Hot Ink: All 3 Tattoo Shop Romance Books + 2 Exclusive Bonus Stories

by Melissa Devenport

  Makes sense. She couldn’t count how many times she wished she would have asked him what he drove before she followed him over to Chicago and married him.

  She wasn’t wrong, she noted with dismay as she pulled up in her parking spot and killed the ignition. Her eyes remained trained on the car and John got out with no hesitation.

  It gave her a wretched sort of feeling to see him striding down the short driveway into the parking lot all the condos overlooked. The buildings formed around it in a square that was open only to the entrance way. He was of course, dressed in a suit. He was always dressed in a damn suit or some kind of overly formal clothing.

  What is it people say about not trusting a man in a suit? Oh yah. Just don’t.

  Katelyn stepped slowly from her car though every instinct inside of her screamed at her to get back in and drive as far away as she could.

  No. I’ve been dreading this for a year. I’m going to stand up for myself now or he’s going to keep haunting me for the rest of my life.

  She waited, one hand flat on the warm metal of her car where the door met the roof. John approached confidently, shoulders and head held high. As though beating her, diminishing her, intimidating her, their entire marriage was something he was proud of.

  Katelyn bit back the urge to scream. She wanted to fly at John, nails out, to harm him physically as badly as he had her. On more than one occasion. She wanted to beat his chest and rail against him for being so hopelessly unfair to her when she trusted him blindly. He’d held her heart and her life and he’d betrayed her trust so very bitterly. Pain and rage thrummed through her veins.

  “Katelyn.” John said her name like he had a right to it. Like she was still his. She didn’t like the feral gleam in his eyes.

  She wanted to say that the year had not been kind to John, but on the outside he was as handsome as he ever was. Far too perfect. That should have been a tip off as well.

  “Are you going to stand by that car all day or are we going to go inside and talk?”

  Katelyn winced. So much for having time to set up my phone as a camera. She’d been prepared the night before. Stupidly enough, she hadn’t banked on the fact that he’d be waiting for her to come home. Even after all the years had passed, after everything, she was still so blind to his ways.

  “I guess so. You have one hour.” She turned coldly and stalked over to the sidewalk and up the steps to her condo. She inserted the key in the door.

  She prayed that Missy would sense the evil in the household and stay hidden away. Thankfully she didn’t appear at the front entrance like she normally did. Smart girl.

  Though she wanted to do anything but, Katelyn led the way to the living room. She motioned towards the sofa and after a moment, John sat. She took the arm chair and dragged it away from the window to face the couch.

  “Aren’t you going to offer me a drink?” John tried one of his dazzling smiles, but it fell flat. She might have been naïve enough not to see him coming, but she had learned her lesson well.

  “No,” she ground out. She sat down hard in the chair, squared her shoulders, intent on doing battle. “I just want to talk. And then I want you to leave.”

  “Such a warm welcome from my ex-wife,” John muttered coldly. He crossed his one leg over the other with all the confidence in the world.

  Katelyn wished she had something to throw at him. A glass ashtray would be nice. Aimed right at his head. Although his skull was so thick it would probably bounce right off.

  “You don’t deserve a welcome or warmth.” She knew she was playing with fire, but he was the one who had forced her into this, this final meeting. She was going to damn well say what she needed to. “You hurt me, John. You took me and all the faith I had in you and you broke it. You broke it when you hit me. You broke it when you called me fat and a slut and a cheat and a liar. Stupid and pathetic. You tried to crush my soul. So no, there is no warm welcome here. Now or ever.”

  John’s eyes met hers. They bit cruelly into her soul, bruising her as his fist had once left a mark on her face. He slowly shook his head and had the nerve to actually laugh.

  That mother fucker sat right on her couch and laughed at the fact that he’d harmed her in every possible way. “That’s how you see it? You knew I was just joking. All those things I said, it meant nothing. You knew that I loved you. You needed to grow a thicker skin. You needed to grow up. I married a child. I was trying to show you how to be a woman.”

  “By beating me?”

  “You know I was sorry for that. It only happened when you made me angry. I’d been drinking…”

  “That’s not an excuse.” Katelyn’s stomach rolled and she felt physically ill. “Anyway, just say what you need to say. Or no, don’t. Let me.” She took a deep breath, amazed that John stayed silent. His face remained a mask and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking. She knew he was dangerous like that, when he assessed his opponent, trying to find a weakness to exploit. “I’m done. There is no second chances. I will never come back to Chicago. For the first time since I married you, I’m happy. I have my own life. I guess I have you to thank for that. For giving me the confidence to go out on my own and make myself happy. To build up my career, for teaching me how to be independent.” She was sarcastic, her voice acrid and biting. “I loved you, but that love was broken. You took it and you smashed it to pieces. Our marriage is over. It’s been over for a year. I don’t love you. I’ll never love you again. Don’t come here. Stay away from Miami and stay away from me. After tonight I’m going to file a restraining order to see that you do. I hope you find whatever closure you were looking for because this is the last time you ever see me again.”

  She waited, breath baited painfully, lungs burning, stomach tossing and churning, acid creeping up her throat. Her palms were drenched with sweat. She finally stood, after a few moments of silence, John’s eyes cutting her to shreds. She intended to show him the door.

  Of course, he had other ideas. He stood as well and closed the distance between them in a few long strides. He reached out, wrapped his hand like a vice around her wrist. Katelyn tried to pull away, heart hammering in her chest, the danger closing in on her, but he held her fast.

  “No. You’re going to listen to what I have to say now,” he hissed. Spittle flew from his mouth and hit her on the face, but she forced herself not to wince. She had to stay calm. John was a pariah. He fed off others fear. She wouldn’t show him that her amour had any cracks. “You are a cunt. A low class, fucking whore who used me for a Green Card. You think you can threaten me with a restraining order? I own you, you little bitch. Your life is mine. It was mine from the minute you agreed to be my wife. For better or worse, to death do us part. You’re not dead. You’re far from it. You think you can make me a laughing stock? That you can come between me and my peers, people who respected me before I met you? You’re coming back to Chicago with me. You will say you made a mistake. A momentary lapse of judgment. You will come back and you will be my wife again.”

  Katelyn’s mouth opened in shock. “Are you fucking insane?” she whispered, unable to force her voice to be loud or strong. “I’m not going anywhere with you. Maybe you should tell everyone the real story. Then they’d understand and you wouldn’t look like you’d been jilted.”

  “Bitch!” Katelyn tried to pull away. She knew what was coming. John’s grip was much too firm, his strength always so much greater than hers. He yelled other obscenities, but she tuned them out. She went somewhere in her head, trying to protect herself. She could already feel herself shutting down.

  She barely registered the way his cold hand wrapped around her neck, cutting off her air supply or the way he propelled her easily across the room and slammed her into the wall that adjoined the other condo.

  The condo of the man whose name I don’t know. His face flashed across her closed eyes, danced along with the black spots and bursting colors from not being able to draw a breath.

  John’s hold loosened. Kately
n gasped for air, her lungs screaming. She knew it was only a temporary reprieve to keep her alive. It would do him no good if he killed her. John’s hand left her throat. He gripped her by the shoulders, turned her around and slammed her into the wall again, harder this time. Her face hit the drywall hard. She managed to turn at the last second, just enough to save her nose from shattering.

  Her hair was tugged mercilessly out of the pony tail she’d placed it in. John used her hair as leverage. She cried out, grasping piteously at his hands, trying to keep him from tearing her hair out. He slammed her again into the wall.

  He was yelling, yelling things that weren’t even comprehendible at her. He was in a rage, a worse rage that she had ever seen him in.

  He could actually kill me.

  It was her last thought before he turned her savagely, gripping her hair in his fist. He struck her once in the face, with his closed fist, right along her cheekbone. Pain bloomed along the whole left side of her face. She wailed. She tried to claw at him, tried to rip out his eyes, but she couldn’t reach. He held her just far enough away.

  He drew back his fist again and she closed her eyes, praying the blow would knock her unconscious before he actually did kill her in his rage.

  The blow never landed. At that moment there was the splintering crash of the front door banging open. Footsteps sounded in the hall, getting closer, closer, and then he was there.

  Him, her neighbor, the man whose name she did not know.

  Chapter 8

  His Angel

  Kian

  He thought he’d known rage before. He was wrong. Dead wrong. Rage didn’t even begin to describe what he felt when he burst into his neighbor’s house, the woman who looked and smelt like an angel, and saw what was happening to her.

  Years of training kicked in. Instinct took over. He strode forward in a black rage, his vision honed in on the scumbag who’d just dealt a blow to his angel.

  The minute his hand closed around the guy’s shirt, Kian was the definition of apeshit. He hadn’t lost it in a while. In a very long while, and damn… it felt good to take out his righteous anger on the piece of shit in front of him.

  He tugged the offender away, reached back and slammed his fist into the guy’s face to subdue him. He hit again, breaking the guy’s nose, smattering blood over the walls and floor. And what do you know, Mr. Tough turned into a pile of whining, crying, much.

  Blood actually satisfied a little of the rage burning inside Kian. He wasn’t one of those guys that lusted for more once he drew it.

  “Not so tough when you’re the one on the receiving end, are you?” Kian growled. He drew back his fist and the guy, whining and blubbering, covered his face. He was actually fucking crying. Kian was absolutely disgusted. “Get out. Get the fuck out and don’t ever think about coming back here, you understand? Oh, and apologize to the lady.”

  The man just kept sobbing away, muttering something about his nose, his broken nose. It was pretty clear he had no intention of apologizing.

  Kian had little choice but to haul the guy up by his bloodstained shirt. He was dressed like he was going to a damn wedding. Kian knew his type. The type who paraded around in suits and fancy cars, who lived for the thrill of making money and spending it, who lived to impress all those around them. They lived a big life and talked big, but on the inside they were small and rotten, shriveled up and mean. Essentially the pile of shit in front of him was nothing more than an adult version of the schoolyard bully.

  “I said, apologize!” He thrust the guy out in front of him easily, in front of his angel, who sat with her back braced against the walls, huge blue eyes wide with terror. A huge welt was already forming on her forehead and her cheekbone under her left eye was swollen, the bruise already darkening to an angry purple black.

  The guy blubbered something that passed for sorry. Kian didn’t trust him to get out on his own so he gave him a helping hand. He half dragged, half carried the pathetic excuse out the front door. He didn’t care if he was about to make a scene. So be it.

  “Which one is yours?” he growled. He shook the guy when he didn’t answer. His eyes scanned the lot, landing on the black sports car parked near the entrance. The back tire was on the sidewalk. “Of course. That one.” He started off in the direction of the car, picking up steam. The guy was pulled along, begging and pleading, his pathetic sounding voice echoing through the parking lot. “Shut up.” Kian jerked him roughly.

  Thankfully the car wasn’t far. He reached it, flung open the driver door and shoved his burden into the seat.

  “I meant what I said. Don’t think about coming back. You’re a piece of shit. Only a weak man hits a woman, a pathetic man.”

  “But… but…”

  “There is no excuse in the world that will excuse you for what you just put her through. If I’m going to hazard a guess, it isn’t the first time. Don’t think about pressing charges for your fucking nose either or I’ll find you and break it again. I don’t know where you live, but she does. Remember that I’m in the picture now, motherfucker. You mess with her, you get me. Understand?”

  “Yes,” the guy wailed. The blood streaming from his nose was finally beginning to congeal. It wasn’t at all satisfying so Kian reached in and gripped it hard. He didn’t have to twist to elicit a scream of pain. The blood started flowing again after that, dripping all over the black leather interior.

  Better. Much better.

  “You stay away from her, you hear me? You got off easy today, but I’m not going to go easy next time I catch you. You make any excuse to see her, hurt her, talk to her, anything to do with that woman in there and you’re going to be a bloody pulp when I find out. Got it?”

  “Yah, yah, I got it.” The voice was so high pitched that Kian actually laughed. It was a sick sounding chuckle, mirthless and a little terrifying, even to himself. He never used to enjoy doing physical harm this much. It frightened him how good it felt, how much of a release it was.

  Although this was different. This wasn’t some drug dealer fighting back. It wasn’t someone being belligerent or trying to escape arrest. This guy was a woman beater. He’d dared to lay a hand on someone delicate, fragile, weaker than himself.

  The enjoyment lay in teaching the weasel a lesson he wouldn’t soon forget, in freeing his neighbor from this guy’s wretched presence. He’d never seen him around before. Never heard a fight like he’d heard through the thin wall that adjoined their condo together. Either he hadn’t been home when it happened or the guy showed up out of nowhere, likely uninvited.

  He’d bet on the latter. Years of training and one quick glance at the guy’s left hand gave him one guess as to who the scumbag was. Some kind of ex. Ex-boyfriend, ex-fiancé, ex-husband. It didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to be in the picture any longer.

  “Put your car in drive and get out of here. Out of this city. Out of this State. Get yourself far away before I decide to get on my bike and track you down just to make sure you understood.

  The guy nodded frantically. He managed to push start the car and put it in gear. It was an automatic. Of course it was an automatic. Everything about the loser in front of him screamed fake. He couldn’t even drive a real sports car.

  Kian backed up and slammed the door shut. He punched the metal hard, for good measure, but also because it felt so damn good to smash his fist into something that fought back just a little.

  The guy stomped the gas pedal and roared off down the street. He nearly lost control of the car and had to swerve to avoid a car parked along the edge of the sidewalk.

  Kian shook his head slowly. He hoped the damn guy didn’t kill anyone getting to wherever he was going. He had a feeling that wasn’t Miami. The guy was too pale to have been from around here. He looked like he never saw the sun.

  He started the slow walk back to his neighbor’s condo. God, I don’t even know what her name is.

  He ducked back inside and shut the door, well aware that people around the complex were pr
obably staring, probably taking note that he went inside. He hoped no one called the cops. He’d have a hell of a lot of explaining to do.

  Chapter 9

  A Strong Survivor

  Kian

  Inside her domain once more, the urge to call out and announce his presence was so great he nearly did it. He wanted to start out by calling her name though and he didn’t know what that was, so he just coughed loudly, as though slamming the front door wasn’t enough to announce that he was back.

  The condo was small and when he stepped back into the living room, he found her right away. She’d moved away from her spot by the wall, but she was still curled up on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest, her eyes staring forward, haunted, vacant.

  Oh hell no. He’d seen that look before and he wasn’t going to let her go there. Not this woman. She was strong. She was a survivor.

  Kian bent next to her. He reached out slowly, but didn’t touch her. He wanted to give her time to get used to his hand being there, like she was a scared dog that would either bolt or lash out at his touch.

  “Hey. It’s alright now. I got rid of that trash. He’s not going to bother you anymore. Believe me, I scared the life out of him.”

  His soft words brought her back. She blinked slowly and her eyes changed. She seemed to register that he was there and she actually smiled softly, though her lips trembled. Her huge blue eyes filled up with tears. They spilled over and streamed down her cheeks in profuse trails. He let her cry, let her get it all out. She didn’t sob or make a sound. Her tears were totally silent, though they came down like a waterfall.

  “I think you should probably get some ice on that cheek. It’s swelling up pretty bad.” The sight of that bruise infuriated him. It made him want to make good on his word to get on his bike, track that shitpile down and beat him all over again.

  “I don’t have any.” Her voice was soft, feminine, as angelic as he remembered.

  “I have a few ice packs and some ice cubes at my place. Want me to get them?” He was surprised when she slowly shook her head.