Page 48 of Sins and Secrets

Me: You’ve got this whole thing wrong. I take care of you.

Waverly: It’s what I do.

Waverly: Were you hungry?

Me: yes

Waverly: Is the food good?

Me: yes

Waverly: Cool. Later gator.

She’s amazing. How can she be open so quickly after being hurt?

After my video conference with one of the tattoo convention organizers, Jade knocks on the door. “Hey, there’s a scary guy here to see you.”

What? I jump to my feet and push past Jade. The man in front of me in a crispy light blue shirt and black jeans, with slicked back brown hair, and dark sunglasses is vaguely familiar. He’s the kind of man who does a threat assessment in a Build-A-Bear shop. Even through the sunglasses, I feel his piercing gaze.

“Lukas?” His voice carries no hints of where he’s from.

“Did you want to schedule a session? I don’t have a spot open for six months.”

He tilts his head to the side. “Popular guy. But, no. We have a mutual friend we need to talk about.” When I don’t move or give any indication that I’m the least bit threatened, he adds, “Waverly.”

My stomach drops to my toes and my throat dries as beads of sweat form on my spine and around my hairline. He’s here on business but it has nothing to do with a tattoo. “Step inside.”

I sit behind my desk as he closes the door and leans against it.

“We’ve met before,” he says as he crosses his arms.

“I figured. I just can’t place it at the moment.” I’m flipping through all the people I’ve ever met and still I’m coming up with nothing. He’s a ghost from a forgotten world.

“I was supposed to kill you.” Aaaand I just shit myself. The man waves his hand away. “But that’s not when we met. I used to pick Waverly up from Angie’s house over the summer.”

Oh?… Oh! This is Uri, Waverly’s cousin. Got it. Son to a Russian mob boss. Cool, cool, cool. And he’s standing in my office. Not loving this turn of events.

“Is there a reason why you were supposed to kill me?”

“About five years ago, I got a call from the sweetest and most pure person in the world. Wave was sobbing big, ugly tears. I hadn’t seen her cry like that since her mom died.”

My hand drags down my face as I groan. I hurt her as bad as when she buried her mom. Fuck. Gotta start looking for a house cow breeder. Do they have breeders? Something else I’ll have to research.

“Do I need to go into any details about why she was upset?”

“No.” I am very familiar. “Why am I still breathing?”

Uri shifts from side to side, his tough guy image cracking a little. “Um, well I sent Dimitri instead,” he mumbles. “I had a cold.”

“What?”

“I had a cold,” he snaps. “And when I was a kid, I flew when I was congested and ended up with a double ear infection. Horrible trip to Disney World. I don’t fly if I have the sniffles anymore.”

“Wow. Um, okay.”

Uri shakes his head. “And Dimitri didn’t kill you, obviously. But he did come home with a really cool octopus tattoo.”

Oh. I have zero memory of this. “Is there a reason for this little visit?”

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