Where is the dragon tat inked on his body? What are the designs tattooed on his forearms? What other tats does he have and, what do they mean to him? How did he come to be a professional tattoo artist before he even turned eighteen?
Ugh, I want to scream with frustration. I want to know all about him.
Uh-oh. No, Dakota. Don’t.
First things first. Find an apartment, find a roommate. I should have another look at Craigslist and also go check the boards on campus again. If I don’t find something, I’ll have to sleep on the couch and be the third wheel. Not sure my friendship with Bella can take it.
My cell chimes. It’s Audrey. ‘Picnic in the park!’ the text reads. ‘Coming?’
Oh hell yeah! It’s summer! I won’t let this moving crisis distract me from the fun of it. I missed having fun long enough to appreciate it. Hell, I missed walking. I missed running and dancing and hoping for the future.
All that’s now behind me. I want to run around and look at the water, eat ice cream and lounge in the sun. Wear my new bikini and get a suntan.
The thought of the lake, all that water, twists my stomach into a knot of unease, but I ignore it. I don’t have to even get my feet wet. And I’m over my fear. Well, mostly.
“Hey, Bella!” I get up and peek around the door into the living room. She’s reading a book—something about men and women relationships. “Park picnic with Audrey? What do you say?”
She drops her book, squeals and jumps up. “Oh, yes! I’m dying of heatstroke here. Ice cream!”
I laugh. “If you were dying to go for ice cream, why didn’t you say so?”
She rarely does. Bella is like that—waiting to see what the other person wants, first. It’s endearing in a way, frustrating in others.
“I did drop a hint, didn’t I?”
I roll my eyes. “Drop it harder next time.”
Yeah, the day is looking up.
If only Zane would come, too… I can imagine him dressed only in surfer shorts, his naked chest gleaming with sweat, those defined abs in full display…
Nah, he won’t be there. He works until late at night at the tattoo shop anyway.
But, hey, a girl can dream.
Chapter Three
Zane
My heart hammers. My brain is blank. I’m leaning against the counter in my booth in Damage Control, staring at a text message that arrived on my cell an hour ago. It’s from Matt, Emma’s husband.
‘No change.’
Just two words, but they hit me like bullets. I feel paralyzed. This last therapy was supposed to be great. It has saved people. But not Emma, not my sister.
The doctors will save her. This is Emma, the one who stuck with me through foster care, who took care of me when things got rough, who found me when she turned eighteen and took me in, in her tiny apartment with her noisy roomies. It was home for the very first time.
They have to save her. They will save her. They’ll try another treatment. That’s what Matt told me the other day. He’s holding out hope.
I should be doing the same. I should find my hope before I visit them this weekend, because we’ll have to talk about all this, all that my mind refuses to even consider.
“Zen-man.” It’s Ocean, one of the other two tattoo artists of Damage. His light blue hair is sticking up in spikes. “Your customer called to cancel. He’ll make another appointment for next week.”
I blink at him, his words echoing in my ears. “What?”
“Zane.” Tyler appears at the opening of my booth, glaring at me. “Get out.”
“What the fuck’s wrong?” I glance around my booth, trying to detect a fire, a leak, anything that might call for such a demand.
“Your customer cancelled. You look like hell warmed over. Go out. It’s summer. Go do something fun.”
“Fun,” I repeat, my dark mood spreading like an oil spill. “Screw you, Tyler, and leave me the fuck alone.”
He grunts, exchanges a quick look with Ocean—what the hell?—and leans against the wall of the booth, making it creak. He gazes at me impassively.
Shit. I rub a hand over my face. Why can’t I be civil to my friends anymore? I should at least try. “Look, I’m sorry, fucker. Didn’t mean to yell in your face. I just… got work to do. Designs to finish.”
Tyler nods, his eyes never leaving me. “I called Ash. He’s passing by to get you.”
“Get me. What do you mean?”
“I mean, he is driving by to get you and take you to the park, where I’ll join you later with Erin. It’s a party. They have beers and sandwiches and music, and I hope they throw you into the lake to lighten you up a bit.”
I suppress a shiver at the thought of being thrown into the lake. Tyler has no idea. He’s acting like he’s my older brother lately, and it’s funny, only he is older than me, and maybe… maybe it’s not bad, having an older brother. Just…
Wait a minute. “Did you say party?”
“Uh-huh.” Tyler is watching me with a gleam in his eye.
“I’m not in the mood for parties.” My hands clench into fists so tight my nails are biting into my palms. “Tell him I can’t go.”
“Forgot to say…” Again that quick look exchange between him and Ocean, and then Tyler winks at me. “That girl you like will be there. She seems to pop up everywhere these days, doesn’t she? It’s almost as if she likes your ugly face or something.”
“There’s no accounting for taste,” Ocean says cheerfully and walks away from my booth.
“What girl?” I ask, my thoughts full of Dakota, her tight little body, her large eyes, those soft lips. I lick mine.
Tyler winks. “That one.”
“If you’re done playing games...”
“I mean Koko.” He pushes off the wall.
She’ll be there? “Her name’s Dakota, dammit.”
“As I said,” he says and tsks, “that one. Now get ready. Asher will be here in two minutes.”
It isn’t until I’m sitting in Asher’s—well, Audrey’s—car, and we’re driving away that I realize how screwed up I am. Just a mention of Dakota’s name is enough to make me drop everything and follow like a puppy.
Dammit, this ain’t right. I need to exercise some self-control.
“How’s it going?” Ash shoots me a sideways look as he shifts gears in the old Mazda. Audrey got it as a present from her mom last month. “Man, you look like something a sick bird chucked up.”
“Nice seeing you, too, fucker,” I say, and I glare at him for good measure, but I mean what I said.
Ash and Tyler. The two members of my adopted family who are doing fine. The two I wasn’t sure would survive the years of abuse and come out sane. But they did. And now they are the strongest. They make me proud.
They often also make me want to punch their faces in, but I guess that’s what brothers are like.
I wish I could see every single person around me survive and live happily. Too much to ask, huh? Must be. People around me have been falling like flies all my damn life, and it doesn’t matter what I do, how hard I try.
All useless.
“Hope you brought your swim trunks,” Asher says as he turns into Olin Park.
“You must be fucking kidding me.”