Page 8 of Ashes to Ink

He had to work with a few clients at Montgomery Ink Tootomorrow, but then he needed to go to his old shop and try to get his finalpaycheck. The damn manager hadn’t paid him for the last two months he workedthere. And it sucked. That was the reason Ryan had quit—well, one of the manyreasons. The fact that he got to work with some of the best artists in thecountry at Montgomery Ink Too now was something big. But the whole non-paymentthing with his old boss, even when he had money now, really pissed him the fuckoff.

Ryan hadn’t always had money. When he left his parents’place, he’d had nothing but the shirt on his back and whatever he had been ableto stuff into his bag. They hadn’t liked the fact that he didn’t want to go toa real college. He wanted to go to art school and eventually become atattoo artist. When he turned eighteen and got his first tattoo—at leastwaiting until it was legal—his parents had thrown a fit. They kicked him out,called him names, and then blamed him for his twin.

Ryan didn’t need the guilt trip from his parents regardingMichael. He already blamed himself enough.

And if he really thought about it, Ryan knew that his twinwould fuck things up again. His brother was the reason Ryan had been fired fromthree of his last four jobs. The only reason he hadn’t been fired from his previousone was because he quit before that happened. Ryan knew that if Michael hadshown up there, he would have ended up losing that position just like he hadlost everything else.

So now, the only things Ryan had were this house, his newjob with the Montgomerys, and the money his parentshad left him out of guilt.

They had tried to get ahold of him, tried to be in his lifeagain, but it had always been on their terms, following their rules, and fortheir needs.

They hadn’t liked his decisions. Didn’t seem to like him.

But in the end, they hadn’t liked Michael even more.

And though they had loved Michael, and though they had putall of their attention into making sure Michael was cared for and loved, theyhad made mistakes.

And that was how Michael ended up the way he was now.

And that was why Ryan was the way he was.

Ryan quickly heated up his food, knowing he would just go tothe bakery the next day for his lunch, and tried to let the stress from the daydrain from him. He didn’t like thinking about his family. Honestly, he didn’tlike thinking about most things that hurt. He had his empty house with its barewalls and knew that would have to be enough for now.

There was no use thinking about Abby and her warm home orthe little girl that made him smile.

He was just about to wash his dishes when someone knocked onthe front door.

No one really knew where he lived. Those at Montgomery InkToo had his address on file, but knowing his day, Ryan had a feeling he knew exactlywho was on the other side of the door.

And exactly what they wanted.

So, when he opened the door and found his twin there, hedidn’t sigh. He wasn’t even surprised.

Michael was back.

And that meant things were about to get fucked up.

Again.

Chapter Three

Abby wasn’t having the best of days. It wasn’t as bad as thenight before, but it still wasn’t that great. Thea had come by the house topick her up and take her and Julia to the pediatrician. Her friend had offeredas soon as Abby called to tell her what had happened. Abby didn’t even have toask for help.

The fact that she’d planned to ask in the first place meantthat she was getting better at it. Or at least taking that first step. Julia wasfine, not even a bruise or a bump. But it never hurt to be careful.

Abby hadn’t slept at all the night before and had just lain in her own bed with Julia wrapped up beside her,sleeping. The fact that her baby girl could sleep so well after everything thathad happened at least made her feel a little bit better. Julia hadn’t beenscared, and in reality, the accident hadn’t been that bad. Abby had probablyhurt herself more falling on ice, and had hurt herself more that waynow that she thought about it.

The morning at the pediatrician’s had taken time out of herday. Julia was now at the babysitter’s—not with the Montgomeryssince Abby hadn’t had the time or the brain power to ask about that yet. Butshe would do it soon, though maybe not today since she was still trying tocatch up with everything else.

Abby owned the teashop on her own and didn’t have any help,so Thea had sent over one of her workers to help Abby and open the store forher. Abby was so grateful, but she hadn’t been able to actually voice the wordswith as much emotion as she wanted to. She knew she had to hire someone to helpher, and that was in the plans for the next quarter. The fact that she couldn’ttake any time off for her daughter without closing the store meant that thingsneeded to change.

She hadn’t been able to even think about doing that duringthe first months of her business, but now, things were different.

They had to be.

And speaking of different, she couldn’t help but think ofRyan.

She held back a groan.