Where Good Girls Go to Die (The Good Girls Series Book 1)

by Holly Renee

  She took my hand hesitantly, and I pulled her out of my chair and close to me.

  “Are you ready?” She was only a few inches away from me, and I couldn’t take my eyes off the curve of her lips.

  “For what?” She looked like my Livy in that moment. She looked like she was up for anything. The rebellious girl I knew shining through.

  “To see your tattoo.”

  “Of course.” A smile lit up her face, the moment gone in a flash.

  She moved in front of the mirror, and she gasped as she took in her ink. It fit her so perfectly. The size was perfect over her ribs, the colors beautiful against her skin tone, and most of all, the wild, wicked heart, a perfect representation of her own.

  “I fucking love it.” She turned this way and that in the mirror watching the way the ink moved as her body did. I watched her looking at herself, mesmerized by her own body, mesmerized by my art.

  “Thank you so much, Parker.” Her eyes met mine in the mirror. “I know that this drawing must have meant something to you because you have turned down so many people. Thank you for doing it for me.”

  “You’re welcome.” I hesitated. I didn’t know how much to tell her. I didn’t know if I could face telling her the truth, but it also felt wrong to lie to her. “Livy, I…” I rubbed my hand down the back of my neck. “I drew that for you.”

  She looked back down at the tattoo, her eyes bouncing around the artwork. She didn’t say anything. She just stared. The butterflies fluttered against her skin as her chest rose and fell rapidly.

  Her finger traced around the tattoo, careful not to touch the fresh ink. “Why?” Her voice was barely a whisper.

  I thought about how to answer her. I wasn’t sure if she was ready to hear the whole truth. I didn’t think either one of us were ready to face it.

  “Because it’s you.” I shrugged. “I was so mad at you when you left. Fuck. I was furious.”

  She was staring at me in the mirror, her eyes not leaving mine for a second.

  “I got so into my art after that. I spent all my days and nights drawing.”

  “And this?” She looked so vulnerable, so fragile, so unlike herself.

  “That is you.” I pointed down to her ribs. “You have always been so wild at heart. Like a wildfire that can never be tamed. That’s why I had to let you go.”

  She closed her eyes, blocking her against my words. Shielding her.

  “That’s bullshit, Parker, and you know it.”

  When she opened her eyes again, there was fire there. Pure and uncontrollable, and even though I should have been worried about her anger, I fed off her passion.

  “You were eighteen years old. Your life was just starting. What did you want me to do? Get you stuck here with me?”

  Finally, she turned toward me. “I wouldn’t have been stuck. I would have chosen you.” She was furious, her voice rising, but I didn’t give a fuck if anyone else heard us. “But you didn’t give me a choice.”

  “I know, Livy.” My heart was beating against my chest causing my ribs to ache. I felt like I was there again, like I was about to lose her, but I didn’t see any other option. “But neither did you.”

  P A R K E R

  Four years and five months earlier

  I felt like I was high. It was that insane rush of adrenaline, the blissful high, and the untouchable happiness.

  Nothing could touch us. Nothing could bring us down. Or at least I thought.

  We had been spending all of our time together. Typically I felt suffocated when I spent too much time with a girl.

  With Livy, it was different. With her, it was everything.

  I had just gotten home only a few hours ago, but already I was itching to be around her again. I felt off when I wasn’t around her. I almost felt lost.

  But I was supposed to be spending the day with Mason today. I had been neglecting him, and I didn’t want him to become suspicious of me and his sister. Because it would ruin everything.

  I was lying down on my couch when there was a loud knock on the door. I hesitated for a moment if I actually wanted to lift my feet and stand up because Mason never knocked, ever. But the thought that it may be Livy at the door got me to move my ass.

  As soon as I saw her blonde hair through the glass panes of the door, I regretted my decision. I would have turned around too if she hadn’t seen me as well. Instead, I begrudgingly cracked the door open and leaned against the frame.

  Madison stood in front of me, and she didn’t look like herself. The usually over-confident girl looked worried and nervous. Her eyes were puffy and her bottom lip trembled, but for the life of me, I couldn’t feel sorry for her. Instead, I watched her, waiting for the Madison bomb to go off.

  “Can I come inside?” She looked behind her as if she was worried someone would see her.

  “What do you want, Madison?” I closed my eyes and counted to five. I didn’t know how I ever dated this girl. Was I that big of an idiot?

  “I need to talk to you. Please, Parker.”

  Running my hand down my face, I knew it was a bad idea, but I opened the door anyways.

  She walked into my space like she knew it, and I guess she did. She took a seat on the couch, in the same spot where I was just sitting, and I sat in the chair across from her. I didn’t ask her what she wanted again, I just waited for her to speak. There was something about her that made me feel uneasy.

  “I don’t know how to tell you this.” She bit her bottom lip between her teeth which I would have thought was sexy once upon a time, but I didn’t trust it anymore.

  “Just say it.” I wasn’t up for her bullshit games.

  “I’m pregnant, Parker.” Her hand flew out to me and gripped tightly between her fingers rested a black and white photograph.

  Her words hit me like a ton of bricks, crushing my chest, and making it impossible to breathe. I ripped the photo out of her hand, and I studied it. Looking for something that would make sense. There were white lines all over the image, but I couldn’t tell what was what.

  “What?” My voice was shaking along with everything else.

  “I wanted to wait to tell you until I was sure. I went to the doctor this morning, but when I came by here, you were gone.”

  That’s because I was with Livy. Fuck. Livy. This would destroy us. This would ruin everything. I stared at her stomach and watched as she ran her hand over it calmly.

  I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t scared shitless because I was, but I was also mad at myself. I was furious that I had been so stupid, but we had used protection every time. Every. Single. Time.

  I didn’t know how this could happen. My mom was going to kill me. I remembered what she had said about what mine and Madison’s child would look like. I could imagine the disappointment in her eyes. I could feel it in my chest.

  “What do we do?” My hair was in my hands and my heart was in my throat.

  Madison just smiled at me, a sweet smile that didn’t belong on her face, and my whole world fell apart.

  L I V

  Present

  This was a bad idea.

  I knew it as soon as I zipped up my bag.

  Apparently, it was a yearly thing. A tattoo convention in South Carolina that Forbidden Ink attended every year, and this year, I was a part of the shop.

  Brandon put my bag in the back of his SUV as Staci piled into the back seat with a pillow and a blanket.

  “Are you sure there’s enough room?” I asked Brandon for the third time. “I don’t care to drive.”

  “You’re riding with us, Liv. Get over it.” He tugged on my side braid before climbing into the passenger’s seat.

  I blew out a deep breath as I watched Parker kissing Emily goodbye. She clung to him like she was desperate for him not to go, and although I could sympathize with the feeling, I had the urge to grab her by her hair and pull her off him.

  When Parker climbed into the driver’s seat, I tried my hardest to avoid his eyes. We had become civil o
ver the last week, but I couldn’t stand to look at him after he had just been with her. I knew how irrational that was. He was hers. He was about to marry her. I told myself and my heart that we had no business caring about him, no business wanting him, but neither of us listened.

  “Girls get to pick the music,” Staci yelled before jumping in between the front seats to grab Parker’s phone that was already connected.

  “Not happening.” Parker tried to grab his phone from her, but she was too quick.

  I laughed as Staci flipped him off before she started scrolling through his phone.

  “Holy shit.” Staci’s voice was barely a whisper, but I heard it before one of my favorite songs from high school started playing through the speakers.

  “Damn it, Staci.” Parker grabbed his phone out of her hands, and she let him. But not before I saw it. Before I saw the words across the screen.

  Livy’s Playlist.

  My eyes met his in the rearview mirror, the look on his face crushing me, but he quickly looked away. He stopped the song before it even got to the good part and a song I didn’t even recognize started blaring through the car.

  As Parker pulled out onto the highway, Staci nudged my arm.

  “Holy shit,” she mouthed to me.

  I couldn’t take it. The urge to ask Parker what the hell that was about, to ask him what he sees in her. But none of it was fair. Not to him or to me. So, instead of torturing either of us, I buried my face in my pillow and prayed that I could sleep for most of the drive.

  “You’re an idiot,” I could hear Brandon’s voice, but I wasn’t sure where it was coming from.

  “Fuck you too.” Parker sounded irritated.

  I turned my head out of my pillow to look at them. Staci was passed out with her head in my lap, and Brandon looked serious.

  He was about to open his mouth to say something else, but then his gaze caught me and he stopped.

  “Hey, Liv.”

  “Hey.” I stretched my arms over my head. “Where are we?”

  I looked out my window, but the rows of trees that passed us by weren’t much help. I rolled down my window a bit, and I could smell salt water in the air.

  “We’re almost there,” Parker said while watching me in his mirror. “We’ve got about ten more minutes.”

  When we pulled up to the hotel, I poked Staci in her boobs to wake her up. When it didn’t work, I poked her again.

  She scared the shit out of me when she snatched my finger without even opening an eye. “Don’t start something you aren’t willing to finish, Liv.”

  She popped her eyes open and grinned at me.

  “All I did was poke your boob. Are you that hard up?” I laughed.

  “The opposite actually, but you should know how easy it is to get turned on with these nipple piercings.” She held her hands over her boobs. She was right, I did know.

  “Just put a sock on the door this weekend if you can’t handle it anymore.” I nudged her, and she finally sat up.

  “What are you two looking at?” She looked from Brandon to Parker and so did I.

  “If you need help this weekend, I’m willing.” Brandon gave Staci what would normally be a panty-dropping smile, but she only rolled her eyes.

  “You got your nipples pierced?” This question was pointed at me, and I wasn’t sure what to do other than blush.

  “Yes. Staci did it.”

  Staci put her hand in the air, and I high fived her.

  “Fuck.” Parker ran his hand through his hair, and Brandon laughed.

  As Parker climbed out of the car, Brandon turned toward us with a giant smile on his face. “This is going to be one interesting weekend.”

  We weren’t in our room for five minutes before Staci was yelling at me to get my ass off my bed and start getting ready.

  Apparently there was a meet and greet in the hotel bar for all the tattoo artists and the people who work in their shop. I didn’t want to go. All I wanted to do was bury myself in the soft white sheets, but Staci was persistent to put it nicely. She actually dragged my ass out of the bed by my feet and threatened to undress me if I didn’t get in the shower.

  When I got dressed in a pair of black trousers and a white top, Staci was horrified.

  “This is a tattoo convention, not a nun convention.” She shook her head.

  “I was trying to dress professionally since I am representing the shop.”

  “No one wants a tattoo from someone who’s scared to show a little skin. Weren’t you a stripper in your past life?”

  I rolled my eyes at her but pulled my shirt over my head. I dug deep into my suitcase and pulled out the dress that I hadn’t planned on wearing. I packed it as my safety net. You know, in case I met the man of my dreams this weekend, and he wanted to take me on a date. Now if that happened, I’d have to go shopping.

  So here I stood in a cherry red mini dress that flowed out at my hips and had a dangerously low neckline. Staci was dressed similarly in a black dress that was simple and showcased the whirl of colors that marked her skin.

  Actually, that was what made me stand out the most. My lack of tattoos. I ran my hand over my ribs and remembered the day Parker gave me mine. I could remember the feel of his hands working on my skin. I memorized the small scowl he had when he was concentrating. But mostly, I remember the ink that he marked my body with. Every line perfect, every color bleeding into my skin like it was meant to be there.

  Staci locked her arm in mine and pulled me through the room with her. The place was packed. There were loads of women. Some were the most gorgeous I had ever seen, and there were some that had clearly spent their years living life to the fullest. Then there were the men. Some were scary looking with large beards and even bigger beer bellies, and some, hell, some were making me thank Staci for not coming down here dressed like a hermit.

  In pure Staci style, she took us straight to one of the hottest guys in the room. I tried to pull away from her as she made a beeline for him, but she didn’t let go of me until she wrapped her arms around him.

  “Hey, Stac.” He was talking to her, but as he pulled her tighter against his chest, he was staring at me.

  He was tall, covered in tattoos and had hair so short that I could barely tell the color. But it was easy to see the bright blue of his eyes and the mischief they held.

  “Liv, this is Neil.” Staci pulled away from him and wagged her eyebrows at me.

  I attempted to tell her to cut it out without Neil seeing me.

  “Neil, this is Liv.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Liv.” He pulled my hand in his, and he stared into my eyes as his strong hand shook mine.

  “You too.”

  He had a hint of smile on his lips, and I found myself wanting to lean in closer to him. But the thought of Parker popped in my head. It seemed to happen any time I had the slightest interest in anyone else.

  I searched the room for him, but he was nowhere to be seen. I wasn’t even sure if he would be here. I assumed he would since Staci said all the artists came, but she hadn’t specifically said he would be here.

  Neil leaned against the bar behind him, and his leg brushed mine.

  “Would you like to sit down?” He pulled the bar stool out for me.

  I climbed up on the stool, and he was so close that the smell of his cologne surrounded me. It was light, yet masculine, and although I loved the smell of it, I loved another smell more.

  “So Liv, what do you do?”

  “I’m the receptionist at Forbidden Ink.” I shrugged my shoulders because it seemed unimpressive compared to most of the people here.

  “Ah. So that’s how you know Staci.” He held a glass of dark liquor in his hand, and I watched as he pressed it to his lips. “You work with Parker then, huh?”

  I took a deep breath. “Yeah. I work with him.” I scanned the crowd again and this time I saw him. He was making his way over to us, and he looked like a fucking sin. His hair was perfectly styled out of his face, and
it seemed to only accentuate his strong jaw. He wore a solid black t-shirt and jeans, and somehow the intricate tattoos that covered his skin made them seem anything but simple.

  “Hey, Neil.”

  “Hey, man.” Neil immediately stood and hugged Parker then Brandon.

  “I see you’ve met my girl, Livy.” Parker looked at me as he said the words, but I only rolled my eyes.

  “I didn’t realize she was your girl.”

  “That’s because I’m not.” I piped in making Brandon chuckle.

  Neil smiled at me before looking back to Parker.

  Parker dropped his smile and looked at Neil head on. “She may not be mine now, but she was once and that means she’s off limits.”

  “Are you kidding me, Parker?” I stood from my stool ready to smack him in the back of the head, but Brandon got to me before I could.

  “Let’s go dance, firecracker,” he whispered in my ear while I stared daggers at Parker.

  “I don’t want to dance.”

  “Go dance, Liv. Have fun.” Neil smiled at me before darting his eyes back to Parker. For what I wasn’t sure? Approval.

  “What a pussy,” I said to myself causing Brandon to laugh as he pulled me away from the both of them.

  There was a slow song playing and no one dancing in the large bar, but Brandon didn’t care. He pulled me against him as if we were two people too in love to care what others thought about us.

  “Why were you over there all snuggled up to Neil when you clearly still have feelings for Parker?”

  “I do not have feelings for Parker. Why are you being such a cock block?” He twirled me around causing my dress to float around me before pulling me back against him.

  “A cock block? If Neil got his cock anywhere near you, Parker would kill him.”