They’ve only been seeing each other for a month and a half. Eventually, she’ll come to her senses. Until then, I will continue to bide my time as her best friend. Our close friendship provides me with special privileges, which is enough to hold me over. The line ofmore than friendshas never been breached outside of my thoughts. I’m pretty sure she sees me as an older brother—or worse, an extension of her dad.
“Okay, we’re getting burritos,” she announces. Kelly leans back in the chair until her head is practically upside down, plush lips slightly parted as she glances up at me. “What do you want?”
To see your head hanging off the edge of my bed, just like this, before I fuck your pretty mouth.
The scent of her perfume wafts in my direction, and my gaze finds hers before returning to those goddamn lips. I envision grasping her chin and taking her in a firm kiss. What does she taste like? Is she eager and greedy or shy and submissive? Are her lips as soft as I imagine them to be?
“I’ve got to put this stock away. Order me whatever you’re having.” I retreat a couple steps to keep from doing something stupid.
“You don’t even know what I’m getting,” she counters while I load the remaining boxes into my arms and put some distance between us.
“Carne asada, beans, rice, cilantro, lime, onion, salsa,” I call in her direction as I head toward my office.
She laughs. “Freak!”
As if we haven’t had enough burritos at this point for me to not memorize her order, as if I didn’t commit it to memory the first time she placed it.
In the stock room, I stack the boxes of towels on the shelf, then take a deep breath, dropping my head and shaking it. We’vebeen friends for years, and friends know things about each other—but there’s nothing friendly about the way I feel toward her.
We first met when she was a teenager, and it was like having a goofy kid sister in the shop. Being Clyde’s kid, she earned the nickname Junior, which still carries on with our other two tattoo artists, Casper and Thor. It was fitting. She made me smile with her stupid jokes and quirky antics. After she left Minnesota for college, I continued to focus on my apprenticeship with Clyde, occasionally seeing her when she came home during breaks and holidays from art school in New York.
It wasn’t until she graduated and moved back home that we really became friends. I had gotten out of a toxic relationship that almost ended my career, and despite Kelly being six years younger, she had matured a lot over the years.
She learned to hone her natural talent in art school, returning home with remarkable dexterity compared to when I’d first met her years prior. She’d also completed a piercing apprenticeship while out east and convinced Clyde to let her pierce at Black Rabbit. It was an easy sell; he was always so proud of his daughter, and rightfully so. She’s a skilled body piercer, but when armed with a pencil and pen, the woman is fearless—which is why she became Clyde’s newest tattoo apprentice almost immediately.
Despite being only twenty-one years old and having her dad as her mentor, she understood the significance of the opportunity and made every effort to practice her technique. Kelly may float through life as carefree and lively as a leaf in the wind, but she doesn’t fuck around when it comes to art.
The shop was always chill whenever Kelly and I worked the same shift. Clyde loved having her around too. We talked mostly about our favorite artists, tattooing, and random shit. Our friendship was exactly what I needed. Her heart of gold was so bright in comparison to my dull black one—and she possessedthe same creative mind Clyde had. It was inspiring to watch her genius unfold. Her style had evolved into something beautiful, reminiscent of her dad’s early work.
After a few months, I began to notice her more. Paying attention to things I hadn’t previously cared about, like the small birthmark on the back of her neck, or that her natural hair color is a warm chestnut brown—not the black she dyes it every eight weeks—or her burrito order. That was when I stopped calling her Junior and started referring to her as Chaos. Because that’s what she was, my own personal chaos.
Somehow, the girl who was once like a kid sister had returned from school a completely different woman. One who sent my head spinning with how confident, creative, and gorgeous she was.
Apparently, I wasn’t good at hiding it back then either, because I’ll never forget the day Clyde cornered me in his office.
“What’s going on with you and Kelly?” he asks, shutting the door behind him.
“What?” I’ve been asking myself that same question for weeks.
“I’ve seen the way you watch her . . . In case no one’s told you, you’re about as subtle as a shotgun.”
“You’re losing it, old man.” I avert my eyes and chuckle, then try to change the subject. “Hey, I’ve got some questions about those forms Billy is supposed to be submitting. Can we chat later today?”
He stares at me, and I gather every ounce of denial I have to stare right back. Our standoff seems to last forever, but once he’s decided I’ve been tortured enough, he speaks. “Give her a chance to grow up first, yeah?”
The son of a bitch is astute, I’ll give him that.
He coughs a couple times and clears his throat. His cough has gotten so much worse in the last couple weeks. “She’s too young. She’s not ready for someone like you.”
Someone like me. Not someone my age, not someone who shares a resemblance, someone like me. I raise a brow and cross my arms over my chest. What the hell is that supposed to mean?
“Don’t look at me like that. You know as well as I do that still waters run deep.”
I shake my head. “I’m not interested in your daughter.”
His eyes gleam with emotion in the overhead fluorescent lights. Whoa. This might be the closest I’ll ever be to seeing Clyde Everhart get choked up. “I won’t be around forever. I’m going to need you to look after her. Based on this conversation, I’ll probably be a bag of charred dust bunnies by the time you’re ready to admit it. But when that day comes . . . be good to her. Promise me you’ll let her choose.”
“Clyde—”
