Wrapped in Ink

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  “I lost my train of thought. But, anyway, you should go. I need to get ready. I’m not saying that he needs me to be perfect because God knows I’m not.”

  “You’re our perfect baby sister. Don’t even think anything else,” Macon said quickly.

  “And I love you for that. But I’m not perfect. None of us are. There’s no such thing as perfect other than the word itself. Besides, that’s not what I’m talking about. What I’m talking about is the fact that I need to actually shower. And do my hair. And figure out what I’m going to wear. Do all the girly things I like to do, that your dates like to do before you take them out. Because I know you’ve dated. I have dated people before. I have been on dates. I’ve had boyfriends.” Okay she’d had one long-term boyfriend, and it hadn’t worked out well, but she wasn’t going to add that. Her siblings knew. All too well.

  “I’ve even had sex before,” Arden said and watched as all of her brothers paled as one and growled at the same time. “Yes, I’ve had sex.” Oh, this was good. If she kept saying this, maybe they would get grossed out enough to leave. “Lots of dirty, dirty sex. And I may even have sex with Liam Montgomery tonight.” Too far. She had gone too far.

  “Oh, you won’t be having sex with him tonight. Not if we stay here.” Nate grinned as he said it, and Arden threw up her hands and sighed. “Stop it. Just go. I know you like to play the overprotective brothers, but you’re not actually that annoying. Though if you don’t leave now, you’re going to cross that line. And I will tell every person I know how annoying you are. I will let any girl you think you might want to date, know that you’re so overprotective and rude that you’ll just ruin their lives and get all growly and possessive. That you’ll become one of those He-Men who beat their chests if their women even dare to look at another man.”

  “Oh, stop it. We’ll go,” Cross growled. “And we’re not that bad.”

  “Sometimes, you are. But I love you anyway. Now, go. Thank you for having lunch with me. And thank you for being amazing and always around. But I need some space. Seriously, I need room to breathe.”

  “You better need a lot of space. As in space between you and Liam,” Prior added. Arden just rolled her eyes.

  “That was smooth. Very smooth.”

  “I try. Now, do we need to go through the rules of you going on dates?” Prior asked.

  “No. Because I’m not sixteen. And if you don’t get out, I’m going to kick you. I’ve thought about kicking you all night, and I will make it happen.”

  “Your little kicks couldn’t hurt us,” Macon teased. Just because he said that, Arden moved forward and kicked him hard on the shin. Thankfully, she was wearing her house slippers and had just the right amount of edge that tended to bruise if you hit yourself too hard.

  “Ow. What the hell, Arden?”

  “Oh, did I hurt you?” she asked, not sounding repentant at all. Because she wasn’t.

  “Okay, now that she’s started kicking us, I guess it’s time to go.” Cross kissed her on the forehead and hugged her before the others did the same. Macon was a little careful around her. Good. She would kick again if she had to.

  “I love you. Have a good night.”

  “Don’t have too good of a night,” Cross grumbled.

  “Oh, stop being a butthead.”

  “I can’t help it. You just bring out the overprotective parts of me.”

  “I understand that. And it’s fine. But if you don’t get out, I will start kicking. And I will find other things to kick this time. You’re very lucky that Jasper is hanging out outside, or he would start barking and force you to go.”

  Jasper had spent the entire day in the house with Arden and her brothers, and had gone on a walk with them earlier, but he was currently sunbathing in the last rays of light on her back porch, and she wasn’t going to bother him. But, if she needed him to get her brothers out of the house, oh, she would totally use him.

  “I love you all. Now, go.”

  With that, she ushered them out the door, making sure to lock it with the deadbolt and the chain after they’d left. They might have keys to her house, but they couldn’t get through the little chain without breaking her door. And she knew that none of them actually wanted to deal with the carpentry parts of replacing it, so, that would give her a little bit of time to figure out what to do.

  Oh, God. What was she supposed to do? She was going on a date with Liam Montgomery. L.M. freaking Berry. And as much as she wanted to sound all smooth and competent, there was no way she could.

  She wasn’t good at this whole dating thing. She might have sounded like she knew what she was doing when it came to kicking her brothers out of the house and thinking that she knew the plan for the night, but really, she knew nothing. And she was seriously stressing out.

  And because she was stressing out, she needed someone to talk her down.

  She quickly went to her computer and opened the messaging service for a social media site.

  She didn’t have any friends in real life. At least, not in person. That was because once you got sick over and over again, people sort of pulled away. They didn’t do it on purpose. They weren’t mean about it. But life happened. The more times you had to say no to invites, the more those invites stopped coming. It was just life.

  And because Arden couldn’t be relied on to be there for someone, they weren’t always there for her.

  She didn’t hold that against them, and she didn’t really have any regrets. It was hard to do when she couldn’t really control what her body did.

  But she had a few online friends. They were the ones from her book world, and each of them had their own chronic illnesses. One had rheumatoid arthritis, one had fibromyalgia, one had multiple sclerosis, and the other had what her doctors thought might be Lyme disease or something similar. All of them had been through years of diagnoses and failures, the same with Arden.

  The fact that they had formed their own little group of online friends who tended not to leave the house just meant that they had connections.

  Connections they might not have found without the internet.

  Her online friends were her real friends. She just didn’t see them.

  She quickly sent out an SOS, and Lacey, her friend with multiple sclerosis—though she was far more than her label—was the only one on.

  Lacey: What’s up?

  Arden: I have to get ready for my date tonight, and I have no idea what to wear.

  Lacey: Well, what are you doing? And oh my God, a date. I can’t wait for info. If you can get a photo without acting like a creeper, I would totally appreciate it.

  Arden grinned.

  Arden: I think we’re going out for Italian. Just a cute little restaurant nearby. So nothing too fancy. But probably not jeans and a T-shirt.

  Lacey: Dark jeans could work. Or your leggings with a cute tunic. There was that one photo that you posted of you in that flowery tunic that matched your black flats you just bought. That might work.

  Arden grinned. See? She had friends. Even ones that lived across the country in different time zones.

  Arden: Okay, I’ll figure it out. I hope.

  Lacey: And pics?

  Arden: That might be weird on the first date. But maybe for a message. Just not publicly.

  Lacey: Oh, I know the rules. Never publicly. Never weird. Have fun tonight. And have a blast. And keep all your spoons!

  “Okay, time to get ready to go,” she spoke to herself as Jasper came in, prancing just a bit. He had already gone on two walks that day and had spent some time wrestling with her brothers on the ground so, hopefully, he should be okay at home alone for a couple of hours. She really hated leaving him, but he would be fine. As long as she wasn’t gone for too long. And it wasn’t like she was going to be gone all night. That was so not what her plans were for the night. She might have joked with her brothers about it, but there was no way.

  She was just about to head to her bedroom when someone rang the doorbell.

&nb
sp; “I swear to God if it’s one of my brothers…” she muttered to herself before looking through the peephole and frowning.

  She opened the door as far as the chain would allow, grateful that she’d also locked the glass screen, and frowned. “Hi, can I help you?” The woman looked familiar, but Arden couldn’t remember where she might’ve seen her.

  “Hi, I’m Bristol. Bristol Montgomery. Liam’s sister. I sort of saw you at the hospital that one day. And I know this is super weird, and I’m going to explain everything. I promise.”

  Arden just blinked. “Okay, Liam’s sister? How…how did you know where I live?” She slowed down the words, ready to close the door and run if she needed to. Jasper was at her side, his ears pricked as he let out a little warning growl.

  Bristol’s eyes widened, and she took a step back, her free hand moving up into the air in surrender. Her other hand was full of a bag, and Arden was a little worried. This was strange.

  “Okay, this is weird. So, my brother’s super-organized, and he put your address in his phone. Apparently, he figured out where you live because he saw you after a little jog with your dog, Jasper, or something? Anyway, I stole the phone to figure out where you lived so I could stop by and see you and ask if you needed help getting ready for your date tonight because Liam kind of mentioned that he didn’t think you had a lot of friends. I know, that sounds horrible. I didn’t mean it like that, and I’m so sorry. Can you get your dog to stop growling at me so I can explain everything better?” Bristol basically said that all in one breath, and so quickly that Arden had trouble keeping up.

  “He said I didn’t have any friends?” Arden asked, incredulous.

  “No. He said he didn’t think you got out much. But he didn’t actually mean it like that, because now it sounds like he’s a jerk. He doesn’t get out much either. He only meant that we should stop haranguing him for details about you. I took it upon myself to see if you needed help getting ready. And I’m nosy and just wanted to make sure you knew that everything is good for tonight. And now that I’m standing here looking at your dog that could probably bite my face off, and your expression as you look at me like I’m an insane person, I realize I am that person. I’m just gonna go. We’ll never tell Liam what I just did, right?”

  Arden let out a laugh, completely stunned and a little confused.

  “Let me get this straight. You were afraid I didn’t have any friends because of something Liam said, so you wanted to help me get ready for a date with your brother?”

  “Yes. And this is insane. I should just go.”

  Well, Arden had heard worse. She was probably making a mistake, but from the sheer look of horror on Bristol’s face when she realized what she’d actually done, Arden couldn’t help but laugh, release the chain, and unlock the screen door. She patted Jasper’s head, and he moved back, giving her and Bristol some space.

  “Okay, let’s start over. Because I remember you from the hospital, even if I only saw you in passing. Liam’s only said good things about you, so let’s pretend that this is normal,” Arden said. Because, frankly, Bristol looked mortified, and like she could use some friends herself. Plus, helping Arden figure out what to wear beyond what Lacey had said would be helpful. Or maybe she was also losing her mind much like Bristol had just claimed to be doing.

  “Oh, thank God. Just don’t tell Liam I did this.”

  Arden laughed, shaking her head. “Oh, I’m pretty sure this is going to be the main topic of conversation for tonight,” Arden said, laughing. “Hi. I’m Arden Brady.” She gestured to her dog. “And this is Jasper.” Jasper let out a bark, sniffed at Bristol’s hand, and then pranced away back to the back yard where he would most likely finish sunning himself for the evening.

  “Well, Jasper doesn’t think you’re a threat. So, welcome to my home.”

  “Oh, thank God. I’m such an idiot. I’m Bristol Montgomery. Like I said before. And Liam didn’t say anything bad about you. I promise. We were all at his house last night playing video games.”

  “I know, he told me.”

  Bristol grinned. “And he told us that he told you. He was texting when we walked in, and we totally grilled him for all the details that we could. And because of that, he mentioned that you worked from home and in the same field as him, and that you guys lived close to one another.”

  “I do. All of the above.”

  “Anyway, he mentioned that you worked the same way as he does, which in my mind meant you rarely leave the house and probably don’t actually get to talk with a lot of people in person. I am probably completely wrong. And if you’d like to push me out of the house now, that is totally fine. I’m really just being nosy.”

  “This is the weirdest thing ever, but I guess that’s cool.”

  “Well, I did steal your address from him, he didn’t give it to me. So, technically, I’m a horrible person right now, but I wanted to see if you wanted to do girl things to get ready for the night. And see if you needed to talk about anything. Plus, I’m super pushy, it’s kind of a Montgomery thing.”

  “He mentioned there are like forty of you, right? That’s a lot of push,” Arden said, a little shaky.

  Bristol laughed. “Oh, I think there’s more of us than that by now. Though I am one of the pushier ones. But my cousin Maya, down in Denver? She would probably be your best friend already, and you guys would be doing each other’s nails by now. I did bring nail polish, but your nails already look done, so I guess I don’t need that.”

  Arden just laughed, wondering if she should just live in the moment. She didn’t do that often, and Bristol didn’t seem like a psychopath. Though that was probably what all victims thought before the serial killer got them.

  “Okay, I guess.”

  “Liam really didn’t mention that you needed friends. But…” Bristol trailed off, and Arden shook her head.

  “I believe you. But maybe something in the way he said it made you think that. He’s not wrong. I am sort of a recluse and like to stay in my house.”

  “He’s the same way. Plus,”—Bristol sighed—“he’s in a weird place. I can’t talk about it because that’s for him to talk to you about, but I wanted to make sure you didn’t need anything and, well, you know I’m weird.”

  Arden laughed. “I’m pretty weird, too.”

  “Good. Then we can be best friends. As long as you like…don’t actually hate my brother by the end of this. But we’re not going to talk about that. We’re just going to be friends. Anyway, I brought bourbon creme hot off the black market. Okay, not really, but it used to only be available in Kentucky. But I have my ways.”

  Bristol pulled out a black bottle with brown and caramel coloring on it, and Arden wondered what the hell she had gotten into. Was it too late to call the police?

  “Um, I don’t really drink a lot,” Arden put in. She didn’t mention that it was because it sometimes messed with her meds because, as much as she was trying to go with the flow with this whole Bristol thing, it was still a little weird, and she didn’t want to show the woman all of her insecurities and weaknesses on their first meeting.

  “Oh, it’s fine. I figured you could just keep the bottle in your house if you like it. If not, I can take it back with me. But if you want help getting ready, I’m here.”

  “Well, I guess you can help me pick out what to wear. Because I have no idea what I’m doing.”

  “Well, I’m here to help. My ex-girlfriend is a beauty blogger and influencer, and she helps me figure out what I’m supposed to wear, too.”

  “Your ex helps you?”

  “Yeah, we just weren’t a good fit as a couple, but she loves dressing me, so it’s what I do. And I can probably help you out, if you want. But I can also leave if it gets to be too much. Because I am a bit much sometimes. Believe me, all of my brothers and my best friend, Marcus, tell me that all the time.”

  Arden just laughed and let the other woman have her way.

  It was weird. Very weird. In any other circumstanc
e, this would have felt a little like stalking, and a bit like Arden had hit her head. But there was just something about Bristol that made it seem…okay. Probably any other person on the Earth would have made this completely strange and nonsensical, but Bristol was just amazing. She put Arden at ease and made her laugh.

  In the hour that Bristol was there, Arden was fluffed and cleaned and buffed and made adorable. She’d even been put in something from the back of her closet, similar to what Lacey had picked out, just with a little more pizzazz.

  And she borrowed Bristol’s earrings, which could be odd, but this evening had already been bizarre enough, so it wasn’t too bad.

  In the end, Arden felt like she had made a friend.

  There was just something about Bristol Montgomery.

  It was probably the Montgomerys in general. After all, she was going on a date with one of them in the next twenty minutes.

  “Okay, you have my number, and I even put my address in your phone just in case you want to show up at my house randomly to get payback or something.”

  “No, if payback is needed, I’d probably send one of my brothers,” Arden said with a laugh.

  Bristol’s eyes brightened. “You have four brothers, right?”

  “Yes, but I wouldn’t wish them on my worst enemy.”

  “They can’t be that bad. I know brothers.”

  “They aren’t bad. Actually, they’re pretty amazing and sweet and caring. They’re just overprotective, and I’m in a tiff with them right now, so I don’t want to inflict them on you.”

  “I think you mean inflict me on them, but that’s fine.”

  “Thank you for this.”

  “Thank you for letting me in the door. As soon as I got here, I realized that what sounded like a good plan in my head was probably actually the worst plan in the history of plans. Thank you for not calling the police on me. Or Liam. Even though I know you’re going to talk about it with him later. I’ll deal with the consequences of that then. But you look amazing, and I hope you have a wonderful time. Anything that makes Liam smile right now is worth the scolding I’ll likely get later.”

  “Thanks again,” Arden said, ignoring what Bristol had mentioned in passing. It seemed that Liam Montgomery truly had some secrets, but Arden wasn’t surprised by that. After all, he’d mentioned that he had some stuff to deal with. And it seemed Bristol knew what it was.