Page 72 of Lost in the Current of You

Luckily my shorts were baggy so I was able to pull the one side down to expose my hip.

Once he had the stencil situated in a spot I liked, the buzzing of the needle started. Reece appeared in front of me, holding his hand out for me to grab onto and then he laced our fingers together, his thumb making soothing swirls over my hand.

The first scratch of the needle started against my skin and I squeezed his hand tight but released a breath when I found it wasn’t as bad as I anticipated.

It didn’t take long, maybe half an hour to forty-five minutes before he was finished, wiping away the residual ink.

“All done. Let me know what you think,” Clint said, rolling away to start cleaning his station.

Leaning up to look down at the new art on my hip, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling at how beautiful and wistful it looked.

I looked across to Reece, seeing his eyes already assessing the tattoo, my smile still in place as I asked, “What do you think?”

He looked up, eyes gleaming as he replied, “I like it. It suits you.”

Clint came back and applied some balm and a clear adhesive film over the top while giving me the aftercare instructions.

He looked to Reece next. “Your turn now buddy. What are you getting?”

I got off the chair while Reece took my spot, his eyes meeting mine for a second. “The same.”

Clint’s curious eyes glanced between Reece and me, but he didn’t say a thing before the buzzing filled the room again.

28

Freshly tattooed, we wandered back to his car before I turned to him and leaned back against the passenger door. He stood towering over me, watching me with a small smile and a sparkle dancing in his eyes. The breeze danced around us as my hair curled around my face. The road was practically empty save for a few cars driving past but the background blurred around him.

The sun shone high in the sky, bouncing off every sharp angle of his face and spotlighting him as the centre of my world.

“So, where to now?” I questioned, not quite ready for the day to end between us.

His lips faded as he checked his watch. “I should probably take you back home actually. Nate should be getting back now and I don’t want him wondering where you are.”

I waved him off. “It’ll be fine. I can tell him I was with Alex or Avery.”

“He’ll expect me online.”

I cocked my head and frowned. “What, you can’t be busy too?”

He didn’t look at me then and I took the hint, heart sinking as I repeated my questions in my mind, realising how desperate I sounded to stay with him and how consumed I felt in him. “Fine. Take me home.”

It was a silent drive home as I swallowed my frustration. I was so in over my head for him, whereas he was looking over his shoulder at every turn. Our whole friendship had been kept behind closed doors, at first unintentionally but now I was just so sick of hiding, sick of not knowing if we were okay, and sick of feeling like I was doing something wrong by being with him. I didn’t even know what we were after New Year’s. We didn’t talk about it afterward before he left that morning.

Maybe I was more frustrated with how easily I was letting myself fall for him. I feared that it was just me leaping off the ledge into the ocean hoping he would be there to guide me to safety. Maybe this was karma, after all I’d done to Liam.

He pulled up in front of the neighbour’s house, a fence of bushes hiding his car from our house. Nate’s car was in the driveway, but there was no sight of him.

I shook my head as I faced him. “What are we doing, Reece?”

He swallowed, staring out at the street as a couple walking their dog strolled past on the other side of the street. I pleaded for him in my head to reassure the fears echoing in my heart. I hoped he could prove my fears wrong. But he didn’t.

“I don’t know,” he whispered in a pained breath.

I scoffed. “Why is it so bad for people to know that we’re friends?”

He turned to me then with a pointed look. “It’s not really that simple between us, Kody.”

“Okay, then tell me.” I crossed my arms as I waited. But again, silence filled the air.

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