Letting out a frustrated huff, Lizzy put her hands on my bare chest and shoved me out of the way before stomping off in the direction of the rest of our group. I stayed planted where I was and watched her as she walked away, staring at the sexy globes of her ass peeking out from her bikini bottoms as she moved. Jesus, damn it! And I was hard again.
“You know I’m just fuckin’ with you, right, man?” Brett told me, slapping me on the shoulder playfully.
“I imagine you falling down a flight of stairs and breaking every bone in your body. It makes me happy,” I said drily.
Brett just laughed again.
“Just trying to give you a shove in the right direction,” he told me, holding his hands up. “You and your girl need to get your heads outta your asses, man. Y’all are taking too long. Just thought I’d help a brother out and get the ball rolling.”
His words made me stop and think for a second. He wasn’t totally wrong. Things really needed to start progressing; if not, I was afraid my balls were going to shrivel up and fall the fuck off.
“You want to help get the ball rolling?” I asked, looking intently at Brett.
“Yeah, buddy. What do you have in mind?”
“I’ve got an idea. But I need you to keep it on the DL for a while. You think you can do that?”
“You got it. Now what’s the plan?”
As the sun lowered over the tops of the trees, we all sat in a circle near the lake, basking in the last remaining minutes of sunlight.
“Dude, the tattoo looks awesome,” Jeremy told Luke as he and Gavin studied the work I’d done on his back. “How did we not know it was Em’s name in there this whole time?”
“Because I’m awesome like that,” I answered, tilting my head and resting it on the back of my chair.
“Hmm, well, I don’t like to give Trevor too much credit for anything,” Emmy said. “It makes his head even bigger—”
I interrupted with a grin. “Which head you talking about, sweetheart? Ah hell, doesn’t matter, they’re both big.”
Luke reached over and popped me on the back of the head before turning back to his woman sitting on his lap.
“As I was saying,” she cut her eyes over at me, “you really are talented, Trev. Maybe once I pop this little one out, I’ll get you to draw something up for me,” she said as she rubbed her hand over her rounded belly.
“I’d be more than happy to, darlin’”
“No offense, man, but your hands aren’t getting anywhere near my girl, needle or not. I’ll rip your arms off and beat you to death with them,” Luke told me, earning a laugh from everyone.
I couldn’t take the slightest offense, not when the image of Brett’s hands on my own girl hours ago caused me to lose my shit. At that reminder, I leaned forward to where Lizzy was perched on the foot of the lounge chair and jerked her back so she was resting between my legs against my chest. I expected her to fight me, but to my utter delight, she just melted into me and let out a contented sigh.
Cloud nine, right there.
“Emmy can get a tattoo from Mickey,” Lizzy said. “She’s really good, too. It wasn’t the best surprise in the world, but I have to admit, the tattoo of my name that she did on Trevor’s ass really was beautiful.”
“Wait…what?”
Oh, shit.
“Mickey tattooed your ass?” Ben asked as he glared over at me. I looked to Mick for some back-up, praying she’d control her man, but she was too busy laughing hysterically.
“Man, it’s not what you think,” I told him as Lizzy jumped from my hold, giggling uncontrollably as she left me without a buffer between my nuts and Ben’s clenching fists. The traitor. “It was strictly professional.”
“My woman’s hands were on your ass.”
Ah, hell. It wasn’t like I could fault him for being pissed; I’d be mad as hell myself.
I released a groan and stood from my chair. “Fine. One hit. But keep it above the waistline, for shit’s sake.”
Closing my eyes, I lifted my arms out to the sides and prepared to take my punishment like a man.
I seriously needed to consider looking for a new group of friends. These assholes were too damn violent.
It had been three days since our trip to the lake, and as I walked in to Elegant Nails for the start of my shift, what I saw on arrival froze me in place at sight.
“Uh….What’s happening right now?”
“They kind of just showed up this morning and got to work. You didn’t know this was going on?” Kenzie asked as she walked to me from her place setting up her station. We were the only two people to arrive yet; the rest of my employees wouldn’t be in for another half hour. But the fact that I was watching Trevor, Brett, and some of Brett’s construction crew tear out walls at the back of my salon wasn’t something I expected to stumble upon when I woke up this morning.
“Uh, Trev? Wanna tell me why you’re demo-ing my salon an hour before it opens?”
“Hey, wifey,” he replied as he stood and wiped sweat from his brow with the sleeve of his t-shirt. My mouth grew dry at the sight of his damp t-shirt clinging to all that delicious muscle. His faded jeans rode low on his waist, weighed down by a tool belt, making him look like a sexy carpenter from every woman’s fantasy. My God, he was too hot for words. I just stood, anchored to the ground, my mind a fog of naughty thoughts as he walked closer and planted a little peck on the tip of my nose. I managed to pick my jaw up from the floor and cleared my throat.
“Uh, what’s going on?”
“Well,” he said with a grin. “I remembered those plans for the expansion sitting on the table at home and asked Brett for a favor. You said something always comes up that keeps you from getting started, so I figured I’d take that burden off your shoulders and handle it. Brett looked over the plans and said he and his guys could knock it out in no time. I just offered to help when I wasn’t busy at the shop.”
“Hey there, Lizzy-Lu,” Brett called from the back of the shop. I lifted my arm and waved but he wasn’t paying attention to me anymore. His focus was on Kenzie as she worked to finish setting up her station for the day, his eyes planted firmly on her ass as she bent down.
I turned to look back at Trevor, my eyes wide in disbelief. “You did all this for me?” I asked, stupefied by the extents he went to in order to do something nice for me.
“Of course I did,” He reached up to tug a curl of hair before letting it bounce back into place. “You’re my wife. This is what husbands do.”
He sounded so sincere, like this kind of thing should be expected, that I reacted completely on instinct. I stood on my tiptoes and planted my lips firmly against his. I wanted my gratitude to shine through that kiss. I wanted him to understand just how much I appreciated him and everything he was doing for me. It was more than anyone had ever done for me before, and I felt my resolve crumble, almost completely obliterated just by Trevor’s caring actions.
When I pulled away, Trevor’s smile was stretched from ear to ear, that bright, shining grin I’d grown to adore.
“Well, that was definitely a pleasant start to my day,” he said with a laugh, leaning down to press his lips against mine once more. He turned to walk back to the construction area but stopped and spun back to me, reaching into his pocket. “You forgot this at home,” he told me with a wink as he held out his hand. My wedding ring sat in the palm of his hand. Since waking up in Vegas, the disastrous dinner with his parents was the only other time I’d worn it. I guess a part of me still wasn’t sure if this truly was a real marriage. Before I could move, he grabbed my left hand and slid the ring on my finger.
“Can’t have these guys thinking you’re on the market,” he said with a hitch of his head back toward Brett’s men. After delivering that line, he turned and walked away.
“Damn,” Kenzie breathed, coming up behind me. “That man is fine. I think I just orgasmed a little bit.”
I turned and glared at my employee and friend. “Too much information, Kenz. A
nd you’re not allowed to orgasm while looking at my husband.”
She looked over at me with a shit-eating grin on her face. “So he’s your husband now, is he? What happened to the whole annulment thing? Huh?”
I narrowed my eyes “Oh, shut your stupid face,” I snapped as I pushed past her and made my way to my station to start getting ready for the day. The whole time, Kenzie laughed her butt off behind me.
Shortly before lunch, Trevor had to head back to his shop for a client while Brett and his guys stayed to work on the build-out.
“What’s up, butter cup?” Brett said, sitting down in the chair opposite me at my station.
“Hey there. Thanks so much for all of this,” I said, pointing to the construction going on at the back of the salon. “I thanked Trevor already, but I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate what you’re doing.”
A smirk spread over his lips. “You gonna thank me like you did lover boy this morning?” he asked, referring to the unexpected kiss I planted on Trevor. Lifting up from my chair, I reached across the table and smacked Brett across the head. “Kidding! I was just kidding!” He rubbed the side of his head and chuckled at my glaring expression.
I sat back down and went about readying my table for my next client. When I looked back up, Brett was once again staring at Kenzie.
“So what’s her story,” he asked quietly, tilting his head in Kenzie’s direction.
“What do you mean?”
“She single?”
“That she is, my friend.” Kenzie was a good girl and had had a rough go of it. She deserved a good guy, and Brett was once of the best guys I knew.
“You think I got a shot?” He leaned his arms against my table and kept shifting his gaze between me and Kenzie.
I leaned in as well so no one else could hear our conversation. “She’s a good girl, Brett,” I stated seriously.
“And what? You don’t think I’m good enough?” His posture went rigid as his defenses rose. I needed to defuse the situation quickly.
“Not at all! I think you’re amazing, you know that. I just meant handle that one with kid gloves if you’re dead-set on pursuing it. She has twin toddlers and a shithead of an ex. I know it may seem like a lot of baggage for one woman, but I’ll tell ya, she’s more than worth it. She’s just guarded. And when I say guarded, I mean like an electric fence with barbed wire and rabid pit bulls on the other side.”
He looked back over to Kenzie and studied her as he gave my words some thought. “You really think she’s worth the effort?”
“I know for a fact she is, babe. You’d be lucky to get that girl over there.”
He knocked his knuckles on the table and stood. “Thanks, Lizzy-Lu. I’ll give that some serious thought.”
“You do that, honey.” I smiled at him as he headed back to work.
Brett and Kenzie would be an amazing love connection. I knew both well and couldn’t have picked a better match for each of them.
Maybe that was something I should focus more of my efforts on.
Ah, shit, this is not gonna be good, I thought as my next client walked through the door of Ink Addictz. That’s what I got for not looking at the fucking names on my schedule each day. If Lizzy found out about this, I was well and royally fucked…and not in the way that made me want to happy dance.
“Hiya, Trevor,” the seductive voice called from over the counter in the waiting area. I looked up to see Allison Crabtree in all her bottled-blonde, fake-tittied glory. Allison Crabtree, the chick who got between Luke and Emmy when they were younger. The same Allison Crabtree who every person in my circle of friends hated with the fiery passion of a thousand suns.
Cliff’s notes version, Allison Crabtree was the goddamned devil in hot-pink spandex. She was the walking, talking doorknob of Cloverleaf. And if Lizzy found out I had to spend more than one second touching her—even if it was in a strictly-professional sense—she’d cut my dick off and feed it to me.
“Allison,” I responded drily. I made an effort to be polite with everyone who walked through my shop’s doors, but Allison was a leach. She was the type of woman who would grab hold of a compliment and turn it into a marriage proposal. My goal with this one was simply to keep my mouth shut and do my work since all my other guys were busy, leaving no one I could pawn her off on at the last minute. I was definitely having a FML moment.
I heard a choking sound coming from Mickey’s station and looked up to see her trying to smother a laugh. The damn woman knew exactly what was happening. She’d gotten the full scoop on the Emmy, Luke, and Allison triangle of fucked-up-ness when she moved to Cloverleaf. But the damn woman was obviously getting immense pleasure from my misery.
I reached my hand out to shake Allison’s, making sure to use my left hand so she could feel my wedding band, the same band that had been present since the day I handed it to Lizzy to put on my finger.
I knew the second Allison felt the metal; her eyes widened and shot down to my left hand, immediately taking in the metal wrapped around my ring finger.
Pulling my hand back, I shoved them both in my pants pockets and tipped my head to my station, motioning that she should follow me back. Allison sauntered on her sky-high heels, adding an extra, unnecessary sway to her hips. The second her eyes landed on Mickey, they narrowed hatefully. But my girl Mick gave back as good as she got, cutting her hazel eyes at the bitch like she was shooting lasers.
“So, what can I do for ya today?” I asked, taking a seat on my stool. Allison planted herself in my chair and turned her full attention back to me, smiling sweetly. Well, as sweetly as a pit viper could smile, anyway.
“Well,” she replied with a smirk I could only guess was supposed to be seductive. “I was hoping for a pretty little butterfly,” she said, trailing her fingers down her cleavage and stomach. “Right here.” She stopped right below her hip bone.
“Okay, let me draw it up and you can see how you like it.”
“Oh, I’m sure I’ll love anything you do,” she purred. Luckily my back was to her so she couldn’t see me roll my eyes. Once I had the design finished, I instructed her to pull her skirt down just below where the tattoo would be. I pressed the transfer paper to her skin and peeled it away.
“That’s beautiful, Trev!” she exclaimed, the use of my shortened name on her lips set my teeth on edge. “You’re so brilliant.”
A gagging sound came from Mickey’s station. I had to bite the inside of my mouth to stifle a laugh as Allison shot daggers over the half wall separating the stations.
“Go ahead and hop up in the chair,” I told her as I turned to get the colors ready. When I turned back around, Allison had managed to pull her skirt down to an almost-obscene level. The last fucking thing I needed today was a twat shot from this chick. She’d jacked her shirt up so high pretty much every inch of skin between her boobs and crotch was showing. So not necessary for the placement of her tattoo. This time, I didn’t hide my eye roll. “Showing a little more skin there than necessary,” I told her as I reached up and pulled the hem of her shirt down before pulling her skirt up to a more comfortable level.
“Didn’t want to risk getting ink on my clothes,” she giggled as she shifted her skirt back down. The damn woman was absolutely clueless.
Reaching for the roll of paper towels, I ripped some off and tucked them into the waistband of her skirt, lifting it back up at the same time. “There. Now you got nothing to worry about,” I said with a smartass smile.
Ignoring how she’d lifted her arms and stretched herself out in the chair, I dipped my gun in the first color and got to work. I typically liked to keep a running dialog with my clients during their sessions. It kept them from getting too nervous or took their mind off the pain. But today, I kept my lips clamped shut.
“So,” Allison drug out, slowly bending one of her knees in order to give me a peek up her skirt. “You’re married now? Who’s the lucky girl?”
She said ‘lucky girl’ like the words tasted b
ad in her mouth.
“You need to stop moving,” I replied, pushing her knee back down. “You’re gonna make me mess this up if you keep squirming around.”
“Oh, sorry.” She at least had the decency to look embarrassed; unfortunately, it only lasted for a second. “You marry someone from here? Do I know her?”
“Yeah, she’s from here,” I muttered, not taking my eyes off the lines I was inking into her skin. “I’m sure you know her, it’s a small town.”
We managed to go a good five minutes without forced conversation, and I was finally starting to think I’d lucked out when she spoke up again, shattering my hopeful glow. “So it’s, like, a happy marriage?”
“Very happy,” I answered flatly, not giving her anything else. “Okay, you’re all set.” I rubbed some antibiotic ointment on the fresh tattoo and covered it up, going through the aftercare instructions robotically before dismissing her to pay up at the counter.
“Thanks so much, Trev,” she says, keeping her skirt rolled down low on her hips. “You’re so good with your hands. I’m sure I’ll be in for another one soon.”
Yeah, over my decaying body was I touching her again. “You’ll need to schedule with someone else next time. This typically isn’t my style of work. I handle much larger pieces. But I’m sure one of my other guys would be happy to handle your next one.” I turned my head toward Mickey and gave her a wink. “Mickey here’s great with these smaller ones.”
Allison cut her eyes at a fuming Mickey before turning back to me. “But I’d prefer it be you,” she pouted, full-on bottom lip jutting out and everything.
“Sorry, my schedule’s pretty full up. If I’d known what you were coming in for, I’d have put you with someone else anyway.”
“Well, here’s my card,” she said softly, staring up at me from under her lashes. “You know, if you ever want to catch up or whatever,” she smiled, biting down on her over-glossed pink lip.
“Yeah, I’m good.” I shoved the card back at her and began walking away. “Thanks anyway.”
Pushing the Boundaries (Picking up the Pieces #3) Page 10