Rivers of Ink

by Julie Archer

  The breath escaped from her body. “I think I’d like that very much. Thank you!” She couldn’t get the words out quick enough. “When would you like me to start?”

  “Is Monday too soon? I think you said you didn’t have to give notice anywhere.”

  “That’s right. Yes, that would be great.” She didn’t think her smile could get any wider. “I’ll see you then.”

  6

  Monday came around far too quickly for Callan.

  He’d ended up working late on Saturday, then headed out with some of his favourite clients for some drinks, which ended up with him getting home at five in the morning. As a result, Sunday had been a write off and he’d barely moved from the sofa. Drew had been trying to get hold of him all day, to the point where Callan had switched his phone to silent to stop the barrage of messages. Drew was still badgering him to talk to Isobel, which was not on Callan’s agenda.

  When his alarm went off on Monday morning, the last thing he wanted to do was go to work. He contemplated calling Aidy to rearrange his appointments, then remembered that Alicia was starting. He’d cleared the morning in order to show her the ropes and get her acquainted with the systems, then take her to lunch.

  Since she’d shown up for the interview last Thursday, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. Even though they’d been together for such a short time, he’d managed to push Isobel, Xander, and the dark thoughts from his mind. He wondered why she hadn’t waited for him to wake up before she left. Maybe he would ask her.

  The thought of seeing her again propelled him out of bed and into the shower. He pulled on black jeans that were just that little bit tight and a close-fitting black shirt. Deciding it was more important to get to the shop rather than have breakfast, he grabbed his biker jacket and headed for Fosse Arcade.

  He stopped into Books ’n’ Beans on the way, where he spotted Wren behind the counter.

  “Hey, Cal,” she said, greeting him with a hug as she usually did. “How’s it going? Aidy tells me you’ve got a new girl starting today.”

  “Nothing gets past you, does it?”

  Wren grinned. “Not likely.” She turned her attention to the coffee machine, brewing him up a black Americano with an extra shot, exactly how he liked it.

  “Put another shot in please, Wren. Could do with the caffeine this morning.”

  Wren obliged and handed him the takeaway cup. “On the house, honey. Take it easy on the new girl, yeah?”

  Callan raised it in salute. “You got it.”

  Aidy and Miles were already there, midway through appointments and both of them waved. Callan’s eyes were drawn to the reception podium that was festooned with streamers, balloons, and glittery table decorations. Pearl came down the stairs, a massive grin on her face.

  “Your idea?” he asked.

  “Of course. Means I don’t have to do it anymore, so I’m celebrating.”

  “You might need to help out a bit until Alicia gets used to it,” warned Callan.

  “Whatever. I’m only doing it because you’re such a nice boss. I’ll stop at lunchtime.”

  The door opened, and they both looked over to see Alicia standing there. She looked gorgeous, almost mirroring his outfit of skinny black jeans, but she wore hers with a black peasant top topped with a cropped denim jacket. Her dark chocolate brown hair was tousled as if she’d just got out of bed.

  “I see you got the memo about the uniform,” said Callan, gesturing to his own clothes.

  “I didn’t know there was one? Aidy didn’t say anything about it.” Alicia frowned.

  “There isn’t. We seemed to have dressed the same this morning.” Callan floundered. “Hey, come on in.” He gestured to the podium. “As you can see, we’re ready for you.”

  Her gaze swept over the decorations as she walked towards him. “That’s some welcome.”

  Callan didn’t know whether to shake her hand, hug her, or kiss her on the cheek. Somewhere along the line it all got a bit messed up and he nearly kissed her on the lips. “Sorry, that was, I didn’t mean…”

  “Don’t worry about it,” she said at the same time.

  The awkwardness between them was broken by Pearl. “Ah, Alicia, welcome! I, for one, am very glad you’re here. Can’t wait to be back to making people squirm and scream while they’re paying me.”

  “Pearl does tattooing and piercing,” explained Callan. “Mainly it’s teenage girls getting their ears pierced, though occasionally she gets asked for other things, if you catch my drift.”

  “Ah, Cal, I can’t wait for you to finally agree to a Prince Albert. It will totally enhance your sex life.”

  Pearl was totally oblivious to the fact that Callan felt his face flame when she said that. He shot a sideways glance at Alicia and noticed that she was a little flushed too. Get a grip, he told himself, we have to work together.

  “Let’s go upstairs to the office. I can show you around.”

  He was grateful to have a distraction from the delicate conversation and led Alicia up the stairs. Callan pointed out the tiny staff area, where she could leave her jacket and bag if she wanted to, the kitchen area, and the toilet. He explained that the two private rooms were used by either Pearl; Marek, the other tattoo artist; or himself when the work in question was on a part of the body that the client didn’t want anyone seeing. Sometimes he questioned why people would tattoo that part of their body if no-one was going to admire the artwork, as long as he was getting paid for it, it didn’t overly bother him. They went into the office, which Callan had made some effort to tidy up over the weekend.

  “This is it.” He gestured to the tired looking laptop on the desk. “The shop’s email is on there, plus the social media accounts. All the passwords are the same now. None of us could remember more than one.” He passed over a scruffy, crumpled sheet of A4 paper. There were crossings out and things written in different coloured pens. If he’d thought about it, he should have retyped it and printed it out new. Callan thought he saw a glimmer of a smile cross Alicia’s lips. She probably already had about a million ideas as to how to improve the place.

  She pulled off her jacket and hung it over the back of the chair before sitting down. “Where do you want me to start?”

  “Why don’t you check out the email backlog? I took a quick look the other day but didn’t really get very far.” Callan grabbed his sketch pad from off the top of the filing cabinet and took a seat on the other side of the desk. “I’ll hang out here and you can ask any questions you need to.”

  “Right. So, get rid of any notification messages, spam, that sort of thing?”

  “Er, yeah, sounds good.” He opened up the book and flipped through the pages, trying to find a clean one.

  Alicia appraised him. “Did you do anything with that design you were working on the other day?”

  His head snapped up. He had totally forgotten about the rose and tears he’d been working on when they’d first met. It had been a good design, and he wondered where the drawing was.

  “Not yet,” he said. “I wasn’t finished with it. I kind of got distracted that night.” The corner of his mouth curled into a smile, and he was pleased to see that Alicia reciprocated with one of her own.

  They both went back to work, and Callan pondered whether Alicia’s memory was also going over the events of the rest of that night. He knew for certain his was.

  After a while, Alicia spoke again. “Remind me how many staff you have here?”

  Callan leaned back in his chair, counting on his fingers as he spoke. “There’s me and Aidy—I’m the main tattooist and he’s the most senior barber now. Miles and Aaron are the two other barbers; Marek is the other tattooist; and as you know, Pearl does some piercing and tattooing. Seven of us in total.” He couldn’t bring himself to talk about the gap in the ranks.

  Her eyebrows knitted together. “So, who’s Xander? There are emails here that specifically ask for him.”

  He had to tell her the truth. He couldn’t
keep that from her, not if she was going to be working there. Callan took a deep breath. “Xander is, was, my brother.”

  “Ah, okay. Did he leave to work somewhere else?”

  If that had been the way things happened, Callan would have been able to deal with it. Slowly, he shook his head.

  “No. He… died. In a motorbike accident.”

  Alicia’s demeanour changed. “Oh my god, I am so sorry. I had no idea. Was it recent?”

  “A few weeks ago.”

  She jumped up from her side of the table and came around to him. Alicia rested her hands on his shoulders and gently pulled him towards her. It was a small, comforting gesture. He placed his hands over hers and bent his head towards the floor, screwing up his eyes against the tears he felt coming. Her fingers gently massaged him as he breathed deeply, trying to compose himself. They were like that for several minutes until Aidy came in.

  “Hey, guys, just popped up to see how you were getting on.” He ground to a halt in the doorway. “Things seem to be going well?”

  Callan pulled himself together and shook off Alicia. “We’re fine. Alicia’s starting to get the hang of things.” He stood up. “In fact, I’m going to make a coffee. Do you want one?”

  He stood alone in the little kitchen area as he gathered his thoughts. As he faffed about with the cafetière, he realised he had no idea if Alicia drank coffee. So as not to make things more awkward, he put a couple of mugs on a tray he found in a cupboard, along with some milk and sugar, before adding the pot and going back into the office.

  Alicia’s head was bent over the laptop, and he admired the curve of her smooth neck and the way her hair tumbled over her shoulders. He fought back an overwhelming urge to kiss her. After all, that wouldn’t be the best way to start out their working relationship. He placed the tray on the desk.

  “I didn’t know what you wanted, so I brought everything.”

  She looked up and smiled, her green eyes sparkling. “Thank you. Milk and sugar for me please.”

  Callan busied himself sorting out the drinks before sitting down again. “I should have told you about Xander sooner.”

  “If you had answered any of my questions the other night, then I wouldn’t have put my foot in it.” She took a sip of the coffee.

  “If I’d have told you those things, would you have even applied for the job?”

  “Good question.” There was a pause. “I don’t know if I would. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  It took him a moment before he was able to answer. It had to be the truth. “For one night, I wanted to escape. I didn’t want to think about what was really going on in my life. The night we were together, that was the night before Xander’s funeral.”

  He watched as Alicia’s eyelids fluttered and her jaw dropped.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories for you.”

  He gave her a crooked smile. “I have some great memories of that night.”

  Their eyes met, and Callan instinctively knew she was thinking the same thing as he was: that hot, sweet, sexy-as-hell night of passion. He wondered if there was any chance for them to repeat it.

  7

  It was a warm, balmy evening, and plenty of people had also descended on Oakridge’s Riverside bar and restaurant area to enjoy the sunshine and grab something to eat. As Alicia walked over from the Fosse Arcade, she mulled over her first day at The Unbound Soul. After their heart-to-heart in the morning, Alicia had worked downstairs at the reception podium all afternoon, taking bookings and welcoming clients. While it wasn’t something she was used it, she had enjoyed it, particularly seeing happy customers with a new look, design, or piercing. When there had been quiet moments, she had begun penning a marketing strategy, based on what had been created in the past, as well as putting her own stamp on things. She planned to show something to Callan by the end of the week.

  Nell was waiting for her outside La Mesa Tapas, four cocktails on the table.

  “Are we expecting company?” asked Alicia. She pulled out a chair and sat down.

  “It’s two-for-one, what did you expect?” replied Nell, taking a piece of fruit out of one of the glasses and chewing on it.

  “Where are Rory’s then? I thought we were celebrating my first day of paid employment.”

  Her friend rolled her eyes. “He’s working late again. Apparently, there’s a potential new client that they’re seeing tomorrow, and he needs to do a presentation for them. Only found out at four this afternoon.”

  Rory’s work had been springing more and more last-minute things on him. While Alicia thought that must be a good thing for his career, she knew that Nell was starting to tire of him letting her down at the last minute.

  “Anyway, enough of my whinging. How was your first day?”

  Alicia reached for the Citrus Samba and took a long pull. The sharpness of the pineapple juice and cachaça tasted amazing, and she drank some more, almost finishing the glass in two goes.

  “Careful. You don’t want to be steaming before the food arrives,” Nell warned. “I ordered some olives, taquitos, and empanadas. Oh, and chicken wings. I thought you might be hungry after your first day. Unless your new boss took you out for a slap-up lunch?”

  Callan had offered to take her out for lunch, but she’d declined, choosing instead to head to Books ’n’ Beans for a little time out. It had taken pretty much all of her willpower to say no although it had been the right thing to do. After everything he’d told her, she needed a little time to digest and work out what, if anything, she wanted to happen.

  “He asked, I said no.”

  “What happened? Did you mess up some appointments? Give someone the wrong change? Overcharge someone’s credit card?”

  It was going to be difficult to keep anything from Nell. “I found out his brother was killed in an accident.”

  Nell’s hand flew to her mouth, her eyes like saucers. “Oh my god, when?”

  “Not that long ago. And when we slept together last week, it was the night before the funeral.”

  “Wait, what?”

  “You know I said he’d been pretty evasive when I’d asked him questions about his life? Turns out he was trying to be normal for a night, not have to think about all of that.”

  “Understandable.”

  The waiter appeared with their food and placed the dishes on the table.

  Suddenly, Alicia’s stomach growled. It had been a long time since she’d eaten a slice of cake for lunch. She grabbed one of the empanadas before Nell could get to it. The first bite tasted like heaven. Nell went for a chicken wing.

  “If he had told you about his brother when you’d first met, do you think you’d have slept with him?” asked Nell, as she licked the glaze off her finger.

  It was similar to the question Callan had asked her earlier. Would she have seen him differently? Would she have felt sorry for him? Would pity have played a part in her going home with him?

  “I don’t know,” she replied, honestly.

  “As that’s a null and void point, would you see him again? If he asked, that is.”

  An image of Callan naked and thrusting, kissing the breath out of her, popped into her head unbidden. It was followed by one of him baring his soul to her that morning, the heartbroken look in his eyes as he told her about Xander.

  “In a heartbeat, yes.”

  “Should I cancel that double date on Friday then?”

  Alicia laughed. “Hey, there’s no indication that Callan is going to ask me out. In fact, now I’m working for him, I’m sure he has no intention of doing so, so bring on the date!”

  As she spoke, Alicia wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince, Nell or herself.

  8

  For the first time in a long while, Callan was actually looking forward to going to work. A lot of that had to do with Alicia. He’d spent much of the previous evening thinking about her as he was sketching, and he had come up with a number of killer designs that he was ready to
show clients. It had been a while since he’d felt able to do that. He’d even spent some time working on the rose and tears. He pondered whether he should ask her for a drink or dinner or to see a band. A proper date before he took her to bed. Again. The thought of that fired him up with inspiration that he didn’t know he possessed as the pencil took on a life of its own, whizzing across the pages as he drew.

  He was surprised to see her already at work, perched on the stool next to the reception podium, eyes fixed on the laptop in front of her, brows knotted together.

  “Everything okay?” he asked.

  “Morning, boss,” she replied. “I’m sure it’s nothing. There’s an odd email that came in overnight from Jason Mackey. He replied to something someone called Isobel sent him a couple of months back?”

  A shiver shot down Callan’s spine at the mention of Isobel’s name. He’d done pretty well since the funeral to forget all about her. He didn’t recognise the name Jason Mackey though.

  “I’ve got five minutes before my first appointment. Do you want me to take a look?”

  “That would be great. I’m sure it’s some kind of misunderstanding, but another pair of eyes on it would be useful.” She pushed the laptop in his direction.

  He looked at the screen and read.

  Hi Isobel,

  Thanks for the contact and so sorry for the extended delay, I’ve been taking some time out after my last gig and spent the past few months travelling across Thailand and Indonesia (I know, poor me, right?!)

  Anyway, the opportunity you outlined for the position at The Unbound Soul sounds fantastic and would really suit me right now. I’m in Oakridge tomorrow (Tuesday) and can pop in sometime in the afternoon if that’s convenient?

  Best wishes,

  Jason Mackey

  There was a mobile number and email at the bottom of the message. Callan stared at the words that were swimming around in front of him. Why would Isobel have been asking someone about a job? He checked the dates on the email. At the time Isobel sent the original communication there were no openings. A sense of foreboding settled over him as he scrolled down to read more. Isobel’s message said she’d got Jason’s details from a mutual friend and that they were looking to recruit a barber at The Unbound Soul because one of the existing members of the team was thinking of leaving. He frowned. Miles and Aaron were still relatively new at that time, which left Aidy and Xander. It wouldn’t have been Aidy. His best friend would have discussed it with him first.