Burn: Men of Inked Heatwave #2

by Chelle Bliss

  I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees, and look him right in the eyes. “I can’t change what happened, but I can make sure nothing like that ever touches her again. I can love her like no one else ever can or will. I can make her happier than anyone else has before. Hell—” I pause for a moment and lean back. “I already have.”

  He draws in a deep breath before sighing. “When I thought about my little girl growing up, I never pictured her with a guy like you. I thought she’d find a college boy, settle down, and have a family. I never pictured her running for her life, hiding in a goddamn closet as bullets were flying.”

  I can see he’s not going to get over that little event. It’s burned into his brain, and when he looks at me, all he sees is someone who brought that to his daughter’s door.

  “Shit happens.” I don’t have the flashy cars and big bank account, but fuck, I do the best I can with what I have. “I may not have grown up surrounded by expensive things and the love of my parents, but I’m a good man, Joe.”

  He grunts as I sit up straighter, winding myself up for the big finish.

  “I work hard. I do the right thing. I protect those I love, even if it costs me my life. I would’ve gladly jumped in front of a bullet for your daughter. I’d do anything to keep her safe and happy. I’m sorry if that’s not good enough for you, but the only person who will decide if Gigi’s going to be my girl is Gigi. No one else.” I touch my chest. “Not me.” Then I point at him. “Not you. Not your wife. Not anyone else in this shop. Only Gigi.” I pitch my thumb toward the door, driving the point home.

  Joe snaps his head back like I’ve slapped him. “You’re suddenly very wordy, kid.” The corners of his mouth curve up ever so slightly, and for a minute, I feel like I’m getting somewhere.

  There’re two ways this conversation can go… He’ll back off and give us space, or he’ll come down harder, trying to push a wedge between us just to show how much pull he has over his daughter.

  I’m not trying to fuck with their relationship to save ours. That’s the last thing I want to do. Gigi has something special with her father—hell, with her whole family—and I’d never let her throw all that away for someone like me.

  “I can’t punch your ass out, so I gotta fight you with the only thing I have.” I shrug, giving him a smug grin. “You can say whatever you’d like to me about our relationship, about me, about your displeasure at the entire situation. I’m grown. I can handle it. But just to clue you the fuck in, she’s grown too.”

  Joe’s eyes widen, but I don’t let his shock stop me. “I respect you, man. I respected you before I ever stepped foot in Inked. I respect you even more after watching you with your family. The depth to which you love them is something I strive to find and hold on to in my life. The last thing I want is you as an enemy.”

  He opens his mouth again, but I shake my head. “I tried to end things with your daughter after we left the Disciples’ compound. She wasn’t having any of it. You know how she is. She’s going to dig her heels in and do whatever the hell she wants, no matter what either one of us says or thinks.”

  I tilt my head, waiting for his response. He seems surprised by my words, almost taken aback by them as he watches me without moving a muscle.

  I can take his anger.

  I can deal with his disdain for our relationship.

  The one thing I know I can’t take is his silence. “I…”

  “Shut up,” he rasps.

  I snap my mouth shut as I lean over my legs. The man has finally found his words, and I am not about to stop him from talking.

  “Suzy lost it on me this morning.” He digs his fingers into his forehead and frowns. “She told me to get my head out of my ass and let Giovanna live her own life. Don’t get me wrong. Suzy’s not happy about what went down in the last week. She’s petrified. But she said the same thing you just did, only without all the veiled threats and profanity.”

  “We good in here?” a female voice asks.

  We turn our heads to the doorway, finding Izzy watching us. “We’re good,” he answers, waving her away with his hand.

  “You sure?” Her eyes are on me now like she’s not buying the line Joe’s selling.

  “Yeah,” I tell her. “We’re almost done.”

  “You both have clients out here waiting while you two girls talk about love and relationships. Wrap it up, boys,” she warns before she stalks down the hallway, heels clicking against the tile just like Gigi’s did.

  Joe swivels his chair from side to side and sighs. “I don’t like the entire situation. All I want is for my daughter to be happy.”

  “She is.”

  “For her to have someone she can count on. For her to have someone who will love her more than himself. I’m not yet convinced that man is you, Pike.”

  “It is,” I argue. Fuck me. I just about jumped in front of a goddamn bullet for her. How much more does the man want?

  “All I know is that you met my kid in Daytona, and now you’re here. But you’re right…”

  Finally.

  “I can’t control her. I can’t tell her what to do anymore. She’s grown. She has a mind of her own and has since she was a little girl. I don’t have to like what’s going on between the two of you. I never will. But I know the harder I pull her away, the tighter she’ll cling to you.”

  He runs his hand back through his hair, grinding his teeth, and I stay silent. I’ve said all I needed to, and now it’s up to him to say what he needs to in order to be at peace with the situation.

  “Go back to Tennessee and let things calm down around here. Let me get over the panic of almost losing my daughter. Give me time to sort my shit out, and we’ll see how I feel then. I’ve always tried to be fair. I know not everyone grows up blessed with good parents and a big family. I know you’ve been given a shit hand to start out, but now’s your time to make your own path and change the course your life has been on.”

  “It’s what I’ve been trying to do for ten years now, Joe. Coming here, to Inked, is my chance to start over and find my place in this world. I want to leave all the baggage of my past in the past. I want what I’ve never had.”

  He stands, cracking his knuckles. “I may not approve of you with my daughter, but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect you for what you’re trying to do with your life.”

  “Enough!” Gigi hollers, stalking into the room and coming to stand by the side of the desk near her father. “And, Daddy—” she turns her gaze toward him, straightening her back “—just so you know, I’m going to Tennessee with Pike.”

  He opens his mouth, but she shakes her head, narrowing her eyes.

  “I don’t want to hear it.” Gigi reaches for my hand, and I give it to her, squeezing it tightly. “Izzy’s going to reschedule my clients. I could use a few days away from the craziness to get my head on straight. Pike needs someone with him when he buries his mother, and I’m going to be that person. Got it?”

  Joe blinks a few times, stunned. “Yes, baby girl.”

  “Good.” She smiles, turning her attention back toward me. “Let’s finish up today, and then we’ll go. I’m sure your gran and brother need you up there as soon as possible.”

  “I suppose so,” I mumble, rubbing the back of my neck, blown away by the backbone on my girl.

  “Then it’s settled. We’ll leave in the morning,” she tells me.

  “Maybe Pike wants to visit his family alone,” Joe inserts, still trying to put that space between us.

  Gigi drops a shoulder, cocking her head to the side, gaze sweeping across his face. “Would you want Ma with you if something happened to Grandma or Grandpa?”

  Joe nods, frowning. “I couldn’t imagine handling anything without her.”

  “Point proven.” She raises her palm like she knows he’s about to say something else. “I don’t want to hear how it’s different, Daddy. It’s not. No one should have to go through something like this alone.”

  “All right,” he mum
bles, shocking the shit out of me—and her too, by the way her head jerks back ever so slightly. “You go up there with him.”

  “Thank you.” She pulls me toward the door, leaving her father still standing by his desk. When we’re in the hall, she turns back to face him. “And, Daddy…” She pauses.

  “Yeah?”

  “I wasn’t asking your permission.”

  My eyes widen, and I bite my lip to stop myself from laughing. This chick is all sass and attitude.

  She’s not scared of anyone.

  Not even her father.

  3

  Gigi

  “Do you want to have two visitations or only one?” Pike’s granny asks over the phone.

  I keep my eyes on my truck, trying not to be too nosy, but it’s not easy as we walk through the parking lot of the fast-food restaurant. I sip my soda, pretending not to listen to their conversation but hearing every word.

  He’d spoken to her before we left Florida and there didn’t seem to be any tension between them, but now, with the talk of his mother’s funeral, the uneasiness in their voices is hard to miss.

  “No. I don’t even know why we’re having one. Why the hell would we do two?” Pike glances at me as he runs his hand through his light-brown hair, letting out a low grunt.

  I give him a tight smile, straw between my teeth, somehow stopping myself from telling him to chill out. This is about his mother after all, but the hatred runs deep. Even after her death, the way Pike feels about her hasn’t changed at all.

  “Don’t start with me, child. There are people in this community who would like to pay their respects. Now, pick. One or two?”

  “One,” he growls.

  “How hard was that?” Her voice is full of sarcasm.

  Pike scowls. “Can’t we discuss this when we get there?”

  “The funeral home needs to finalize their calendar. You never know who’s going to die today and steal our place if we don’t get on their schedule now.”

  Pike fishes the keys from his pocket and presses the button, unlocking the doors. “Don’t give a damn when we do it. Don’t give a shit how many time slots we have. I just want to get it over with.” He leans against the back of the truck, resting his arms over the bed, staring off into the distance.

  I stand next to him, sucking down the last drops of my soda, eyes on him. The closer we get to his hometown, the crankier he becomes. This short conversation with his granny has him on edge, and I’m pretty sure it’s only going to get worse. Pike has a cold streak, and right now, he’s the freaking Arctic.

  “This isn’t about you, Pike. What about Austin?”

  Snap. Gran has a point.

  Pike closes his eyes and sucks in a breath at the mention of his little brother. “I get it. I do. If it’s important to him, ask him and not me.”

  I grimace, turning my face so he can’t see. Man, he needs to calm down, take a step back, and look at it from his brother’s perspective.

  “We have enough sad things going on over here. You better get your head on straight before you walk into this house. Leave your past at the door and think about your brother. He’s a kid, and he’s just lost the one person who loved him the most. You got me?”

  The lines across Pike’s forehead deepen. “Loud and clear. We’ll be there in a few hours and can discuss everything then.”

  “I can’t wait to see you. But do me a favor…” She pauses for only a second. “Leave your attitude in Georgia.”

  I let out a little laugh, covering my mouth with my hand as he glances at me.

  “Fuck,” he hisses, lifting his face toward the sky and closing his eyes. “What a damn mess.”

  I slide my hand across his back and step closer. I’m not sure what to do in a situation like this, but I want to be there for him. “Everything’s going to be okay,” I tell him, trying to comfort whatever demons are chasing him.

  He leans his head down toward me, eyes blazing with so many emotions. “It’s all so fucked up.”

  Beyond fucked up. “I know.”

  Nothing’s been normal since the moment Pike walked back into my life. I’ve experienced more crazy things in the last week than I had in my entire twenty-something years being alive. He’s definitely not wrong when he says things are so fucked up. Everything has been.

  Pike wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me tight against his body. “I’m sorry I brought you along. You don’t need to be witness to all this.”

  I stick my hand under his T-shirt, running my fingernails across the skin of his lower back and smashing my cheek against his hard chest. “I want to be here,” I murmur into his T-shirt.

  His lips are against my hair. “You deserve happiness and the fairy-tale family you have, Gigi. Mine is awful. The Moores are nothing like the Gallos. I never meant to pull you into the drama and bullshit.”

  “We aren’t perfect either, Pike,” I remind him. “No family is. Sure, we seem like a freaking Norman Rockwell painting on the outside, but we fight all the time and crazy shit happens in our lives too.”

  “Darlin’, your family almost shits rainbows.”

  Oh no, he didn’t. I tip my head back, nose scrunched up, and glare at him. “Do you really believe that?”

  Pike nods, his strong hands splayed out across my back. “Never met a family quite like yours. They love each other. They’ll do anything for each other. They argue sometimes, sure, but there’s lots of love there.”

  I step back, gawking at him. I shouldn’t be surprised that with the parents he had, the man has no perception of an average family. “That’s how family works.”

  “That’s how your family works.”

  I cock my head and cross my arms. “And you know the inner workings of families because…”

  I shouldn’t have said it. It was wrong of me to throw his fucked-up childhood in his face, but I couldn’t stop myself. I can only hold my tongue so long before I snap. Talking about my family is the quickest way to get me to start spewing words before thinking.

  He shrugs. “I don’t know. The short time I’ve been with the Gallos, I just…”

  “Choose your words very carefully,” I warn him, ready to give him an even bigger piece of my mind.

  I can put up with his shitty attitude.

  I can even put up with his anger.

  The one thing I can’t put up with is him throwing digs at my family.

  He takes a deep breath and lets out a sigh. “You look at my family and think, wow, they’re so messed up, right?”

  “Not really,” I lie.

  I’m not sure “messed up” is even a strong enough term to describe the Moores. I’ll never know his mother, but in the small amount of time I spent with his father…he tried to freaking kill me. His granny and Austin are complete unknowns, but they won’t be for too much longer.

  Pike eyes me like he knows I’m not being truthful. “You’re a shit liar.” He shakes his head with a small smirk on his lips. “Maybe the worst ever.”

  I laugh with a shrug. “I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”

  “Let’s go.” He motions toward the cab of the truck. “I want to get there before nightfall.”

  I take a step backward, but his hand captures mine before I get too far. I squeak as my body jolts, and he pulls me against him again. “Promise you won’t hate me after this trip,” he begs, his eyes searching mine.

  “I won’t.” I blink a few times, confused. “Why would I?”

  He places his palms against my face as he traces the edge of my jaw with his thumbs. “When you see where I come from and the few family members I have left, you may not like what you come across. Sometimes it’s easier to cut dead weight than wade through the mess, even if there could be something great on the other side.”

  “Are you the something great?” I tease him.

  “We’re the something great.” He doesn’t even crack a smile when he says the words.

  I can’t stop my stupid smile from spreading. I place my
hand on his chest right over his heart. “We’ve already been through some ugly things together, Pike, but I’m still here.”

  He rests his forehead against mine, hands still cupping my cheeks. “Thank fuck for small miracles,” he mutters.

  I don’t speak, letting him feel whatever he’s feeling. I just breathe him in, seeing the sadness marring his features.

  He opens his eyes, locking on mine. “I take back what I said earlier.”

  “What?” I whisper, gripping his T-shirt in my hands.

  “I’m glad you’re coming with me. I’m not sure I could face this alone,” he confesses.

  And just like that, arctic Pike is gone and the guy I love is back.

  “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be. I’d never let you go through this alone,” I reply.

  Not that long ago, I wanted nothing more than to send him back to Daytona. I couldn’t believe he showed up at Inked out of the clear blue and that it wasn’t intentional. But after everything we’ve been through, his arrest, our stay at the compound, and then almost getting killed, I feel territorial about him.

  I have an insatiable need to make sure he’s okay and to be at his side, which I’ve never experienced.

  Pike’s fingers are on my chin, lifting my mouth to his. The kiss is whisper-soft but filled with all the sweetness of the moment. I could stay like this forever, peppering him with gentle kisses.

  Life is simple in that moment.

  There’s nothing trying to pull us apart. No one chirping in our ears about how we’re wrong for each other or trying to end our lives.

  “We better go.” He pulls his head back, ending the kiss. “Granny’s waiting, and if she’s bitchy now, the longer she waits, the bitchier she’ll become.”

  Just great. “She sounds like Maria.”

  “Constance may be worse,” he says, finally dropping his hand and breaking our connection.

  I back away, moving slowly and keeping my eyes on him as I make my way around the side of the truck. “Then why are we still here? It’s bad enough I’m meeting your grandmother under these circumstances, I don’t want to make her wait any longer. I need her to like me, Pike.”