Gravity (Artistic Pricks Ink Book 1) (12 page)

“I’m in your dressing room, where the hell did you disappear to?” Doug asks immediately.

“I’m in my car,” I reply shakily, my voice cracking.

A growl rumbles through the phone, “Are you okay?”

Looking down at the paper, I read the words “
Only thing worse than being a tease is being a lying slut.”
My world crashes around me, the last seventy two hours has successfully unraveled everything I’ve built. What have I done?

You broke your rules, Ki. Time to pay the price for that.

The back door flies open, Doug sprints toward me with a baseball bat in one hand. Unlocking the door, I force myself onto my shaky legs. “Ki, what the fuck? You scared the shit outta me.” Doug shouts, dropping the bat to the ground. His large arms encase my trembling body, holding me close as he attempts to catch his breath.

“I made a mistake.”

Three days. It’s been three days since I talked to her. Putting my phone down, I attempt to force my concentration from Ki, and the texts she hasn’t answered, to the woman in my chair. “Ready to finish up?” I ask, rinsing away the black ink so I can switch to orange and put the finishing touches on the butterfly on her hip.

“Yes,” She says, tensing beneath my hands.

“Take a breath, if you tense up it will be that much worse,” I say, attempting to get her to ease up.

“Sorry,” She replies, blowing out a breath. “I don’t like shading, it hurts.”

I laugh, switching on my gun. The buzzing makes her jump. “It’s a tattoo honey, it’s not supposed to tickle. It’s one of those pleasures that’s worth all the pain.”

“If you say so. Ouch!” She yelps, when I begin blending and shading in the wings.

“I make my living on birthing beauty through pain. Trust me there’s people out there who need that fix just as badly as a junkie needs his next hit. I won’t lie and say you get used to the bite of the needle, because sometimes it needs to hurt. That makes the beauty that much more real. You feel every bit of it, bleed for it,” I say because, yes, I’ve had some three hundred pound bikers come in here and have tears running down their faces while I ink them with things to memorialize pieces of their lives or loved ones lost. Then a chick who weighs ninety pounds comes in and falls asleep on my table while Mitch and I tatted both her feet at once. The human body is an amazing thing and everyone is different with how they handle pain.

“Listen to him gettin’ all philosophical,” Charlie says, leaning against the wall. His big broad ass takes up most of the room. Crossing his arms over his chest, the three black crows I did on his forearm a week ago standing at attention.

“You shovin’ off?” I ask him, focusing on my work again.

“Yeah, just wanted to make sure you’re set for the day,” he says, watching me work.

“Yep. Thanks for getting Mitch home safe the last few nights,” I say, continuing to blend in the final touches of color. “He didn’t even look hungover when he got here.”

“No problem, the ride gives me time to think.” Charlie says, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Gotta keep my head clear, you know?”

“You need some more time Chuck, you take it,” I assure him.

“I like staying busy,” he explains. “Heard I missed your pretty little girlfriend the other day. According to Leah, she’s cute,” Charlie says, chuckling. “Shelby said she’s feisty as hell; that’s sayin’ something coming from her.”

“Ki is not my girlfriend,” I correct him, wiping ink and a little blood seeping from the edge before finishing the corner.

Not for a fucking lack of trying.
She’s been ignoring my texts for days now. One minute she was playful, giving me sass and the next, radio silence. If I hadn’t been pretty much chained to my station the last few days, I would be beating her door down.

“Riiiiight,” sarcasm drips from the word as he drags it out.

“Go home Chuckle,” I tease him, knowing the nickname Shelby gave him pisses him off.

“Fuck. Whatever dude.” He grumbles, walking out the door toward the front.

“Sorry about that Dawn,” I apologize. “It’s just one of the joys of having my cage in one of the back rooms, Shelby sends someone back here every few hours to give me shit and make sure I’m still alive,” I snicker. “You’re all done,” I add, switching off my gun and yanking off the rubber gloves with a slap. I help her from the chair so she can have a look in the mirror.

“Wow.” Her voice is barely a whisper. “It’s, it’s … I’m speechless.” She covers her mouth with both hands, tears filling her eyes. “You were right, it’s worth it.”

Once I have her all set and ready to go, I walk her up front. “Shelby, what else have I got today?” I ask when she hands me my messages.

“Nothing else unless we have a walk in; your back piece had to reschedule.” Her eyes stay locked on the computer screen.

“What the hell?” I ask. Just as I do, I flip to the message she took barely an hour ago. “So he just called? His appointment is in fifteen minutes. That’s a six hour session and he is cancelling with no notice,” I complain, tossing the note to the wastebasket.

“Who pissed in your cornflakes today?” Mitch shouts from the corner where he sits reading a magazine. “Take a fucking drive man, jerk one out, or go tap that piece. Don’t take it out on the secretary, that’s my job,” He adds with a wink at Shelby.

“Oh, fuck your mother, Cocktimus Prime,” Shelby fires back, flipping him the bird.

“I’m gonna take a drive,” I say, yanking my keys from the hook on the wall, needing to be anywhere but here for a while.

“You do that,” Shelby says, typing away on the computer. “I’m gonna look up scrap metal prices for when we trade Mitch in for a better model,” She deadpans. “I wonder how much they deduct for Herpes?”

“Fuck you, Shelby!” He shouts, tossing his magazine to the ground. Pushing to his feet, Mitch is across the room in seconds. Slamming both hands down on the counter, he glares at her.

“Not on your best day, Cuntcake. Your icing has gone bad,” She fires back unaffected by his outburst.

“I’m gone. If anyone needs me, call me.” Taking a look between them, I shake my head. “I take it back, don’t call me. Not unless death or bankruptcy is imminent.”

“Heard ya loud and clear, boss,” Shelby says, giving me a mock salute. “Have some fun.”

“You got it,” I reply, heading down the hallway to the back door. Climbing into my car, I let the engine roar to life and exhale. The last few days I’ve worked nearly around the clock, all while Kionna Slade has been driving me crazy by ignoring me. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I scroll through my contacts until I find the number I hunted down on the shop phone the other day. I hit send, and wait. Just as it has every other time I’ve called, it goes straight to voicemail.

Ending the call, I toss the phone to the empty seat. Ready to go, I back out of my spot. Steering onto the street, I lay down on the accelerator and head out of town toward the freeway. Any other time, I would take the highway and enjoy the miles of nearly empty road. Right now, I can’t get where I’m headed fast enough.

By the time I pull beside her car in the driveway, I’m seething. I’m mad because she walked into my life and turned it upside down without warning only to walk the fuck back out like nothing happened. It pisses me off. All I asked for was a chance to get to know her. Hell, she kissed me too. I’m not the one to blame here. Well, not the only one anyway.

Flinging the door open, I climb from the car headed straight for her front door. Ringing her doorbell, I stand there and wait. No answer. “Ki, open the door!” I shout, pounding on the door. “I know you’re home.”

When she doesn’t open, I try to peek in the window but the drapes are closed. Hopping over the side rail, I walk around the side of the house. The house is locked up tight, and I’m totally baffled. “Luke?” My mother calls from her backyard.

Shit, I forgot about Audrey.

“Hi Mom,” I acknowledge her, walking over to the stone wall separating the yards. “I was looking for Ki,” I clarify so she doesn’t think I’ve lost my damn mind. Though I may have.

“I haven’t spoken to her since Sunday when she showed me how to pay some bills online. She was supposed to take me driving this morning,” Mom explains. “I guess something came up.”

“She what?” I ask in confusion.

“I want to stand on my own two feet, Luke. Ki is helping me figure out how to do that,” she says, taking a step toward me. “Once I get comfortable behind the wheel again, I plan to get a job as well. It’s time for me to do something besides sit in this empty house all day.”

“Wow.” Is all I’ve got for a reply to that.

“I also want my children to be proud of me.” Mom continues, her eyes softening. “I want a chance to make up for the mistakes I’ve made, Lucas.”

“Does Chase know about this?” I ask, curious to see if my sister has been informed of our mother’s sudden push for change.

“No, not yet. I want to wait until I see her.” Mom walks up to the wall, “I know that I’ve got a lot to make up for; especially to you, Luke. I put so much on your shoulders. You didn’t deserve that. Listening to Kionna talk about her mother the other night made me realize that you don’t have any memories like that with me. I’m sorry I took that from you.”

I’m rendered speechless by my mother’s admission. So much so that I almost don’t hear the door opening behind me. “There she is,” Mom says waving.

“Hi Audrey, I’m sorry about this morning,” Ki says, but doesn’t step off her porch. Turning around, I face Ki but she doesn’t look at me. “I worked later than usual last night and I just woke up.”

“Don’t worry about it. We were just concerned that’s all,” Mom replies, turning toward the house. “We’ll continue this discussion another time Luke, I’ll see you two later.” She says before disappearing inside.

Standing there, I stare at the woman who has not yet said a word to me. Waiting. She has on a baggy hooded sweatshirt and a tiny pair of black shorts, holding a bag of trash in her hand. Lifting the lid on the garbage can, she deposits it inside before sealing the can once again. Turning away from me, she sighs.

“It’s nice to see you too, Dollface,” I say, unable to handle the silence any longer. Forcing my legs to move, I walk across the yard and up onto her porch. Stopping inches from her makes my hands ache to hold her, to touch her again. I am positive I will go insane if I don’t. “You’ve been ignoring me.”

“What do you want, Luke?” She asks flatly, still not meeting my eyes.

“For starters, you can look at me when I speak to you,” I suggest, spinning her in my arms. Ki’s body goes rigid beneath my hands. “You’re doing it again,” I inform her, tipping her chin up with my fingers.

“What?” She asks, her voice distant. Which only pisses me off further.

“Shutting down.” Shaking my head, I clarify. “Making the decision to shut this down before we can see what
this
even is. Everything was fine, then it wasn’t. I don’t even know what happened that changed anything because I haven’t heard from you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her eyes cast downward, breaking contact with mine.

Turning her to the railing, I pin her back to it. Cupping her jaw with one hand, my other hand slides around her waist. Skimming under the hem of her sweatshirt, I let my fingers run along her bare skin. “Remember how I said that I know you better than you think?” I ask, sliding my fingers higher, grinning victoriously when her breathing accelerates.

“You don’t know me, Luke.”

“Oh, don’t I?” I ask, arching a brow. “I know you feel this just as much as I do.” When she doesn’t say anything, I continue. Leaning forward, I brush my nose along hers just as I did days ago in front of my shop. “Tell me you don’t,” I whisper. Her eyes flutter closed as my thumb traces her bottom lip. “Say you can stay away from me and not ache to be near me. That you don’t think about me and touch that beautiful mouth, fantasizing about my lips on yours.”

“You make me crazy,” She breathes against my thumb.