Page 54

Ren tilted his head my way. “Jasmine?”

His low, raspy voice lifted goose bumps all over me. “Eyes straight ahead,” I bit out.

He did as I said and thrust his fingers through his hair. “What you walked in on—”

“I didn’t walk in on anything. I arrived at a mutually agreed upon time for our appointment, since I’m providing a professional service and all. And you know, doing a favor for Willow, but instead I get insults thrown at me by your friend. I’d say I was sorry for interrupting your party with Bree, but I’m not. My time is important. In case you’ve forgotten I have souls to find.”

“You didn’t interrupt anything.”

“No? She seemed to think so. Since, apparently, I’m a bitch, and the only reason I’m here is to beg her male to fuck me.”

“What the fuck?” he snarled.

“Don’t act so surprised. You either want her and you’re denying it for some reason—while, by the way, treating her like crap—or you’re using her to get off, giving the female mixed messages, and generally being a dick.”

“Jaz—”

“When you invite someone over to drink vodka with you, someone you bone on the regular, they’re going to have certain expectations.” I was being a bitch, like Bree accused me of, but I couldn’t stop myself.

“I didn’t invite her here.”

Oh sure. “It’s none of my business.”

“You seem pretty worked up, Jasmine, throwing a lot of shit at me about it, so I should get to defend myself. No, I didn’t invite her here. I’ve had a shitty fucking day, and she showed up with vodka and I wanted a drink.” He took a steadying breath. “I shouldn’t have let her in, but I…I wasn’t thinking clearly. It won’t happen again.”

“Like I said, it’s none of my business.” I finished getting my tattoo machine ready, filled my little ink cup with ink and added a few drops of the potion I’d mixed before I came, and stirred it carefully. “I’ll start with your shoulders. It’ll be easier if you sit up straight.” He was sitting on the floor with his forearms resting on his knees.

He did as I said, and I gasped. His scars looked raw, goddess, almost fresh. I reached out. “Ren, what happened to you…”

He grabbed my hand, stopping me from making contact. “Nothing.” He held my gaze, his tone a demand that I don’t ask him any more about it, that I ignore what was right in front of me. Our eyes stayed locked, and his fox swirled behind his. “It’s nothing,” he said again, breaking the silence.

I nodded and pulled my hand out from under his. “If you say so.” Then I turned on the tattoo machine, dipped it in the ink cup, loading the reservoir, and angled closer. “Try not to move.” Then I started tattooing while I recited the same spell I had the night before, over and over again.

An hour passed without him saying a word, and I was glad for it, then he said out of the blue, “You painted me.”

I stilled.

“My fox, anyway, on Violet’s wall.”

He’d seen it. “Yep. You’re important to her. You’re Willow’s familiar,” I said, telling him the truth. Yes, he’d belonged there, but that wasn’t the only reason I’d painted him. I’d seen his eyes in my mind and envisioned them in that leafy corner, and there’d been no stopping me. I started spelling again, killing the conversation, and thankfully he let it go.

It took me several hours to do his shoulders. It’d taken longer because this set was a lot more intricate. I’d also needed to monitor the souls closely as I went. They were furious, not at Ren but at me, which meant I was using the correct sigil configuration like I thought, and now that I was using magic ink, the souls could feel it, the distance growing between them and Ren, and not in the way they wanted. They were still stuck with him, only now they couldn’t get to him quite as easily, and when I was done, not at all.

I turned off the tattoo machine and shook out my hand. “That’ll do for tonight. I’ll be back tomorrow and hopefully get the rest done then. If we could start earlier, that’d be good. It’ll take a few more hours, but I want to get this finished.” My voice was hoarse from spelling for hours.

“Right,” he said and turned to me, keeping his gaze above the neck. “Thank you, Jaz, for this.”

I nodded and quickly put on my necklace and cuffs. The souls drew back, then vanished from view. Calmer again now. “Stay there while I get a towel to wipe off this oil.”

I went to stand, but he grabbed my arm. “I’m sorry I was an asshole.”

“Are you?”

“Of course I am.” His gaze searched mine.

I wondered what he saw when he looked at me. This male confused the hell out of me. I’d made Ren think I was with Rome, and he picked a fight with him. He saw me with Rome this morning, and he’d looked at me in a way that I couldn’t read but had twisted my belly in knots. Then I get here tonight, and he was with Breanne, almost like he was trying to hurt me. “Why did you invite Breanne in, Ren?” I said, finding courage I didn’t know I possessed.

“Like I said, she had vodka,” he said roughly.