“Yeah?”
“Thank you.” She leaned in and kissed me, sucking on my bottom lip. Her teeth dragged across the skin. “For everything.”
Before I could react, she bolted from the car and rushed up the steps to the entrance. I watched her disappear inside. I had the unsettling feeling that things were about to get far more complicated.
15
HAYDEN
The drive back to the city was slow, thanks to morning traffic. After a long shower, I polished off half the contents of my fridge, then headed over to Inked Armor. Two clients were scheduled back-to-back in the early afternoon, but they were both small pieces. There would be plenty of time to pick Tenley up before my evening sessions. Lisa arrived while I was blocking off time on the schedule.
“You’re here early.” She gave me the once-over. “Did things go okay with Tenley?”
“Uh, yeah, it went all right.” I continued to check out my lineup of clients, unsure how to broach the subject. When I closed the book, Lisa was still hovering near me. “What’s up?” I asked, suddenly nervous.
“All you can say is ‘all right’? What happened last night?”
“She let me in. We talked and stuff.” I pulled my first client’s folder from the filing cabinet, avoiding eye contact.
“Would you like to elaborate?”
“I fixed things,” I lied.
That was questionable, at best. Those scars on her back were a huge problem. Not because they made me want her any less but because physical damage wasn’t always in direct correlation with the emotional kind. Tenley was far more fragile than I ever could have guessed. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have let things go as far as they did, because in being with her I’d made her even more vulnerable. It was too late to take it back, and I wasn’t sure how to handle it.
None of what happened last night fit into my usual postorgasm routine. Nothing about Tenley did, and that gave me more cause to worry. I still wanted to put the tattoo on her, but my reasons had changed. I wanted it to help her heal from whatever happened. I was looking forward to that time with her, and not because she was hot and I wanted to get into her pants again. Which I still did. But more than that, I wanted to know her, and maybe she would want to know me.
I needed to talk to Lisa about it, but I didn’t want to hear that I shouldn’t have taken the loophole.
“Why don’t I believe you?”
“Because you’re a naturally suspicious person and you always expect the worst from me.” I played the hurt angle and hoped it would be enough to make her back down.
“That’s not true.”
“Oh, no? The other week at the bar you thought I pulled a Chris.”
“You disappeared without telling anyone where you were going.”
“See? I’m right. When was the last time I did something like that?”
Her nose crinkled as she tried to recall my last foray into the world of nightclub hookups. “I’m sorry,” she said when she realized it had been a damn long time.
“Whatever. It’s fine.” I went back to looking over my first client’s design, the eventual conversation derailed until I found the right way to tell her. I felt moderately bad over her guilt, but it was self-preservation. Chris showed up a few minutes later and, like Lisa, asked about Tenley. I gave him the same vague response before I got busy setting up my station.
I had the unsettling sensation of being watched and looked up to find Chris staring at me. “What?”
“You’re whistling,” he said, forehead creased.
“So?”
“Did you get laid?”
“What? Why would you ask me that?” It came out defensive.
“It’s what you do, man—you whistle when you get action. And you’re way too chipper . . .” He trailed off, looking like he was about to have a brain aneurysm from thinking so hard. “Did you fuck Tenley?”
I was across the room and in his face before I considered the ramifications of my reaction. I seized him by the shirt and lifted him out of his chair. Chris outweighed me by at least thirty pounds. “I didn’t fuck her.”
“Hayden!” Lisa raced over and forced her way between us. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Hayden fucked Tenley,” Chris repeated, like Lisa hadn’t heard him the first time he’d yelled it across the studio.
“Say it one more time and I’m going to break your face.”
Chris pointed an accusatory finger at me. “You broke the rule!”
I smacked his hand away, anger flaring.
“Touch me again and I’ll put you in the ground,” Chris growled.
“You want some? Let’s go.” I tried to get around Lisa, but she wasn’t having it.
“In the back,” Lisa ordered. When I took a step toward Chris, she shoved against my chest. “Now.”
“Better do what she says.” Chris shooed me away.