Burn (Brothers of Ink and Steel #2) (11 page)

“Don’t think like that, Quinn, it’ll make you crazy,” I chastise myself.

Oh, shit!
What if he tells them where I am? That’s what they do—they pressure and scare people into giving up information. That could totally happen.

I’m cold and afraid and tired—such a sucky combination. I stink too. I want a shower. I want to change my clothes. I want to have something to eat, because my stomach is growling angrily.

I want someone to tell me they love me and prove it.

Staying as tightly rolled as I can, I lay on the icy closet floor and rest my head on my arm. I imagine this house is filled with beautiful furniture and heat and delicious smells. I pretend I’m Liam’s wife and I just got home from work. I’m a school teacher, and he’ll be home from work soon. He’s a tattoo artist and even owns his own art gallery in the city.

I wake up abruptly. I hate that. I didn’t realize I’d even fallen asleep. There is zero concept of time in here, since it’s pitch dark and the closet door is flush to the floor. But it feels like I’ve been here forever. I have to go to the bathroom. I’m about to move when I hear the familiar creaking of the stairs.

My heart pounds.
Liam!

But then, fear injects into my veins. What if it isn’t?

Footsteps come closer and I hold my breath.

If it was Liam, why wouldn’t he call out my name?

Whoever it is, they’re coming towards the closet. I can hear them getting closer.

If that door opens, I’m rushing out to knock whoever it is over. Maybe I can get away.

I hear the knob wriggling. I cover my mouth with my hands and fight the urge to scream.

When the door opens, a pinpoint of illumination from a flashlight shines in. I throw myself out of the closet and crash into a hard body. The light jerks and scatters, and I hear and see a large pizza box fall and slide across the floor.

“Quinn!”

“LIAM!?”

“Chill! It’s only me!” Liam puts a hand over his stomach where my head hit. “Jesus, that fucking hurt!”

“Why didn’t you
call my name
? WHY DID YOU SNEAK UP HERE LIKE THAT?” I shove him with both hands.

“Because I didn’t even know if you’d made it or if you would’ve stayed this long!” he says, checking to make sure the pizza stayed in the box. “It’s bad enough I’m in here with a flashlight, I didn’t need to be yelling.”

“Yeah, well next time, at least whisper, ’cause if I’d had a weapon I’d have
used it!
” I slap his chest hard.

He laughs then gets serious. “You waited for me.”

“Yeah, well, I started thinking you weren’t coming back,” I snap. “Why did you?”

“Why did you wait?” he counters.

“I asked first.”

“I promised I would.” He reaches out and strokes the locks of my hair that hang out from the hat. “I always keep my promises.” 

I take that in. He really came.
But …
“What took you so long? Did you get caught? Are you hurt? And, oh my God, that pizza smells amazing!”

“Come on and eat, I’m sure you’re starving.”

I am!

Liam makes sure the curtains are pulled tight across the windows as we sit on the floor with the light between us shining across the floor only. Our faces are bathed in shadows as the two of us scarf down the pizza.

“I didn’t get caught, but came close to it. When you ran, I stayed so I’d be a distraction. Once I figured you were far enough out of the way, I made them chase me.” He smiles like he’s
all that
. He deserves to. He shoves half a piece of pizza into his mouth and says with a full mouth and a smile, “Now we’re both wanted.”

He looks totally proud of us.

Wanted by the law, on the streets of the twin cities in October. That’s not a good scenario.

“Oh! I went back and got you this.” He gets up, grabs my trash bag of stuff and sets it next to me.

“Oh my God! Thanks!!” I open the bag, shine the light inside of it and check the contents. “How?”

“Your hiding spot was a really good place to lay low until dusk, when I felt confident about getting here.”

“What time is it? And what happened with Randy?”

“Randy’s mom is home tonight. He gave me a key to get in tomorrow when she’s gone. We just need to be careful and keep you hidden. It won’t be too hard—I’ve hidden there an entire month before.” Liam dangles the key so I can see it. 

“Too bad we couldn’t go to California or Florida or somewhere warm. It would be so much easier,” I muse.

“That could be arranged,” he says confidently.

“How?” I don’t believe him.

“Remember the treasure box I showed you—where I kept the money?”

“Yeah.”

“I also have a lot of … hot items I can pawn.”

“You’re a thief?”

“Small time. Each foster home I’m in—if they suck—I take something of value I can get money for. If they’re real assholes, like the Richardsons, I take extra and don’t even feel guilty.”

“That’s how you got the pizza?”

“Yup. I have another way to earn fast cash too—and a lot of it. Last year I tried getting a legit job, but no one would hire me—too young, no address, no adult signature—so I found a fight club downtown.”

I shudder. Downtown is Vince’s domain. “A fight club?”

“Yup, I’m tough and quick, so the gamblers like putting money on me. I made over two thousand dollars this summer for only five fights!”

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

“Yeah, but it’s pain I’m in control over.” He eyes me intently. “Would you really want to go somewhere else? Somewhere warm?”

“I didn’t think about it seriously.” I stare into my cheese pizza slice. “This is the first winter I’ve been out without a place to stay.”

All of a sudden, my pizza is ripped from my hand and Liam has me pinned to the floor.

“Stop being so serious!” He holds both my wrists in one of his hands above my head while his fingers press mercilessly into my ribs, making me laugh uncontrollably.

But there’s another sensation besides the tickling. His thighs straddle my hips as he squeezes me. It sets fire to other areas of my body and causes me to ache for his touch in another way.

As if he senses this, he stops his tickle assault as our gazes pierce into each other. We’re both out of breath and feeling a new, deeper tension.

He breaks it first. “There.” Liam pushes up and away from me. “Now … if we want to run away to Florida, there’s nothing stopping us.

I remember him close to Tina and a rush of jealousy makes my face hot.

“I can set up a few fights while we stay at Randy’s. By next month, we’ll have enough money to get the fuck out of here.”

I grab my pizza, shove it in my mouth and mumble, “Sure you want to take me with you?”

He rolls his eyes. “Dumbest question ever.”

*****

2015

Quinn

Present

My fingers trace the grooves of the carving Liam knifed into the back of the headboard of what used to be his bed at North House years ago.

Liam and Quinn FAA

Forever and Always.

Who knows how many kids have slept in this very bed over the years? But it’s still here.

“I never could replace it,” Cade says from behind me, as if reading my thoughts.

A bittersweet smile stretches the corners of my mouth. I remember Liam’s love. I remember it every day.

Cade muses, “The two of you are like my own kids.”

I know that’s true. He gave us more love than anyone ever had.

“He hates me.”

“He doesn’t hate you, sweetheart, he’s hurt.”

The wood feels rough and splintered against my skin. That’s what we’ve become towards each other—rough and splintered. I betrayed him.

“I can’t make it better, Cade. He’ll never forgive me.” I let my hand fall to my side. “At least he’s moved on.”

Cade snorts behind me. “Girl, he has not
moved
anywhere!”

I shove the bed back against the wall. “Yes, he has. He has an incredibly successful business with his art, is fighting professionally now, and has a string of women waiting in line.”

I won’t admit to watching every episode of
Ink Master
when he’s been a guest judge or
Tattoo Nightmare,
where he’s fixed botched tats. I won’t admit to sitting two feet away from my flat screen during MMA matches, cringing when he’s hit. And I
definitely won’t
admit to actually attending his fights live when they’re in my region.

“It was so awkward, so icy.” I think of our first encounter in Cade’s office after all this time.

How could these emotions still be so strong, so acute? How haven’t they faded?

The dinner bell rings.

I smile with the reminiscence it brings. “It’s been a long time since I’ve heard that sound.”

“Some things don’t ever change.”

Why do I feel like he’s talking about something deeper? Something more than Debra’s dinner bell?

Cade and his wife have been together forever, so it seems. I always looked up to her.

I always thought that Liam and I would be just like them.

Cade grips my hand. “Let’s go. We don’t want to make her mad.”

The dinner table is exactly the way it was ten years ago. The ultra-long wooden picnic table stands in the middle of the large dining room. Six teenagers of varying ages sit around it. It’s already set and prepared for the evening meal, with two baskets of fresh warm rolls and butter, two braised beef pot roasts, mashed potatoes and enough green beans to stretch across one hundred miles.

“I thought we’d have to eat without you.” Debra smiles at us. “You’re just in time for giving thanks.”

Cade and I sit. Debra starts us off. “I’m grateful for all of the beautiful people around this table, that each of them are here with us tonight, safe and strong and healthy.”

Each kid says something—even if it’s biting and sarcastic. You can always tell who the new ones are. They’re so full, they’re dripping with unresolved feelings and gaping, painful wounds—emotionally and physically.

As they speak, I remember the “Core Eight.” We were here at North House the longest, and except for me bailing, they’ve stayed friends. Right before I left, Liam even called them brothers.

I feel a nudge in my side. It’s Ryder, who stayed here with us for dinner. He’s reminding me it’s my turn for gratefulness.

I’m alive,
doesn’t sound particularly uplifting. And at the moment I’m not exactly sure I’m grateful for it either.

“I’m grateful for this good meal, shared by friends I’ve missed and new friends I’m just meeting.”
How is that for thinking on my feet?

Everyone digs in.

Between bites, I recall the memories of sitting at this table with Liam, Josh North, Ryder Axton, Talon Ward, Connor Callahan, Reese Colburn and Chase Diaz Wolf—and their antics. None of them got along—
ever!

“Dude, give me the food,” one of the kids snaps to another, waking me up.

Cade fires a warning look.

The boy rolls his eyes, but complies, albeit sarcastically. “Dude,
please
pass the food.”

The giggle bubbles up through me, pushing aside all the tension of the day. I can’t stop it, as it becomes a full-fledged laugh attack.

The kids look at me like I’m crazy, but soon enough, it becomes contagious.

“Remember that night Chase and Connor reached out for the last roll?” I ask.

Ryder laughs. “Each of them swore they had touched it first.”

“And while they were arguing over who had, Reese swooped in and snatched it!” I throw my head back, cackling.

“Chase and Connor were like,
what the …?”

Cade laughs too. “And they both tackled Reese to the floor to fight for it.”

“Don’t get any bright ideas,” Debra cautions the kids, who are now smiling and listening intently. “It’s all fun and games until someone dents my silver tray over someone else’s head.”

“Oh my God, that was during the macaroni and cheese fight!” Ryder launches into the story. “We’d all been so edgy that morning. Cade and Debra were doing an intake for a new inmate … no offense,” he adds quickly to Cade before he goes on. “We were sitting at this very table. Two huge mixing bowls of macaroni and cheese were on either side, along with a monster platter of hot dogs—”

“
Homemade
mac and cheese, from scratch, that Debra and I had spent close to an hour making,” I remind him. “And don’t forget the condiments; those were a big part of it. Squeeze bottles of ketchup, mustard and a basket of mayo packets.”