Hot Ink

by Carrie Ann Ryan;Cari Quinn;Sidney Bristol

  “The internet makes it easier for family drama to follow you. So I have accounts, but not under my real name.”

  “Oh.” She peeked up at him. “I guess that’s why I never found you.”

  He’d found her and debated over sending a friend request, but it seemed stupid considering all the baggage between them. What they needed was this. The face-to-face time.

  “I’ll send you a request, but I don’t post much,” he warned.

  “It would be nice to keep up with where you are.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I need to get ready for work.”

  He watched her get up and squeeze past him into the bathroom.

  Kit loved her, but their worlds were so different now. Could he make this work? Prove himself to her? How?

  Too many questions to answer and nowhere near enough sleep.

  His phone chimed and he reached into his jeans to retrieve it. There were three messages from Dave that started with:

  Want to tattoo in New Orleans today?

  Kit didn’t have any other plans. So why not?

  Chapter Seven

  Renee refreshed her friend feed, but there were no new updates. At least, none from Kit since half an hour ago. He’d posted a picture of his traveling case with his tattoo machines with the caption, Can’t wait to hit the road today.

  Where was he going? Why hadn’t he told her what was going down? Was he coming back?

  All the insecurities came flooding back. She’d held onto Kit for far too long and allowed his leaving to affect her. And now it was happening all over again.

  “Hey, Renee.” Her co-worker, Heather, set a file box down with a stack of paper on top. “We’ve got a big seizure coming in. Can you help me with the paperwork?”

  “Of course.” She turned and got the forms from a drawer and filled in the necessary spaces as they were dictated to her.

  “What’s on your mind, girl?”

  Renee sighed. “Guy problems.”

  “Well at least you’re seeing someone.” Heather rolled her eyes and echoed her sigh.

  “I’m so sorry.” Renee clapped her hand over her mouth, guilt gnawing at her.

  “Oh honey, I’m glad I’m single now. Don’t get me wrong, but I might never get used to sleeping alone.” Heather’s divorce was barely six weeks final, but she’d been separated for almost a year before.

  “Yeah.” She’d slept heavily, but there was always an awareness that Kit was right there with her.

  Heather peered at her. “Have they found out anything about your house?”

  “No.” Renee shivered. Her home was no longer the safe haven she’d enjoyed. Now, she didn’t even want to go back there. Add to it the icky feeling she’d had that morning that someone was watching her, and her day was not off to a great start.

  “I’m sorry. How’s Mick?”

  “Good. I went by and had breakfast with him this morning. He’s still kicking and giving the nurses a hard time.” She smiled, but in the back of her mind she dreaded the end. Mick was family now, and saying goodbye wouldn’t be easy.

  “Ladies.” An officer set a bag on the receiving window.

  “Hey, Tim. Is that the seizure?” Heather asked.

  “This is the first bag.” Tim leaned in the window and smiled at Renee. She returned his smile, but her mind just wasn’t here.

  “The first bag? Oh lord, what is all of this?” Heather peeked in.

  “A lot of coke.”

  Her phone chimed and she spun toward it, but it was Joe, doing another check-in to let her know how Peaches was doing. As relieved as she was to know her cat was fine, it wasn’t the message she wanted to hear.

  * * * *

  Kit wiped down the third small tattoo he’d finished that afternoon since arriving at Midnight Ink. The other two sisters stood by, their eyes wide, heavy with tears as the third sister wiped her eyes.

  “You’re all done, ma’am. I’m just going to bandage this up and you’re good to go.” He slathered ointment on the cluster of poppies tattooed on her hip.

  “Don’t you ma’am me.” She shook her finger at him while wiping her tears away with her other hand.

  “You can ma’am me all you want,” the oldest sister said with a wink.

  “Any time, ma’am.” Kit grinned and winked back at her.

  The last two hours with the three women had gone from tear jerking stories to laughing so hard he had stitches. Their father, a veteran and by all accounts an upstanding man with a killer sense of humor, had passed away two weeks ago.

  “There you go.” He smoothed the bandage over the tattoo and repeated the same instructions to the third sister as he had the first two. She nodded, but he didn’t think she actually heard him, which was why it was a good thing the shop’s receptionist had a print out on hand.

  “Thank you so much.” The woman on his table sat up and adjusted her shorts.

  He turned to the other two and held out his arms. “Ladies, thank you.”

  The two women hugged him, and when the third was standing he gave her a squeeze, too. Sure, the little bouquets of poppies weren’t something that would be in a magazine and he doubted the sisters were going to show the tattoos off much, but they were special. As much as he loved doing big, custom pieces, he loved the little, meaningful tattoos as well. To one person, he’d just done a boring red flower. To these three sisters, he’d given them a symbol of the forty years they’d spent loving the man who’d raised them on his own. He’d personalized it further by hiding things between the leaves, like a clover and a butterfly charm hanging from the ribbon. Each element was a special story that only these three women knew.

  “You have a way with women,” Sassy, the receptionist and all-round coffee goddess, said with a toss of her hair as the three women passed in front of the Midnight Ink windows.

  “Only the good looking ones.” He slanted a glance her way. She was flirty and fun, but he couldn’t get a read on her.

  The bell on the shop door rang and a slim, blonde woman carrying two bags of food and a container of drinks stepped in.

  “Hey, Shea.” Sassy crossed to the woman and helped her with her load. “Am I glad to see you. These boys haven’t had a second to rest.”

  “Hello, sexy.” Shep, one of the resident Midnight Ink artists, crossed the floor, his boots thumping on the hardwood floors, and swept the blonde up in a quick embrace, kissing her deeply.

  Kit glanced away, uncomfortable with the intimate moment when his thoughts were eighty miles away with a woman who’d made him whole once more.

  “Come here and meet Kit. You already know Dave.”

  Shep led the blonde toward him and Sassy followed, doling out Kit’s lunch with a wink and a smile. Why was he so uncomfortable with the woman’s attention? Was it because of Renee? Usually, when he was dating and women flirted with him he passed it off with a smile and some comment, but now he felt as if he needed to claw the walls to get away.

  “Shea, meet Kit—”

  “You’re the Tattoo King.” The blonde stared at him with wide eyes. She was a pretty thing, though she seemed a little out of place in a tattoo shop wearing a white dress and cardigan.

  Kit chuckled. “Yeah, that’s me.”

  “Don’t hold your breath expecting me to bow down or anything,” Shep drawled as he pulled rolling chairs over for the women and himself.

  “Shit, and here I was hoping you’d shine my boots,” Kit replied. He glanced at his phone, but there were no new notifications since the last he’d checked.

  The other man flipped him the bird as he settled next to his fiancé.

  “Waiting on someone to call?” Sassy drawled.

  He nearly jumped at how close she was.

  “Oh, you are.” Sassy popped a fry into her mouth.

  “Work or pleasure?” Shep asked.

  “Just a friend.” Kit unwrapped his burger, folding it carefully, just as Renee might if she were there.

  Shep let out a bark of laught
er. “And I’m the tooth fairy.”

  “You are?” Shea blinked at him, her wide, blue eyes so innocent. Those two were an odd couple, but they worked. Could he and Renee make it work?

  “Eat your burger.” Shep leaned over and kissed her nose.

  “Hmm, is it that girl that was on the show with you?” Sassy tapped her chin. “What was her name? Megan?”

  “No, I haven’t spoken to Megan since the finale.” He didn’t want to talk about Renee to a group of people he’d met that morning, no matter how nice they were. There was a lot to figure out, and he didn’t know where to start.

  “Your girlfriend, then?” Sassy pressed.

  “Girlfriend? Him? Ha.” Dave leaned over and snagged a few fries from Sassy’s plate.

  “Hey.” Sassy slapped Dave’s stomach and he doubled over. “Who is he waiting to hear from?”

  “Oh, probably Renee.” Dave blinked around the group, the thick glasses giving him an owlish appearance.

  “Renee? Who’s Renee?” Shea asked.

  “Renee…?” Shep glanced between Dave and Kit.

  “Renee LeBlanc?” Sassy sat up straighter.

  Kit stared at the woman. How the hell?

  “Seriously?” Shep whistled. “Man, you know how to pick ‘em.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Kit glared at the man. Was Renee somehow unworthy? What did this ass know?

  Shep pointed a fry at him. “Look, Renee’s a cool chick and I like working on her tattoos, but she can be a little…”

  Wait, this was the guy who’d done the Valkyries on her back?

  “Sugar, if you’re looking for a relationship, she’s probably not the girl for you.” Sassy’s tone was gentle, minus the outrageous flirting she’d tossed out to nearly everyone in the shop.

  “Are you sure you’re talking about the same person?” Dave asked.

  “About five-seven, brown hair, great boobs and a bad ass koi and dragon sleeve on her right arm?” Sassy ticked off the points on her fingers.

  “Yeah, that’s her.” Dave glanced from Kit, who was growing more and more uncomfortable with this line of conversation, to Sassy. “You said you’ve known her for years.”

  “I have,” Kit ground out between his teeth. He had a death grip on his burger and no desire to eat it anymore.

  “Hmm, you two have history?” Sassy asked, one brow arched.

  “History?” Dave laughed and Kit glared, wishing the other guy would shut up. “I’m pretty sure they were—”

  “Can we talk about something else?” Kit snapped.

  Shea stared at him with wide eyes, while the others had speculative gazes trained on him.

  “You’re about to drip mustard, sugar.” Sassy pointed to his hand.

  Sure enough, he’d mangled his burger to the point he had mustard oozing between his fingers. He carefully put it down in the paper bag and went back to the bathroom, heat crawling up his neck. His frustration was aimed squarely at himself. What the hell was he supposed to do?

  He loved Renee. But he also couldn’t give up tattooing. They were worlds apart, with no bridge except the past and their shared lust.

  “You got a problem, man.” Shep loomed in the doorway behind him, burger in one hand, drink in the other.

  Kit continued to scrub his hands.

  “Okay, fine, whatever problem you have, it’s yours, but don’t snap at the ladies like that or we’ll have a problem.” Shep shrugged and took a step back.

  “Sorry about that.” Kit leaned on the sink, watching the other man’s reflection. “How do you make it work with Shea??

  “We love each other. It works.” Shep’s brows rose.

  Kit sighed and dried his hands. Love was one thing, but it didn’t solve all the problems.

  “Something complicated about Renee?” Shep asked.

  Kit tossed the paper towels in the trash and faced Shep. “We have...history.”

  “Okay. And?”

  “We apprenticed together about ten years ago.”

  “Oh. Oooooh.” Shep’s eyes widened and he rocked back on his heels. “Well fuck.”

  “You girls talking in the bathroom without me?” Sassy squeezed by Shep and washed her hands at the sink. “What are we fucking?”

  “Not you,” Shep replied.

  “Well that’s probably a good thing. I’d hate to ruin my friendship with Shea.”

  “Seems Kit, here, left a few things out when he was talking about Renee.”

  “Oh?” Sassy turned to face him. “Do tell.”

  No. No. No. This was not what he wanted to talk about. Especially to people who were her friends. Or something. He had to figure this out on his own. And yet, he opened his mouth and started talking.

  “I want to figure out a way I can be with Renee, but she’s not going to leave Baton Rouge and I need to work. We have…history.”

  “So why not work in Baton Rouge?” Sassy said slowly.

  “Yeah, there’s only one shop worth shit up there. That bar place Dave was at,” Shep chimed in.

  “Exactly, there’s one shop there and their pay is shit.” Kit had thought about it, but after talking to Dave he’d realized it would be a big mistake.

  “Are you against opening your own place?” Shep leaned against the wall and took a bite out of his burger.

  Kit opened his mouth, No, on the tip of his tongue. He wasn’t old enough. He didn’t have the resources. There was no way he was ready. Except…he had the money. And he had connections. And if he owned the place, he could set the prices.

  He closed his mouth and stared at the floor, wheels turning.

  “I do believe you said something smart,” Sassy whispered to Shep.

  “Go put it on the calendar,” Shep whispered back.

  “Hey, can I borrow your desktop for a minute?” Kit asked.

  Lucky Tiger Tattoo was closed. What were the chances he could buy it? Sure, there were a lot of shitty memories there, but it was where he’d met Renee. Where they’d first kissed. Where they’d rescued Peaches. And where he’d realized for the first time that he loved her.

  * * * *

  Renee stared at the front of her little house, dread sitting heavy in her stomach.

  She didn’t want to go into her home anymore, but she needed to get inside. Somewhere safe. Ever since she’d left work, she’d been certain someone was following her.

  Once more, she pressed dial on her phone. Kit’s number rang straight to voicemail, as it had most of the afternoon since she’d sucked up her pride and called him.

  Peaches yowled from the back seat, voicing his displeasure.

  “Shh, I can’t think.” She buried her face in her hands, hating how her body trembled.

  She didn’t know what was worse, suffering from subdrop and the combined fear of her home or the fact that Kit was gone. He’d packed up his kit and left. No goodbye or anything. Just like last time.

  Renee was on her own.

  And what made it worse was that she couldn’t shake the feeling she was being watched. The break-in at her house was strange enough, but what if they weren’t trying to steal anything? What if they wanted something from her? It was a crazy idea, but she wasn’t in the most logical state of mind.

  She scrolled through her contacts until she found her switch play partner and hit dial. The lump in her throat made it hard to breathe, but Nate had seen her at her worst already.

  “Renee?” Nate’s voice was clipped, economical.

  “Hi Nate. I’m so sorry to call you. I know you’re busy.” Despite her best efforts, her voice was watery and her eyes blurred with tears.

  “Oh hey, sweetheart, what’s wrong?” His tone softened.

  “I just…I’m really sorry, but do you…would you mind if I crashed on your couch tonight? Someone broke into my house and the friend I was staying with isn’t answering and I don’t feel safe, plus I’m starting to drop hard and…and…”

  “Of course. Do you need me to come and get you?”

/>   “No. But are you sure?”

  “Positive. I’ve got some work to do, but you can stay here. My bed, the couch, the guest room—whatever you need.”

  “T-thank you.”

  “How long until you think you’ll be here? Are you bringing your cat? Have you eaten? And how long ago did you play?”

  “Peaches is with me. Shit. I didn’t think about that.”

  “It’s okay. Have you eaten?”

  “A while ago.”

  “I’ll get you a snack. Now, when did you last play?”

  “This morning.” Technically last night, but the things Kit did to her this morning, those counted, too.

  “Okay. I think you should sleep with me tonight.”

  Renee bit her lip. She and Nate had an occasional sexual relationship. It wasn’t emotional, though she did care for him, but everything had changed now that Kit was here. Had been there. She didn’t want to sleep with Nate, but that was a bridge she could cross later. For now, she needed his shoulder and his support. Or at least as much as he could give her.

  * * * *

  Kit pushed the door to Mick’s house open and peered around.

  “Renee?”

  No answer. But her car wasn’t outside, so it shouldn’t surprise him.

  The stack of canvases was still in the hall and nothing had been touched in the kitchen. If he knew her at all, she’d have come here and cleaned up after him.

  He cursed under his breath and went in search of his phone charger. After leaving it in his pocket all night and forgetting the damn cord before he left it was dead as a doornail. He’d been dealing with phone withdrawal all day. He stared at the screen as it powered on and it ran through the booting up process.

  “Come on. Come on.”

  They’d intended to leave New Orleans early, but both he and Dave picked up a walk-in client about the time they should have started packing up. With the Midnight Ink staff on the thin side due to vacations, he hadn’t felt right about leaving them both to Shep, who already had a client in his chair. Then there’d been traffic on the road, and hours later he was home.