It’s still very early in the morning, but I might as well get up because there is no going back to sleep after one of my dreams. Plus, I’m sure Kai is waiting for me to come down and confirm my psychotic break. My mind goes back to Burke missing from beside me. I check my phone and see it’s only minutes before seven in the morning. Where did he get off to this early?
I dress and make my way downstairs, finding Kai already sitting at the table holding a mug in his hands. The smell of coffee has my feet moving directly to the pot that holds the liquid I so desperately want.
“Where’s Burke?”
“He got a jump on today. He had some errands to run before a long day of talking to the locals, looking for leads. This whole thing is kind of on pause until we get accepted as visitors to the prison, and neither one of us is very good at sitting idle and waiting. We’re hoping one of us can find someone that knows something.”
Once I prepare my drink, I sit and join Kai at the table.
“Nice shiner.” My hand goes to my cheek, and I groan because I’m sure I look like crap, freshly woken from a nightmare with a bruised up face. “How did you get that?”
“I believe you know the bitch as Stassi.”
Kai’s jaw goes slack, but he quickly recovers his manners and closes his mouth. “Braelyn did that to you?” Even with everything that’s happened between us, it still feels like a betrayal to be discussing Brae with one of her clients using her real name, but I guess I should get over that.
“Yup. Don’t worry, I got in a few good punches of my own. Kai . . . when was the last time you saw her?”
He breaks eye contact with me, focusing down on the table. He sips his coffee before he answers. “Yesterday, around noon.” He looks more than uncomfortable about his answer.
“You don’t have to feel weird about seeing her. Shit’s been going down between her and me, but that doesn’t mean you can’t keep your arrangement. It doesn’t bother me.” Kai looks up and reveals his relief that I’m not upset with him. I like that he’s worried about upsetting me.
“When did this little physical altercation between you two happen?”
“Last night. She was a guest at the party I was working, and she was waiting for me out back when I left. The stupid bitch hid in the shadows and then snuck up on me. Coward. Didn’t even have the balls to throw a real punch.” He laughs at my words, and I smile.
“So you landed a few good hits?”
“Yeah, sorry. Your little friend will have a few bruises on her pretty face for your next appointment.” If she did have a date last night, I wonder if she had to explain the state of her appearance to him.
“I won’t be having any more appointments with her.” Kai’s face scrunches in disgust, his features resemble those of someone who’s smelled something foul. It’s kind of cute.
“Why not?”
“You’re one of us. We protect our own. If Braelyn is an enemy of yours, then she’s an enemy of mine.” Wow. I like the idea of belonging to this group, and that being with Burke is a package deal. Teagan and Kai are part of that package.
“She’s not my enemy. We just . . . she . . . well, I don’t know, but I don’t like to consider her an enemy.”
Kai nods his head in understanding.
“Still, she fucked with you, so I’m done fucking her. With the funds not coming in from UT, I really shouldn’t be blowing cash on whores anyway.” I wince as he calls Brae a whore, and he notices. He looks sheepish and apologizes. “Sorry. You know what I mean. Changing topics, can we discuss the dream I woke you from this morning?”
Great change of topic. Ugh. One drama story for another.
“There’s not much to discuss. I have vivid dreams more often than not, which often result in others being woken up. Lately the dreams have been more detailed, and I think they’re memories. Problem is if they are memories, I think they are too far back for me to really remember or know the truth.”
“They’re bad?”
Kai looks uncomfortable and moves to bring the pot of coffee, milk, and sugar to the table. He fills his own cup, leans over to fill mine, and then leaves everything else between us.
“They aren’t great, and until recently they have just been the same frustrating dream. Over the last few weeks, they have started to change, though. I know it’s sick to say, but sometimes I hope for them. I get more pieces to the puzzle, but I still have no idea what they mean, if anything.”
“I get that. It’s not sick, it’s logical. It makes sense you want to figure them out.”
I’ve never talked to anyone about my dreams, and this is the second person in a week I’ve opened up to about them. Somehow, the sharing has made them less scary, and it’s nice to know people sort of understand what I’m saying.
“I have nightmares too sometimes, ya know? Mine stem from truth, someone who was more monster than man—my father. The memories still haunt me even when I’m awake. It’s possible you’re better off not knowing the truth behind the dreams.”
I guess Kai understands more than I thought. “I’m sorry about your father. What was he like?” Kai and I are opposite sides of the same coin. He knows all the gory details and wants to forget them, while I’m in the dark and want answers.
“He was a man who should’ve never been a father. Drank too much, which didn’t help his explosive temper. He was unhappy and angry in general, but when something set him off, it was a whole other story. His favorite pastimes were sports, guns, and using my mom and me as punching bags. At least until I was old enough to defend us.”
“You talk about him in past tense. Is he dead?”
“He is to me, but no. He’s in prison and will be for the rest of his life.” Kai’s voice is hard as he speaks about his father, but I see the sadness in his eyes. Children shouldn’t start their lives out in situations like that at home, but unfortunately it happens all the time.
“For life? What did he do? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. You don’t have to answer.” What’s with all my questions? This conversation, even though the subject matter is hard, feels easy. I want to know more about Burke’s best friend, and from the looks of it, my new friend too. I can use all the friends I can get. Kai remains quiet while he studies my face. I hope I haven’t crossed a line with him by sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong. Kai proved to me today he’s someone I can talk to, and that’s rare for me. I want to do the same for him.
“He killed my mom.”
I wasn’t expecting that.
“After I moved out of the house, she was left alone with him. I tried more times than I can count to get her to leave him, but she wouldn’t. I don’t know much about what happened the day he killed her—why they fought or the gory details. He wouldn’t admit to anything during questioning or the trial. He’s never ’fessed up about any of it.”
Kai’s eyes don’t reach mine while he speaks. The details obviously still haunt him.
“The trial and the coroner’s report explained she was beaten to the point that if he hadn’t later shot her, she probably never would’ve mentally or physically recovered. They found bruising on her brain, internal bleeding, bruised ribs, along with several broken bones. They think he let her suffer like that for hours before he eventually killed her.”
I’d bet the scars marking Kai’s skin have something to do with his dad. It makes sense.
“Then the sadistic bastard left. He left her dead on the floor and went out to a bar. A neighbor called the cops when they heard the gun shot, and they found my dad a few hours later sitting on his normal bar stool as if he hadn’t brutalized and murdered his wife. The man is a sick fuck. I haven’t seen or spoken to him since I testified against him at his trial.” That was worse than anything my imagination could have cooked up. No wonder Kai thinks of him in the past tense.
“I’m sorry, Kai,” I say, avoiding looking to Teagan, who is now standing in the doorway behind Kai with tears rolling down her cheek.
“My mother .
. .” Kai clears his throat in an effort to hide that he’s a little choked up by the mention and memory of his mom. He recovers and continues. “My mom, she was a good person. She was kind and loving. How she ended up with him and why she stayed, I’ll never understand. She didn’t deserve any of the things he put her through or what he ended up doing to her.” Kai’s hands shake with great intensity. I’m sure there are a lot of emotions tied to this, but the look in his eyes and the jostle of his leg tells me it’s the anger at his father fueling his physical reaction.
As our conversation grows quiet, Teagan finally enters the room and goes straight for Kai. Her arms wrap around him from behind and Kai relaxes a little. His hands stroke her arms that are tangled around his neck as she whispers in his ear. Kai doesn’t respond to her, but they stay like that for a little while longer before she kisses the top of his head and then retrieves a coffee cup from the cabinet.
While I should feel every shade of awkward intruding on their moment, I don’t. Their relationship baffles me, but it’s very genuine and I can tell they both care deeply about one another. I’ve never seen authentic love like that in my life before.
These people. The way they are with one another. It’s what I’ve been missing out on my entire life. My own emotion chokes up in my throat as I think over my conversation with Kai, about the relationship between these three people, and realize that they are all really letting me into their lives too.
Burke
It’s been over two weeks since Kai called the prison on our behalf, and a few days since we received a certified letter in the mail giving us notice we’ve been approved. Unfortunately, we still have to follow the procedure of the legal institution, and it’ll be a few days before we can get our visit with Parker Amos. Whoever the hell he is.
Other than the obviously fucked up situation going on around us, things have been good. Better than good. Paisley has come into my world and flipped everything upside down in a way I’ve never known before. We’ve spent a lot of time together around the house, and I stalk the diner during her shifts, disregarding her protests, just to make sure she’s safe.
Things have been disarmingly quiet considering there is someone gunning for us, and that has me on edge more than if someone were rushing the house with an artillery of guns and ammo. But through it all, Paisley has been the best distraction a guy could ask for. She smiles and I forget about it all. She lets me inside her wet heat, and I don’t have a problem in the world. She laughs, and I feel content, maybe for the first time in my life. Call me a pussy or whipped or whatever the hell you want, because I don’t care, as long as I’m coming home to Paisley every night.
I’m working on the sketch I started on the first night I saw Paisley when she came to the house with Braelyn for one of Kai’s obnoxious parties. While the sketch started out more dark and masculine then, it now has a softer touch. Paisley is even turning my drawings into sappy fuckers. I mean, the piece isn’t sunshine and butterflies, but I’ve definitely veered from my original vision. I have a few more details to add and then it’ll be finished. I haven’t tattooed in weeks, too busy with trying to hunt down an invisible man and acting as bodyguards for both Teagan and Paisley whenever they leave the house.
My bank account has suffered too. Teagan is hardly turning a profit at the shop, being the only working artist, and while we’ve started to refill our merchandise stock at UT, we haven’t scored any overly expensive items and took a huge hit from all the things that were trashed. Whispers have been running rampant around town about the break-in, not only because people like to fucking talk but also because we’ve helped in spreading the word while trying to look for leads. Many of our normal clients are more hesitant to bring their goods to us with the unknown hanging over our heads. Kai has been mostly keeping us afloat, along with both our savings. All it will take is one big buy and sell to instantly change all that though.
Kai has always been the brains behind our operations. He’s the one who developed the technology that runs our business. He does the books for both UT and Needle and Ink and handles all our online traffic. He’s essential to our success. Lately, Kai’s been teaming up with a local guy that’s big into the drug and weapon world. He’s some low-life that has been hounding us for years about partnering up with him, wanting Kai for his brilliant technical mind. Our underground website is what puts us miles ahead of any of the criminals around here. It lets us conduct business on a wider scale but keeps it hidden.
Kai had to promise to build him his own website in return for their temporary partnering that’s bringing in our funds. I’m positive the only reason he agreed is because he doesn’t believe the guy will be able to run the site without him. I’d also put money on Kai having something up his sleeve that’ll destroy the site once he’s out from under his thumb and in a way that won’t implicate his guilt. The guy is an idiot if he thinks Kai would hand over the key to our success.
“What’re you working on?”
Paisley, fresh out of the shower, enters the office where I’m sketching. The smell of vanilla fills the room as she brushes out her wet hair. She wears one of my tee shirts, and I’d guess one of her many pairs of cut-off jean shorts, since I can’t really see them under the length of my shirt on her.
“Just a sketch.” I move to tilt the paper in her direction so she can see. She walks closer and wraps her arms around my neck so she can look at what I’m working on.
“It’s beautiful. What’s it for?” Her voice is quiet and hesitant. I wonder what has her timid about the topic of my drawing. She reaches for the paper and studies it closely. Her fingers run across the details on the page as she examines it.
“I don’t know yet. I might put it in the artwork book at the shop. People get ideas from the sketches in there for their own. Plus, it helps when clients can see your drawing skills.”
Her eyes move across the details of the crumbling flowers and the tips of her own fingers trace the outline of the hand in the image, which struggle to hold on to the brittle pieces of the wildflowers’ petals. She’s having a strong reaction to the image her presence has help feminize.
“Burke . . . I want this. Will you tattoo me?” She finally looks up from the paper and something about the image has created a storm of emotions inside her. There is no way I’d deny her anything when she’s looking at me like that, but I want to make sure she’s positive about this. I don’t want to be the one who mars her skin with something she’ll regret.
“Are you sure you want to?”
“Yes. I’m more than positive. You’ve managed to somehow create the perfect imagery for the only thing that brings me peace within my nightmares. It’s representative of every good and bad feeling those dreams bring to my life. I don’t know how you ever did this without knowing about the flowers. Cover up the tattoo on my back with this. I’m more than sure.” A tear slowly slides down her cheek and causes a riptide of sensations through my body. I pull her to my lap and then lean my forehead to hers and wrap my fingers in her wet hair. Any ice left surrounding my heart breaks off and falls away at the sight of her emotion. Her pain is mine. Her joy is mine. Forever if I can help it.
“Let’s go.” I kiss the corner of her lips gently and then stand, bringing her with me. I tangle my fingers with hers and pull her from the office.
“Where are we going?”
Paisley easily follows behind me even before she questions my motives.
“To the shop. We have sexy skin to ink up.”
She squeals and increases the pace of her steps.
“Now?”
“Yes, now. I can’t wait to have my work on your skin.”
Hand in hand we head to the garage to jump in my car. Marking Paisley with my artwork is more than an efficient way to spend the time anxiously waiting for the visitation with Parker. Kai and Teagan are already down at the shop, her tattooing and him watching over. The car ride is filled with nervous excitement from both of us. This wasn’t in the plan today, but I
’m more than happy with the change of events. I pull up outside Needle and Ink, and I turn to face Paisley. “Last chance to back out.”
“No fucking way!”
That’s the exact answer I was hoping for. My girl is a badass. I exit the car and walk over to the passenger’s side. Before she’s even completely out of the car, I grab her and push her against the back door, slamming my lips to hers.
What we’re about to do has me more turned on than doing a tattoo should. I have to taste her before we go inside. The thought has my dick straining against my jeans, and I know Paisley can feel it as I grind against her stomach. Her hands move to my ass, and she pulls me even harder against her, letting me know she likes that she can feel my cock against her. A car drives by, and the driver holds down on the horn, and we pull away from each other. Not wanting to delay it any further, I head inside with Paisley. Kai sits at the front desk with his feet up on the counter, reading some car magazine. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to my own shop, but it’s the first time Paisley has been here, and I watch her take it all in.
She glances over the gray walls filled with artwork and tattoos both Teagan and I’ve done in the past. Her fingers graze the leather of the couches in the waiting area. Her feet move toward the Needle and Ink logo Teagan and I painted together that spans the length of the far wall. She does a full three-sixty perusal of my business while I wait for her reaction. This place is my pride and joy. It may not be where a majority of our income comes from, but it’s the business I love.
I opened the doors to this shop within the first three months of getting custody of Teagan. I was lucky in a shitty situation. We used the little bit of life insurance money we inherited from my parents’ death and money from selling the house I grew up in to buy this place. We took a risk, and it worked out for us. Instead of taking the money and saving it or using the house as a rent-free place to live, we had other ideas. At the time it was a small, run-down tattoo shop. Back then I couldn’t even tattoo. I knew I could draw. We rented out chairs until I learned my craft. It was rocky at first, but it somehow kept us afloat.
Deceit in Bloom (The Love Unauthorized Series Book 1) Page 19
