Chloe stuck out her tongue and threw a pencil at Greer. “Shut up.” After repositioning, she took a final deep breath and told the most embarrassing tattoo story Reid had ever heard.
“A few years ago, I was obsessed with zodiac signs. I spent way too much time researching personality traits, compatibilities, who was a sun sign, water sign, you name it. After a particularly bad date one night, I decided to listen to my sign.” Chloe rolled her eyes, her expression colored with annoyance.
“I read that my most compatible sign was Aries. So I decided not to go out with anyone who didn’t fall under that sign. I would literally ask a guy his birthdate and tell him yes or no depending on his answer. God, I was an idiot. Anyway, eventually I met an Aries and we dated for a while. He was a total prick and it didn’t take long for things to fall apart. I assumed it was just a run of bad luck. At the time, I’d had my fair share, so I wasn’t going to give up. Two Aries later and I thought I’d found the one. That is until I went to his apartment unexpectedly one day and found him bent over his sofa. Apparently, had my name been Ian, we would have lived happily ever after.”
“No,” Inky gasped, her face split in a wide grin.
“Go on,” Chloe groaned. “Laugh. I can see it’s killing all of you to hold it in.” The moment the words left her mouth, the entire group exploded with laughter.
“Shit, Chloe. Of all the directions I expected your story to go, this wasn’t it.” Drew braced his elbows on his knees and tried to catch his breath.
“Oh, I’m not to the best part yet,” Chloe said, her voice thick with sarcasm. “After I left, I went to a bar down the street from my apartment. A friend worked there, and I knew once I told her what happened, she’d make my drinks strong enough to knock out an elephant. As the night wore on and alcohol started making decisions for me, I came up with this genius plan to make sure I never dated another Aries as long as I lived. I decided to get a tattoo of my sign murdering Aries. The guy next to me thought it was an awesome idea. Never mind that he was totally shit-faced; we were brilliant in our drunkenness.
“After my friend closed the bar and started downing shots, she asked if there was another sign I should have chosen. I explained it had been a toss-up between Aries and Leo, and that clearly I’d made the wrong decision. That’s when everything went to shit. I convinced her to go with me to see my guy, the one who does all my ink. Together we came up with this,” Chloe said, waving her hand at the tattoo. “It’s Gemini killing Aries and finding love with its true match, Leo. The one it should have been all along. I have never felt more like an idiot in my life. The only way this won’t be my biggest tattoo regret is if I fall in love with a Leo and we live happily ever after.”
The sound of Chloe’s soft laughter floated in the background as Reid stared blankly toward the wall, his mind fighting to understand the strange sensation flying under his skin.
“Okay, what the hell just happened?”
Reid jumped at the sound of Chloe’s voice, his eyes sweeping around the room. Beside him, Greer sat with a scowl on his face while Drew and Inky shared a mischievous grin. He didn’t need to ask why they wore matching Cheshire-cat smiles, he already knew.
Inky turned toward Chloe and hooked her thumb in Greer’s direction. “Well, if you’ve really sworn off Aries men, Greer’s chances just dropped from slim to none.”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “I don’t recall his ever reaching slim in the first place.”
Reid let out a sharp laugh, causing everyone to jump in surprise. “Sorry,” he mumbled, avoiding Greer’s glare when a sudden thought hit him. “Wait a second. You’re a Gemini?”
“Yup.”
“Then you have a birthday coming soon. When is it?”
“June thirteenth. Feel free to shower me with bags of Starbursts.” Chloe grinned while everyone else shook their heads.
Reid stood and walked toward the schedule posted on the wall. “We should do something. Other than help you drown in Starburst wrappers. Where will we be then?”
“France?” Inky answered, her voice unsure.
“Paris, to be exact. We have a show on the thirteenth, but we have the twelfth off. We should plan to do something then.”
“Sounds good to me.” Drew stood and stretched his arms overhead. “I think I’m going to catch some shut-eye before we get to Glasgow.”
“Me too,” Greer said, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
Reid hid his smile behind his hand when he caught Chloe’s amused expression as she watched Greer sulk away to the upper deck of the bus behind Drew.
“Chloe, can we go over that stuff we worked on?” Reid asked, feeling nervous all of a sudden.
Chloe smiled. “Of course.”
“I’ll be right back. I’ve got to run to my room first.” Reid took a final look over his shoulder, catching a smirk from Inky before closing the door behind him. He leaned against the door and let his head fall back. With his eyes closed, he inhaled deeply and tried to push down the feelings beginning to stir in ways he couldn’t allow.