Page 15 of My Promise To Keep

Climbing into the chair, I didn’t care what he added to my growing tattoo collection, trusting that it would be as beautiful as the rest of his work.

This wasn’t the first tattoo I’d be getting from Leo, but it was the very first tattoo in his own shop, and I truly felt the weight of that honor. I’d been letting him tattoo me since he started his apprenticeship at twenty-one.

‘Where do you want it?’ Leo asked in that husky voice of his, and I almost felt the urge to drop my panties there and then.

That flirty smirk on his face...Goddamn. It wasn’t for me, I knew that — it was always there. The only time he hadn’t worn that expression was when Luke was sick and just after he died. I knew that smirk was the reason Leo was getting laid even more than my slutty brother, and as much as I hated that fact when I hadn’t had sex in years and was in an unexplainable, embarrassingly long period of having dreams about him than I could never admit to, Iwashappy that he was out there living his life — wasn’t I?

I promised Luke that I would live, and I was, or I was trying to, at least. I was working hard. My bar was doing great. I was saving to buy a house and move out of the apartment above the bar, and I could laugh again.

The period of time when I thought I’d never smile again was the worst of my life. Luke was gone, and I couldn’t do a thing to change it. I didn’t want to keep my promise to him, and I didn’t want to live if he wasn’t living right beside me, but my family, Leo, pulled me out of it, and now, I was doing good…ish.

‘Zoe,’ Leo prompted, and I shook my head.

‘Sorry, I zoned out. Um, my ribs, I guess.' I quickly did a mental check of the empty spaces I had left on my body and came up with ribs, renowned for being one of the most painful spots for a tattoo. Well done, Zoe. Leo’s lips morphed into an ‘o’ shape as he sucked in a breath.

‘You sure? Hurts like a bitch.’

I tilted my head and raised one eyebrow. ‘You think I can’t handle it?’

The smirk came back, and he laughed, low and slow, and oh, hell, that sounded good.

‘I’ve tattooed you enough times to know you can handle it, just feel it’s my duty to warn you that rib tattoos suck.’

‘You have one?’ I sassed, still defensive, and he nodded, then lifted up his shirt.

For a moment, I was distracted by the abs under the expanse of tattooed skin, then I froze. Right there, right over his heart, was one beautiful word:Luke.

I swallowed hard and raised my gaze to meet his, then without warning, I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around him, pressing myself into his chest and breathing him in. At this moment, he wasn’t the gorgeous tattoo artist I’d been thinking about at night a little too much. He was Leo, my Leo,ourLeo.

‘He would be so fucking proud of you. You know that, right?’

I felt his lips press against my head, heard the sound of his kiss as he squeezed me a little tighter, then the shove against my shoulders as he pushed me away.

‘Stop trying to get out of it and get in the chair.’ He winked, and I did as I was told.

Well, he was right. Rib tattoos fucking suck…

‘Jesus.’ I winced as I swear the needle hit bone, and he laughed.

‘I told you.’

‘Do not gloat.’

‘I’m not gloating. Believe me, I got way less than you’re getting, and I cried like a baby. Doug got way more than either of us. I had to stop the sitting, and he took a month to come back.’

I laughed at that — the competitiveness between my siblings and me was an endless source of both joy and frustration.

‘You’re almost done.’

I looked down to meet his gaze as he looked up my body, my bare skin sensitive under his touch, and my stupid brain connected with my neglected pussy and gave me the most unwelcome images of him looking up at me from between my legs. I swallowed as I squirmed under the intensity of the thought and the look in his eyes.

‘You can take it.’

Oh, sweet Jesus.

I turned my eyes up to the ceiling and breathed deeply as the drone of the machine warned me of the pain to come. The pain was good. The pain was a distraction.

He was beautiful. I always knew that. Seeing the four of them together, Luke, Leo, Doug, and Nick, I felt bad for the other guys our age, as they didn’t stand a chance. Even with Doug and Leo three years younger and Doug and Luke in relationships, girls fell at the feet of all four of them. So, I knew hemustbe hot, but I didn’t see him that way because he was family. He was Doug’s best friend, so was always around, and he was Luke’s cousin and more like a brother to him, so he was literally family once Luke and I got married.

---