The traitor didn’t even hesitate. “Not at all.” He flashed a wide grin. “It would actually be very helpful.”
I glared at him.
He grinned, unapologetic. “How about we just check on her when we’re free? Your first session starts in fifteen, but I’m open for another hour. I’ll hang up front, chat with her, maybe get to know your oldest friend a little better.”
I shot him a look that promised payback.
“See?” Macy wrapped her hand around my forearm, squeezing just enough to be impactful. “If I feel unsafe or uncomfortable I promise to come back with you. Okay?”
I didn’t like it. I hated it. But if she was trying to compromise, I should too. “Fine,” I said. “But you stay inside this building. No wandering.”
“No wandering,” she promised before she released me.
I watched her step behind the counter and stare at the computer screen, quickly learning the software as if neither me nor Dagger stood there staring.
“I’ll be fine guys.” The words came out on heavy, slightly annoyed sigh. “I’m not looking to get dead, okay?”
Those words were enough to propel us both into action. She stayed upright while Dagger and I went to our respective areas and set up for the day.
***
The first half of the day passed in a blur of ink and rock music. I looked up every once in a while, to see Macy at the counter, on the phone with a half-smile on her full lips or processing payments for satisfied customers. She wasn’t wrong when she said she was well-suited for the job and I was sure no one but me noticed how fucking fake her smile was.
How long had she been faking those smiles? Did anyone ever notice that her lips were pulled wide, but her eyes were dull and lacked the vibrancy of her real smiles? It killed me to know she’d been out there all this time, alone, thinking I’d forgotten about her.I should’ve looked longer.
No matter what the fuck she said, I knew I should have given my search for her more time. I was a stupid fucking kid, too emotional and dumb to know what I was doing. The weeks I looked for her felt like an eternity and with each day that passed without a sighting had made me more certain than ever that one of her parents had finally gone too far. Neither the cops nor the social workers could convince me otherwise.
But here she was.
“Fuck,” I muttered.
“Everything okay?” The guy in my chair looked over his back with one brow arched.
I nodded and pulled myself from my thoughts. “Yeah, the ink is looking incredible. Just got lost in some thoughts I shouldn’t be having right now.”
“Got a new woman?” he asked with a laugh.
“Something like that.” It was too complicated to explain but that was the gist of it. “How are you feeling?”
“Good. Keep going.”
That’s what I did, losing myself in the rhythm of a good, long inking session. I’d already done the outline of the back piece and all that was left was two sessions to fill it all in. It was black and gray with lots of fine lines and heavy shading. It was precision work, exactly what I needed to stop my racing thoughts.
“I need a piss and a smoke,” he grunted a couple hours later.
“Right.” I covered the ink and stepped back to remove my gloves. The moment he left out the back door, I went to Macy. “How’s it going?”
She spun my way with a slow smile that went all the way up to those incredible eyes. “Good. You?”
“My back is tight as fuck but it’s a hazard of the job.” I stretched my spine and then my neck, trying to get some blood pumping into my limbs. “I’ll be all right.”
“Of course you will. I’m still here, still in one piece.”
“I see.” I let my gaze settle on the details. Her short black hair and high cheekbones. Those full pink lips that were meant to be kissed. The delicate jaw that made her look like the world’s toughest porcelain doll. “You look good.” I smiled.
She smiled back, it was soft and almost shy. “I wouldn’t say good, but at least today I don’t look like I slept on a Greyhound.”
I barked out a laugh. “You look beautiful,” I whispered.
