Page 8 of A Twist of Fate

“Oh my God! I can’t believe you just said that.”

Okay, I felt bad. I didn’t mean to take my frustrations out on the woman. I should have never brought her back to my place to begin with. “Sorry, look, I’m in a mood and I really need to get to work.” I glanced down at my phone again. “They already had to reschedule my first client and that’s not cool.”

“Okay, baby. That’s all you had to say.”

“I’m not your baby,” I clarified. She smirked at me, her lips no longer seeming as full as they did last night. Obviously, the makeup was half of what she looked like, because the other half was lacking a whole lot from what it had appeared to be the night before. The beauty mark on her cheek was now gone, her eyes were bright blue last night, and now they were just a dull and lifeless light brown. It almost matched her reddish brown hair that seemed to be a bit more lackluster in the light of day too. Jesus, was anything about the woman I’d taken home last night real? It didn’t seem that way.

When we got to the shop, she followed me and parked her ass right in my chair. “What are you doing?” I asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. “I came here last night to get a tattoo, and I still want it.”

“Are you kidding right now?” I asked, beyond frustrated with myself for still having to deal with some random pussy I picked up. Of course, one hanging around the studio was bound to be a clinger. I’d talked to Zeke and Sully about making the female clients off limits before. They often times developed an unhealthy attachment when you mixed permanent ink and sex. They thought it meant more than it did to us. The guys were actually better about not getting involved with clients than I was.

“What the hell is it you wanted?” I asked, ready to just get it over with so I could get rid of her.

“I just want a little ‘ol heart, right here,” she said as she spread her legs and pointed to her thigh. The spot she pointed out had a bruise, that I had no doubt, put there the night before. Fuck. My. Life.

“Sit back, shut up, and when we’re done, you’re gone!” The scowl on my face matched the tone in my voice. The dumb bitch mimed zipping her lips shut as she spread her legs wider. I really should have known better than to do it. The red flags had been waving at me all morning. My head wasn’t in the game enough to realize though. Instead, it was back on my conversation with my little sister. Erin had been right. I was a fucking idiot.

I finished up the quick line drawing of a heart on the woman’s thigh and quickly sent her on her way. She tried to exchange numbers with me, but I wasn’t interested. Not that she got the hint because she grabbed one of my cards from the front before she finally left the studio. Gretchen had been standing there then. She gave me one of her disapproving glares, shook her head, and then went back to playing her little video game. Fucking hell! I couldn’t win with any women, it seemed.

“Did you get in touch with Erin?” Zeke asked as he came strolling through the shop a little while later.

“Yeah, I did.”

“And?”

“And she just wanted to call me a fucking idiot and blast me for shit.” The grin on Zeke’s face told me she had already let him in on whatever she had been wanting to call me for. “She told you?” I asked even though I didn’t need to. He nodded.

“Sure did, and I have to tell you, I agree. You’re a fucking idiot. I don’t think it’s for the same reason your sister thinks so though. Ever and Deck are meant to be. I can see that something special click into place whenever they get near each other. It’s hard to compete with that level of chemistry or familiarity or whatever the hell it is that’s driving those two.”

“So why the hell do you think I’m a fucking idiot then?”

“Let me count the ways…” Sully sing-songed from his space as he cleaned up after his last client.

“I told you, there was someone else here who had her eye on you, but you were too hung up in the wrong places to notice.” My brows rose in question as he tipped his head toward the front.

“You’re wrong. I saw her leave last night with Ever’s brother.”

“Yeah, that’s why you’re a fuckin’ idiot. You let that shit happen right under your nose and ended up going home with a stage five ink-slut clinger instead,” Sully explained as he leaned over the half-wall that separated our stations.

“What the fuck? You too? I thought for sure G was into you.”

Sully laughed. “As into me as a sister is to a brother, dipshit. Most days she’s too busy staring at your excellence to bother with the rest of the peasants in this place.”

“Most days, huh?”

“Yeah, today being the exception. She’s been glued to her phone all day, and I can tell every time she gets a text because her whole face lights up like I’ve never seen it before.” He reached over and swatted my shoulder. “Snooze you lose! Might want to learn that lesson quick smart before the next woman you end up interested in is taken too.”

What the fuck was going on? Gretchen hadn’t even been on my radar in that way before now, and just those words coming from his mouth made me wonder what the hell was wrong with me that all the women in the shop were suddenly so interested in the Aces High assholes rather than the man right here in front of them day in and day out?

When I was done with my day, I was still pissed about the fact that the women in the shop were losing their shit over the motorcycle bad boys instead of me. Yeah, that sounds egotistical as fuck, and no that thought didn’t bother me one fucking bit. Instead, I decided to drown my sorrows in pussy I knew wouldn’t have any problem climbing on the back of my Harley, or on my lap, for that matter. I called up Shelly Andrews and told her to meet me at the shop while I cleaned up my space and waited. Ever and Gretchen were both still hanging around, talking up by the front desk, when Shelly came bouncing in looking like someone I was going to have to pay for her time. Fuck me. Both girls slid their gazes from Shelly back to me and didn’t bother saying a word. I should have remembered Shelly was never subtle.

“You ladies can look, but he’s all mine tonight,” Shelly informed them both, making me cringe inwardly as I snagged my leather jacket from the hook and slipped into it, as if it could shield me from the embarrassing situation playing out.

“Kane is my shop brother,” Ever declared with a look of disgust that curled her lip up in an unflattering way.

Gretchen just shrugged her shoulders and wouldn’t look me in the eye. “I have a date later,” she mumbled.

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