Austin helped Alex sit up and rolled his shoulders. “You know the after-care routine, but let’s go through it anyway.”
Alex listened as he stood up to take a look at his new ink in the long mirror Austin had in his station. This had been their second and final session, and he would forever be in awe of his brother’s talent.
“Holy hell, man. You do good work.”
Austin came up beside him so both of them were visible in the mirror. “Of course, I do good work. Why the fuck would you think I’d give you shit ink?”
Maya came up beside him and hip-checked him. He stood between his two siblings as they studied his new art, and a little part of his chest relaxed marginally. Each of them had the same brown hair, the same blue eyes, the same look of a Montgomery. He hadn’t felt like one in far too long, but having these two standing on either side of him like this? Maybe he could do this. Maybe he could be…normal. Or whatever normal he could be.
“You could have had a bad day you know,” Alex drawled. “One slip, and suddenly the tree on my side looks like a burned down forest or something.”
Austin narrowed his eyes as Maya grinned like a loon. “Say that again, and maybe I’ll draw that unicorn on your ass that I threatened you with when you turned eighteen and snuck out late to make out with—”
Alex let out a breath through his nose and did his best to make sure his face looked as if he weren’t feeling the hit to the solar plexus. He and Jessica had been high school sweethearts, dumb and in love and doing their best to ignore everyone else and their own issues. They’d had sex way too young, and they hadn’t been ready for the consequences. They’d been so wrapped up in one another; they’d missed the fact that they didn’t even like each other deep down. He’d snuck out of his house countless times, worrying his parents to no end just so he could have her for the night. She’d been his everything.
His first addiction.
Because of his need for her, he’d forgone college and picked up his camera so he could focus on his own version of studies. What he’d really done was throw his mind and body into Jessica and their sham of a marriage while taking odd jobs here and there until he’d hit it big enough with his own natural talent to create a life for the two of them. It had taken him a while to understand how to nurture that talent, and now he was trying to do it again.
He couldn’t blame anyone but himself for the road he’d taken, but he knew there had been triggers.
And his ex-wife was one of them.
“I snuck out more than you thought I did,” Alex said, cutting into the tension. “Of course, sometimes, it was just to watch you make out with whatever girl you were with at that time.”
Austin growled. “Excuse me?”
Alex grinned this time, warm memories washing over him. “Griffin and I used to sneak out even before Griff got his license and we’d spy on you since we figured you knew what you were doing, and we’d learn a few things.”
Maya cackled at his side as Austin turned on him. “I didn’t even live with you guys when you two were old enough to do that kind of shit.”
Alex laughed. “We figured out where you were from Shep and the twins. Then we followed you.” Shep was their cousin that now lived in New Orleans, while Wes and Storm were the next in age after Austin.
“Little brothers, Austin. You have too many of them it seems.”
Austin narrowed his eyes. “Hell. Just don’t teach Leif or Conner any of that shit.”
“They’re going to find out anyway,” Alex put in. “With the way you guys are popping kids out, there’s going to be a whole new generation of Montgomerys, running around and acting crazy.”
Bile filled his mouth as soon as he said the words but he swallowed it down. They didn’t know, couldn’t know. The others couldn’t see.
“Anyway, I need to go. I have an appointment. Am I good?”
His siblings shared a look at his abrupt change in tone, but he ignored it. He might like that they had been starting to treat him normally again, but he couldn’t let them see everything.
He couldn’t.
“You’re all ready to go as soon as I seal you up,” Austin said cautiously. The conversation was stilted after that, but he couldn’t blame anyone but himself. He kissed his sister on the forehead as he left and waved at Austin, keeping his emotions in check. Between thinking about Jessica, and, well…everything else, he was riding an edge he couldn’t quite deal with.
He needed a damn drink.
But he wasn’t going to have one.
Not now.
Not in an hour.
And damn well not tomorrow.
He pulled into the gym, his body tense as hell, and his hands clenched on the steering wheel. He hadn’t lied to his brother and sister when he’d said he had an appointment, but it wasn’t with his sponsor or a doctor like they probably thought. His meeting wasn’t until tomorrow, so for now, he would release the tension riding him the only way he knew how.
Fighting it the fuck out of his system.
Brody and Harper were already in the locker room when he showed up, his gear over his shoulder. They gave him a look when he walked in, and he shrugged.
“What?” he asked, biting out the word more than he’d attended.
“I didn’t think you’d be here today,” Brody drawled. The man hadn’t lived in Texas for over a decade, but he liked to pick up the drawl at times. “Thought you said you were going into Montgomery Ink to finish up the piece on your side.”
Alex shrugged off his shirt and showed them the freshly done ink, still encased in a wrap. “I can’t do much today, but I can at least wrap up my hands and do steady drills on my own.”
Harper bent over to look at the ink and whistled. “Austin does amazing work.”
“All the Montgomerys do,” Brody said. “Though I think I’ve had at least a partial done from each of the people working at the shop. I just need the new girl, Blake.”
Alex rolled his eyes at Brody’s tone. “You have a death wish, you know. She’s with Maya’s brother-in-law, Graham, and you keep trying to flirt with her.”
Brody winked. “I only flirt if they flirt back. And I don’t actually mean it when I do it. Neither do they.”
Alex knew that was true, and why Hailey, Blake, and even Maya laughed and joked with the other man. It was just how Brody was. He’d never once made a woman feel uncomfortable, and there was something to be said for that.
The man was just a nice guy who cared about those in his circle.
Alex wasn’t even able to keep the one woman he couldn’t get off his mind from running the other direction as soon as he walked into a room.
And that was enough of thinking about her.
He rolled his shoulders, doing his best to try and feel out the way his skin stretched along his side. “You guys ready to work out?”
Harper studied his face but didn’t say anything while Brody just nodded. The three of them had met off and on around town before they’d shown up on the same day at the gym for boxing lessons. Now, they worked out together and boxed, fought, and learned new techniques any time they could each get away. All of them were single, and were in the middle of new changes in their lives, so coming together to beat the shit out of each other had made them a different kind of friends, but Alex didn’t mind it.
They hadn’t known the man Alex was before rehab, so they hadn’t seen him at his worst.
They only saw him bruised, bloody, and sweaty now after trying to work out his demons the only way he could.
He couldn’t drink to bury them anymore.
He might as well try to beat the shit out of them.
****
Tabby was running late, and it was no fault of her own. Even knowing that, she was still frazzled. The phone hadn’t stopped ringing since she’d shown up that morning, and she was about to throw it against the wall. There had been a pipe issue at one of the job sites so Wes had been out of the office the entire day dealing with that. Storm had
been in a meeting with an upcoming client that had only been scheduled for two hours but had taken seven because the client kept wanting to add things that would affect the structural integrity of the house. Storm had to rush off to another meeting onsite right after, and Tabby didn’t even have time to talk to him before he’d left her alone in the building.
Decker, Luc, and Meghan had been onsite all day, as well, dealing with issue after issue, and while that wasn’t unusual, it had put more work on her shoulders when someone came in to speak to them. She didn’t get how people didn’t understand that they needed to call in first to see if someone were actually in the building before showing up with a hundred different questions. But she dealt with it anyway.
Now it was almost five o’clock, and while she usually worked until after six, she’d wanted to go home on time today since she had a roast in the crockpot. She also had it on her planner to call her mother that night, and those calls usually took upwards of two hours.
Her head actually hurt just thinking about how much she had to do, but she’d do it, and if anyone were watching, she’d do it with a smile on her face.
Damn it.
The phone rang yet again, and she hummed to herself, wondering if anyone would notice if she let it go to voicemail. She was alone in the building, after all. But that wasn’t Tabby, and she just needed to deal with it for another hour, if not less.
She rolled her shoulders and let out a breath before answering the phone once again. This was what she lived for, usually. Putting pieces together and organizing things until they worked was what she did and what she was darn good at.
“Hello, Montgomery Inc., this is Tabby, how may I help you?”
The door to the building opened as the other person on the line spoke, and she turned to watch Alexander walk in. He brushed snow off his shoulders and looked around the mostly empty room until his gaze settled on her.
She licked her lips, annoyed with herself once again for staring like a teenage lust addict.
“Hello?”
She blinked as Alexander tilted his head toward her and moved closer. Though it wasn’t merely walking or moving, he prowled. She wasn’t even sure he was aware he did it.
“Sorry, yes, we can schedule that.” She nodded as she wrote down a message and added the time to her computer calendar before hanging up. “Alexander, I didn’t know you would be in today.”
He shrugged off his coat and set down his computer bag. “I was at Decker’s site for most of the day, taking photos of the men and women working and getting some behind the scenes shots. I thought I’d come by here and get some pics of people working before the end of the day, but I didn’t realize you’d be the only one here.”
He shuffled from foot to foot, and she swallowed hard. “Is it a problem I’m the only one here?” Did he not want to be alone with her? And why did that matter anyway?
She was giving herself a headache, and frankly, she needed to get a grip.
He shook his head. “No, I was just surprised. That’s all. Are you usually here by yourself when it’s dark out?”
She frowned. “It’s only just now getting dark, and since we’re headed toward spring, it’s going to stay light for longer and longer as the days progress. And I’m perfectly fine on my own. Your brothers put up security for the whole building.”
He held up his hands in surrender. “Sorry. I just worry about my sisters, and I guess I didn’t like the fact that you’re here alone when it’s dark out, and snow is on the ground.”
She ground her back molars. “I’m not your sister.”
His eyes darkened, or maybe she just imagined it. A trick of the light maybe. “I know.”
She licked her lips. “Good, then.” The phone rang. “I have to answer this.”
“Go ahead. I’m going to take a few shots around and see what comes to me. Do you mind?”
She waved him off as she answered the phone yet again, doing her best to ignore him and the way his muscles bulged as he pulled his camera out of its case. Damn the man for being so attractive.
And damn her for not only staring but liking the man beneath, as well.
She took notes once again as the person on the other line relayed their problem, and she tried not to look at Alexander as he snapped photos of empty desks and worktables. When he turned to her with his camera in hand, she froze, her phone at her ear.
He pulled his face away from his camera and looked at her before she ducked her head, embarrassed to have caught him snapping a photo of her. She’d known he would be taking photos of everyone who worked at Montgomery Inc., but she hadn’t really thought about what that would mean for her.
She finished up the phone call as he packed up his bag. “Are you done, then?”
He nodded. “I’m still getting the feel of what the project’s going to look like.”
She shook her head at that. “I’m such a planner that I’d probably have four notebooks already with an outline of what I needed to do.”
“My brain doesn’t work like that, unfortunately. I wish it did since it would probably make my job a bit easier. But with things like this, I can only have a vague idea of what I need until it snaps into place for me.”
“Well, if you ever need an extra notebook if you want to try planning, I have a few dozen.” She closed her mouth as her eyes widened, and she felt her cheeks heat. She hadn’t meant to let him know about that little nugget of her nerdiness.
“Only a few dozen?” he asked with a grin. “You sound like Wes.”
She shrugged. “There’s a reason he hired me.”
Alexander studied her face. “I can see that.”
They looked at one another for a few more moments without speaking, and she wasn’t sure what to say or what was going on. There was…something. Or perhaps she just imagined it.
“Are you almost done here for the day?”
She forced herself out of her odd thoughts and nodded. “Yes, actually. I might have a few things to do at home, but business hours are done.”
He shrugged his coat back on. “I’m going to go scrape off your car if that’s okay with you.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
He leveled her a look. “No, but I want to. And I’ll be out there anyway doing mine. That way, you won’t be out in the parking lot in the dark.”
“There are street lights, you know,” she said dryly.
“Just let me.” He held out his hands. “Please. And if you give me your keys, I’ll get your car warmed up, too.”
She let out a sigh. She had three older brothers and had been working long enough with the Montgomerys to know when to just give in and let the guy act all caveman. She quickly got her keys out of her purse and handed them to him.
“Do you know which one it is?” They shared a parking lot with a few buildings so she knew there couldn’t be just the two vehicles out there.
“Yep. I’ve known you for a while now, Tabitha. Even if it doesn’t seem like it.”
She met his gaze, knowing there was something else going on she couldn’t quite place. “Thank you.” She cleared her throat. “For my car.”
He nodded in answer and left her alone to pack up. She let out a breath as soon as he’d left and got to work. She just had one more thing she had to do, and then she’d be ready to go. Honestly, she couldn’t just leave him out there in the cold all alone for too long.
She had her back to the door when it opened again. “You were fast,” she said as she turned, only to see it wasn’t Alexander.
No, this was a larger man with big arms and a bigger gut whom she recognized as one of their former clients. She kept a pleasant look on her face, though her body was on alert. She didn’t know why this guy was here, and she had a feeling this wasn’t going to end well.
“How can I help you?” she asked, her voice surprisingly calm.
“You already helped enough, bitch. Did you think I’d just pay your fucking fees and be done with it? You Montgomerys are al
l a bunch of crooks. Liars and cheats. I’m not paying that bill damn it. Fuck you.”
She reached out for the phone though she kept her eyes on him. “I’m sorry you’re not happy with your bill.”
He moved then, and she tried to get away, but he was faster. His hands dug into her arms, and he slammed her back into the wall. Her head snapped back, and she bit her tongue hard enough to taste blood. Fear poured through her, and her pulse raced. This guy was just so freaking big.
She couldn’t fight back.
She was helpless.
How…how could she be helpless?
The guy got closer to her face and squeezed her arms. “Fuck. You.”
She kicked at him, and he slapped her hard across the face. Tears slid down her cheeks, and she tried to fight back, but she wasn’t strong enough.
Before the guy could hit her again, someone pulled him off her.
She fell to the ground on her butt, gasping for breath as she tried to calm her tears and figure out what was going on. Alexander was on top of the other man, hitting him over and over in the face until she was afraid the guy who had attacked her—Charles, yes, that was his name—was dead.
Tears still sliding down her cheeks, she stood on shaky legs and made her way to Alexander’s side.
“Stop,” she breathed. “Stop,” she said again, this time stronger as she put her hand on his shoulder.
Alexander lowered his arm and looked over at her, his eyes wild. “Are you okay?”
She was numb so she didn’t know, and she told him so.
He let out a curse and stood up over Charles, who she could tell was still breathing but had passed out. “Call the cops. I’ll make sure this ass doesn’t wake up.”
Ink Exposed Page 4