Page 60 of Love at First Ink

The incident in question happened in college, and it wasn’t his fault. But that didn’t matter because it nearly fucked up his entire life. He spent months…if not years, trying to rebuild himself. Obviously, he was able to, but it took so fucking long.

“How?” he gritted out.

“I told you, I don’t know?—”

“Even if they found out, why the fuck is it a reason to pull out? That shouldn’t matter,” Cisco interrupted.

“Normally it wouldn’t,” Ernesto agreed, speaking quickly, as if afraid Cisco would cut him off again. “But this district is full of elitists.”

“What the hell do you mean by that?” Cisco tried to keep his voice at a normal level, even if his anger continued to spike the longer this conversation went on. He knew Ernesto was just the messenger and shouldn’t be the one to get his ire, but unfortunately he was.

“The place is a tourist's wet dream. It brings in a lot of revenue for a lot of people with money. The seller feels that your background could…diminish the reputation of the district.”

“What the actual fuck, Ernesto? How does that make any sense? It’s a fucking tattoo shop.”

“I don’t know! It doesn’t,” he quickly agreed, “but I can’t change his mind, man. All I can say is you might want to get with your lawyer and ask him how these records were leaked. In the meantime, I’ll keep working with the agent. Let them know it’s a misunderstanding. And listen, there are other spots we can look at too. I can have five other locations in your email in the next hour.”

It wasn’t even about the location anymore, though Ciscohad desperately wanted that building. The foot traffic and clientele would have been amazing, but he could work with other places. What angered him the most was how someone unburied his past. Shit he hadn’t thought about in years.

“I’ll call you later. If you learn anything, call me back.” Cisco didn’t give Ernesto a chance to reply before he hung up and searched for his lawyer's number. These days, Elias mostly dealt with his business matters, but he had once been an integral part of getting Cisco’s name cleared.

Elias answered on the second ring. “Mr. Ramos. How can I help you today?”

“Elias, tell me how I just lost a property for my next shop because they found my records?”

“Shouldn’t be possible. Tell me what happened.” Keys clicked on the other end, no doubt Elias searching something on his computer.

Cisco told him about his conversation with Ernesto. Elias didn’t interrupt him, just typed away. It took him a few moments to respond. “I’ll need to look into this. I’m not seeing anything on my end. Listen, give me a few days to sort this out, and I’ll call you when I have an answer.”

It wasn’t exactly what he wanted to hear, but he supposed it was better than nothing. “Is there anything I can do in the meantime?”

“Nothing for you to do. Let me take care of this. Try not to worry about it.” Cisco was glad Elias wasn’t here to see him roll his eyes. Yeah, if only it were that simple: just to not worry about it. It would be the only thing on his mind.

“Yeah, fine. Get back to me when you can,” he said, sighing.

“Have a good day, Mr. Ramos. I’ll call you when I know more,” Elias promised, and the line went dead.

Cisco dropped his head into his hands, feeling drained. His day hadn’t even started yet, but he was already over it. He eyed his phone, half tempted to call Marisol. He could explain everything to her and have another person tell him it would be okay. But he also didn’t want her to worry, especially after the disastrous dinner at her parents’ they were still recovering from. She had enough on her plate. No, he could handle this on his own.

A knock came from the door, and a second later, Tiny stuck her head in. She eyed him once and furrowed her brow. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he lied. “What’s going on?”

It was clear Tiny didn’t believe him, but she didn’t push him either. That was why he loved his cousin. She knew when to push and when to back off. “Your first appointment is here. Want me to bring him back?”

And just like that, he needed to get back to the real world. Just because his world was imploding didn’t mean time stopped until the problem was fixed. He nodded once. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

Tattooing would at least let him escape. And later he would call Marisol, and things would get better. He trusted Elias to handle the problem. It was a waiting game now.

CHAPTER 26

Marisol

After her session with Alice the day before, where she told her all about her mother’s behavior at dinner, Marisol was apprehensive to attend another—even if this dinner was supposed to be casual among friends. Alice assured her this would be different, and Marisol would have a great time if she allowed herself to.

She tried to remember that as she exited her car, mentally preparing herself to go inside the restaurant. They were going to meet somewhere Marisol had never heard of, but, according to her quick research, they sold decent subs and salads. There was absolutely nothing to be nervous about, and yet she couldn’t help but think about everything that could go wrong. She could say something dumb or not connect with another volunteer. God forbid she accidentally said something that offended another person.

Those thoughts spiraled through her mind as she made her way to the hostess stand. The young Black teenager smiled at her. “Welcome to Soup’s House. Party of one?”

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