Page 51 of Nights at Seaside
She spent the rest of the day moving between painting the final touches on the sign out front and tattooing customers. She’d barely had a chance to breathe. She didn’t even have time to slow down and fill Lizzie in about her and Sawyer when she popped in at lunchtime. Her mind had been drenched in thoughts of him ever since she’d left his arms that morning, when he’d said he had a surprise for her tonight. He wanted her to get to know all sides of him.
She was pondering how many more sides he could have when Cree breezed through the front doors waving something above her head.
“Iloveyour new sign,” she said as she slapped a napkin on the counter. “And the yellow really livens up the place.” She knelt to lace up her worn black boots, then tugged on the bottom of her tank top, pulling it over the hips of her black miniskirt.
“Thanks. I painted it yesterday. I didn’t expect you back so soon.” She wondered if she was just killing time before her shift started at Governor Bradford’s.
“I didn’t expect to be back, but I forgot I had this, and I really wanted to get it done.”
“Great.” Sky read the writing on the napkin.I’ll take it all. Hear it through. Wrestle your demons to remain beside you.She lifted her eyes to Cree, wondering if this was some type of trick Sawyer had put her up to. Those were the exact words he’d said to her after they’d made love the first time.
“Where did you say you got this?”
“Some guy left it on the bar a few nights ago. Why?” Cree was way too casual for this to be a trick.
“I think my friend wrote it. I just wonder why he’d leave it there.”
Cree shrugged. “I guess he didn’t like it. His loss is my gain. I have to get to work early tonight. Do you have time to tat me up?”
“Sure, of course.” Sky took her into the back, and for the next forty-five minutes she permanently inked the words Sawyer had said to her after they’d made love onto Cree’s body. The words had seemed so heartfelt and sincere and had touched her so deeply that now jealousy snaked through her. She didn’t like tattooing Sawyer’s lovely words onto Cree, like they were hers for the taking.
A steady stream of customers kept Sky busy all afternoon, which was a good distraction from the tattoo that had her mind spinning. Blue arrived sometime earlier to work on the renovations, and as Sky finished up a tattoo that had taken two hours on a guy’s calf, Blue finished applying a final coat of paint on the back wall.
After the customer left, Sky closed up the shop and headed into the back to join him. She plopped onto a chair with a loud sigh, thinking about Cree’s tattoo.
“What a day. I swear someone must be out there singing the virtues of tattoos or something.” She rubbed her stiff fingers.
“That’s a good thing. It would suck if you had no customers.” Blue set the toolbox and painting supplies on the table next to Sky. “I’m just about done with the painting. I have some spackling and painting to get done upstairs, I want to build the shelves for your supplies behind your screens over there, and I think I can make a great row of built-ins upstairs. Then the place is all yours. Good as new.”
“You’re the best, Blue. Thank you.” Not for the first time, she thanked her lucky stars for Blue’s friendship.
“Paybacks are expensive. You’re going to give me free tattoos for lifeandget me into Sawyer’s next fight, right?” He shoved his hands in his jeans pockets and cocked a smile.
“Free tats? You’ve never let me put a lick of ink on you, but if you ever do, absolutely. And as far as Sawyer’s fight goes, I don’t think I’m going to go to it, but I’ll ask him for a ticket for you.”
“Was it that bad watching him train?”
Sky fidgeted with her bracelets. “It was like what I imagine it would be like to watch Merlin mangle a mouse.” She met Blue’s gaze. “The same way I can’t imagine my sweet kitty hurting anything, I don’t want to envision Sawyer hitting someone. But I saw it, so I know it’s real, unlike Merlin, who I can still pretend doesn’t ever kill mice.”
She got up and paced. “You should have seen the two of them. EvenIcould tell that the other guy had no business being in the ring with him. He was smaller, and none of his punches connected with Sawyer, but Sawyer’s punches?” Her eyes widened with the memory. “Blue, he hit the guyhard.”
“He’s supposed to. That’s what training is all about—perfecting his technique.”
“Well, he sure perfected it. The other guy had a huge welt on his neck.” Sky stopped pacing and leaned on the counter beside Blue. “I’ve never been in this situation before, Blue. Ireallylike him. I like who he is and I like everything about him—except the fighting.”
“Well, that’s a big thing, but it doesn’t have to be amake it or break itthing, does it? What if he were a lawyer who defended criminals or a stripper or—”
“A stripper? Really? I would never date a stripper.”
“Wow, you are uptight.” He laughed with the tease.
“I’m being serious. He’s fighting for a noble reason—to earn money to pay for his dad’s future medical care—but still…I don’t think I can watch him fight again.”
Blue shrugged. “I don’t see the problem. So don’t go to the fight.”
“His mom won’t go to his fights either. Oh, let me show you something else.” She headed up to the front and grabbed the basket of tattoos she’d collected. She fished out the one Sawyer brought with him and the two Cree had brought in and handed them to Blue. “Same handwriting, right?”
“I guess. Close anyway,” he said as he looked them over.
