by Vi Keeland
He raised his dark brows, his look of surprise highlighting the size and gleam of his blue eyes. His dark lashes surrounded them like sooty halos, and the effect was downright heavenly. “Wow. So is that what your sister does – she’s an artist?”
Mina smiled. “Of sorts. She’s a student.”
“At Pitt?”
“No.” Mina shook her head. “A high school student.”
Eric’s eyebrows climbed another fraction of an inch. “That makes it even more impressive. I can’t believe a high schooler designed that tattoo.”
“She’s only fourteen.”
“Wow.” He raised his coffee to his full lips and drank, still looking impressed.
Mina repressed a sigh as she took her first sip of her latte. Some date she was. All she’d managed to do so far was to talk about her little sister. She probably sounded more like a middle-aged woman bragging about her daughter than a twenty-four year old. And yet, she couldn’t deny that Eric’s seemingly genuine interest fanned the flame of attraction that she’d held for him ever since she’d met him that first day in the shop. He seemed sweet, despite his pulse-quickening masculine build and the sexy tattoos that she imagined lurked beneath his shirt.
“What about you?” she asked. “Do you have any siblings?”
“One brother.” He set his coffee on the tabletop.
“That’s—” Mina’s phone rang, the melody mercifully stopping her from confirming her inability to make interesting conversation by finishing with ‘nice’. “I’m sorry,” she said, reading Jess’s name on the caller ID. “I’ll only be a sec.” She whisked her finger across the screen, answering the call. “Hello – Jess?”
The small sip she’d taken of her latte seemed to curdle in her stomach as Jess answered. “You’re where?” She gripped her coffee cup a little too tightly and hot liquid seeped out from under the lid, running over the sides and scalding her fingers. She yanked them away hastily. “Are you all right? Are you sure?”
Eric had grabbed some napkins and was mopping up the puddle of vanilla latte on the table, offering her a clean one for her fingers. She accepted it, blotting her fingers mechanically as she tilted her head, trapping her phone between her ear and shoulder. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. I’m leaving right now.”
“Is everything all right?” Eric stood as Mina did, concern written across his gorgeous face, his blue eyes a shade darker than usual.
“No.” Mina snatched up her purse. “It’s my sister. She’s in the emergency room. I have to go. I’m sorry.” The pang of regret that assailed her as she met his amazing eyes for what would probably be the last time barely managed to cut through her panic.
Eric followed her to the door, leaving his coffee behind with her latte. “Do you need a ride to the hospital?”
“I have my own car. It’s in the parking garage just a couple blocks from here.” The bell over the café door jingled behind her as she stepped onto the sidewalk.
“Can I walk you there?”
She spared him a glance over her shoulder, trying not to let her regret show on her face. “No thanks. I’ve got to hurry. Thank you for the coffee though.” She took off at a near jog, leaving him behind. If it hadn’t been clear before, it was now – she wasn’t meant to date Eric. Her commitment to Jess didn’t leave any room for a boyfriend.
Chapter Two
The sterile smell of the hospital sent Mina’s heart racing and stomach churning. She walked as quickly as she could without running, her purse swinging at her side like a battle weapon. She forced down a wave of adrenaline as she stopped in front of an information desk and asked the receptionist where she could find Jessica Carson. “I’m Mina Lee, her guardian.”
The receptionist studied her computer screen for a few moments and gave her a room number.
An elevator ride and two corridors later, Mina was greeted by a particularly strong wave of antiseptic smell as she stepped into the coordinating room. It brought back memories she would have done anything to avoid revisiting. That was impossible thought, and her heart and body both ached as she was transported back in time seven years, to the most miserable weeks of her life. “Oh God, Jess, what happened?”
Jess was sitting in her wheelchair, her face pale in comparison to an alarming patch of crimson at her hairline. A nurse was at her side and an unfamiliar mousy woman sat in a chair in the far corner, presumably the teacher who Jess had said had driven her to the emergency room.
“Did you fall out of your chair?”
Jess shook her head. “No, I hit my head on the corner of a locker bank at school. I’m okay.”
“You’re her sister?” the nurse asked.
Mina nodded.
“It’s not a very large wound,” the nurse assured her. “It should only take about three stitches to close.”
Large or not, it looked painful. A stream of blood began to streak over Jess’s forehead and the nurse dabbed it dry with a towel. The sight was far too familiar. Mina kept her eyes wide open, refusing to even blink. If she closed her eyes, she knew she’d see blood and glass everywhere, the memory painted across the back of her eyelids. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to focus on the present. “How did you hit your head on a corner if you were in your chair?”
Jess’s gaze strayed from Mina and she folded her hands in her lap as she examined the large jars of cotton balls and tongue depressors that were lined up on a nearby counter. “Someone bumped into me.”
“Someone? Your chair weighs over ninety pounds, and that’s not including you.”
“Okay, a group of girls bumped into me. I was on my way to the art room after classes ended and they ran into me in the hall. It tilted my chair and I hit my head.”
Mina gripped the edge of the counter, struggling for the right words as anger began to replace the panic that had filled her as she’d raced to the hospital. How the hell did an entire group of girls accidentally run into someone in a wheelchair with enough force to tilt the sturdy base and throw the occupant’s head against the locker bank? “Was it an accident?”
Jess appeared extremely fascinated by a jar full of wooden tongue depressors, but her fidgeting hands gave her away. “I don’t think so.”
“Who did this?” Mina asked through clenched teeth.
The woman in the corner finally spoke up. “Ms. Carson, I can assure you that I’ll be looking into this and that appropriate disciplinary action will be taken if it’s determined that your sister was deliberately harmed.”
“It’s Lee,” Mina replied, “not Carson. And what do you mean if? Do you know how hard you’d have to bump into her to tilt her chair like that?” She’d hefted the chair in and out of her car’s trunk often enough to know exactly how heavy it was. It wouldn’t be easy for teenage girls to tip unintentionally, especially not while Jess was sitting in it. “If she says it wasn’t an accident, it wasn’t an accident.” She turned to Jess. “What are the names of the girls who did this to you?”
The teacher looked uncomfortable, and the door swung open, preceded by a quick double-knock that saved her from having to reply. The doctor stepped in; tall, slender, middle-aged and cleanly dressed in blue scrubs and a crisp white lab coat. “Jessica Carson?”
Jess nodded and he stepped forward, glancing down at her chart. “Let’s see.” He took a few moments to examine her injury. “Well, the good news is that it’s not a very large wound. I should be able to close it up with four stitches, tops.” The friendly smile he flashed Jess didn’t seem to have much of an effect.
She made a feeble attempt at returning the gesture. “Do you think you could use one of, you know, those butterfly bandages instead of actually stitching it shut?” Jess’s hopeful tone played dangerously with Mina’s emotions and spiked her anger. As she thought of the girls who’d inflicted Jess’s injury, she couldn’t help but feel capable of snapping the brats in half like so many cheap, wooden tongue depressors.
“Although the wound isn’t long, it’s too wide
for just a bandage,” the doctor explained. “Without suturing it would take a while to heal and you’d probably end up with a very noticeable scar.”
“Oh.” Jess held her own hands in her lap, both white-knuckled.
“Here,” Mina said, forgetting her anger for a moment. “I’ll hold your hand.” She pried Jess’s hands apart and inserted one of her own between them. “It won’t take long, will it doctor?”
He shook his head. “Not long at all. We’ll be done before you know it.”
Jess didn’t seem convinced, but she nodded, white-faced. “I don’t want to see the needle.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “But tell me before you give me the shot, okay?”
The nurse agreed and began to prepare a syringe full of anesthetic. The sight of the long needle made Mina want to cringe despite the fact that she’d just come from spending two hours having her own skin pierced continually. This was different – the numbing needle looked sinister and painful. Where exactly did all that length go when someone was receiving an injection in the head? Mina looked away as the nurse delivered the shot, squeezing Jess’s fingers in what she hoped was a comforting manner when Jess began to wring her hands.
“There,” the nurse said. “The worst is over with.”
Jess opened her eyes just a crack. “You’re done?”
The nurse nodded, setting the syringe aside on a tray.
Jess winced. “It feels like the needle is still inside my skin.”
The doctor assured her that was normal and turned to a tray of gleaming silver instruments. The actual suturing was over within a couple short minutes. “That’s it,” he said as the nurse prepared a bandage. “This should heal up nicely.” He left a few moments later, leaving Mina, Jess and the teacher alone with the nurse, who handed Mina a yellow sheet printed with care instructions. “If you have any problems or questions, you can take her to your family physician or bring her back here.”
Mina nodded, accepting the papers she’d need to drop off at the front desk before they left the hospital. “Just a minute.” She turned to the teacher, who had risen from her chair and slung her purse over her shoulder. “Miss—?”
“Adams,” the woman said, extending a hand. “Ms. Lee, I really am sorry about all of this.”
Mina nodded. “Thank you for bringing Jess to the emergency room. I’ll be dropping by the school personally tomorrow to speak with the principal. I’m not going to let something like this go.”
“Ready?”
“As long as you promise you’re not going to put pictures of my boobs all over the internet.”
Karen laughed. “Promise. Just tilt your chin down a teeny bit. That’s perfect. Now hold that pose…”
Mina sat stone-still on a stool in front of a white paper background in Karen’s small photography studio. It was barely the size of her apartment, but it worked. Fortunately, it was also very private. Mina glanced at the window to her left just to make sure that the blinds were completely closed. After all, she was sitting topless in the middle of the room and it felt awkward enough without anyone seeing her. Her side and back faced the camera, exposing her new tattoo, and her front was facing the background, her breasts covered modestly by her arm. Being photographed in nothing but her jeans still felt weird, but any sort of top would have covered her tattoo at least partially.
“These are turning out great.”
Mina lifted her chin, peering over her shoulder at Karen, who was studying her camera’s screen. “Are we done?”
Karen laughed, as if Mina’s question had been a joke. “We’re just getting started.”
“How many ways are there to photograph one tattoo?”
Karen ignored her question. “You said you have to be out of here by a quarter ’till three, right?”
Mina nodded. She didn’t have work today, but she still had to pick Jess up from school.
“Okay. We’ll be done by then.”
Mina shifted on the stool. “That’s over an hour from now.”
Karen started snapping pictures again. “Look directly at me this time.”
“I thought these photos were just for Eric’s portfolio.” A shiver that had more to do with regret than the slight chill in the air raced down her spine as she remembered the sexy tattoo artist. “Does my face even need to be in any of them?” His blue eyes had been assailing her memory at random intervals ever since she’d left him on the sidewalk two days before. Had he thought of her since then, or had she bored him to the point that he didn’t care that their date had been interrupted?
“I’m taking some extras.”
“Of course you are.” Karen never missed a chance to take full advantage of a willing – or at least semi-willing – model.
An hour later, Mina was dressed again and Karen was humming happily as she hooked her camera up to her laptop and began downloading the raw shots to her hard drive. “So today was Jess’s first day back at school?”
“Yeah. The doctor wrote her a note excusing her from school the next day, and I thought it would be best if she took advantage of it.”
Karen frowned. “Any word from the school on what they’re going to do to those girls?”
Mina bit the inside of her lip, stifling an impatient sigh. “The principal said he’d get back to me today.”
“But he hasn’t?”
“I’m planning on stopping by his office when I pick Jess up today, if he hasn’t called me by then.” She glanced at the clock on the computer screen. It was almost time for her to leave. “Speaking of which, I’d better go.”
“Don’t you want to see the pictures first?”
“Can you just e-mail me the best – whichever one you send to Eric? I’d like to see what he’ll be adding to his portfolio.”
“Sure. Good luck with the principal.”
Mina groaned. “I hate that he’s dragging his feet about this. How can he act like there’s anything to ‘investigate’ when those girls purposely hurt Jess out of jealousy?” It had taken some prying, but eventually Mina had gotten Jess to admit that the girls’ ringleader was a classmate of hers who reputedly wanted to attend the homecoming dance with Jess’s date. It was almost more than Mina could believe. Jess was beautiful and vivacious, but most high school boys would lack the courage to ask a wheelchair bound girl to a dance. Mina hadn’t met Jess’s date yet, but he had to be sweet – surely not the kind of boy who would fall for a catty bitch who’d assault a girl who couldn’t walk.
“For what it’s worth, I hope those girls get expelled and shipped off to some sort of military school for delinquents. Somewhere frigid, where it snows all year.”
Mina smiled despite her freshly rekindled anger. “Thanks.”
She left the small studio and stepped into the elevator, riding down to the first floor and exiting the building. As she thought of Karen sitting three stories above, choosing which photo to send to Eric, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if it were the other way around and when she arrived home, there would be a picture of him in her inbox, shirtless with his tattoos exposed.
“So how was your first day back at school?” Mina tried to sound casual as she stood at the counter, slicing vegetables with a little more force than was strictly necessary. The sight of the bandage on Jess’s forehead renewed her anger each time she saw it, and she was still charged up from her second meeting with the principal.
“It was okay,” Jess said from where she was sitting at the kitchen table with her homework spread out in front of her.
“Did those girls bother you?” Mina knew she sounded like an interrogative mother, but she didn’t care.
Jess paused for a moment before answering. “No.”
“Really?”
Jess sighed. “They didn’t really do anything to me, but I heard them laughing at me – making jokes about my bandage and stuff like that.”
Mina cleaved a red pepper in half and proceeded to reduce it to tiny slivers almost too thin for even a salad. So much for dipping the
strips in the mix she’d already whipped up.
“It’s not a huge deal,” Jess said. “They’re not going to be at school tomorrow, since you got them suspended.”
“I didn’t get them suspended. They got themselves suspended when they hurt you. And suspension isn’t a tough enough punishment. They should be expelled.”
“You already said that like a dozen times in the car.”
“That doesn’t make it any less true.” She sighed. Maybe she was taking her frustration out on Jess, who was the last person who deserved it. “Sorry. I’m not trying to hash it all out again. I’m just so pissed.”
Jess flipped a page in her notebook, scrawling something down. “It’s okay. At least you care.”
Mina nodded silently. She did care, which was more than Jess could possibly say about the woman she’d spent the first half of her life with: their mother, not to mention most of the foster parents she’d been stuck with for several years after that. The day Mina had turned eighteen had been the second best of her life. The very best had been when she’d obtained custody of Jess. She’d been twenty-one then. She hastily arranged the mutilated vegetables on a plate and sat it on the table beside Jess, along with a small dish of dipping sauce. “I’m going to take a break. Be back in a few minutes.”
“’Kay.”
Mina walked a few short steps, entered the bathroom and closed the door behind herself. Big enough to accommodate a wheelchair, the room was more generously sized than those in most of the apartment complex’s units. Sunlight filtered through a high window, tinted green by the leafy potted plants she’d placed there in lieu of a curtain. She stripped down to her panties (she’d foregone a bra, opting for a top with a soft built-in shelf bra for the sake of her tattoo), draping her cotton shirt and jeans over the shower rod before surveying her left side in the mirror.
