A Twist of Fate

by Christine Michelle

  “I’m a customer here, aren’t you supposed to be cordial?” He sneered as he shot those words at me with a bit of venom.

  I popped a hip out, put my hand on it, and gave back all the attitude I could muster for the moment. “Well bless your sweet little heart, I didn’t realize you were actually going to pay for the work you were having done!” I held out my other hand to accept his payment. He rolled his eyes and turned his back on me.

  Before he walked out the door he glanced back over his shoulder and made sure I could hear him call me a “Stupid fucking cunt,” and then he was gone.

  “You okay?” Sully asked as he came up behind me.

  “I’m fine. I don’t like that cum stain though.”

  Sully huffed out a quick laugh. “As much as I love to hear the names you have for people, sweetheart, I think it’s best if you watch your attitude with that one, especially when no one is around.”

  I turned to him and noticed the concern laced tension in his face. “I promise, I don’t have any plans to go near him ever again.”

  “Good.” He twisted his head to peer back behind us. “Might want to stay clear of that one too, G.”

  “That one is harmless,” I promised him.

  “Somehow, I doubt that very much,” he muttered before moving around from behind the counter. “I was just about to head out for the night. Want me to walk you to your car?”

  I shook my head. “Nope. I have plans later.” I didn’t miss the nervous look that passed over his face as his eyes moved from Ever’s workspace back to me.

  “Be careful. You have my number. Call if you need anything, I mean it.”

  “Yes, daddy!” I teased.

  “Hmm, I like the sound of that. You may call me only that from now on!” He waggled his brows at me then and licked his lips. He didn’t do it in a sexy manner. No, the jackass before me looked more like one of those cartoon dogs salivating over a nice juicy cat.

  “You are too much, and I will never call you that again.”

  “Well, then it looks like I need to go find me someone who will for the night.”

  “You’re gross!” I called out as he left the building. I saw through the front window that his only answer was to flip me off as he walked away. I was technically already off of work, but I stayed behind the counter and played on my computer until I saw that they were done. I knew the piece she did for her brother was larger than some of the others and would go on his back. He seemed a bit tender when he slid his shirt and kutte back on, but didn’t say a word about it before coming to me.

  “You ready to get out of here, or are you still on the clock?” He asked.

  I smiled up at him. “I’ve been off the clock for a few hours now. I was just waiting around to see if you cried during your tat,” I teased to ease the tension I could feel rolling off of him in waves. He ducked his head, seeming shy for a moment and then pensive eyes came back up to meet my own.

  “She could have dug that needle in deeper and it wouldn’t have hurt near as much as knowing what I was responsible for doing to her heart.”

  Oh God! I just wanted to hug that pain right out of him again. I know he screwed up when they were younger, but it was clear that he wore the pain he caused his sister like a second skin. Now, he’d also wear the ink that commemorated it as a constant reminder. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. It was a choice he made though, so my opinion didn’t matter much. I busied myself with packing up my laptop and then smiled brightly at him. I hadn’t been able to get my stuff together in time to miss the fact that Ever was leaving with Deck, the third biker from the other day. He had come in when she was finishing Toby’s ink, and now they were leaving together. Kane had come out at some point too and stood near the window watching them. His fists clenched tightly, released, and then clenched again. He didn’t even realize we were standing there until he turned to head back toward his space. He tipped his chin up at me as he went, but it wasn’t the warm greeting it usually was. His jaw was held stiff with anger and his shoulders were pulled up tight. I knew the minute I heard the buzzing that he was getting ready to take his frustrations out on his own body.

  My tummy fluttered at the though, because it was another reminder that he would never be mine. He was hung up on a girl who obviously hadn’t noticed him. I was pretty sure I could chalk that up to unrequited karma. It didn’t matter though.

  “I’m still thinking we need to come up with some pretty good stakes here. I don’t think you can scarf down a whole pizza, and we need to lay it all out.”

  “Lay it all out?” I asked, forgetting about Kane and what he was up to.

  “Yep! I don’t need you backing out with the excuse that we didn’t hash that shit out in the beginning.”

  “And what stakes would you try to wrangle in our little wager?”

  “Well, I think if you can’t finish that pie, I need to stay over at your place so I can console you. Since you’ll be a giant loser and everything.”

  I laughed at that. “Oh yeah? So, what’s in it for me if I win and eat the whole thing?”

  “Well, besides a stuffed belly? You’ll need me to stay the night so I can take care of you in case you get sick later,” he told me as if it was something I should have already considered.

  “You are too much. Those are your stakes? Seriously? Either way you get to stay over.”

  “Exactly!” He offered with a grin and then placed his hand at the base of my spine, just above my ass to help guide me out of the shop. For some reason, I couldn’t fathom telling the charming bastard no.

  Chapter 2

  Unrequited

  Kane

  My fists clenched tightly at my sides as I watched Ever ride away on the back of the bastard’s bike. He didn’t deserve her. No one wearing that fucking patch on their backs deserved the time of day from that girl, let alone to bask in the glory of her sweet smiles, or to have her arms wrapped around him as they rode off into the fucking sunset together. Throwing shit in the shop wasn’t the proper adult response to what I was feeling. Instead, I managed to prep myself for some ink therapy, and started to work on my own thigh. It was an angel with wings spread, but her face was obscured by hair that had fallen loose from whatever had been holding it back.

  “You’re going to have to get a handle on that,” Zeke told me as he stood watching over the half-wall at what I was up to.

  “Don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied.

  He chuckled in response. “Right, and I don’t know whose face that is behind all that hair,” he mentioned as he tipped his head toward the tat I was working on.

  “It’s not anyone in particular.” The denial rolled off my lips sounding for all the world like the truth it wasn’t. I’d be dishonest if I said I never looked at Ever when she used to come around my parent’s house with my sister. I kept my distance because she was too young then, and it made me feel like a fucking pervert for seeing the woman she was becoming as each year passed. Granted, we weren’t that far apart in age, just five years, but still. Five years, back when she was underage, was a world apart. I wasn’t sure why it killed me so much now that she was obviously interested in Deck. I knew him to be a decent guy, despite the biker club he was in.

  “What would Erin think?” Why was this fucker bringing up my sister? It was a moot point anyway, wasn’t it? I stopped the machine in my hands, set it down carefully and turned my full attention on my best friend.

  “What would Erin think about what?” He gave me a look, and I knew I wasn’t fooling anyone. “Listen, she made a choice before I said anything. Now, the choice is something I have to live with.”

  “You don’t. Nothing’s set in stone, but if you decide you want to go after her, you better bring your ‘A’ game because I have no doubt that dude will!”

  I blew out a frustrated breath and tried to shake the shitty feeling off. “Haven’t felt interested in someone in a real way in a long time,” I confided. “I don’t know what Erin would say.
Part of me thinks she might be angry with me for trying to steal her friend, but honestly, I think she’d be happy so long as Ever was.”

  “Yeah, that sounds more like Erin, actually,” Zeke admitted with a smile. “She’s a good kid,” he added before glancing away. “You know, you may be overlooking someone in the shop family who wouldn’t hesitate to hop on the back of your bike.”

  “What the fuck?” I asked, forgetting that there was another woman working with us for a minute. Then I heard the tinkling sound of her laughter coming from up front as she worked to get someone scheduled for an appointment. “Oh!” I managed to get out as I realized Zeke was trying to tell me that my girl, G, might have a thing for me. “Nah, I don’t think you’re on track with that one. We’re just friends. I think, if anything, she has it bad for Sully. They’re always playing around and…” I didn’t get to finish my thought because Zeke slapped me on the shoulder, shook his head, and laughed.

  “You are hopeless, my friend.” That was all he said before he walked off to go join Gretchen and whatever potential client up front was making her laugh. I glanced back down at the angel on my thigh. It wasn’t quite done, but I could finish the shading later. The moment was gone, and the work no longer appealed. I got myself cleaned up, wrapped, and then spruced up my station before leaving for the day. Once I was finished, I noticed that Gretchen was no longer up front, and Zeke was standing at the front desk eyeing me knowingly. Yeah, okay, after he mentioned her possible crush I was waiting to see if it was true. Oh well, there was always tomorrow, and lucky for me, just as I was about to head out the door, a fine ass red-head with a killer smile and tits for days walked in. She flashed me a grin, winked seductively, and then turned right back around to follow me out of the shop.

  “I’d really like a tattoo, but you can ink me later. I’d rather go wherever you’re heading right now instead.”

  Well, that was a little more forward than I liked, but what the fuck? Sometimes, a man just needed to fuck out his frustrations with a warm and willing body to get over what he couldn’t have. I wrapped my arm around her and pulled the woman over towards my Harley. “You ride?” I asked her.

  “I ride hard,” she breathed into my ear. As she did, I glanced across the street to the pizza joint where Gretchen was standing with Ever’s brother, two pizzas in his hand as he moved her toward his bike and they laughed. Dumbass didn’t think that through. I chuckled and pulled the redhead closer as she sucked on my earlobe. Only this time when I glanced back up, it was to see shocked disapproval on Gretchen’s face before she quickly turned away.

  I wasn’t sure why it mattered who I was with. Obviously, she was about to go hook up with Ever’s biker brother. What was it with the women in my life choosing those bikers? I shook the thought off and hopped on my own ride, making sure the red-head was tucked up tightly behind me. “Hang on, honey!” I directed the woman and then we were off and headed back to my place.

  I should have never taken the bitch back to my house. We fucked, barely, after several shots between us. Then, she just made herself at home. She wouldn’t take a fucking hint that it was time for her to go. Truth be told, I was too fuckin’ tired to care and ended up falling asleep with her there in my bed. That was not my first mistake that night, but it was one of many that just snowballed from there. As it turned out, my first mistake was in not listening when Zeke spoke. The man knew what the fuck he was talking about.

  There was no going back and undoing things though. Instead, I woke with the red-head draped across me. I pushed her off, got up, took a shower, and got dressed all the while she was still passed out in my bed. She wasn’t really though. I saw when her breathing changed and knew she was faking it so that she could draw this shit out longer. “You need to get the hell up, it’s time to go. I’ll take you to your car on my way to work.”

  She lifted her head, feigned grogginess, and smiled brightly at me. If only the woman realized her makeup from last night was melted all down her face in an unattractive way. “Don’t you want to go for round two this morning before we venture out, baby?”

  “Go get cleaned up so we can go,” I told her as I sat in the leather chair in the corner of my room and slid my feet into my boots. She pouted her lips at me, which lost any of the effect she was going for considering her lipstick was smudged around her mouth as if she had gone to clown school to learn how to do makeup. If she had been someone I liked, I might have teased her about it to alleviate any embarrassment on her part. The woman was no one I planned on ever seeing again though.

  A sudden shriek from the bathroom was the only indication that she’d realized just how unappealing her offer had been. “Oh my God!” I heard her hiss as I pulled my leather jacket on over the black t-shirt with one of my designs on it that advertised Permanent Marks Tattoos.

  As I sat there waiting for her to wash the shit off of her face, I realized my phone wasn’t on. I fixed that and immediately saw a slew of messages pop up. The last of which was from Zeke.

  Zeke: Erin called the shop looking for you. Better give her a call when you get your phone juiced up.

  I didn’t wait, and instead dialed my sister. “You’re an idiot!”

  “Okay?” I questioned her immediate response. “Why am I an idiot?”

  “I thought you had a thing for Ever?” She asked, shocking the shit out of me.

  “What?”

  “Don’t play dumb!” Erin hissed the words into my ear through the phone. “Well, hell, maybe you’re not acting since you’re obviously an idiot.”

  “Erin!” I growled her name into the phone. “You wanna skip the drama and tell me what this shit is about?”

  “It’s about you being a dumb idiot! I thought you had a thing for my best friend! I’ve been making plans! We were going to be sisters for real, but noooo! You had to go and screw it all up!”

  “Who are you talking to?” The redhead asked, loudly, as she came out of my room. I narrowed my eyes at her in warning, daring her to speak up like that again.

  “Is that why you didn’t go after Ever? Too busy with ink groupies? Jesus, Kane! I thought you were better than that!”

  “I’m still missing something here, Erin. Spit it out or I’m hanging up.”

  “You were supposed to be the one she fell in love with! It never should have been someone from that stupid club. They’ve done nothing but hurt her, and if she stays with Deck, she’ll have to be around all of them. You were supposed to sweep her off her feet and show her what love was all about!”

  Jesus fucking Christ! “You have got to be shittin’ me, Erin! The whole reason I never went there was because I thought you’d be pissed if I did.”

  “What?” She shrieked. “No!”

  “Yeah, baby sis! Maybe next time, you should let your brother in on your little love connection plans.”

  “Oh God! It’s all my fault!”

  “Sure seems that way,” I told her, not really meaning it.

  “Well, have you even tried? Why aren’t you fighting for her?”

  “Erin, I have to get to work. Can we discuss this later?”

  “Fine! But you need a really good game plan now. Deck is the ultimate competition.”

  “I’m well aware!” I informed my sister. She seemed to forget that I had a front row seat to their courting.

  “No, you really aren’t. When I say you have to step up your…”

  “Love you too, Erin!” I called out to her, drowning out whatever she was saying. “Okay, Talk later, bye!” I blurted before hanging up.

  “Who was that?” The redhead asked in a bit of a snotty tone.

  “That was none of your fucking business. Let’s go!”

  “You were a lot nicer last night!” She huffed.

  “You looked a lot better. We can’t all stay perfect all the time.”

  “Oh my God! I can’t believe you just said that.”

  Okay, I felt bad. I didn’t mean to take my frustrations out on the woman. I should have neve
r brought her back to my place to begin with. “Sorry, look, I’m in a mood and I really need to get to work.” I glanced down at my phone again. “They already had to reschedule my first client and that’s not cool.”

  “Okay, baby. That’s all you had to say.”

  “I’m not your baby,” I clarified. She smirked at me, her lips no longer seeming as full as they did last night. Obviously, the makeup was half of what she looked like, because the other half was lacking a whole lot from what it had appeared to be the night before. The beauty mark on her cheek was now gone, her eyes were bright blue last night, and now they were just a dull and lifeless light brown. It almost matched her reddish brown hair that seemed to be a bit more lackluster in the light of day too. Jesus, was anything about the woman I’d taken home last night real? It didn’t seem that way.

  When we got to the shop, she followed me and parked her ass right in my chair. “What are you doing?” I asked.

  She shrugged her shoulders. “I came here last night to get a tattoo, and I still want it.”

  “Are you kidding right now?” I asked, beyond frustrated with myself for still having to deal with some random pussy I picked up. Of course, one hanging around the studio was bound to be a clinger. I’d talked to Zeke and Sully about making the female clients off limits before. They often times developed an unhealthy attachment when you mixed permanent ink and sex. They thought it meant more than it did to us. The guys were actually better about not getting involved with clients than I was.

  “What the hell is it you wanted?” I asked, ready to just get it over with so I could get rid of her.

  “I just want a little ‘ol heart, right here,” she said as she spread her legs and pointed to her thigh. The spot she pointed out had a bruise, that I had no doubt, put there the night before. Fuck. My. Life.

  “Sit back, shut up, and when we’re done, you’re gone!” The scowl on my face matched the tone in my voice. The dumb bitch mimed zipping her lips shut as she spread her legs wider. I really should have known better than to do it. The red flags had been waving at me all morning. My head wasn’t in the game enough to realize though. Instead, it was back on my conversation with my little sister. Erin had been right. I was a fucking idiot.