“I heard you. I don’t need you to defend me, Ren. The fantasy of having a dad is over. He ruined it and I accepted that. I’m an adult. I can handle his decision.”
His eyes told another story. If there was anything I’d learned about Oliver since I’d met him, hewasn’tgreat at accepting rejection. Like the time I’d tied him up while I’d fucked KC. He’d hit a difficult sub drop and panicked, and I’d realized how much I’d messed up. I wasn’t going to let that happen again. I wanted my partners to be happy, not miserable, especially not during sex.
“Maybe I wanted Luke to kick his ass for me. Maybe I don’t like the fucker.” I smoothed my palm down his cheek. His skin was ice under my touch, so cold that guilt hit me for sending him out there. I should’ve closed the shop today, but I’d thought I could get more clients in before it became unsafe to drive on the roads.
“Bullshit.” Oliver poked me in the chest. “I’m not a damsel in distress, all right?” He aimed for stern but looked like an angry kitten, and I was too weak to resist another kiss on his nose. He swatted again. “Oh my God, stop it.”
“What have you and KC done to our boss, Oli?” Wylie asked with a wicked grin. “You turned him soft. He gave us a Christmas bonus. He’s never done that.”
“Fuck you,” I shot at him. “You should be thanking your lucky stars I don’t fire your ass.”
“Please do it so I can go back to California.” Wylie rolled his eyes, earning a laugh from the woman in his chair.
“Oliver’s the only good employee here. He respects me.”
“I respect getting paid.” Oliver slid off his coat, and I helped him hang it on the rack. Inside was toasty, the heater sending warmth through the shop that made the windows fog.
“Betrayal from all sides.” I pouted at him.
“Says the one who called his brother to ask him to punch my dad.”
“He deserves it. He’s lucky I didn’t put out a hit on him.”
Oliver huffed as he opened the paper bags and pulled out sushi and chopsticks. He passed the container and utensils to me, then gave Wylie and Flint their orders. “You’d end up dead before you got to jail. The Kings would deal with you first. Not even Barber would save you from them.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard some things, Boss.” Flint leaned over Natalie, the buzzing of his tattoo gun filling the shop with one of the most beautiful sounds I’d ever heard. There was something calming about the vibrations. “This city doesn’t mess with their one-percenters. The Kings have a reputation.”
Natalie made a noise of agreement. “My brother got into a fight over at Sinful. It’s a club owned by the Kings. He said he was more afraid of the biker bouncers than the guy he fought or the cops. He kept apologizing to them and even got on his knees, offering them cash to pay for the damage. It’s the only time I’ve seen Neal nearly piss himself.”
“Luke’s in the Kings. I’ll be fine. Even if he doesn’t want to save his little brother’s ass, he’ll remember his adopted sons love me.”
“Do I?” Oliver was quick today. I chuckled and slapped him on the ass. “Hey!”
“Eat, then practice.”
Wylie and Flint had nearly finished their sessions with their clients, so Oliver and I went into the break room while they completed their work. We ate, and the one nice thing about working with Oliver was times like this when we could relax together.
“KC’s starting to eat a few things that aren’t on that meal plan he had for football.” Oliver nudged my shoulder with his, his smile small but reassuring. “I have a good feeling about this.”
“Me too.”
It was a long process, but we’d gone to a psych session with KC. Dr. Griffin gave us a rundown of how our future would look. He didn’t shy away from the truth, and we’d been prepared for it. Oliver and I knew we had a long road ahead of us with KC, and we were ready to fight his demons with him. Support was essential, Dr. Griffin had said. He’d given KC small tasks—homework if you will. It was all about changing the brain’s thought processes, and KC seemed determined, especially since he wanted to get off the bench and back into games next season.
Soon Wylie and Flint came in, and the conversation turned to clients and tattoos.
“I had a cover-up this morning.” Wylie winced. “Replacing an ex-girlfriend’s name with his current one.”
“That’s going to turn out well.” Flint shoved his mouth full of sushi and chewed like a madman. At some point while he’d been working, he’d forced his shoulder-length dark hair up into a manbun. With all the jostling, a few strands escaped to curl around his face. I didn’t blame him. We usually didn’t have much time between clients, though this morning was slower because of the snow. We never knew when we’d have a walk-in, though.
“That’s what I thought.” Wylie chuckled. He ate so much more politely than the Texan sitting beside him. “I give him a few months, and he’ll be back in for another cover-up.”
“With a new girlfriend?” Oliver grinned.
“With the weapon he’s throwing around? Yeah.”
We all looked at Wylie, and he laughed.
“The tat was on his upper thigh,veryclose to his groin. He wasn’t wearing underwear.”
