Page 14 of Fallen Ink

Her body ached, and she was pretty sure her nether regions would forever be swollen and needy thanks to thoughts of Mace, but she was finally in the parking lot to open the shop and in desperate need of caffeine. Maybe today would be different, and she wouldn’t want to simultaneously fuck her best friend and hide from the situation at the same time.

Nothing good ever came from having sex with friends.

Nothing.

Except for those fantastic orgasms, but she was not thinking about those. Again. She had work to do, damn it.

Adrienne did her best to forget what she’d done that morning—or any morning—while thinking about Mace and climbed out of her car. Her brother-in-law, Carter, had replaced something inside, and for the life of her, she couldn’t remember what. She could fix so many damn things in her house and at the shop if needed but tell her a car part, and she forgot the information instantly. Regardless, Carter had told her that the car was on its last leg, but he’d do his best so she could keep driving it. She liked that brother-in-law of hers, even when he gave her terrible news about what she already knew was a lost cause.

She was just about in front her shop when she froze, aware that there were a few other business owners staring at the tattoo shop, as well.

“Oh my God,” she whispered, her phone clutched in her hand as she tried to reconcile what exactly she was seeing.

“Adrienne!” Thea called, running toward her, her own phone in hand. “I was just about to call you. I’ll call Shep now. I’m so sorry, honey. I don’t know what those lunatics were thinking.”

Adrienne nodded, letting her younger sister mother her like she enjoyed doing. All she could do was stare at her store and what the monsters had done to it.

Bright red and green paint along with black and blue covered the front of the shop in splotches. Someone had used a red can of spraypaint to mark the windows up with slurs and other curse words that would forever be imprinted in her brain. Sure, she used the words bitch and fuck in her own vocabulary, but seeing it emblazoned starkly on her shop in contrast to the beautiful backdrop of the foothills and the pristine paint of the other buildings made it all the more terrifying.

Someone had tagged her shop and had done a hell of a job with it.

She couldn’t quite think of what to do as Thea called the police and explained what had happened. Adrienne should be the one doing that, not her sister. It was her shop, after all. Hers and Shep’s.

And someone had defaced it.

Strong hands slid around her waist, and she turned, fist ready to punch, but stopped when she realized it was Mace.

“What the fuck, Addi?” he asked, but since he was looking at the shop and not her, she knew his words weren’t about her almost hitting him but what had happened to their place of business.

“I don’t know.” She swallowed hard then got over herself because she had shit to do and a business to save. “But we’re going to find out.” She turned to Thea. “Cops on their way?”

Her sister nodded. “Yes, they said don’t go in or touch anything. Just in case.”

Adrienne nodded, not bothering to pull away from Mace’s hold as he gave her strength that she desperately needed at that point. She wouldn’t turn away someone to lean on when she needed it most. At least, that’s what she hoped was the reason.

“Okay, I’ll call Shep. Mace, can you call Ryan? Get him here if you can. Once the cops are done taking statements or photos or whatever, we need to start cleaning up. We have clients to work on today, and there’s no damn way we are leaving it like this if we can help it.”

“Adrienne…” Thea started, but she shook her head.

“Thank you for everything,” she said and then looked at the crowd of well-meaning people, including their newest resident, the tea shop owner from next door. “Go back to work, everyone. I’m sorry this might hurt your business for the day but, hopefully, we’ll get to the bottom of it.”

She was so pissed. There was already a stigma surrounding her type of shop in this area, and now it was the one place tagged by whoever thought they would have some fun for the night. She wished she could start cleaning it off immediately and forget about it so she could get on with her day, but there were procedures to follow, and that meant she had to wait.

But waiting wasn’t something she wanted to do.

Abby, the owner of Teas’d, the organic tea shop that had opened up right before Montgomery Ink Too, walked over with two mugs of what Adrienne guessed was tea.

“White chocolate peppermint,” Abby explained. “A favorite right now. Drink and wait for the police to come. I know this sucks, but whenever you’re allowed to start cleaning, we’re all here for you.” She looked around, and the other business owners, including Thea, nodded. “We’re a team around here. And we don’t take kindly to someone hurting one of us.”

Adrienne gratefully took the tea and took a careful sip, her eyes nearly bugging out of her head. “This is amazing.”

Abby winked. “I’m slowly turning everyone from the dark side of coffee.”

“You’re well on your way with this,” Mace said from her side. He’d let go of her hip when Thea was talking, and Adrienne had been grateful since her sister was far too perceptive for her own good.

Despite Adrienne telling everyone to leave, they all stayed until the cops came to take photos and statements. Shep and Ryan had shown up soon after, the anger on their faces almost palpable. When the police left, saying they’d be in touch and that everyone could start cleaning up, Adrienne didn’t feel any steadier. In fact, she still felt just as angry, hurt, and lost as before, but now, she had a list in place of what she had to do. Someone had dared to hurt the Montgomerys, and she’d be damned if she let that take her down. They’d find who did it, and then…well, she’d let the cops handle it from there. But she’d make sure her shop shone like a beacon of hope and art because there was no way she was going to let some asshole with paint ruin all her hard work. Not this time.

Soon, she found herself on the phone with a client who had been scheduled that morning but who she knew she’d have to move until later. It would take the whole crew to clean up the mess the vandals had made, and she honestly didn’t want to have her clients seeing the place as it looked now. Thankfully, they hadn’t broken any windows or done anything that looked too permanent. Power washing in a Colorado October wouldn’t be fun, but at least it wasn’t snowing. They’d scrub, power wash if needed, and paint. Luckily, they already had the paint in the back storage area because they’d just finished the place and had leftovers.

---