Page 4 of One Night With You

I paused in the act of opening the door and glared at him. “What do you mean? You didn’t mention that before.”

He looked around the parking lot, as if expecting Claire to show up. Claire never showed up. That was the problem.

“We were the ones who were there. Phoebe’s her best friend, practically her sister, so she’ll open up to her. But us? We were the ones who entered the room when she was hurt. Both of us had ended up bleeding and needing a few stitches in the process—though not as many as her. It was traumatic. And I’m not a therapist, so I’m not going to dive any deeper into that.”

The idea that Kane’s thoughts aligned with my own felt like a punch in the gut. “I just don’t want her to hate me.”

“She doesn’t hate you.” He paused as he stared at me. “Shit, man. I didn’t know you hadfeelingsfor her.”

I nearly fell out of the truck, going for full grace today. “No. It’s not like that. I just don’t like people not liking me. You know?”

It was a flaw—one I knew very well. But I hadknown my entire life. After all, I had not one, not two, but three loving parents. I was a product of one of the famous Montgomery Triads, and I had two brothers who I loved with every ounce of my being. We were close as hell, and in addition to them, people just liked me. I wanted to know what the hell I had done to Claire.

Only I didn’t think there were going to be any answers. So we slid out of the truck, and I ignored the pointed looks from my team as I walked through the building and into the back showers. I would forever be grateful for the fact that my cousin Daisy had said we needed office showers. I had been a little confused why, but the number of times we had shown up with blood or dirt on us from random experiences, told me that maybe this job was a little weirder than some people might think. I showered and changed into another set of clothes, grateful that I seemed to have a whole closet here and made my way to the tattoo shop next door. I still had a couple more days of work before my forced vacation—so I could use up those days—and this was only the start of it.

Leif was in his front booth as I walked in, and he tilted his chin at me. “Hey, Hudson’s in the back, you can go sit in his booth. I still can’t believe that you’re letting a non-Montgomery ink you.”

“Cold man,” Nick said, and raised his pierced brow at me.

I flipped both of them off and made my way to Hudson’s booth. “I still haven’t let Nick tattoo me. Maybe he’s next.”

“He’s practically a Montgomery. But still, next has to be a Montgomery. If you’re going to do this, you’re going to have to alternate.” Leif’s eyes were twinkling as he said it, a smirk on his face, so I knew he was only kidding. We might be territorial but we weren’t complete idiots.

Hudson walked in, tall, broad-shouldered, and brown hair pulled back into a stub of a ponytail. He flicked his tongue over his lip ring and raised a brow at us. “You see, I knew inking a Montgomery was going to start some form of feud. However, with so many of you out there, it’s just sheer statistics I’m going to get at least one of you.”

He winked at me, and I rolled my eyes. “I’m excited for you to work on my arm piece. You do fantastic gray scale.”

“I do, don’t I?” Hudson asked, a broad smile on his face.

Nick whistled through his teeth. “He’s as cocky as a Montgomery.”

“You’re married to one, so watch it,” Leif grumbled, before they turned on music, and Hudson sat down in front of me.

“I’m really excited for this. I’m excited to flesh outthe art concept you’re thinking about since I know placement’s going to be an issue. The fact that it’s eventually going to connect to a larger piece by another artist is pretty intriguing to me.” He frowned at me, gesturing to my wet hair. “You showered? Long day?”

“I don’t really want to talk about it. But I’m all clean. Don’t worry.”

“I feel like I should worry. That seems a little awkward.”

I laughed and then we sat to go over the designs and placement. Because I wanted the art to feel like it could move with the flow of my other work and how I moved my body, we had to work on stencils too. It was a longer process than some of my other work, but since this was my first time working with Hudson, we wanted to make sure we got it right.

I loved ink. I loved the art and the statements that it made. I loved the fact that it could be something ridiculous, or something that moved you.

My family was filled with artists in one way or another, and I was grateful they hired people with amazing talent as well. I liked the feel of needle on skin, as it was a familiar pain, and I would ease my way into it, knowing it wasn’t the worst thing I ever felt.

After all, I had been shot before, and stabbed. But that was when we had been working with the company prior to building our own. We needed to be trainedsomewhere, and we had taken harder jobs. Of course, I’d also been blown up in a building along with my cousin Daisy, but we had survived. Barely.

And as if I had conjured moments of terror and memories in my mind, the door opened, and Claire walked in.

My mouth went dry, but I ignored that. Because she was real. And she was here. I hadn’t seen her in months, and it was all I could do not to fall down in front of her and beg her to tell me why she was avoiding me.

But that would make me feel like a stalker, so I didn’t say anything. Instead, I just watched as her chin lifted slightly, and her eyes darted around the room until they landed on Hudson. She had elf-like features—so tiny, almost like a pixie. She had cut her hair to below her shoulders, and it was this brownish color that the word brown really didn’t give justice to. It almost had natural auburn highlights, and she was beautiful.

I had always thought so. Even when I told myself I shouldn’t.

But she was Phoebe’s friend. And she had clearly wanted nothing to do with me. And her brother currently had a marker and stencil against my skin. So I wasn’t going to think anything about that.

“Hey there, Claire Bear.”

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