Dante's Way (26 page)

“What do you want to do after I leave the shop?” Dante asked, moving back from her.

Amara wasn’t picky. Anything would be good as long as they got to spend time together.

He made her not pity or long for what others had that she didn’t anymore. Dante was giving her the support and compassion that she usually gave to Liam and Theresa when they needed it from her.

Now, with all of the blessings she had been given over the past few weeks she felt like she could exclude everything else that was going on around her, and the day-to-day struggles she had to survive. Since all of the huge drama was gone out of her life, she could pursue her goal of reentering college, getting a job and finding a place to live that wasn’t the shelter.

“I’m up for anything,” Amara answered, meaning every word. ”I want to do something exciting.”

Dante’s eyes brightened with excitement as he ran his hands up and down her jean clad thigh making her pussy throb. God, she had it bad for him! She should be scared because things seemed like they were moving so fast, but she loved every bit of it.

“I’ll have to think about what I can set up for us, but I know I can think of something you’ll like.” Leaning forward, he planted a kiss on her mouth but moved back before she could deepen it.

She gave him a surprised look. “I wanted more than that.”

“Baby, I would love to carry this further but if I don’t leave right now, I really will be late.”

“Okay, I should be going too but I’ll be waiting for you here later,” she said then gave Dante another quick kiss before getting out of the vehicle.

Standing in the parking lot, Amara waved at Dante before he drove away. She watched his truck until it turned the corner and disappeared from sight. She couldn’t keep the smile off her face as she walked towards the back entrance.

“Amara, there you are.”

Spinning around, she saw Pastor Allen walking in her direction with a pair of gardening tools in his hand. Had she really been so lost in thought that she hadn’t noticed him in the community garden at the back of the building?

“Hi,” she answered, waiting for him to join her. “How are you doing? Do you need to see me about something?”

“I’m doing fine. Yes, I need to tell you something. I was going to do it last night, but the rainstorm hit and Dante called to tell me that he would keep you at his house until this morning. So, I can tell you now.”

“There isn’t anything wrong with Mr. Lee or anyone else is there?” Amara asked, worried something was wrong with one of her friends.

“No, it isn’t anything like that at all. Actually, I think it’s very good news for you,” Pastor Allen said. “I asked around to a few people that I know and got you a job interview.”

Amara’s heart leaped up in her chest. “What! How?” she asked, dazed yet shocked all at the same time. “I don’t understand. None of this is making any sense. I’ve been trying for weeks to get something.”

“I kept asking around until someone finally agreed to give you one. Now, it’s nothing big,” he pointed out to her. “It’s basically answering the phones and other office duties at a small community center across town. They can’t pay you a lot, but I know the guy who runs it and he was looking for someone while his wife goes back to college. So, I told him about you. He wants to see you tomorrow morning at nine o’clock.”

“I don’t know what to say,” she said, rushing to Pastor Allen and giving him a hug.

The elderly man patted her on the back before she moved away from him. Everything was happening so fast for her now. It was almost like everything she had to experience was meant to be so she could have this moment in time.

She had an interview tomorrow for a job, but suddenly all of the excitement she felt vanished as reality set in. “I can’t go on a job interview.”

“Why not?” he asked. “What changed your mind so suddenly?”

Amara glanced down at her outfit and then back up at him. “I have nothing appropriate to wear. I want to make a good impression. Jeans and a t-shirt won’t do that.”

Smiling at her, Pastor Allen placed his hand on her arm and directed her towards the shelter’s back door. “I believe I can help you with your problem. Yesterday, we got a huge donation for our clothes closet and I believe I saw several dresses and other items in your size. Let’s go and take a look at them. Some of the items still even have the tags on them.”

“No, I couldn’t take something from someone else that might need it more than me,” she said.

“You aren’t taking anything,” Pastor Allen insisted. “I’m offering them to you and if I remember correctly I believe I saw some beauty supplies, like new containers of make-up and other items, you might be able to use as well.”

She wanted to argue but didn’t see any point to it. One thing she learned from the time she had spent at the shelter was once he made up his mind there was no changing it.

Happiness was boiling over inside of her and she couldn’t wait until she saw Dante and got to share her news with him. She could only imagine how he was going to feel for her. Just thinking about him made her eager to lay eyes on him again. She had never been so into another person like this before, if this is what love felt like then she would like another dose of it.

****

“Man, I can’t thank you enough for coming in on your day off from the bar and working on Caleb’s clients,” Griffin told Dante as he got his station ready for his first client.

For Dante, being back at
Inked
and in a working capacity after so long felt strange, but familiar in some way. This place is what got him started on his road toward success. How could he not come back and help Griffin out when he needed it the most?

“We’ve been through too much for me not to help you out. Have you heard from Caleb anymore?” he asked.

“Can you believe he came in about twenty minutes ago actually thinking I was going to let him on someone’s body. I don’t care how many cups of coffee he’d tossed back since we talked on the phone. I thought he was past all of this, but I guess I was wrong. I can’t keep Caleb here if he’s going to continue going down this road.”

“Do you need me to talk with him?” he asked. “You know sometimes he’ll open up to me more than you.”

Griffin looked at him for a few minutes before answering. “No, I don’t think you should say anything to him.”

Dante had a sense of what was going on with Caleb, but he didn’t want to bring it up to Griffin. They probably both actually knew when their buddy started to change.

Shit! Caleb wasn’t even ready to admit it to himself. So, how could they bring it up to him? He would only shut them down and the more they pushed, the further he would lie about what was going on with him.

“I just feel so bad for him. I know how much he loved Zeniya. Maybe if he only gave more to their relationship,” Dante pointed out. He had begged Caleb more than once to change or it would come back to haunt him, but he didn’t listen and it cost him a lot.

“I know, but we can’t help someone who doesn’t want it,” Griffin pointed out. “I’m done talking about him. I want to know who spent the night at your house. From the smile on your face when you sauntered through the door, I’m guessing you had a very good night. Thank God because you were getting a little cranky.”

He stopped working on getting his old station together and glared at Griffin. He wasn’t getting cranky. Why in the hell would his best friend tell him something so crazy like that? He had been perfectly fine without sex for the past three months, so Griffin didn’t know what he was talking about.

“I haven’t been in any kind of mood lately,” he denied, vehemently. “Why would you say that I have?”

Leaning back in the chair, Griffin crossed his ankles then folded his hands on his stomach. “You have to admit that ever since you tried to get in touch with your brothers and they rejected your olive branch again that you haven’t been the same. You’ve made a couple of bad choices like getting involved with Bambi which completely blindsided me.”

Dante wanted to deny it, but he couldn’t because some of what Griffin was saying was partially true, but he only dated Bambi because she was there when he needed something to take his mind off things, but she was only a bad memory.

“I can’t disagree with you about her. I was walking around in a fog for a while, but I’ve gotten past it. I’m actually a lot happier than I was.”

“Does this newfound happiness involve our spunky little food stealer from the rainstorm named Amara?” Griffin smirked, shocking him.

“Why are you bringing Amara up? I haven’t talked about her in a while.” He didn’t want anyone’s opinion about why he was seeing Amara. It was
his
business and not
theirs
.

“Why shouldn’t you talk about Amara when I saw the both of you ride off on your motorcycle yesterday? The change in her appearance in unbelievable. I almost didn’t even recognize her.”

“How did you see us? I didn’t see you anywhere around,” he asked, stunned.

His best friend’s smirk grew even wider as he arched an eyebrow. “I know that you didn’t because you only had eyes for her. I have to tell you that she really looked good. I never would have guessed that hot little package was underneath all of that dirt and torn clothing.”

“Stop!” Dante shouted then lowered his voice. “I wouldn’t say anything else about her if I were you.”

“Calm down, buddy. I wasn’t going to say anything bad about her. I like Amara. She’s just what you need in your life. So, how long has she been living at the shelter?”

“I really can’t tell you because I haven’t asked her. She still has a hard time talking about not having a real roof over her head. However, I don’t like the idea of her being there anymore myself. Especially since some man she knew while living on the streets named Mr. Lee got her a bed there. He owns a dry cleaners about three blocks from here.”

Frowning, Griffin leaned forward in his seat. “What’s wrong with the outreach shelter? I thought Pastor Allen ran a pretty safe haven for the homeless. Has something changed since you were there last with donations?”

Dante placed his tattoo equipment down in front of him. “No, nothing has changed that I know of, but—”

The sound of the bell above the front door cut Dante off. “I think that’s your interview. Please don’t scare her away with your attitude or demands. Give her a chance to answer the questions before you fire off another one.”

Getting up from the stool, Griffin shot a look over in his direction. “How about you worry about keeping your newfound relationship with Amara going strong? I know how to conduct an interview with someone,” his friend told him before walking out of the room.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Making his way to the front of the building, Griffin tried to shake off his disagreement with Dante. He knew his friend meant well, but he didn’t need any unwanted advice when it came to running the shop. He had everything under control and it would stay that way no matter what.

His steps slowed as he spotted the woman waiting to be interviewed for the floor manager job. She strolled around the waiting area looking at different paintings on the walls. With every step she took her hips gently swayed in the tight leather pants she was wearing.

Her ass was nice and tight making him wonder how good it would look on the back of his motorcycle as it sped down the road. Her hair was styled in a cute cut that stopped right above her shoulders. She was sizzling hot! He couldn’t help but wonder what the rest of her looked like when she would turn completely around.

She reached for something on a shelf above her head. The back of her t-shirt rose up showing off a tattoo on the upper back. He could barely hold back a groan at how the ink looked against her caramel skin. He never expected a black woman to show up for the interview.

“Excuse me, may I help you?” he asked, walking closer to the stunning beauty as she placed the statue back on the shelf.

Spinning around, she smiled at him and Griffin was shocked by the prettiness in front of him. Her face was perfectly oval and feminine with dark deep set eyes that he found irresistible, almost impossible, to look away from. The corners of her mouth pulled up into a friendly smile showing off perfect white teeth. She was almost too perfect to look at in his opinion.

“Hi, I’m Ceanna Gibson. I was wondering if you are looking for any female tattoo artists.”

“Tattoo artists,” Griffin replied, trying to clear his head of the daydream he was having about her. “What are you talking about? Aren’t you here for the floor manager’s job?” he asked.

Frowning at him, Ceanna shook her head. “No, I’m looking for a job. I’ve been to three other tattoo shops today and all of them turned me down after laughing in my face. One of the artists at the last place took pity on me and told me to come here to
Inked
.”

He wasn’t looking to add any new people on his payroll especially not a female tattoo artist. Not one of his clients would take her seriously. They would do more than laugh at her before walking right back out the door.

“Listen, Ms.—”

“Ceanna,” she snapped, glaring. “I guess you’re going to toss me out like the other assholes I talked to without giving me a chance to show you what I can do.”

“First, I’m not an asshole so I would appreciate it if you didn’t call me one. Secondly, we don’t get that many clients in here wanting a female tattoo artist working on their bodies which would be a problem for you. Our clients like something more creative and original that you aren’t probably used to doing.”

“How dare you assume that I’ll do only a ‘girly’ tattoo,” Ceanna argued. “I know how to do everything but none of the jerks I’ve being around today have enough balls to at least look at my portfolio.”

Griffin had a hard time believing this beauty in front of him had been tattooing long enough to have an impressive enough portfolio to make him hire her.

“Sorry Ms. Gibson, you came to the wrong place.”

He wasn’t willing to take a chance on an unknown tattoo artist. She could be a scratcher for all he knew and he wouldn’t allow her to butcher any of his clients’ skin.