I closed Bad Habit an hour early.
One of the perks of owning your own business was that if you wanted to lock the door and tell the world to fuck off for the night, you could.
Today, I wanted to.
Actually, I wanted to find whoever spray-painted Josie’s windows and have a long conversation with them involving my fists. Since I didn’t know who that was yet, I settled for going across the street.
Scoop & Swirl was quiet when I walked in.
The lights were still on, but Josie had already flipped the chairs onto the tables. She was wiping down the counter with her back to me.
She looked smaller today.
Dimmer.
The words on her windows were gone. The effect they had on her wasn’t.
I leaned against the doorframe and watched her for a second.
She kept wiping the same spot over and over, lost in her head. I hated that.
“You’re gonna scrub through the counter.”
Josie jumped, and her hand flew to her chest. “Jesus, Rome.”
I pushed off the wall and walked over. “Been standing there for a bit, baby.”
“You still scared me.”
I stopped in front of her.
Her brunette hair was pulled back, no makeup, dark circles beneath her eyes, but she smiled anyway.
It broke my fucking heart. I cupped the back of her neck. “You ready?”
She blinked. “For what?”
“I’m taking you home.”
“Rome-”
“And I’m not leaving you tonight.”
Her mouth opened. Closed. Then she rolled her eyes. “You can’t close the tattoo shop because of me.”
I shrugged. “Sure I can.”
“No, you can’t.”
“One of the perks of owning my own tattoo parlor is that I can close it whenever I want.”
“That’s irresponsible.”
“That’s freedom.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“That’s what I just did.”
