This Regret (3 page)

“Ah ha. I se
e.” I turn to walk away so I can get back to concentrating on making my list. “Now I see why no one else will serve you.” I flash him a hard look and point at him. “You’re what people call an old, angry fart.”

He tilts his beer back and smiles as he presses it against his lips, the bottle almost getting lost in his crazy beard. “Just get back to work,” he growls.

I lean against the bar, wave my arm at Martin and study what I have of the short list so far. Two . . .

I jump when I feel Kade’s hand wrap around my waist and pull me against the firmness of his body.

“You didn’t think I forgot about our kiss, did you?” He presses his face into my neck before running the fullness of his lips under my chin, his warm breath giving me chills. “I would like to do a lot more to you than that.” His husky voice is full of want, making it hard to concentrate.

I lean my neck back and moan getting lost in the moment. Then realization of the situation sets in, causing me to jerk my neck a
way. I open my eyes to see Martin watching us and I have to fight myself to shake off the pleasure that Kade’s touch is bringing.

Before I can let myself further enjoy the feel of his touch, I wriggle my way out of his grip and turn around to face him. I need to be tougher and keep my head on straight. “We have a lot of work to do, Kade.”

My eyes focus on the hardness in his jeans before his hand pushes down on it and he runs his tongue over his lips. “You like to torture me. You have been doing it for years.” He smiles and reaches for a towel. “Okay. Let’s get to work then. We’ll play some more later.” He winks.

I swallow hard as I watch him take control of the bar. Then, I lean in and speak
next to his ear to be sure he can hear me over the soft music. “I would take it easy if I were you, buddy. No one said we were doing anything later.”

He smiles as if he thinks I’m only joking. “My place or yours?” He pushes a beer across the bar top and some guy reaches out to catch it. “I’m not letting you get away so easily.”

I have a feeling that you won’t. I’m guessing that’s not a good thing either.

Chapter Two

Kellan

The tattoo gun buzzes beneath my fingertips, giving me a sensation unlike anything else can bring. I run the tip of the gun along the smooth lines of the angel I drew up just less than an hour ago; its wings wrapping around my forearm and the angel in a crouching position, weeping. One arm rests on her forehead, while the other one rests on the ground beside her. The ground that is threatening to fall from beneath her and crumble her world to pieces. A feeling that has haunted me for years.

At the moment, I just need a distraction and the feel of the needle in my hand always takes my mind away from things, but the feel of the needle digging in my flesh, is even better, making me feel more a
live, giving me the breath, I cannot seem to catch.

I can feel Tyler’s presence even before he opens his mouth to spe
ak. Not to mention the fact he’s chewing with his mouth open, leaving trails of crumbs forming on the ground by my foot breaking my concentration. Nothing new there.

“What’s up, man?” He watches me intently while pulling his beanie off and shaking his hands through his shoulder length hair. “Having another bad day?”

I hold the tattoo gun out in front of me and nod my head, showing him, that once again, he is right. He’s figured me out pretty well in the last six months and I only have myself to blame for that. “I guess you can say that.”

He takes a seat in his worn out leather chair, spins it around a few times and then twirls back around to face me. “You’re going to run out of room someday, then what?” He shoves the rest of the sandwich in his mouth and quickly chews before speaking again. “You need to find another distraction, my man.”

I shrug my shoulders before tilting my head up so I can see him. “I have other distractions.”

He runs his arm over his mouth and leans forward in his chair, his arms out in front of him. “Oh yeah? Like what?” he challenges.

I set the tattoo gun down on the tray beside me, and pull off my rubber gloves, before looking over at him. “Just stuff . . .” I flip my arms over, looking for an empty spot in between the various tattoos that cover both of my arms. I point at the tiny space right by my left armpit. “I guess I’ll have a little bit of time to figure out what else.”

He’s silent for a moment as his eyes study me, looking as if he’s got something more to say.

“What was that call about earlier?” he finally asks.

The thought of it causes my blood to boil and I have to fight the urge to throw something across the shop. “It was nothing important,” I say, my voice as steady as I can keep it. “It was just . . . someone from my past.”

I look up, my jaw clenched, before pushing the drawer to my desk closed and looking up to face Tyler, neither one of us speaking. I have nothing more to say about it.

The neon Open sign on the door flickers, catching both of our attention for a moment, before finally staying lit.

“Where did you buy that shitty sign from again?” I question trying to change the subject. “That thing’s been pissing me off. I’m about ten seconds away from breaking it.”

Tyler looks my way and nods his head, before walking over to take a seat in the stool in front of me. “From that crappy little pawnshop down the street.” He twirls his keys around his finger, the familiar sound working me back up,
causing my heart to pound heavily in my chest. “So you’ve told everyone that you’re back, then?”

I look away and run my hand through my hair, pushing the old thought from my mind. I really don’t care to dis
cuss the subject and I wish I could forget about it all together. “Nah. It’s been a long time.” I pause to swallow, trying to keep my cool. “Trust me, no one is looking for me. If I see them, I see them.”

Tyler twirls the keys around his finger once more before he tosses the set of keys to me. I reach out to catch them. “Maybe this will help keep your mind off things.”

I hold the keys out in front of me, eyebrows raised as I stare at him. “The keys to your Chopper?” I question examining them. “I have my own bike, man.” I toss them back and he catches them. “Thanks for the effort, but I’m cool.”

“No.” He shakes his head and brings his eyes up to meet mine, the look on his face
telling me he’s about to ask for my help again. “I need your help. You’re the best I know when it comes to motorcycles. She’s been making strange noises lately. Can you check her out, man?”

The keys come flying back at me and I reach out to snatch them right as they’re about to smack me in the face. He is right, though. Even I have to admit it. I do need a way to keep my mind off shit. “Sure man, I don’t have shit going on tonight. Where is it?”

“I already have her parked in your garage, man.”

My lips turn up into a small smile as I shove the keys into my pocket.
That smart dick.
“What made you think I would even do it?”

Tyler stands and walks over to me, placing his hand on my shoulder. He points to his chest with his free hand, “Because it’s me, man.
The coolest motherfucker you know.”

I look at him from the corner of my eye and reach for a bandage. “You still owe me. When I need something big, you better fucking come running.”

“You know it.” He pops his knuckles. “That’s pretty sick, man.” Tyler’s eyes widen as he leans in and checks out my half-finished angel. “She looks kind of broken though. That’s some sad shit.”

A tight smile forms on my lips as I examine it myself. It practically covers my whole forearm, connecting itself to the smoke that trails around my arm just above her wings. “Just as I intended her to be. She’s not quite finished though.”

“It’s going to be sick as shit when you do.” Tyler walks back over to his desk and pulls open the drawer before tossing handfuls of ink into a box. “I’ll be at my place doing a few tattoos if you want to come through later.”

“Yeah. We’ll see.” I walk around the small tattoo shop and start flipping off the signs. “I have a few things to take care of first.”

“Sure, man.” He walks over and bumps his fist against mine before heading for the door. “Be careful with my baby.”

I nod my head before he walks outside, leaving me alone to finish closing. Not that it takes much work. I grab for my leather jacket, flip off the last light and lock the door behind me.

The night air is refreshingly cool as I walk around the brick building to the back parking lot. It’s probably not cool enough for my jacket, but when riding, it only seems natural.

As I approach my Harley, my lips twist into a wicked smile and I straddle her. Running my hands up the handles, I shift to the right, the hard gravel crunching under my boots as I steady myself. If anything else can come close to the feeling the tattoo gun brings me, it’s riding hard and fast.

My moment is rudely interrupted by shouts coming from the parking lot of the bar next door and from the sound of the woman’s voice, I can tell she has been crying. That is all it takes to get my full attention.

“Don’t touch me. Don’t fucking touch me,” she screams.

I get off my bike just in time to see the man grab the woman’s face and slam her into the side of the brick wall. “Shut the fuck up, Maxine.” He leans in so his face is right in front of hers. “People can hear you. Don’t be such a bitch.”

As much as I know I shouldn’t get involved with some bullshit like this again, there is something inside of me that can’t help but to rescue the damn damsel in distress.

Fuck me!

I walk over to the bar, my boots crunching in the gravel, but neither one of them seem to take notice of me approaching.

They continue to fight, the asshole pressing his luck even further. “You’re not going anywhere, Maxine. No one else wants you, so you might as well stop fighting me.

The woman presses her hand into his chest and gives him a hard shove, but her tiny arms are barely enough to even make an impact. “Go screw yourself, Nathan.”

The guy swings his arm back and is just about to hit her when I interrupt his tough guy moment.

“Hit the woman one more time and I am going to fuck your world up and make you wish that you never even laid eyes on her.”

The woman’s eyes desperately scan me looking for help as she scoots across the wall in an attempt to get away from the asshole in front of her.

The guy slowly turns around and pushes his sweaty hair off his face, clearly drunk as he stumbles, almost tripping over his feet. His eyes widen as he checks out my athletic build. What can I say; I have a lot of frustration to get out.

“There is nothing going on here.” He grabs for the woman’s arm as she tries walking away. “And if there was it would be none of your damn business.”

I press my hand to my forehead, trying to cool the anger that is threatening to explode. I really can’t stand it when a man touches a woman with force. He’s pressing every one of my buttons and tonight really isn’t a good night to fuck with me.

“I just made it my business.” I reach out and grab the woman’s arm, pulling her out of his grip. Then, I press my arm into his chest and slam him into the building just as he did to the girl. “It’s not nice to hit a woman. Didn’t your mother ever fucking teach you that?”

The guy struggles to push away from the building, but soon realizes that his small build
has nothing on my six foot two frame. “I’m just trying to get her home, that’s all. She’s had a little too much to drink and she gets crazy.”

The woman reaches up to wipe a drop of blood off her upper lip. He must’ve slapped her around before I came outside and that makes my blood boil even more. “He’s full of shit. I broke up with his loser ass last week and he can’t handle it,” she hisses. “I’m not going anywhere with him.”

I press my elbow into the guy’s neck and place my face just inches away from his to be sure he gets the message. “You see that beautiful woman over there?” He turns his head to look at her before struggling to nod, looking everywhere but at me. “If you ever fucking touch her again, I will find out and I can assure you that after I’m through with you no woman that beautiful will ever even look your way again. Do you understand me?” I shove him into the wall again when he doesn’t respond. “I have a really bad temper and sometimes I can’t control it. Trust me, you don’t want it to get to that point.”

The man mumbles something before pushing my arm away. “I get it. Shit.” His eyes wander over to the beautiful redhead beside me. She’s standing there in her pretty black dress, her long slender legs trembl
ing as she runs her fingers through her wild hair in an attempt to get out the knots.

“I might not be around when you realize how bad you fucked up,” he growls. “Don’t ruin your last chance, Maxine.”

The frightened woman stands up straighter as if suddenly gaining a little bit of confidence and the look in her eyes is pure hatred. “I’ve already realized a long time ago how I fucked up. That’s why I’m gone now, Nathan.”

I stand there with my arms crossed over my chest as he turns, makes a grunting sound and stumbles back into the bar without even giving Maxine a second glance.

I look back over at her before I start heading back to my bike. “Well, are you coming?”