Celebration (6 page)

“Didn’t I tell you? There will be party favors at my party, and you’re going to one of them.”

“What are you planning?” Rex asked, but Athena wasn’t going to tell him anymore.

“Got to go, Rex.” She smiled at Julius, who was knotting his tie. “I’ve got a dinner date and I’m already thinking about dessert.”

She waited for Rex to laugh, then blew him a kiss and hung up the phone. It was a good thing her nails were dry, because Julius was looking very sexy.

Someone had to ruffle his feathers once in a while, and Athena was glad to take on the job.

Even if they did end up being late for their reservation.

* * *

Rex didn’t know what to expect from Wicked Ink, but he couldn’t resist the temptation to stop by. He didn’t know the neighborhood so took a good look around when he got out of the cab. The street was quiet and dark, the other shops closed for the night. It was late, nearly midnight, and the lights were on inside the tattoo shop.

His first surprise was the sight of Amanda, checking her email on her cell phone just outside the shop. She squealed at the sight of him and threw herself at him, giving him a tight hug and a kiss on each cheek. “How are you?” she demanded, pulling back to look into his eyes. “Really?”

“I’m all right,” Rex admitted, feeling better by the minute.

“Where’s Leya?”

Rex winced and looked away. “Who cares?”

Amanda’s eyes narrowed. “Did that witch screw you over?”

“Amanda...”

“I knew it,” she said with force. “I never trusted her, and I never liked that it was the Count who recommended her to us.”

That reminded Rex of something he had yet to do. “Where is the Count anyway?”

Amanda gave him a level look. “Wanting to get even?”

“Wanting to make sure he gets what he deserves.”

“I think Athena made some progress there. Word is that he’s still tied up in his fancy house, at the mercy of his chambermaids.”

Rex liked that mental image a lot. “Pleasure or punishment?”

Amanda smiled. “Maybe a bit of both.”

Rex could believe that. “She wants to talk to you, by the way. Here’s her number.” Rex gave Amanda the card he’d brought specifically in the hope of seeing her.

“I’m so glad you talked to her.” Amanda turned the card over in her hands and Rex had the sense she was hiding something from him. “This is in London, right?” Amanda’s innocence seemed a bit much.

“You’ve already talked to her,” Rex guessed and Amanda blushed.

“She asked me not to say.”

“Why not?”

Amanda shrugged. “Maybe because she thought you needed a mission.” Her smile turned mischievous. “Maybe because she didn’t want you to know about her and Julius.”

Rex shook his head. “As if anyone could miss the clues.”

“I knew you’d figure it out, even if no one said anything. You are the master of secrets, after all.”

“I still have a mission. She gave me two, just to make sure.”

“Did you choose to accept this one?”

“Absolutely. I’ve got to convince as many Plume members as possible come to Athena’s party in London, two weeks from now.”

Amanda’s eyes shone. “It won’t be just any party.”

“I wouldn’t think so.”

She smiled. “I bought my fare already, and word is people are buying lottery tickets.” She looped her arm through Rex’s elbow. “Come on in. There are people here who seriously want to see you.”

Rex hesitated. “I don’t know how or when or even if the Plume will be rebuilt, Amanda. Isn’t that what they’ll want to hear from me?”

She gripped his arm more tightly and gave him a tug. “That’s why you need to see what’s happening here. Trust me. You’ll love it.”

“What if I promise to see you punished if I don’t?”

Amanda laughed. “You of all people know that’s not my fantasy. I’ve told you a million times.”

“Maybe it’s mine,” Rex teased, just as they used to, and Amanda swatted him, just as she used to.

“I’m too curvy for you,” she said with her usual practicality. “Right boobs, wrong butt.”

“You still haven’t told me your fantasy, not after all these years.”

“Maybe I was living it already,” Amanda said, giving him a hot glance. “Maybe by hiring me for the Plume, you already made it come true.” She blinked quickly and he saw the tears she was trying to hide. Rex realized in that moment that he wasn’t the only one who’d lost his dream, and he knew that he had to find some way to fix this.

For all the people who had trusted him.

Sending a dozen of them to Athena’s party would only be the beginning.

Rex pulled Amanda into a hug and kissed her temple, feeling a wave of affection for her. “Thanks, Amanda,” he said into her hair. “Thanks for taking care of our members. I know you let yourself get arrested, Julius told me. And he said you were the last released, because you made sure everyone else was out first. Thanks.”

“You’re not the only one who feels responsible,” she said, her voice husky.

“I should have been here.”

“You should have been right where you were,” she said fiercely. “It made all the difference to us, knowing that you were safe from the cops until that bastard’s plan fell apart.” She looked up at him, not bothering to fight her tears any more. “They’re worried about you, Rex. They love you and they loved the Plume.” She took his hand in hers and gave his fingers a squeeze. “Come inside and see just how much.”

That was an invitation Rex couldn’t refuse.

* * *

Joanna was exhausted by the time she arrived back at the apartment she shared with Louise. Not only had she taken the red-eye flight back from the coast the night before, but she’d been on the run with wedding arrangements all day long. It was almost eleven and she was dead on her feet.

Joanna smiled as she shut the door behind herself. No matter how tired she was, she couldn’t regret the late flight.

Those last couple of hours with Mike had been incredibly hot.

Instead of sating her and making it easy to be chaste for the next two weeks, though, their interval left her ready for more. She couldn’t stop thinking about Mike and what they’d done together, and he hadn’t helped.

Pinch a welt every time you think of me.

His last whispered command echoed in her thoughts. Joanna obediently reached under her skirt and pinched a welt, hard. It sent a surge of pain and pleasure coursing through her body, one that weakened her knees and made her close her eyes for a moment. She leaned back against the door, remembering.

She’d been pinching welts that all day long, even as she reviewed preparations with florists and caterers, even as her excited mom meddled with everything, even as her sister Amy complained that the red sheath dresses she’d chosen for the bridesmaids were too girly, even as she endured one last fitting of the wedding dress.

Thank God she’d been able to put it on herself and no one had seen her ass. Joanna’s smile widened as she remembered the dressmaker’s assistant jiggling the lock on the change room. The threat of discovery had gotten Joanna all excited all over again.

In just two weeks, she’d be married to Mike and they’d be together forever.

“Ow, ow, ow!” Louise said, her voice rising with every syllable. She was in the bathroom, but the door was ajar. Joanna was surprised that her roommate was even home on a Saturday night.

“Hello!” she called. “I’m home.”

“Hi! Ouch!” Louise swore quietly.

Joanna hung up her coat, then went to the bathroom door. “Is something wrong?”

“Just that the bandage is stuck to my new tattoo. Look.” Louise turned around and Joanna winced. It looked as if the adhesive was stuck to the enflamed skin. This new tattoo was on the back of Louise’s left shoulder and Joanna wondered what it was.

“I thought you got one last month.” The other tattoo was lower and hidden by Louise’s jeans.

“I did.” Louise grinned. “It’s kind of addictive.”

Joanna smiled, guessing that it was the tattoo artist Zeke who was the source of Louise’s addiction. She’d certainly been talking about him non-stop. “Pleasure and pain,” she said, understanding perfectly.

“Something like that.” Louise picked at the adhesive. “Stupid bandage. Ow!”

Louise was notoriously impatient with these kinds of things, so Joanna stepped into the bathroom to stop her from making a mess. “Don’t tear your skin!”

“I just have to get it off.”

Joanna spoke sternly. “Let me.”

“What am I going to do without you around?”

“Find another adult?”

“You won’t be that easy to replace.”

“I’ll miss you, too.” Joanna leaned close to look. “It’s just stuck a bit on this corner. It looks like a bit of blood from a scratch, not the tattoo itself.”

“Good.” Louise bent her head and waited.

Joanna eased the adhesive from Louise’s skin, then lifted the dressing away. The skin on the back of her shoulder was still swollen, but even so, Joanna was amazed by the tattoo that was revealed. “Wow.”

“You like it?”

Joanna glanced up, realizing that Louise was watching her in the mirror. “It’s beautiful.”

“My own mermaid.” Louise smiled. “Because I’m a water sign, you know?”

“I know.”

Louise turned around, then peered over her shoulder to try to see the tattoo. Joanna gave her a hand mirror instead. “I think Zeke did an awesome job. He wants to do more shading on the fish scales of her tail, but he said that was enough for one night.”

“It’s beautiful. You never showed me the other one, you know.”

“Oh, because I thought you’d laugh at me.” Louise, to Joanna’s surprise, was blushing.

“Now I’m really curious.”

“Promise not to laugh.”

Joanna crossed her heart and held up her fingers in a scout’s promise. Louise blushed a little more, then unfastened her jeans and pushed them down over her hips as she turned around. “See?”

Joanna didn’t laugh: she stared in awe. A feather graced the skin on the other side of Louise’s spine, its curve flowing down her back. It was a peacock feather, the eye at the top and script alongside it.

Property of The Plume.

“But I didn’t think you were,” Joanna said.

Louise laughed. “No, I had to negotiate for that. Once I saw the tattoo design, though, I knew I needed to have one myself.”

“The design?” Joanna met Louise’s gaze in the mirror. “You mean that other people have this tattoo?”

“Oh yeah. Zeke’s doing a huge business in this particular commemorative. I wouldn’t be surprised if every single person who used to be a member has gotten one.” Louise’s smile turned mischievous. “And maybe a few more, like me, who just had dreams of joining.”

“A commemorative,” Joanna repeated.

“That’s what they call it when you get a tattoo to commemorate something.” Louise rolled her eyes. “You’re the writer, Joanna. I would have expected you to figure that out all by yourself.”

“It’s not that. It’s that people want to commemorate the Plume.”

“Well, why not? It was awesome, like a dream in real life.”

“A place where fantasies came true,” Joanna mused. “Does Rex know about this?”

Louise shrugged. “Not that I know of, but I’m not at the shop all the time.”

“Really? I thought you were Zeke’s fan girl.”

Louise laughed again. “Well, he doesn’t answer to me, and I don’t want him to take me for granted.” She sobered. “Why? I thought you and Rex were done.”

“We were. We are. I just wondered how he’s doing.” Joanna gestured, unable to explain her feelings. “I mean, he built the Plume. It must have been hard for him to see it destroyed.”

“And him blamed for it.” Louise considered Joanna. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking he’d be glad to know about this, that’s all.”

“Looks like you’re glad to know about it, too.”

Joanna smiled. “I am, actually.”

“You are a big old softie,” Louise charged and Joanna smiled.

“Guilty as charged.”

“Some journalist. Maybe you picked the wrong career.”

“How so?”

“Aren’t journalists supposed to be cynical and unfeeling, bitter about humanity and all that? Maybe you’re too soft for all that gritty reality stuff.”

Joanna was startled by the words, although Louise wasn’t paying any attention. What if the move west was a chance for her to do what she wanted?

What did she want to do? She’d just assumed she’d find a job at another newspaper, but maybe there were other choices.

Louise leaned closer then, her eyes dancing with mischief. “Want to see if you can get a Plume tattoo?”

Joanna was startled. “I’ve never thought about getting a tattoo at all...”

“Well, think about it now. If you’re going to get one, it should be beautiful.”