“May I use your bathroom before I go?” I ran my hand through my hair again. My reflection confirmed my suspicion. My cheeks were splotched with red, my hair was untamed. I was wrinkled, and ruffled, and most likely smelled as such.
He nodded. “I’ll be in the kitchen when you’re ready.”
“Is Liam—”
He frowned. “He left already. I told him I’d be down in a little bit. Paige… he’s just overprotective.”
“I know. Doesn’t make what I did any less horrible.”
“What we did.” He scrubbed his hand down his face. “I’ll talk to him, it won’t be—”
“It’s okay, Declan, let him come around on his own terms, it’s how he is.” The corner of my lip lifted. “He’s just as gruff as I remembered. If not more.”
Declan laughed. “He’s an asshole on most days. Don’t let him get to you.”
“I won’t.” I’d almost convinced myself.
“See you in a few minutes.” Declan grinned just before he turned and opened his bedroom door.
The bathroom was just across the hall, and once I was under the bright lights I cringed. I was worse than I thought. I reached into my jeans pocket and pulled out a hair tie. I quickly assembled a top knot and secured it into place. After splashing some cool water on my face and patting it dry with a towel from under the sink, I stole some toothpaste and brushed my teeth with my finger. The sour taste of my mouth rinsed away with cold water and, as I took another cursory glance in the mirror, I decided this was as good as it was going to get.
Declan was sitting on a bar stool doodling on a piece of paper in the kitchen when I emerged with my bag over my shoulder. He glanced up at me and gave me a gorgeous smile that reached his eyes. His full lips spread even bigger as he assessed me.
“You look nice.” He stood and pocketed the drawing.
“Thanks.” I laughed.
“Would you like to see the shop?” He placed his left hand in his pocket and motioned with his right toward the door.
“Sure.”
I tamped down the fear of seeing Liam again so that I could let myself enjoy the invitation into Declan’s new world.
The air was crisp and dense with the electricity of autumn as we descended the stairs. I shivered and Declan wrapped his arm around me as we walked the short distance from the bottom of the stairs to the back door of the tattoo parlor. The heat of his body was an instant relief, as well as the gesture.
He squeezed me once before dropping his arm to open the door. Once inside, my eyes devoured everything. The art on the walls, some of it I could tell was Declan’s, but the rest were mish mashes of style. From the typical tattoos to the more intricate. Some pieces drawn with an obvious delicate hand and others angrier. The floors were stark white and each station had red leather tables. We’d passed a few empty spots, but as we neared the center of the shop I felt the eyes of everyone in the room. The hair on the back of my neck stood at attention as I heard Liam’s deep voice.
“It’s just a fucking chick, Kemper, calm the hell down.” Liam laughed and smacked who I assumed was Kemper on the shoulder.
Declan linked my hand with his as we approached them and my heart began to sprint. “Hey, Kemp, this is Paige, an old friend of mine.”
Declan’s tone was jovial, warm, unburdened. He was in his element. I gave Kemper a wave and marveled at all the jewelry in his face. Both nostrils were pierced along with his eyebrows. He even had a piercing in his lip. He was reed thin, tall, and his black Mohawk was flat and slicked back.
“It’s a girl,” he said with wonder and Liam smacked him in the back of the head this time.
“Of course it’s a girl, you fucking idiot.” Liam laughed and nodded his head at me. I noticed a slight narrowing of his eyes before he turned away. He didn’t trust me, but he wasn’t kicking me out either.
Declan chuckled and the sound of it vined around my heart and gave it a squeeze.
“It’s nice to meet you.” My voice was too timid. Avenues Ink, with its clean lines, blood-red furniture, and black counter tops, it was bold and I was just a spectator.
“She speaks.” Kemper winked and gave me a goofy, lopsided smile. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with a—”
“First time for everything,” Kieran’s familiar voice sounded right next to me and I jumped. “Hey, Declan…” He smiled at me. “Welcome to the shop, Paige.” He continued past us as if it was just like any other day.
“Good to meet you.” Kemper leaned in with a conspiratorial grin plastered to his face. “I was starting to think Declan didn’t like girls.” He laughed at his own joke.
“Get the fuck to work, man.” Declan shoved Kemper’s shoulder in jest and he grimaced.
“Easy, meat head.” Kemper gave me another once over before he walked away rubbing his arm.
Declan tugged on my hand. “This is me.” He nodded his head to the station to the right and then led me to the work table. “Have a seat.” He let go of my hand with a mischievous smile.
I took a seat on the table, and the stiff leather gave way to my weight. It was comfortable and inviting and I suddenly could see myself lying here, eyes closed, letting Declan cover me with his art.
“I was thinking.” He reached into his pocket and handed me the drawing from earlier, but it was more than a drawing. The quote “I am, I am, I am” was written in his handwriting and just below it was a heart rhythm. Something you’d see on a monitor in a hospital. The line was jagged with actual marked beats… three, to be exact. “I could do this… if you wanted.”
I flicked my gaze from the paper to his eyes. His hand rubbed at the back of his neck as if he was nervous, but the smile that played at his lips suggested otherwise. I’d never really wanted a tattoo, but this… I looked at the paper again and then back at Declan. This was perfect.
“Where would you place it?” I asked and his smile widened.
He drew a line with his finger along the left side of his chest just along his heart line. “This is where I can hear your heartbeat the loudest.”
The butterflies in my stomach tipped and twirled until they escaped and fluttered in my chest. “When?”
His eyes were crystalline and his smile… it was endless. “Now, whenever you want.” The excitement in his voice mirrored my own.
“Maybe next week? I can request off a few days to heal?”
“It heals pretty quick, but—”
“Can I wear a bra after?”
He chuckled. “Probably not for twenty-four hours.”
“Then next week it is, I’ll see if Luca will trade with me.” I hopped off the table and wiped my hands down my jeans.
“You’re serious?” he asked and I nodded. He lifted his hand to my cheek and let the pad of his thumb trail along my jaw. “I can’t wait.”
I wanted him to mark my flesh with ink, make the false purity I’d clung to for so long vanish. I wanted to be bonded to him, his handwriting permanently on my skin, a constant reminder that I was alive… that this heart still beats, and it belonged to Declan.
Declan introduced me to a few more staff members. Each a carbon copy of the other. Male, muscles, tattoos. There was one female, Ronnie. She was tall, and thin with china white skin and red lips. She was like a Gothic supermodel with black hair and perfect curves, and when she’d shaken my hand with disinterest, I’d felt mousy, at best. The wind had been removed from my sails as Declan walked me out to my car.
“She’s a lesbian.” Declan’s voice was filled with mirth.
I exhaled and turned to face him leaning against the driver side door. “She is?”
“Yes.”
I bit my bottom lip and his eyes fell to my mouth.
“I’m glad.” The two words slipped out as Declan closed the space between us.
He framed my face with his palms, his eyes still on my mouth and mine on his as his thumb pulled across my bottom lip.
“You don’t ever have to worry about that shit with me, Pa
ige, you never did, and you never will.” He leaned in and I could smell the mint on his breath.
I licked my lips. “I don’t?”
He exhaled and the warmth of it intoxicated me. “No.”
He covered my mouth with his. His lips eager. I leaned my head back and parted my lips for him. His tongue was sweet and soft, and the feel of him, his body pressing me into the metal of my car, I was putty. Free for him to shape and form at his own will. My hands wrapped around his neck, drawing him closer, and the tips of my fingers slid into his hairline. This kiss could have lasted for minutes, hours… days. The sun could have set and risen, the world could have stopped, and we would’ve never noticed. The wet heat of his mouth on mine, my hands in his hair, his powerful form aligned along my body, each feeling took everything we’d been through and wound it around our limbs in sighs and shadow. The loneliness, the regret, the pain, it weaved through each breath, each taste, and made us one again. One in past, in present, and in love.
Declan softly bit my bottom lip before he broke away. I licked my lips, still desperate for his taste as he leaned back to look at me. His hands still held my face as he said a little breathless, “When can I see you again?”
Now, tonight, tomorrow, every day, every night, I didn’t want to miss another minute of him. “I have to have dinner tonight with Lana, I promised her, but I live with her, I could—”
“It’s okay.” He kissed my forehead just at the bridge of my nose, just like he used to. “I’m booked late with appointments all week. Do you work tomorrow?”
I nodded.
“I’ll see you then, I’m coming by to pick up my painting. I’m going to frame it this weekend. If you want I could frame yours, too?”
I was still rusty and I wasn’t sure my painting deserved a frame. “I’d like to take it home, work on it some more.”
He took a step back and nodded as I reached into my bag for my keys. I hit the unlock button and the car alarm chirped. He opened the door for me and assured me he’d text me later. As I pulled away with the sting of his kiss still on my lips, and his eyes on mine through my rearview window, a shiver of loss skittered along my spine.
I’d been a trophy, placed on the shelf for display, no one cared that my shine had been dulled by years of dust. No one, not until Declan.
The boy I’d ruined had become the man to save me from my oblivion.
Fire spread across my chest and arms as I lifted the bar above my head. Liam’s smug smile hovered above my face egging me on as he spotted me. He added twenty more pounds to the barbell, bringing me up to two hundred and forty-five pounds. The most I’d done for reps and I was struggling through my last set.
“Don’t be a pussy, Dex, push through it.” Liam’s smirk twitched as I growled through the last rep.
The bar clanged loudly as I set it back into the rack. “Fuck you.” I choked out a laugh as I sat up completely out of breath. “Shit, I’m done.”
“No way, Kieran isn’t even here yet.” He slapped my bare shoulder and I flinched.
The gym was almost a daily thing for all of us, but we tried at least once a week to meet up at the same time. It was our sanctuary, and it was where everything about each of our lives didn’t matter. This was where we’d strip ourselves down to the beasts we’d learned to hide every day. All the shit we’d gone through, in here… it fed us, made us stronger instead of tearing us apart second by second.
“Why’d you push me?” I wiped my face with the bottom of my shirt.
“Here.” I grabbed the towel he handed me and wiped my face. “It seems like you’re getting soft.” Liam’s smile fell just enough I caught his meaning.
I exhaled a sharp breath. “Don’t be a jealous dick. She came back, I can’t help that Kel—”
“Don’t!” The word clipped through the air and silenced the other people around us. He lowered his voice to a menacing whisper, “There is no damn difference between her and Paige. They both saw us for what we were and tossed our sorry asses to the side.”
“I’m tired of your bullshit, Liam. Paige is nothing like Kelly. Paige and I… we both made some shitty choices, and now we have a chance to make it right. Stop pushing your baggage onto everyone else. It’s getting old.” I stood and threw the towel at his chest and he caught it, his face like a stone.
“I leave you two alone for twenty minutes and you’re at each other’s throats. Come on, guys, leave this shit in the locker room. We’re here to shred, right?” Kieran glared at us, but the longer the silence between us grew, his glare turned to pleading.
“You’re late.” Liam moved his eyes to Kieran and rolled his shoulders as he sat down on the bench. He clenched his jaw once before turning his eyes back on me. “For you, Dex, I’ll give her a chance, for you, because it’s you I fucking care about, and I know she does, too, but sometimes… that shit isn’t enough.”
“I think this time it is.”
The scars she’d left behind still hurt. They pinched and begged to tear open every time I looked at her. But, yesterday morning, she’d looked at me like I was worth the worship of her touch. We’d kissed in a way that connected us again. In a way that had torn my heart and hers into ribbons, and once we’d pulled away there was no going back. All the pieces had blended as a whole and she’d taken a few of mine, and I’d taken some of hers. Our scars had merged, and it felt… right.
“Maybe. For your sake, you better hope you’re right.” Liam exhaled and dropped the towel I’d thrown at him to the floor as he lay back on the bench.
“I know I don’t know everything that happened, but I know Paige. And she’s always been a good person. What happened is between you two. And no matter what this asshole says, we’ll both be here if it all goes to hell.” Kieran shoved my shoulder with little force and turned his stare onto Liam. “You going to lift that shit, or just stare at it?”
“I’ll spot you,” I said with a smirk as I moved behind the bench. “You need me to remove some weight?”
Kieran laughed and Liam narrowed his eyes. “Just shut the fuck up and spot me.”
The rest of the morning was business as usual at the gym. Pushing, shoving, breaking each other’s limits and setting tempers on edge. It was how we did it, and after we’d finished and showered, ready to leave, it was just us O’Connell boys again.
“You want a ride back to the shop?” Kieran asked me and I shook my head.
“I want to walk.”
“Don’t be late.” Liam snapped on his helmet and straddled his Harley. The signature sound of the bike roared to life and echoed inside the back alley parking lot behind the gym. He gave Kieran and me a wave before he drove off.
“You sure?” he asked again as he pulled a set of keys from his gym bag.
“It’s only five blocks, and it helps clear my head.” I pulled my bag over my shoulder.
“You seem happy, don’t let Liam ruin it.” Kieran’s blue eyes creased at the corners as he smiled. “You going to stop by The Gallery on your way back?”
“No, I need to stop by later and pick up my painting. I could use your help this time, it’s bigger than my normal pieces”
“Sure, we can take my truck. The framing supplies are still in Mom’s garage. What time you want to head over?”
“A few of my later appointments called yesterday and canceled, so probably around six. I should be finished by then. You think Liam will be okay with us both leaving though?” My brows dipped with doubt.
“Do you really care?” he asked with a laugh.
My lips broke into a full smile. “Nah, not really.”
I’d opened my phone about five hundred goddamn times today. I wanted to text her, but every single time Liam, or Kemper, or a client would interrupt me. I could still feel her hands on my body. Every inch of my skin lit with the color of orange under her touch. She was silk, and at first I feared her softness. She could bring me to the brink and I’d forget myself, lose my control. Lose myself in the wake of her kiss; her body.
Paige had been curious about my ink, but as she’d innocently traced the lines, she’d ignited the violent need that threaded through my veins. That deep, forgotten blood had boiled and churned with each beat of my pulse, and the apprehension, it’d turned to something else… something primal, and if I hadn’t pulled away, I would’ve fallen victim to her new taste, the scent of her, the feel of her, the memory of what it was like to let go inside of her.
“I’m going to grab the truck, pull it around front. You about ready?” Kieran asked.
My last client had run a little late. It was the third time I’d seen him this week. He was getting an entire mural on his back. “Yeah, just finishing cleaning up. Dorian was late.”
“That back piece is going to look sick though. The decayed trees you did, they’re amazing.”
I laughed as I shut the black tool box full of my equipment. “Says the guy who only has a tattoo of a rosary around his neck.”
He shook his head with a smile. “Hey, it goes all the way down to my chest.”
“You need more ink.” I teased him all the time about this. He was our desk guy and the kid had no visible tattoos. It was bad for business.
“Tell me something I don’t already know, come on, let’s go before Liam realizes we both left.”
“I’ll meet you out front.”
After he left, I pulled my phone from my pocket. The weight in my chest lifted as I opened the lock screen. Paige’s number had changed, and after the first few studio sessions, I’d finally gotten enough nerve to ask her for it. I hadn’t once called her or texted her yet, I hadn’t needed to. She had just been there, every night, ready to paint.
My thumbs moved quickly over the keyboard.
Me: Hey, it’s Declan. Are you still at work?
I did another quick look around my station, everything was in its place, and I headed for the front door.
“You’re off tomorrow?” Kemper asked as I walked past his station.
“Yeah. I’m taking a couple of days, working on a project.”
“Sweet, see you in a few.”
Possession Page 16
