My Ex's Little Sister (Alphalicious Billionaires)

by Lindsey Hart

That left eyebrow went nuts. “Okay… well- I’m just going to ask you one more time. If it’s your family bugging you, I can’t do anything about that, but tell you that you’re stuck with them for life, so you either need to tell them to piss off or you need to sit down and hash it out.”

  “I can imagine fist fighting my sisters. That would be fun.”

  “I wasn’t talking about hashing it out with your fists. Though that would be quite amusing. If you end up getting in a catfight with them, make sure you film it. It would probably go viral and some sites pay for good content. You could get rich.”

  Rick didn’t know the half of it. No one did. Bella was pretty tight-lipped about her family. All anyone knew was that she didn’t really get along with them. End of story. She left it open for interpretation exactly why that was. They probably assumed it was the whole tattoos, black hair deal, working at a tattoo shop deal.

  “Don’t worry. If I haven’t kicked my sister’s asses by now, and god knows they deserve it, I think they’re safe.”

  “So, it’s not a guy? You’re sure it’s not a guy.”

  “Yup. Positive. Last time I checked, I would know.”

  Rick stared at her. She stared back. His eyebrows leveled out and the left stopped twitching. He looked like he was going to spin around and get back to drawing, which he needed to do given that it was nine in the morning and his client was coming in at ten and she knew he hadn’t finished the design because she’d popped in when she got to the shop and asked, but three strikes on the luck thing. Rick didn’t leave. Instead, he eyed her up, the kind of hairy eyeball stare that would undo even the hardest of criminals and the best liars. Which of course, she was neither. God, the guy should get a job doing interrogations or something.

  “Um, yes?” Bella’s palms went damp on her lap. She carefully didn’t rub them on her clothes since it would be a dead giveaway.

  “So, that guy that came in here a month and a half ago? The one who got the panther on his leg? He seemed like a friend of yours. Seemed like he might have tracked you down and just shown up here to get a tattoo from me because you work here. The moping around lack of vitamin D has anything to do with him?”

  Bella slowly shook her head. “How do you even know that?” He must have overheard them talking when Rhett walked into the place.

  “He told me. Everything.”

  “Everything?” Bella’s mouth opened.

  “Pretty much.”

  “How is that even possible?”

  “You know. We’re tattoo artists, but we’re also therapists. Like hairdressers. We hear everything. All our clients dark, dirty confessions. I know it all, Bel. So, I’m going to ask you one more time. Do you want me to find him and take that panther back?”

  “Like- carve it out of his leg? What the fuck, Rick? That’s disgusting.”

  Rick chuckled low in his throat. He shrugged, but it was a scary, menacing shrug. He wouldn’t actually follow through on anything so gruesome, but the ass-kicking thing- yeah. That could go down.

  “We don’t let anyone mess with our own. And you’re a part of this team, Bella. You’re our friend. I have two little sisters. I would never let a piece of shit fuck around with them. It’s not the first time I’ve kicked a guy’s ass.”

  “I hope there hasn’t been a first time for tanning either.”

  “No, that was a joke. But I’ve blackened a few eyes. One punk thought he could cheat on my sister. Fuck that. I taught the prick the meaning of respect. He’ll probably stay celibate for the rest of his life if he knows what’s good for him.”

  “I don’t doubt it.” Bella shuddered. “You don’t have to worry. Rhett didn’t do anything. He was a perfect gentleman. I broke it off.”

  “So, there was something.”

  “Uh- yeah… you just said…” Bella felt like she’d just run smack into a glass door and fallen flat on her ass when Rick smirked at her. “So, he didn’t actually tell you anything. You were just saying that so I’d confess.”

  “Pretty much. You catch on fast.”

  “Not fast enough apparently.”

  Rick leaned against the desk and the whole thing swayed a little. He straightened after he realized it wasn’t designed to hold his weight. The guy looked like he could bench press trees just for fun.

  “So, what happened? Why did you break it off? He seemed like a decent guy.”

  Bella rolled her eyes. “Nope. Not going there. We work together. I don’t have to give you details of my personal life to keep my job. It’s probably better that personal shit stays out of it.”

  “Okay, well you don’t have to tell me, but it might make you feel better. That’s the whole reason you got half those tattoos, wasn’t it? So that you could talk to people?”

  “I guess so, but not here. Not like this. I’m not getting tattooed right now.”

  “Talking helps.”

  “That sounds like an infomercial.”

  “Just spit it out. Did he fuck up? Hurt you? Do I still need to kick his ass?”

  “No! I just said that it was nothing he did,” Bella hissed. She took a deep breath and willed herself to calm down. Her chest felt like a crowd of frenzied fan girls had just knocked her down and stomped all over her. “It just- wasn’t going to work out.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m not doing this.”

  “Well, we’ve already started, and it seems that you haven’t died yet, so you might as well just finish telling me.”

  Bella eyed Rick up. He was annoying as all hell and she knew he wasn’t going to leave her alone. “I- he had a lot of money, okay? That’s why.”

  Rick’s mouth dropped open. “So, you dumped the guy because he was rich?”

  “Yeah. That’s right.”

  “Well, that’s hardly his fault.”

  “We come from two different places. Or at least, we’d end up there. I’m not a good match for a guy like that.”

  “A guy like what? He seemed decent enough. A little pansy ass at first, but he came around at the end. I didn’t mind him.”

  “Glad he met your approval,” Bella said dryly.

  Rick rolled his eyes. “He can’t help that he has money. Did he ever lord it over you? Ever say that he wanted you to be a certain way because of it? Ever give off the vibe that he expected you to turn into something that you’re not just to please him and fit in with whatever crowd he runs with and whatever lifestyle he leads?”

  Bella wanted to sock Rick right in his fast moving mouth at the moment. Mostly because it felt like he’d just sucker-punched her, and she wanted so effing badly to retaliate that her fists itched. “No. He never said that.”

  “Then why the hell would you dump him? You don’t want to be set for life? You don’t want to have nice things? You don’t want to have a little bit of security? I thought that’s what everyone wanted. I sure as hell wouldn’t mind being rich. If I found a sugar mama to take care of me, I wouldn’t be letting her go.”

  “That’s disgusting.” Bella wrinkled her nose.

  “You might think so, but I don’t see why having money is such a bad thing if the guy wasn’t an asshole. If he didn’t hold it over you or ask you to be something and someone that you’re not, then what’s the harm?”

  “The harm is that he was engaged to my sister. She cheated on him. He found out on his wedding day. That’s the harm. My parents would kill me. His mom would kill him. Probably me too. It would look bad if our families found out. If anyone found out.”

  “Well, you just told me, and god didn’t strike you dead.”

  “I’m sure there’s still time for it to happen.” Bella glanced up like she really did expect a lightning bolt to blaze out of the sky and through the shop’s roof and fry her on the spot.

  Rick blinked hard. “I don’t think the money was the real issue. Knowing you, and you’ve never actually seriously dated anyone in all the time I’ve known you and I asked Bryan and I know it’s true because he was here way before me and yo
u were here before me, but he confirmed that you don’t do relationships at all for the most part-”

  “That’s contradictory and I’m going to kill Bryan.”

  “He was just trying to help. We all are.” Rick’s face softened and it was like a second blow straight to the squishy soft spot in Bella’s chest. “Maybe the real reason is that Mr. Fancy Pants Rich Turd got under your skin and that’s uncomfortable as fuck. The body’s first reaction is to expel foreign objects. Maybe that’s what you were trying to do. Keep yourself safe. Heal yourself.”

  “Okay, those are really bad metaphors, and did you really say Turd at the end of that name you just gave Rhett?”

  “Well I couldn’t actually remember his name, so I had to fill something in. Didn’t want to be too complimentary.”

  “Thanks. Thanks for all the unsolicited advice. Did you ever consider that you’re in the wrong field? You should have been a shrink.”

  “I actually do have a degree in Psychology.”

  “Are you fucking serious?” Bella’s mouth dropped open.

  “No.” Rick grinned at her. “Not at all. I just wanted to see your face when I said it.”

  “You’re a real dumbass.”

  “Don’t doubt it for a second. But maybe I’m right. I have been known to get a few things right in the course of my long, disappointing life. Don’t worry. You’re not the only one who has parents ashamed of you or who don’t understand you or who tell their friends that you actually are a janitor or some shit because that’s better than being a tattoo artist and people can’t look it up to see if they’re right.”

  “They can do so. All they have to do is look up the shop or type your name in and it would come up I’m sure.”

  “Yeah, well, my parent’s friends are old. They take them at their word.”

  “Wow.”

  “Yeah. I know.”

  “I never thought about what my parents tell their friends about me. Probably just that I’m a receptionist and a disappointment. They always wanted my sisters to marry well. They were perfectly fine with them using guys for money. My mom and dad didn’t have money when they married, but they did alright for themselves. They said they just wanted better for us girls, but I think really we’re just their retirement plan.”

  “That’s god-awful.”

  “Yup. You got it.”

  “So… are you going to call that Rhett guy up and tell him you made a mistake and you’re miserable and tired and moping around and you were scared like everyone is and that you made a mistake and it isn’t actually a vitamin deficiency?”

  “Uh- no. No, and that’s the end of it. He’s better off without me. It’s just rubbing salt in his wounds. My sister actually went on her honeymoon that she was supposed to go on with Rhett with the guy she was cheating on him with. That’s the kind of salt I’m talking about. Like not nice table salt. Like road salt. The kind that would burn your limb right off if you rubbed it in a little cut.”

  “That’s terrifying. I’ll have to remember that one for future threats. I really do have two little sisters.” Rick winked at her and Bella rolled her eyes again.

  “Glad I could be of service. And by the way, none of that made me feel any better.”

  Rick shrugged. “No but calling him probably would.”

  “Not going to happen. I’ll get over it soon enough. I’m almost there. Just need a few more weeks. And some sun would really help.”

  “Don’t try moving on with someone else. That never works.”

  “Wasn’t planning on it.” That was the thing. The thing that hurt the most. Like road salt in her wounds. Rhett and his massive schlong and his nice smile and his tender touches and the way he made her feel and the all-around rightness of him that she’d never felt with another person- he’d ruined her. She felt wrecked, even more hopeless for finding someone else than she’d ever been, and god, she had already been pretty hopeless about it all before.

  “You never know. He might show up here for another tattoo.” Rick winked at her. “I better get back to work.”

  “That’s probably a good idea.”

  “The ass kicking still stands if you need it.”

  “Thanks,” Bella muttered as she watched Rick turn and walk back to his room. He shut the door behind him, and the shop went back to being silent. Or at least, as silent as it ever was with a bunch of different people in different rooms that weren’t entirely soundproof blasting different versions of hard rock and metal.

  She leaned forward in her chair, slammed her elbows up on the desk and tilted her face into her hands. She needed to move on. She would eventually. It always happened. The hurt faded away, replaced with scar tissue. Her walls got a little bit thicker each time they were breached.

  It had to happen… eventually.

  It just didn’t feel like it at the moment, given that she felt like the wound was still cut open and gaping and she was slowly, so very slowly, bleeding out. She’d get over it. Because she had to. There wasn’t exactly another alternative.

  CHAPTER 19

  Rhett

  Sometimes life was ridiculous.

  Okay, sometimes Rhett made it that way. Every single bad thing that had ever happened to him could be traced back to bad decisions somewhere down the line. Or just decisions in general. The shit-storm at the end of the rainbow was usually brought about by general pieces of shit decisions long before that storm. His own version of chaotic weather.

  On the other hand, sometimes the worst decisions he made produced the best results. Like dropping out of college when he felt like he couldn’t find what he was looking for. His classes had stifled his creativity. They’d said there was only one way to do something. That was far, far from the truth. He never would have invented half the apps that had taken off if he stayed there. He never would have created his own company and cared so much about making it and proving himself if he’d had a degree to fall back on. If he’d stayed and graduated, he would have ended up working in an office, putting in his nine to five for someone else, slaving away, instead of slaving away for his own ass and his own money and his own fame.

  Which turned out to be a double-edged sword, so maybe it was a bad decision with the typical pot of turds at the end of the rainbow after all.

  Or maybe it would work out.

  Maybe it would work because he’d give it his all and he wouldn’t back down. He’d apply every single creative drop he had into going forward, just like he had with his apps and his software. He’d find his drive again, find that same tenacity, that will to succeed, and he’d push harder than ever.

  For Bella.

  Because life was one steaming bag of shit without her.

  Okay, he’d been using waaaayyy too many shit references in the past few weeks, but life had never required them more. He felt like shit. His days were filled up with bullshit. Everything that used to satisfy him was just shit, shit, shit. Everything went to shit. Shit hit the fan. Life was a shit-storm. He was a piece of shit. Felt like it. Blah, blah, blah, shit, shit, shit.

  What was not shit, but was surprising as shit, was the fact that the guy who tattooed him almost two months before actually called him. At first, Rhett assumed the guy was calling just to check and see how the work was healing. He was surprised when he’d actually checked his voicemail and found out that wasn’t the reason that Rick person was calling at all.

  No, the guy actually left the world’s strangest voicemail. It went something along the lines of Bella missed him, but she couldn’t help herself. She couldn’t pick herself up and pull herself out of the rut she was in and she was scared as hell of being hurt again and that was the real reason she chased him away. Rick ended the message by basically telling Rhett to get his ass down there, right to the shop, since Bella was an easy target there, grow a set, and fight for her.

  Or if not and he didn’t want to see her again, to just disregard the message.

  Like hell he was ever going to do that.

  Which was th
e reason he was currently sitting in yet another rental sedan- a different one than the one they’d sodomized before, though he’d tried his best to get it but given that it was last minute, that was a no-go, right outside the tattoo shop.

  Rhett heaved a huge, shaky sigh. His hands were so moist they left prints on the steering wheel. He rubbed them on his jeans, right above the spot where the panther tattoo was. The thing actually ached, as though it sensed it was coming back to its origins. Or maybe that was just nerves, sweeping through his entire body, turning his stomach into a sloshing mess and making the rest of his limbs heavy with dread.

  He had no idea what he was going to say. Even as he opened the car door and forced himself to walk down the sidewalk to the shop’s front door, he had no fucking clue what he was going to do. He was all out of epic romantic gestures. Not that he’d ever had any in the first place. His romantic game was seriously lacking.

  So was his writing skills. He realized he should have written something mushy and romantic, a poem or some shit, or gotten flowers- something… but he didn’t.

  He was pretty sure Bella wouldn’t like it.

  So, he came as he was, with the only thing he could offer. Himself. Which was really not that great but hell, it was all he had. If Bella really wanted him then she’d take him without romantic gestures or flowers or stupid poems. The only problem with that was that he was pretty damn sure she actually didn’t want him. She’d made that clear. He was there on the off chance, because of Rick’s message, that it wasn’t true. That she’d chased him away because she’d been hurt in the past and it was fucking scary to go through that all again.

  He got that.

  God, did he ever.

  Rhett pushed open the door, even though common sense told him to turn around and leave. Time stopped when he stepped inside. Bella was sitting at that desk, in the same spot he’d seen her at the first time he’d come there. Her head snapped up and her eyes widened with shock. Her gorgeous lips parted.

  “You,” she breathed.

  And that was pretty much all it took to make his happy stick do a happy dance in his happy fucking pants.