Page 10 of Cover Up

“I liked you better when you were broody and silent,” Zeke told him as he passed the dice over to Jamie.

Felix smiled to himself, watching for a bit before heading to his stall. He still had a couple of hours before his first appointment, so he settled into his tattoo chair, kicking his feet up and spreading his sketchbook over his thighs.

He was working on his sketches for the Flash Friday event that Tony wanted them to start running, and he was itching to get a few more designs up on Instagram. He had a decent following—nothing like Max, Paris, or Jamie, but he also wasn’t great with social media. Still, every time he posted a design, he had a bidding war on it, and that made him feel like maybe he was worthy of being at their shop.

“…drinks. Felix? Babe?”

His head snapped up, and it took him a second to recognize Eve’s pink hair as she leaned against his partition. “When did you get here?” he asked.

She laughed and came around the stall to drop a kiss to his cheek. “Twenty minutes ago.”

Shit, had he been out of it for that long? He glanced at the clock, and his face went pink. Longer, apparently. “What were you saying?”

“Jamie and I are going out to get food and drinks. You want?”

He didn’t, but he had two long sessions coming up, so he’d regret not getting something now. “Grab me something light. Like salad with chicken on it. And unsweet tea.”

She booped him on the nose before walking off, and he settled back into his drawing just long enough to realize the shop had gone totally quiet. He hopped off his chair and looked around, finding only one person left who was managing the desk.

Felix’s gaze scanned him until he spotted the massive orca tattoo on his bicep. Rafe, then. Someone he was just starting to recognize.

He offered Felix a small grin full of all the caution of the newest member on the team. “You good?”

Felix nodded, leaning on the partition. “Got quiet. It’s always so weird when it’s quiet.”

Rafe nodded. “You, uh…you know who I am, right?”

Felix grinned and pointed to his arm. “That guy gives you away.”

Looking down, Rafe ran his fingers over his arm and sighed. “Good for something, I guess.”

“Sounds like there’s a story there,” Felix pointed out.

Rafe swallowed heavily. “Uh. Yeah. But it’s like a ten beers kind of story. I…sorry, it’s just—”

“No,” Felix said in a rush. “You’re good, man. We don’t need this place to be therapy every time we come into work.”

Rafe gave a slightly relieved laugh as he sat back. “It’s different here. It’s harder to want to keep all this shit to myself, you know? Because people actually care. My old shop…” He trailed off, and his eyes got a little hazy.

“You’re in good company,” Felix said, and he meant it with every fiber of his being. Today felt like it could either be amazing or turn into a total shit-show, but in the quiet shop just then, he had the distinct feeling of safety.

And of home.

4

Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, Dei stared ahead at the line of trees. There was a smaller iguana making a slow trek over thick roots, and he watched its progress for a while. Anything to avoid going in. He had to get back to work since Jeremiah was paying him more than he probably deserved to keep the kitchen running, and Dei couldn’t put his whole life on hold for Sofia.

The only good thing about that morning was that his mom wasn’t going to ask him where his sister was. She never did. She only seemed to remember Dei every few visits, but her brain had already deleted her youngest child. Dei’s time was coming, of course, and he knew that the progression of their mother’s disease had caused Sofia’s most recent meltdown.

Dei had been so goddamn sure she was actually done with that piece-of-shit boyfriend of hers, so while he’d kept his cool outwardly, hearing Felix talk about what Clark had done had been a blow. He kept it together until Felix was tucked safely into his little house at Ben and Paris’s, and then he’d gone home and lost it.

Sofia had passed out, so she hadn’t heard him wailing on his heavy bag until his bicep felt like it was going to fall off. And even when he screamed into his pillow until his throat hurt, she stayed dead to the world.

Dei resolved to talk to her the next morning, but when he woke up, she was gone. He called everyone they knew, but no one had seen her, and her social media accounts were all quiet. When she moved in with him, she’d agreed to keep her location on so he could at least have some idea about where she was, but when he opened up her contact, she’d turned it off.

A small part of him wanted to wash his hands of it—of her. He’d done everything in his power to get her the help she both needed and occasionally asked for, but it only ever bought him a handful of months before she was back on her bullshit.

And he was tired. He was so fucking tired.

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