by Nikki Ashton
With tears blinding my eyes, and ignoring my compulsion to storm over there and smack them both with my handbag, I turned and left the bar.
“Fuck you both,” I muttered through my quiet sob and with determined strides, strode out into the cool night air.
Dex
As Sophie chatted away about the tattoo she wanted, I glanced at my cell on the table in front of me. Katie had been gone for over ten minutes, and I was getting worried about her. I knew she felt insecure around Sophie, but to go missing to avoid having to see her wasn’t Katie’s style.
“So there’s no way I can entice you out of retirement, Dex?” Sophie asked, placing her hands on my thigh to steady herself.
I laughed at how drunk she was and gently peeled them off, placing them on the arm of Katie’s chair that Sophie had pretty much collapsed onto.
“No Sophie. I have a select group of clients and that’s it.”
I purposefully didn’t recommend my studio – I didn’t want that shit at my door. I figured Katie wouldn’t like it and was pretty sure Carl wouldn’t either.
“Oh well,” she slurred. “I tried. Too late anyway, I’m having it done tomorrow.”
“Well that’s great, but, if I were you, I’d stop drinking now, you won’t get inked if you’re still drunk.”
“It’s not until late morning, I’ll be okay,” she said, flapping a hand at me and laying it back onto my thigh. “I’ll be sober as Judge Judy by then.”
I laughed wondering what the hell she’d been drinking and wondering if she really did watch that crap on TV.
It was then that I looked up and saw Katie, turning around and leaving.
“Fuck,” I muttered, pushing out of my seat. “Isaac, make sure Sophie gets back to her friends.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked, looking over his shoulder toward the door where I was looking.
“Your mom just left.” I nodded my head to Sophie who was slurping some fucking blue drink up a straw. “I think she got the wrong idea.”
Isaac rolled his eyes and with a sigh stood up, putting a hand under Sophie’s elbow.
“Hey Sophie,” he said. “We’re all going soon, so let me make sure you get back to your friends.”
Sophie gave him a drunken grin and patted his cheek. “Aww, my lovely step-son. Why aren’t you staying over at our house tonight with your brother and sister? They’re having Chinese food if you want to go.”
Not waiting to hear any more of Sophie’s drunk ramblings, I rushed out, running to catch up with Katie.
As I pushed outside, she was just about to round the corner to the taxi rank.
“Katie,” I yelled. “Wait darlin’.”
She pulled to a stop and swung around to me. Even from distance I could she was glaring at me.
Fuck.
“Where you going?” I asked, as I pulled up in front of her. “And why are you crying?”
As I reached up to brush my thumb under her eye, Katie moved her head away.
“I saw you,” she snapped. “All nice and cozy with Sophie. Laughing with her while she had her hands all over you.”
“I wasn’t laughing with her, I was laughing at how drunk she was.”
“You let her touch you, Dex.”
Katie’s mouth was all pouty and her chest was rising and falling at such a speed I knew that her anger was in danger of building to a fucking huge explosion.
“She was steadying herself, and I removed them.”
“Not when I was watching you didn’t,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Well I can promise you I had already. She’s drunk, Katie, she’s married, and I have no fucking interest in her, now come back inside.”
She shook her head, like a toddler having a tantrum. “No. Don’t want to. Not while she’s there.”
“I got Isaac to take her back to her friends,” I sighed, watching her pale blue eyes turn to a thunderous grey under the light of the streetlamp.
“How very gallant of you.”
“Being snippy really doesn’t suit you darlin’.”
“Well I feel bloody snippy, now if you don’t mind, I’m going to get a taxi.”
“Nope, no way.”
As I took a step towards her, Katie took one back. I gave her a warning glance.
“You’re over reacting and acting like a damn kid. I get how you feel about her, but give me some fucking credit. You know how I feel about you, and what my damn morals are. Which means I wouldn’t disrespect you by doing anything like what you’re accusing me of, especially in front of your damn son and while you’re in the bathroom.”
“Oh, so you’d do it if I wasn’t there?”
Now she was pissing me off.
“Stop splitting hairs. Now, we’re going back inside to finish off what’s been a great fucking evening.”
She jutted her chin in the air and narrowed her eyes on me.
“No, and you can’t make me.”
Letting out a frustrated breath, I nodded.
“Okay, have it your way.”
Her facial expression changed to a mixture of fear and astonishment that I’d given up on her – well she’d got that fucking wrong.
Before she had chance to realize what I was doing, she was over my shoulder with one of my arms around her legs to stop them kicking.
“Dex, put me down,” she squealed.
“Nope, not happening.” I strode towards the taxi rank.
“Hey Dex.” It was Nate shouting behind us. “What’s happening, you want another drink or not?”
“No,” I called turning to face him. “I’m taking Katie home. Tell Isaac I’ll bring her back safe in the morning.”
“No you’re not,” Katie screamed, trying to wriggle from my hold. “Nate get Isaac.”
“Don’t you dare, Nate. She’s being a damn princess.”
“I am not,” Katie said, smacking at my ass.
“Sure are,” I replied, giving her an ass slap of her own.
“Dex,” she said, with a little moan.
“Yep, thought so,” I laughed out. “You’re ready for home.”
“So you’re not coming back in,” Nate stated, joining in my laughter.
“Nope, see you tomorrow.”
“Night Dex, night Katie.”
“Night, Nate,” Katie replied with a little sigh and I knew we were going to have some great, angry, make up sex when I got her back to my apartment.
Dex
“Who does Topper have in today?” I asked Scarlett, looking over her shoulder at the appointment book.
“A back, two sleeve sessions, and a couple of quick wrists. Why?”
I blew out a breath. “He’s sick, so I’m gonna have to do his appointments.”
“He said he felt ill yesterday,” Scarlett informed me. “That was why he didn’t come out last night.”
“I know,” I sighed. “Can’t be helped.”
It was the last thing I wanted or needed, especially when the only place I wanted to be was with Katie. I’d left her in my bed when I’d got the call from Megan about Topper. Katie was still sleeping and I’d really liked the idea of a lazy Saturday morning in bed, but it wasn’t happening.
“Wow, the old man is adding to his VIPs.” Scarlett grinned. “Remember what happened last time you did that?”
Debbie was what happened. “Yeah and I won’t be repeating it. I have Katie now.”
“Well you say that,” Scarlett said, raising her brows. “But after last night, I think you might have to work on that. Nate told us that you had to carry her away. Good job Katie rang Isaac to tell him she was okay, otherwise he might have come around to your flat to check you hadn’t abducted her against her will.”
I thought back to what had happened the night before, and even though it had ended up on a real fucking pleasant note, if I hadn’t seen her leave, I could well have been banging on Katie’s door this morning. Katie had some real issues and I was not to blame, that fucktard ex-husband of h
ers was. The minute he married a much younger woman, he did damage to my woman. I knew they agreed to split and no one else was involved, but Carl taking up with a girl not much older than his kids must have smarted.
“Katie and I will be fine,” I said, turning to walk to Topper’s room. “You just worry about getting my appointments through the door on time.”
“Whatever.”
Mouthy little shit.
“Hey, Dex,” Scarlett said, poking her head around the door. “Your first appointment is here. It’s the back tattoo.”
She came inside and passed me the client’s file that included details of the previous consultation and the design that had been decided on.
“Thanks.” I held my hand out and looked up at her. “What’s the shit-eating grin for?”
“Wait until you see who it is.” Scarlett turned and practically ran out of the room.
Wondering what the hell she was talking about, I pulled out the transfer that Jethro had put the design on to for Topper. It was real intricate, not my kind of thing, but it was good. I wouldn’t normally use a transfer, preferring freehand, but this design was pretty specific to the client, so I decided to go ahead and use it. As I sorted through the inks and put everything I’d need on my cart, there was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” I called, pulling a pair of synthetic gloves from the box.
The door creaked open and in walked…Sophie.
Fuck my life.
“Hey Dex,” she giggled. “Twice in two days, we should stop meeting like this.”
She was a pretty girl, with a nice smile, but she looked like every other twenty-something out there. There was no experience behind the eyes, no soft curves of age and most definitely no gorgeous, silky, long blonde hair with tiny flecks of silver that you could only see if you really looked at her.
“Sophie, I didn’t know you were coming here.” I looked down at the design and the word ‘Carl’ suddenly jumped out at me. “You never said last night.”
“I just assumed you knew,” she replied looking a little flustered. “I had my consultation with Topper.”
“Yeah, he’s ill, so I’m stepping in.”
“Oh my God,” she squealed. “So I get you to do it anyway, I didn’t need to try and persuade you last night.”
“No,” I said, scrubbing a hand down my face. “I guess you didn’t.”
She clapped her hands together. “This is so exciting, wait until I tell Carl the famous Dex Michaels tattooed me. He’ll be so surprised.”
Yeah, I bet – surprised wasn’t the word. She had to know this wasn’t going to go down well with either Carl or Katie.
“I guess we’d better get going,” I said, glancing at the clock on the wall. “This is a two hour session, where I’ll do the outline and then you have another session booked for three weeks’ time for the colouring and shading, but Topper will be around to do that.”
I was stating that as a fact, because after this session there was no way I’d be putting my hands on her again.
“Yes, that’s fine.” Sophie dropped her bag to the floor and smiled at me. “I’m quite nervous, so you’ll be gentle with me, won’t you?”
I gave her a tight smile back and nodded. “Okay, if you want to take your top off, and remove your bra and then hold that towel in front of you and sit forward on the chair. I’ll go out for a few and give you some privacy.”
Sophie nodded and with wary eyes started to unbutton her blouse – and that was my cue to leave.
Just under two hours later and we were almost done. Props to the girl, she’d barely needed to take a break and thank fuck had popped in her earbuds and listened to her music. She’d explained she’d always been afraid of the dentist, because of the sound of the drill, so figured it would probably help if she didn’t hear the gun working away. It suited me, I was never one for inane chat with clients, especially not ones that my woman had accused me of flirting with. I’d tell Katie about Sophie being a client, I believed in full disclosure where she was concerned, but it didn’t mean Sophie and I were going to play friends while I worked.
As I finished off the last of the feathers on the dream catcher design, I patted Sophie’s arm to gain her attention.
“All done?” she asked, popping out her buds.
“For today, yeah. I’ll wrap you up and then you can get dressed, maybe leave your bra off though.”
“Okay. Can I see, before you wrap it?”
“Sure thing.”
I pushed off from my stool and fetched the iPad to snap a photograph.
“There you go.”
I stood at Sophie’s side and showed her. I had to admit, it looked great.
“It’s amazing,” she gushed. “Can you text it to me, please. I want to send it to Carl, he’ll love it.”
The hairs on the back of my neck bristled at the mention of Katie’s ex. The man who had her first and given her three fucking babies.
“Great, I’m glad,” I said, dully, moving away. “Now, let’s get you wrapped up.”
Katie
As I walked into Heaven & Ink, Scarlett looked up from her computer screen and smiled. I waved a hand, feeling a little foolish about storming out of the bar the night before.
“Hey, Scarlett, thought I’d best come in with a peace offering for Dex.” I held up a plastic box full of cookies that I’d made. Maple syrup and chocolate, his favorite.
“Ah, don’t worry about it, nothing to apologise for. It wouldn’t be a good night out if someone didn’t have a row. No one really noticed anyway – well except for Nate, seeing as he saw you be carried away.”
Scarlett giggled and I winced inwardly, I hated people who aired their disagreements in public. I always found them to be egotistical, attention seekers and there I’d been, behaving in the exact same way. It was the thought of Dex fancying Sophie, I just couldn’t stand it. He was my Dex, the man who’d made me start to realise I wasn’t on the scrap heap and that I still had something to offer the world. Sophie already had twenty years of youth on me, she wasn’t having my man too.
“Is Dex in his office?” I asked.
“He’s in Topper’s room. Dex had to cover for him.”
“Oh, if he’s busy I’ll leave it.”
I was such a coward. We’d had some great sex last night when we’d got back to his flat, but we hadn’t really addressed what were my, probably irrational, fears. For all I knew, he’d thought about it in the clear light of day and realized I was too insane to be bothered with. On that thought, I’d rather run out of there faster than a Nun in a sex shop, than have to face him.
“He’s free,” Scarlett said with a grin. “You’ve got ten minutes before his next appointment.”
The little witch knew that I was scared. I glanced at the door, getting ready to run, but doubted I was quicker than Scarlett, who would probably block my escape. As I contemplated wrestling her to the ground, a door opened and Nate appeared from his room.
“Katie, how you doing?” he asked. “You feeling okay after being hung upside down by Dex last night?”
I felt my cheeks colour as I grimaced.
“Yeah, I think I let the drink get the better of my senses.”
“Well no idea what it was about,” Nate said, winking at me. “But Dex looked determined to sort it out.”
I didn’t answer, but gave him a weak smile.
“Anyway, I’m off to do a lunch run. You want anything Scar.”
Scarlett shook her head. “No thanks, Nate. I’ve got a salad in the fridge.”
“You, Katie?”
“No, thanks. I’m just here to see Dex.”
Nate grinned, knowingly. “Okay, well maybe see you later. If not, the next work’s night out.”
I wasn’t sure Dex would ever invite me again, but just nodded and smiled as Nate left to buy his lunch.
“I’ll go through then,” I said, knowing I had to get it over and done with.
“Okay. He’s in Topper’s room, seco
nd door on the right,” Scarlett replied and then went back to her PC.
Knocking on the door, my stomach was in knots – what if Dex was really angry with me, what if he told me to get lost and never come near him again? What if the orgasms he’d given me last night were the last he’d ever give me? Shit, this was worse than I thought.
“Come in.” His deep, Texan drawl growled.
With a heavy breath, I pushed down on the handle and walked in. Dex had his back to me, sorting through his trolley, obviously getting ready for his next client.
As he reached behind him to grab a box, images of the discus thrower statue that I’d seen in a museum in Rome, flicked in front of my eyes – but in my head, this one had Dex’s head. I knew what was beneath the jeans that hugged his tight bum and the pale grey t-shirt that stretched across his back, and it was amazing. For a man of his age, he was incredible and the thought of him naked caused a flurry between my legs. I wanted to cry, because this might be the last I ever saw of him. I knew I would forever hold this image in my head, because I’d need it to get me through the long, lonely nights of the rest of my life.
“Just put the file down, Scar, and give me a few. They’re ten minutes early anyway.”
He sounded pissed off and that made me feel even more nervous. It didn’t matter though, I had to face him sometime.
“It’s me,” I replied with a squeak in my voice. I cleared my throat as he spun around. “Scarlett said you had a spare ten minutes.”
“Hey Katie. What ya’ doin here?” He took a step towards me, holding a clear bag with what looked like little tiny plastic cups inside it.
I took a deep breath, needing to get everything said before he had a chance to throw me out.
“We never really talked much last night,” I said, my face heating up as I recalled the reason why. “So, I came to apologise. I was a total idiot last night in the bar and I’m sorry.”
Dex tilted his head to one side. “You think you were an idiot?”
“Yep.”
“You have any idea why you think you were an idiot?”