Page 118 of Wild Card
I carefully put on my shirt, moving delicately.
“Sorry, man,” Fox said. “I misread the situation. I didn’t mean to…”
“It’s all right. Any other time, I’d have eaten that up. Guess I’m on a diet.”
“The deputy, huh? That’s some balls, hooking up with a guy like that.”
I chuckled. “Well, you know me. I like to play with fire.”
“Part of your charm,” Fox said with a grin.
I dug into my pocket and pulled out two twenties.
“You already paid,” he said.
“A tip. It looks great, man.”
“Well, you make a great canvas.” Fox took the twenties from me. “You ever get single again, give me a call.”
Get single again…
I walked out of the tattoo shop in a daze. Holy shit, I really wasn’t single. I had aboyfriend.One who wore a badge. How was this my fucking life?
I went next door to the pool hall and texted my brothers to join me for a drink. Gray was eager to see my ink, and Bailey was always ready to shoot some pool. Only Holden brushed me off, saying he had some things to do around the house.
I called bullshit. That man was up to something. What exactly a touch-averse workaholic got up to without leaving home was a mystery. Was he calling psychic hotlines? Working a second job as a telemarketer? Watching a shit ton of porn?
I stepped up to the bar and ordered a beer.
“Haven’t seen you round here as much lately,” Leo said.
“Guess not. You miss me?”
He snorted. “I miss your money, but not your trouble.”
I tossed a fiver on the bar and picked up my beer bottle to salute him. “Well, I’m behaving today.”
“You better be.”
Gray and Bailey arrived a few minutes later, and I peeled up my shirt to display my new ink. My skin was still red and puffy, but they’d seen enough tattoos to recognize how amazing it would look once it healed up.
“Beautiful work,” Gray said. “Did Angel kick your ass for cheating on her with another artist?”
“Nah,” I said, trying not to think about the actualcheatingI could have done with Fox. “She knows this was a one-off. Angel’s my girl.”
Bailey spotted an easy mark to hustle in a pool game. Our little brother was not as sweet as he looked sometimes. That innocent face of his took in a lot of foolish men who expectedhim to be clueless, though. I just hoped it didn’t result in any conflicts tonight, because it would hurt like hell to get into a fight with fresh ink.
Gray and I shot the shit over beers for a while, and just as I was crossing to the bar to get a second round, a familiar voice sounded in my ear.
“You miss me yet?”
I turned, spotting Dalton in full uniform. “Hey, I thought you were off today?”
“Change of plans, courtesy of my asshole sheriff.” He slung an arm around me. “Just wanted to pop in to let you know I can’t come by tonight.”
I hissed as his arm rubbed over my side. He stepped away, forehead creasing. “What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?”
I raised my shirt so he could see. “Got a new tat. Just a little tender.”
