As Uly pulled into the parking lot of the apartments, I sent Belle a text.
Can’t wait to kiss you, angel.
She replied right away, like I knew she would.
I know. I miss you.
Uly stopped the SUV right outside the apartment building where Belle’s mother lived.
“Fuck me, look at those wheels,” Hil said.
I turned my head and saw some fancy, white car parked in a spot.
Then I went back to texting Belle.
You should come outside and see me then.
I hit send and I smiled.
“Oh, fuck, Ash is smiling,” Uly said.
“Did Belle send you something dirty?” Hil asked. “I want to see.”
“Hey, you fuckhead,” Vera said. “Are you kidding me?”
“I’m totally kidding,” Hil said. “You’re the only dirty thing for me, Vera.”
“Take your charred ass somewhere else,” Vera said.
I opened the door and got the fuck out of the SUV.
I waited for Belle to text me back, but she never did.
Instead, the main front door to the apartment building opened.
When she stepped out and saw me, she went back inside.
I lunged for the door and ripped it open.
I went into the foyer after her.
There were two apartment doors on the ground floor and then a set of steps to the second floor.
My hands grabbed her waist and I turned her around and pinned her against the wall.
She grabbed at my shirt.
I slid my hands up her body, over her shirt, touching everything I could.
My hands then rested on her face.
It felt like fucking ten years had gotten between us.
I finally kissed her.
Her lips tasted perfect. Just the way I remembered.
She pulled me closer to her and kissed me back with the same I fucking miss you force that I gave to her.
My body inched closer to hers. When my body touched hers, she let out a purring groan of relief.
I growled in the back of my throat.
My mind said to throw everyone out of the SUV so Belle and I could say hello in a much better way than just words.
I heard the sound of someone clearing their throat and Belle broke the kiss.
When I turned my head, I saw two women at the top of the steps staring at me.
One I assumed to be Belle’s mother.
The other was Dr. Jo.
Which explained the fancy car.
“You left in a hurry, I thought something was wrong,” Belle’s mother said.
“Feel better now?” Dr. Jo asked with a smile.
Belle’s face was bright red.
“Sorry for crashing your visit,” I said. “I just needed to see her.”
“Well, it’s good to see that maybe love can exist,” Belle’s mother said.
She lowered her head.
“Oh, fucking hell,” Dr. Jo said. “Good job, Ash.” Dr. Jo turned around with Belle’s mother. “Come on, Michelle. Back inside. Let’s get more wine.”
I looked at Belle.
That’s when she finally slapped me across the face.
Then she pointed to the door.
“Get the fuck out right now, Ash.”
* * *
“Hey, doll,” Uly said when Belle came outside.
“Careful, she’s pissed,” I said.
“At you, bro,” Hil said.
“At all of you,” Belle said. “You couldn’t keep him distracted?”
“He lit my ass on fire, beauty,” Hil said.
“He what?” Belle asked.
“Here, look,” Hil said.
“NO!” everyone but Hil and Belle yelled as Hil turned around, ready to drop his jeans.
He didn’t listen.
Down went his jeans.
And there was his ass again.
“There’s not even a mark,” Vera said.
She slapped his bare ass.
Hil looked back at Belle. “I swear, beauty, he lit my ass on fire. And that was after breaking my guitar.”
Belle looked at me. “You broke a guitar?”
“He was trying to play,” Uly said. “A couple days without you around and he’s lost himself.”
Belle lifted one eyebrow.
“I miss you,” I said.
“I was planning on coming back tomorrow. I just needed to make sure my mother was okay. I didn’t want her to slip.”
“What’s with the hot doc being here too?” Hil asked.
Vera punched him. “Hot doc? What is wrong with you?”
“Trust me, beauty,” Hil said to Vera.
The door swung open again and out came Dr. Jo.
She paused and looked at all of us. Then she looked right at Hil’s ass. She pointed and nodded. She looked at Belle.
“I’m going to leave,” she said. “Your mother is going to get drunk and fall asleep. Sooner, rather than later. She’ll be fine. If not, I’ll drag her ass to my house for a little while.”
“Okay,” Belle said. “Thank you for coming. I didn’t want her to get bad again.”
“I don’t mind,” Dr. Jo said. “Don’t mind the view either.”
She pointed to Hil’s ass again.
Hil stood up and lifted his jeans.
Dr. Jo walked away, commanding everyone’s attention.
She got into her super-fancy, white car and sped off.
“Whoa,” Mara said.
“Okay, fine, she’s hot,” Vera said.
“She likes my ass,” Hil said.
“I hate you,” Vera said.
She turned and opened the back door to the SUV.
“You’re a real asshole, Hil,” Mara said.
“I agree,” Uly said. He looked at Belle and winked. “Good to see you, doll. Come back soon.”
Everyone got into the SUV except me.
Belle and I looked at each other.
“You broke a guitar?”
“Yeah.”
“You were trying to play it?”
“Yeah. Hil ran his mouth off about fingering… whatever… so I lost my edge.”
“I think I’m turned on by that,” Belle said. She touched my shirt. “I make you that crazy, Ash? You’re supposed to be the sexy, quiet killer kind of guy. The one that makes girls go crazy…”
“I am that,” I said. “You’re just the only girl I want to make crazy.”
Belle nodded. “I told you not to come here.”
“I told you a long time ago I don’t listen.”
“I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“I can stand here and wait.”
“Ash…”
“Belle…”
She grabbed my shirt and pulled herself to her toes and kissed me.
“Everything going to be okay here?” I asked her.
“Yeah,” she said. “Nothing to worry about. Are you going to be okay going back without me?”
“Probably not,” I said.
I kissed her one more time and backed away.
“Ash, did you really light Hil’s ass on fire?” Belle asked.
“Yeah. He was being a fucking fool. Started wiggling his ass at me. So Uly handed me his lighter and that was that.”
Belle shook her head, grinning. “I love you.”
“I love you too, angel.”
Belle walked to the door and opened it.
She looked back at me, still shaking her head.
“What?” I called out.
“I never thought to get a kiss from you, I’d have to endure looking at Hil’s ass.”
“Want me to kick his ass for you, angel?”
“Sure,” Belle said.
She went inside.
I got back into the SUV.
“We good now?” Uly asked.
“Almost,” I said. I turned and looked at Hil. “Belle wanted me to give you something.”
“Cool. What is it?”
&nb
sp; I threw my right fist and punched Hil in the mouth.
I turned back in my seat and flexed my hand.
“Fuck,” Hil groaned from the backseat.
I looked at Uly and nodded.
“Now we’re good.”
Chapter 2
Tin owned the tattoo shop.
Rocco ran it as his own.
After getting as much ink on my arms as I possibly could, I talked to Tin about working there. He was against it at first. Because that was Tin. He believed in shutting you down about fifty times before finally showing the smallest of cracks.
When he looked at what I had drawn - shit that nobody in the world had ever seen before - he told me he’d consider letting me work there. What that meant was I could linger around the shop and get to know everyone better.
Even though I had been there plenty of times for my own ink.
And I had helped out with advice to many others.
It was a break from BFH. It was a break from life too.
I had stupidly made a promise somewhere in my life that I would ride out BFH no matter what. Truthfully, I probably had enough done that with a little grease (aka cash) from my father I could have been handed that coveted piece of paper that said YOU FUCKING DID IT, ASH! and would have been on my way.
I opened the door to Ink-a-Tat and the smell of cleanliness hit me.
It was refreshing.
There was just something about the smell of a tattoo shop that made me smile.
Lark sat behind the counter with her feet up on the glass case. Messing around with her phone, chomping on bubble gum. She blew a massive bubble, popped it, and sucked it back into her mouth.
She looked at me then put her feet down, along with her phone.
She had hair dyed so blonde it was white.
She swore it wasn’t white, but come on… I knew my colors.
Her eyes were crystal blue but she wore custom contacts that made her eyes brown.
Just because.
She had about four hundred piercings in her eyebrows and her bare shoulders were covered in bright ink. She believed in getting tattoos in strange places on her body. Like just her shoulders. Nowhere else. And then her pinky on her right hand was inked up. She had offered me many times before to see the other places that were tattooed but I always declined.
“What’s up, Ashby?” she called out.
“Nothing, Lark-by,” I said.
“Ugh, it’s so fucking quiet today,” she said. “And I was out so late last night too.”
“Falling in love or running away?” I asked.
“Is there a difference?”
“Not sure,” I said.
“Is that Ash I hear?” a voice called out.
It was from the back of the shop.
There was a wall of beads that formed the shape of a sun coming up from the horizon.
Tin was the biggest guy I had ever seen in my life. He could make a bodybuilder look skinny. Everything about the guy screamed bad ass dude who would kill someone for looking at him the wrong way.
Yet he was a hippy at heart.
He once had long blonde hair but when he noticed his hairline cutting back, he shaved his head and kept it that way.
Kyan pushed through the beads and opened his arms when he saw me.
“Fucking Ash, brah,” he said.
“Fucking Kyan,” I said.
He was tall, skinny, a total surfer looking guy, which he was. He wanted to be a pro surfer, but that didn’t work out, so he became a tattoo artist.
He didn’t do handshakes either.
It was hugs or nothing.
He groaned when he hugged me. “Haven’t seen you in a little while, you fucker.”
“I’ve been busy,” I said.
“He’s madly in love, remember?” Lark called out.
“That’s still going on?” Kyan asked. “What the fuck did I tell you, brah? You can’t fall in love. It’s a trap. It’ll ruin your life.”
“She’s worth it,” I said.
“Fuck, we lost him, Lark,” Kyan said.
Kyan shoved at my chest.
I stumbled back and laughed.
“Hey, look who it is…”
Rocco came through the beads next.
Wearing his famous gold rimmed sunglasses.
He wore nice clothes though. Always in a buttoned-down shirt and nice pants. Dressed like he was the CEO of some big company. You’d never know he was tattooed everywhere, unless you saw his hands, of course. Those were the only tattoos his clothes didn’t hide.
“Rocco,” I said.
“How are you, my man?” he asked me.
We shook hands and he pulled me close so I hit my chest to his.
I fucking hated that stupid bro shit thing.
“I’m out,” Rocco announced. “Tin is meeting with the guys at the convention. Iggy has the day off. Ale is back there with headphones on, drawing some stuff. And Hae… I haven’t seen her yet.”
“She’s meditating,” Kyan.
“With two fingers,” Lark said with an eye roll.
“Damn,” Rocco said. “Thanks for the visual. Oh, and Shuffle is out on a ride. Got word that his aunt’s cancer came back and this time there’s nothing they can do for her.”
“Fuck,” Kyan said.
“Poor Shuffle,” Lark said.
Rocco pointed at Lark. “No.”
“What?” Lark asked.
“No,” Rocco said again.
“What the hell did I do?” Lark asked.
“You have that look,” Kyan said.
“What look?” she asked.
“Your eyes are fake, but the look isn’t,” I said.
“Oh yeah, Ashby? What look then?”
“You love sad, broken dudes,” I said. “You prey on them.”
“What he said,” Rocco said. “I’m not mixing that shit in the shop. Tin will fire both of you.”
“No, he won’t,” Lark said. “He’ll make you fire us.”
“Yeah, that too,” Rocco said. “Keep it in your pants.”
“I don’t have anything to keep in my pants,” Lark said.
“Well keep your pants on,” Rocco yelled.
“Real nice way to talk to me,” Lark said. “I’m just a concerned friend. That’s all. I mean, it’s not my fault that Shuffle is six-four and built to fu-”
“This is why I hide in the back,” Kyan said.
“I think you need to go find some love, Lark,” I said.
“Where’s your girlfriend?” she asked me.
“What?”
“Oh, shit,” Rocco said. “Now I’m leaving for real. Lark, stay away from Shuffle. And Ash’s girlfriend too.”
“Wait a second,” Kyan said. “Are you being serious, Lark?”
Kyan grinned.
Lark looked at me. “See how easy it is?”
I started to laugh and grabbed Kyan’s shoulder. “She’s fucking with you, man.”
“Losers,” Lark said. “I’m going to text Shuffle. Find out how he’s doing. See if he needs a different kind of ride.”
Rocco was out the door by the time Lark made that last comment.
Lark sat back down and blew a bubble from her bubble gum.
Kyan nudged me. “Hey, Ash…”
“What?”
“I got something for you to work on.”
* * *
“It’s a cover up,” Kyan said. “I’ve gone through a few ideas. Not sure what to do with it.”
I looked down at a picture of the original tattoo.
It was a woman’s arm.
And it was a banana.
With a face.
And the was banana was giving the middle finger.
“Wow, why would anyone want to change this?” I asked.
Kyan laughed. “Right? But goddamn, brah, this woman is so hot. I asked her how she ended up with this…”
“And?”
“Drunken dare,” Kyan said. “Twenty-third birthday. Fucking stupid
.”
“I’d say.”
“She just turned twenty-five. My age. My type.”
“So you’re going to ink her and then break her heart?”
“Pfff… I’ll break her bed first.”
I laughed. “Let me figure this one out.”
“Yeah, sure, sit down. Check it out. I did two of these…”
Kyan showed me his sketches over copies of the picture of the tattoo.
One was an elaborate butterfly.
“I dig this,” he said to me. “It shows change, power, life. You know?”
“But she’d have to like butterflies,” I said.
“Right. And I don’t think she’s the type.” Kyan showed me another sketch. “This one… it’s a little bit tribal. But I can use what’s there, you know? It’s a ton of ink though. But on her it would look fucking great.”
“She’d have to get that touched up a lot,” I said. “Especially if she’s in the sun at all.”
Kyan nodded. “I’ll take her to the beach. Then bring her back here. I’ll ink. I’ll fucking… you know… everything her…”
“You’re desperate,” I said. “Maybe you’re in love with her.”
“I’m in love with the moment,” Kyan said. “Now sketch something, tough guy. Let’s see it.”
I looked at the tattoo.
The banana was really stupid. But one thing that caught me was the left eye. It wasn’t a bad eye. Which sounded weird to think.
An idea came to me.
I started to sketch on a piece of paper over the tattoo.
It was see-through so I could see the tattoo as I sketched.
“Show me what you got going on, brah,” Kyan said a few minutes later.
I lifted the sketch.
It was a leopard’s face.
“This would work,” I said. “Give her an animal but something wild, right? She’s wild enough to get a banana tattooed on her, so why not this? You can use some of the color that’s there but just shade it. As in the spots and everything… and keep the original eye. Just as a reminder of what she did.”
Kyan ripped the sketch out of my hand. “Fuck, brah, this is perfect. Holy fuck. I’m going to text this to her right now.”
“You got her number?”
Kyan looked at me. “Of course. I have to call her when I’m ready.”
“How long ago did she come in?”
“Two days ago,” Kyan said. “We’ve been texting ever since.”
I shook my head. “You’re something else, man.”
ASH: a bay falls high novel Page 2
