Vehn (Exotic Ink Book 1)

by LS Anders

  Callie decided to take a quick break with Evana after walking Brenna to the front with a promise she would consider asking Tegan out. The guys swung open the break room door that led to the courtyard, carrying with them that dirty stench of cigarette smoke Callie hated.

  Closing the door, Tegan looked taken aback at the conversation she and Evana were having that he and Cale had walked into.

  “…wouldn’t marry a man until you’ve had sex with him. That’s the same as buying a car before you test drive it,” Callie was explaining to Evana, who was bobbing her head in agreement.

  Well shit, Callie cursed to herself, Tegan is a smoker. That was a strike against him in her book. She loathed smoking, but he was so dangerously beautiful that she was willing to set aside her pet peeve for him.

  “Just keep walking,” Cale whispered. “And, whatever you do, don’t look Callie in the eye or she’ll drag you into some fucked-up conversation. Trust me. You don’t want any part of that shit.”

  “I heard that, Cale!” Callie hollered to his retreating back. “Hey, Tegan. You want to check out my space? You know, if you have a minute.”

  “Dude, run!” Cale hissed.

  “Sure, I’ve got time,” Tegan replied, turning to face her.

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Cale groaned before hurrying down the hall.

  “Awesome!” Taking his arm, she escorted him to her room. “So, this is my place. I went with the whole spa theme…”

  She felt Tegan dig in his heels after noticing her pride and joy.

  “That’s Vehn Mathieu. He’s a famous supermodel. You must have seen him before. He’s been on tons of magazine covers.”

  He stood scowling at the portrait.

  She rushed on, feeling the need to clarify her crush on the male supermodel to increase her chances of scoring a date with him. “I mean, he’s handsome and all, but I’m not like totally obsessed with him or anything. Besides, it’s not like I would ever meet him in real life, and this is a one of a kind photograph. It’s practically museum-quality artwork. So, as I mentioned before, I went with a spa theme using the colors from that portrait.”

  “Callie, your next appointment is here.”

  Tegan seemed to waste no time getting the hell away from her, bee-lining for his own space. Well shit! First, she’d rambled on like an immature school girl with a serious crush upon meeting him, and now he thought she was a Vehn Mathieu extremist.

  As if looking at her space for the first time, she noticed there was Vehn paraphernalia littered everywhere. Besides the framed photograph, her tote was bursting at the seams with unread periodicals she’d bought on her way into work that morning, there were a few magazines scattered around that had been folded back displaying articles on the model she had yet to finish reading, and over in the corner was a rack housing old magazines with him on the cover that she had left at work because the enormous wicker basket she had at home was spilling out onto the living room floor.

  Vehn here, Vehn there, everywhere a Vehn, Vehn, Callie sang inside her head.

  She needed to fix this now! Springing into action, she snatched up the opened magazines, closing them, and placed them backwards in the rack, hiding the fact that Vehn was on all the covers. Lifting her tote a few inches above the floor, she gave it a hard shake so the contents would settle to the bottom and the clasp on the flap would catch.

  Stepping back, she made a slow turn in the middle of her room. It was better than it had been, but who was she kidding? She was an extremist. Even the woman that owned her favorite news stand was aware of that fact. She never failed to set aside a copy of any publications with Vehn in them or on them, knowing Callie would soon be by to happily purchase whatever she could get her hands on.

  The periodicals featuring Vehn had multiplied because of his recent retirement from modeling announcement. There were tons of stories and interviews. The press seemed to be clamoring to get as much material from him as possible before he left the lime light behind, and Callie had gotten behind on her reading since Brent’s death.

  Making her way to the front to retrieve her client, Callie made a show of checking her watch and straightening her blouse as she passed by Tegan’s open door. Needing to let her embarrassment at her own actions die down before she could look him in the eye was imperative.

  She and her future client had remained in the lobby for the entire consultation. The guy had taken an instant liking to a shoulder piece design that currently hung near the entrance to the hallway. Every Exotic Ink artist had professionally photographed, matted, and framed portraits of clients proudly displaying their permanent ink hanging like priceless pieces of art throughout the studio. He wanted something similar to the rendition of her version of American traditional gone new school.

  Booking her newest client for the following week, Callie heard Evana’s silky smooth voice float out of Tegan’s room while Cale loitered in the doorway. Curiosity got her feet moving and halting behind Cale. Remaining quiet, she peeked over his left shoulder and saw an apprehensive Evana looking on as Tegan began designing around the tattoo Kyle had never had the opportunity to finish.

  Callie couldn’t decide if Evana’s nervousness was from having Kyle’s design finished by another artist or if the butterflies she was sure Evana was feeling were due to her attraction to Tegan. They had spent quite a bit of time together as she’d shown him around. More time than she remembered her first tour of the studio taking.

  Hell, Callie couldn’t blame the girl if she was attracted to the man. Besides the fact he reminded her a lot of Kyle, Tegan was definitely some serious eye candy.

  “Damn, man, that is gonna be tight! I’m gonna have Avie book an appointment for me before you get too busy,” Cale remarked.

  “I’m sure I have plenty of time—”

  “Um, no you don’t. Have you looked at your schedule for the rest of the week?” Tegan shook his head. “You’re almost completely booked. She was scheduling you a client for later today when I was walking mine to the front.”

  As if she had been summoned by the mention of her name, Avie appeared in the doorway and picked up an empty coffee cup off the table in Tegan’s room.

  “Thanks for that.” Tegan motioned to the cup in Avie’s hand. He had that awestruck look that could only come from Avie doing something extraordinarily unexpected but privately wished for all at the same time.

  “You’re welcome, and you have a lady coming in at 1:30 that wants a shoulder piece. Oh, and E, Kimberlin called and wanted to get an exact head count for the Halloween party.”

  “Oh, thanks. I meant to call him back earlier but I got sidetracked.”

  The proverbial lightbulb above Cale’s head clicked on. “Hey, we should give Tegan one of the invites we have that were supposed to be Andrea and Brent’s.”

  A collective gasp nearly sucked all the air out the room.

  “What the hell, you guys?” Cale ran an exasperated hand through his hair. “Is there a grace period on speaking their names or is this forevermore? Besides, Rayna’s not even here.”

  Tegan looked over at Cale to shed some light, and Cale made a gesture with his hand equivalent to him saying he would tell him later.

  “That’s a great idea, Cale.” Evana eyed his throat as if she wanted to strangle him, before shifting her focus to Tegan. “Would you be interested in attending a costume party? It’s at 49 Grove Lounge, very exclusive, by invitation only, with a plus one. Event of a lifetime! Thanks to Cale’s handiwork, the entire shop was invited to attend. You’re welcome to an extra invite we have.”

  Cale chimed in with, “Kimberlin really appreciated the clit ring his wife had done. Plus, Callie’s going as Sasquatch—”

  Before Cale could finish his sentence, Callie jerked him off his feet and dragged him one-handed in her adrenaline-fueled rage down the hall into the break room. His soprano yelp informed her she had grabbed a handful of more than just the waistband of his worn jeans and was giving him a wedgie he wo
uld not soon forget.

  “Don’t do any permanent damage, Callie!” Avie yelled after them.

  “Should we be worried?” Tegan questioned.

  “No, they act like this all the time,” Callie heard Avie’s answer just before she slammed the break room door.

  In that moment, she’d come to the realization that she was acting not much different than a schoolyard bully, her maturity level hitting an all-time low in front of a man she was hoping to impress.

  No wonder Tegan was gravitating towards Evana. Despite the fact that the woman was drop-dead gorgeous, she was a grown woman and was acting like one. While Callie was a juvenile delinquent with a Vehn Mathieu fetish rivaling that of John Hinckley Jr.’s obsession with Jodie Foster. Not that she was going to shoot the president to gain his attention or anything.

  “Callie, I—” Cale managed to get out before she slammed him down face-first on the break room table, pressing his face into the surface. “I wush juss meshy aroune.”

  “Damnit, Cale, I know you were!” She understood him even though he was literally eating the wood surface. “But why do you have to embarrass me every chance you get? Don’t do it again or I’m going to personally see to it that you don’t walk right for a week. Promise me you won’t do it again and I’ll let you live.”

  “I promish.”

  Callie let go after a moment, leaving him to mop up the slobber coating his face and the table.

  Callie made her way down the hall looking rather pleased with herself, smoothing her sleeves that had been crumpled from teaching Cale a lesson. Her intention was to stop by Tegan’s room again to see how Evana’s tattoo was shaping up, but as she drew closer to his door, the blush on Evana’s cheeks and the lopsided grin on Tegan’s face were not lost on her, so she continued to the reception area, not wanting to interrupt.

  She couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy at seeing the two together, but her first, second, and now third impression with Tegan had gone from bad to unfixable in the matter of a few hours. Tegan must think she was a complete spaz, and he had shown no sign of being interested in her anyway. If anyone deserved to find love and happiness, it was Evana. But damn, when was her day going to come?

  She tried breathing through the hollow pit that was forming in her stomach. Sheesh, what kind of person was she, that it was painful for her to see others happy? She just couldn’t help but feel so deflated that he hadn’t shown any interest in her at all!

  If color could have a feeling attached to it, she would be feeling chartreuse-y, a cross between jealousy and envy. The color was as ugly to look at as she felt.

  He should be interested in Evana. She was tall and slender and had an amazing figure. Not to mention a gorgeous face, all supermodel-ish, with high cheek bones and perfect lips and big almond shaped purple eyes, and long, super glossy black hair. Let’s definitely not forget how ultra-sweet and elegant she was. Hell, if Callie was a guy, she would want Evana. She couldn’t blame Tegan at all for his choice in women.

  Evana was perfect and… exactly the opposite of her.

  Even her own logic at Tegan’s choice wasn’t helping, and the quicksand of depression began sucking her down. Was she really that selfish, to wish happiness for herself instead of just being happy for her friend? Maybe pounding herself into the ground on the treadmill would help her stop feeling so sorry for herself. It was definitely going to be extra gym time for her sorry ass tonight. Then off to bed, alone, with her tote bag full of Vehn-mania as she read herself to sleep in the arms of her fantasy man.

  That sounded so pathetic, but it was all she had and all she was apparently going to have for a while. Her relief at saving herself the humiliation from being turned down by Tegan if she’d asked him out was a soothing balm she silently celebrated.

  “Will Cale still be able to join us for lunch or should I call an ambulance?” Avie crossed her arms over her chest, raising one perfectly plucked eyebrow at Callie.

  “Lunch, yes. No on the ambulance. He’s walking it off,” Callie responded, plastering a smile on her face for her next client that had just walked through the door.

  “You’re dumping me?!” Regina’s eyes were so wide Vehn was surprised the damn things didn’t pop out of her head and roll around on the well-worn oak planks of her apartment.

  “Look, Regina, I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but this thing we have going on just isn’t working for me anymore.”

  “For you?!”

  Vehn wondered if she was just going to stand there all slack-jawed or was this conversation going to go somewhere and end soon.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?!”

  “Um… no. I’m serious. Like I said, I don’t mean to hurt you, but…”

  Both her hands quickly covered her face as her body began to shudder, then a bizarre wailing sound began to grow. He looked around her tiny studio wondering if the noise was coming from her or if there was a distressed cat somewhere in here.

  Nope! It was all her. His attention was drawn back at the start of what sounded like stuttering hiccups.

  Shit, here come the tears!

  He was no good with tears. He had hoped for a clean break-up since she didn’t seem to take that much interest in him unless they were in public and a camera was aimed their way. Not to mention the sex… or lack thereof. She was always willing to drop to her knees and make like a Hoover, but he couldn’t remember the last time they had actually had sex, which was not a complaint. She had a skinny ass, and it kind of grossed him out when she bent over, the bones protruding out like on a flesh-covered skeleton.

  Come to think of it, she'd never expected him to return the favor of an orgasm. She always seemed to have a handy excuse ready to get away from him ASAP after she’d wiped her chin and brushed off her knees.

  The keening started getting deeper and the shuddering turned into full body spasms. Had he misread their entire relationship? He must have since she was visibly upset. This was so not what he'd expected. He should have just taken the coward’s way out and text-dumped her instead of showing up unexpectedly at her front door, but that just didn't sit well with him even though he really didn't owe her anything.

  He looked around the tiny studio hoping to find something, anything, that would help the situation. When nothing came at him, he noticed how sparsely furnished her place was, but it looked like everything had its place, which only made him feel that much more out of place standing just inside her front door/foyer/living room.

  Come to think of it, she hadn’t actually invited him in. She had answered his knock and had taken a surprised step back as he had stepped in just enough to shut the door.

  Running both hands through his thick hair, Vehn was beside himself on what to do. He supposed he could at least try to console her. Taking a step towards her, he touched her shoulder, uttering anything that popped into his head that sounded comforting.

  He recoiled when she uncovered her face and raised her eyes to meet his. She wasn’t crying, she was laughing and it had turned evil as fuck!

  “Hurt me?! Hurt me! You’re the washed-up loser that threw your career away to do something as stupid as photography. How incredibly lame you are!”

  OK. That was definitely not the reaction he had expected, but at least he was finally getting a reaction other than the “I can’t believe it,” or even worse, tears, and could be done with this shit so—

  His head whipped to the side, the crack resounding off her apartment walls throbbing in time with his now pulsating cheek like a continuous loop of an instant replay. He wasn’t sure what pissed him off more, the fact that he had been caught off guard and allowed it to happen or the fact that she had slapped him. More like backhanded him.

  He stepped back as far as the space allowed until his heels made contact with the door. He needed to get out of there fast before his urge to choke her to death overrode his common sense. Her studio was growing smaller by the second as the throbbing on his cheek was replaced by a burning sting that
was no doubt turning the same shade of red that was settling over his field of vision in a thin transparent veil.

  “Fuck. You. Self-centered, repulsive bitch!” Boom! How does she like me now? “You’ve done nothing but use me to get your narrow ass foot in the door since day fucking one. It’s such a relief to know that I don’t have to put up with your motherfucking bullshit anymore. Oh, and by the way, you suck at modeling, and your ass is too skinny, and you’re not fooling anybody with those Juvederm-injected lips!”

  “Don’t even flatter yourself by breaking up with me.” Regina jabbed her bony finger into her chest. “I was planning on dumping you soon anyway. How do you think I felt having to suck your stupid dick all the damn time? For your information, I happen to be a lesbian! I thought you would have started to wonder why we didn’t have sex or why I never let you touch me, but you were too dense to figure it out.”

  “Gee, I’m soooooo sorry you had to endure my cock in your mouth so you could ride my coat tails to make a name for yourself. It’s not my fault you choked on it because it’s bigger around than your own skinny ass.”

  “It’s your own damn fault you were used. It was almost too easy. Don’t blame me, because you’re so gullible!” Regina threw back.

  “How is this all my fault? You knew going into this relationship exactly what you were doing. You set out to use me! You will not blame me for this shit!” Vehn had never been this pissed off. Ever! He had to get away from her before he snapped her damn neck. “You know what? I’m done talking to you. You’re nothing but a load your mama should have swallowed.”

  At her astonished gasp, Vehn slung open her apartment door storming out into the hall. Normally, he wouldn’t go out of his way to hurt someone’s feelings, but since she didn’t seem to have any… no harm, no foul.