Page 22 of The Heartbreak List

“Thank you.” I bump him with my elbow while Harlan lines us up in his sight. “It means a lot to me.”

He tilts his head, haphazard brown waves falling over his face, but not able to hide his grin. “You’re welcome, Indy.”

“Here, let me.” I reach up and push those wild strands back. His gaze stays glued to mine. “Your eyes?”

“Heterochromia.” His Adam’s apple bobs. “Genetics. I was born like this.”

“He was born with God’s gift to women tattooed on his forehead,” Harlan grumbles as he hands Theo back his device. “Should be something there for the scrapbook.”

“Did you hear that, Indy?” Theo winks at me. “Some bitch is whining about my good looks like he doesn’t look like a fallen angel himself.”

“He has a point.” I smile at Harlan. “You’ve got nothing to complain about.”

Harlan presses a hand to his chest. “Sweet, sweet Indy.”

“We should get going.” Theo pushes to his feet. “But it was great to see you, Harlan.”

“And you, my friend.” Harlan grabs his shoulder and squeezes as they walk out to the front ahead of me. “Perhaps don’t make it so long before you grace my doorstep next time. I still need to finish off that piece on your back for you.”

So he does have more tattoos than the one I glimpsed.

“I’m not ready.” Theo hunches into his jacket and shakes his head.

“I hope you will be one day.” Harlan says to him before he turns to me. “As for you…that one is on the house. To get you hooked. So you’ll come back and visit some time.”

“You don’t need to do that.” I start digging in my purse. “I have cash. I was prepared to pay.”

“Your money is no good here.” He exchanges glances with Theo. Their friendship is obvious.

“Well, thank you. It means a lot.”

“Come back when you want me to give you the real deal, Indy.” He smiles at me. “It would be my honor to ink your skin. And bring him with you, if you can.”

I hope I get the chance to do so once chemo treatment is behind me, but I suspect that I won’t cross Harlan’s path again. I reach up on tiptoe to kiss the man on the cheek. “Thank you.”

Chapter Eight

Theo

Indysitsacrossthebar from me with her notepad open and the tip of her pen between her teeth while I serve one of the regular barflies. Writing a bucket list isn’t for the faint of heart. You have to have some idea of what you want from life.

Indy used to know what she wanted from life, but that was before some doctor used the words “inoperable tumor” to describe her condition. It’s almost fucking impossible to change the way you view your future when everything you want is ripped away.

You might as well lie down and die instead because there is nothing that will ever fill the hole that is left when some doctor obliterates your hopes and dreams. But we don’t lie down and die, because it’s not human nature. We choose another direction to attack from. We fight.

My phone beeps with a notification and I pull it out to check the message. A location and time for tonight’s fight appears on the screen. Thank fuck.

Harlan might be the only tattooist I would trust to ink Indy’s skin for real, but seeing him again—after I put so much distance between my past and my present, including hundreds of miles—it isn’t surprising that I’m out of sorts and my muscles are itching to be put to use.

Some of us, like Indy, fight by redefining our future, while I prefer to obliterate memories of the past with my fists.

“You brought her to work?” Lucas’s brows draw toward each other as he studies the girl at the bar. He crosses his arms over his barrel chest, staring at me, waiting… for an answer, for a confession.

“I told you she’s a friend.” I don’t owe him an explanation, and I don’t get why he’s acting like such a prick these days. “I’m helping her with something.”

“I bet you’re helping.” Heath bites his bottom lip as he sails past with a bottle of vodka. Spinning around, he walks backward toward a studious looking coed with her wallet out while sticking his tongue out at me.

“Whatever.” I shake my head at the two of them as I slide my phone back into my pants. They’re used to seeing me flirt with women at the bar and sometimes disappearing with them. They’re used to giving me shit for my lifestyle. Or at least the parts they’re aware of. But with Indy… it’s different. She needs a friend who understands some of what she’s going through, and I… well, I can be that person and do that one thing right.

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