Page 80 of Cover Up

A face appeared over the partition a second later, and by process of elimination—and the shit-eating grin on the man’s face—Felix knew who it was.

“That looks badass, man,” Tony said.

Rafe flushed and shrugged. “It’s nothing.”

“Fuck you. Don’t insult my ink like that,” Felix said, kicking at Rafe’s arm.

Rafe laughed and shook his head. “Fine, fine. It looks amazing on your leg, princess.”

Felix flipped him off as he smiled at Tony. “Good to see you again.”

“You recognize me?” Tony asked. There was no mockery or malice or even that gross, invasive curiosity people tended to have with Felix when they knew about his face blindness.

“No, but I Sherlocked it,” Felix said.

“By that, he means I told him,” Rafe cut in.

Tony laughed. “Sweet. I’m glad you’re here too. I just got off the phone with a friend of yours, and I wanted to see what you thought about me bringing another artist around.”

There was a still, tense silence around the shop. They had room for one or two more, but it would start encroaching on their business soon if Tony kept bringing people in. And it had taken Felix the better part of a year to learn everyone at the shop. He wasn’t sure he had it in him to start over with someone new, and he couldn’t imagine who the hell would call themselves Felix’s friend who wasn’t already at the shop.

“His name is Leif.”

Felix sat up, almost knocking Rafe’s hand and ruining his lines. “Seriously?”

Tony’s smile was soft. “Yeah. Thought you might like to hear that.”

Felix fell back with a quiet thump. “I didn’t think he was ever going to leave LA.”

The silence was punctuated with the sound of a chair scraping, and then Paris’s head appeared next to Tony’s. “He’s good people. My vote is yes.”

“If this grumpy asshole’s on board, you’ve got my vote,” Rafe said.

“Seconded!” came Jamie’s voice from somewhere near the back room.

“Max will say yes,” Paris said in his low rumble. “They were pretty close before we left LA.”

Tony glanced around, then nodded. “I’m gonna give him a couple weeks’ trial to see how he fits. And you and I,” Tony said, turning his head to look right at Zeke, “will be having plenty of conversations. I’m not here to step on your toes.”

“This is your baby,” Zeke said. “I know you need a change of scenery, and…”

“No,” Tony said. “Well, I mean, yeah. Kat’s desperate to get out of the mountains, and things are a little stale there. We found a really badass school for Jazz here on the islands, and I just…I don’t know, man. It feels right. But I have absolutely no fuckin’ desire at all to start over with running things. I just hope y’all can find me a spot for a few of my regulars who live down this way.”

Zeke stared at him, then burst into laughter. “You think any of us have the balls to tell you to get the fuck out?”

Tony shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “I don’t ever want to be that asshole.”

“You are that asshole,” Zeke said, cuffing Tony on the shoulder. “But we love it.”

Felix couldn’t argue. He had been nervous taking up space in the shop, knowing that the name and reputation belonged to someone a few thousand miles away. When Tony had first come around, it almost felt like being observed by their omniscient god who was there to pass judgment.

But it didn’t take long for Felix to get the sense that the guy was just there to love the hell out of them all.

“Alright,” Rafe said, doing a final pass with the green soap, “you’re done. Tell me what you think.”

Felix stared down at the silhouette band wrapping his calf. It was a simple design—the ocean surf and a moon in shades of blacks and greys—and to someone else, it might not have meant anything. But to him, it was a small piece of what he’d left behind—one of the few things that he actually missed.

And it lessened any urge to go back.

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