.”

  “Here.” She rushed over to the counter, jumping up and down to see. Slightly intrigued and curious, I watched as Elijah lifted her so that Lucy could open the cabinet herself. There was no hesitation between the two of them and that was the first time he’d ever picked up Lucy. I felt a little strange and fanned my face as I watched them dig out the paper plates. A few seconds later, I went to change Eli.

  Lucy made us all sit on the couch and watch a movie together after the meal. I smiled. As the movie went on, I listened to her and Elijah talk and laugh, and it filled me with a sense of dread. Lucy was reluctant to spend time with Scott anymore, but there was still something she was wanting—missing. Deep down, I believed she missed her dad.

  I’d love her a hundred times more, even try plucking a star from the sky for her, but I wouldn’t let Scott or his family use her against me to get us back together. When she was older, I hoped she’d understand why I made her daddy leave that night.

  Missing Scott made Lucy cling to Elijah, right?

  Why wouldn’t she? Lucy had wrapped Elijah around her finger since their friendship that had started out so horribly… Or maybe it began even before that. My Lucy was impossible not to like.

  Lucy sat between us on the couch, Elijah’s tattooed arm draped over the cushions and dangled near Eli and me. The entire situation felt intimate yet comfortable, sitting in the dark like we were.

  I couldn’t remember if Scott ever watched a movie with us. Honestly, I couldn’t recall anything we’d done as a family. Was it because Scott broke my heart, I’d lost all the good memories we’d had? I doubted that.

  The moment Lucy got up and ran to the bathroom, Eli reached over and latched onto Elijah’s watch right there for the taking. The light off the TV played shadows on Elijah’s face, but I saw him stiffen as his dark eyes roamed over us.

  I smiled, leaning back with Eli as he tried to take the item into his mouth. Elijah moved slightly, took off the watch, and handed it to him. I arched a brow at him. “Is that clean?”

  He cocked his head, thinking about it. “Probably not.” The moment Elijah took it from Eli, he cried like the world ended. From Elijah’s terrified expression, the sound really was the end for him.

  I kept my face neutral as I scooted over and put Eli a little closer to Elijah. His giant body stiffened some more as Eli settled down and giggled as he found something new—Elijah’s black shirt. “Want to hold him?”

  Elijah’s head reared back slowly. “He looks good where he’s at.” Eli was already half on him since he was leaning forward, messing with the buttons.

  I burst out laughing. “Oh, fudge, Elijah. He’s only a baby!”

  “Yeah, he’s tiny and breakable and shit.” Eli giggled, examining him as he spoke.

  I snorted. “I’m getting really tired of you calling my kids that.”

  “What?” When I lifted an eyebrow, his eyes gleamed in the darkened room. “Shit?”

  “We’re at a good part!” Lucy announced as she rushed out of the bathroom. She paused, unsure where to sit now that I had scooted over. She ran and dove onto Elijah’s lap. Luckily, he caught her, but he still grunted and she laughed.

  I smirked. “You know being friends with a mother, you need to get used to Eli. He’s a part of me.”

  I replayed my words in my head and wished I had left the last bit out. Now Elijah’s dark gaze zeroed in on mine while my daughter snuggled against his chest like it was normal.

  I momentarily lost all sense of right and wrong. I was hit with a wave of emotion so strong staring at him—them together. A new feeling burned inside of me. Yearning.

  I didn’t want to lose this. Such a simple thing, our friendship, yet this was different—big and bright. A very different type of happiness.

  “I’ll work on it… Just not tonight,” Elijah said.

  I rolled my eyes at him and let Eli pinch his arm hairs the rest of the movie until he left with a promise to Lucy that he’d come over and watch another one with her.

  Things were almost perfect now. Scott still bugged me—I didn’t think he’d ever stop, nor would his family—but things were falling into place in my life. Every morning I woke up with energy and excitement, wondering what was next. That home I wanted? Where would we go? Where did I want to move? Of course, all of this wouldn’t happen overnight or even in a year or two. Lucy was about to start preschool next month and that itself was terrifying and exciting. My child would make me cry even more because she would be one of those who said, “See ya, Mom” and ran inside without a backward glance.

  I was ready to make plans for the next phase of our lives. But I was all too familiar with setbacks and all-around bad luck. My dad made a joke about my luck junior year in high school. The day I got my license, I hit a possum and busted my front bumper. I cried harder over the dead animal than my car. The same week, I busted my nose tripping over the neighbor’s dog when he ran in front of me. I didn’t want to admit how many flat tires I’d had in the short years I’d been a driver. I could have a good luck streak for months, and if one thing went wrong, I feared the future wondering what would happen next.

  I was overdue for a little misfortune.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Hadley

  A few days after our movie night the awful sound of metal colliding jarred me awake. I could feel a slight rumble on the floor. My heart beat terribly as I clutched my chest and picked up Eli just as he started crying. I rubbed his cheek and rushed into Lucy’s room, only to remember she went to sleep with me the night before. I ran back and found her sleeping peacefully.

  What was that? I knew what it sounded like…like a bad collision outside. What if it was the apartment though? Worriedly, I ran out the door with
Eli and peeked over the ledge. My heart fell to the bottom. “Oh, no, no, no, no!” I screamed.

  A rusty white truck hit not only my car but a few others. But mine seemed to have taken the brunt of the damage—sandwiched between two other vehicles. Around me tenants were cussing and running out while I stood numbly in place. It took me a minute to snap out of it and rush down the stairs. Before I reached the bottom step, I recognized Elijah’s heated voice and saw that he’d grabbed some guy by the shoulder.

  It dawned on me. The guy that hit our vehicles was trying to run. If he was willing to leave the truck behind, he likely had no insurance and tags or the truck didn’t belong to him. I knew that some shady people lived in these apartments.

  Eli wasn’t crying, but the angry voices and commotion made him search around frantically as he clung to my shirt with his mouth set in a little pout.

  “Elijah,” I called out, and his head swiveled around as he gestured for the younger boy to sit down with someone who must have been his mom since she was smacking the crap out of him. Recognition crept over me as I watched. That was one of the little brats that whistled at me most days. He was the driver? He didn’t even have his license. He wasn’t old enough to have one.

  I bounced Eli as Elijah stopped in front of us. “Has anyone called the cops yet?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Yeah. The kid’s on something and tried to run. The little fucker doesn’t even look like he’s old enough to be driving.”

  “He’s not.” My lips trembled.

  Elijah rubbed my shoulder. “It’ll be okay.”

  His gentle words cracked the dam. Through tears, I whispered, “Do you think they even have insurance? I’m still paying on my car.”

  “Hadley.” He tipped up my chin. “Relax. Jesus Christ woman, are you always this way? How do you take care of two tiny humans like it’s a cake walk yet freak out over something that isn’t even your fault?”

  “This and that are entirely different.” I wiped my eyes. He couldn’t understand. My car didn’t look drivable and that meant I was without a vehicle. Just when I thought I was doing good this happened. It was okay to be heartbroken and upset about it. “I need to go get Lucy. I don’t like her being in the apartment alone.”