Page 14 of Devilish Ink

She returned to my tattoo. “So…where were we?”

“You were talking about Rian…” I nudged. “Where he’d gone to?”

“Oh, right, well, he’s—”

The bell atop the front door jangled.

I cursed the interruption.

“Sorry I’m later than promised,” someone announced gregariously as he swept in, bringing the cold in with him. “Caught the first act, if you know what I mean.”

I ducked my face into my arms and watched from my shadowed place as Ryleigh rolled her eyes at the man who I recognised as one of Rian’s friends. I couldn’t remember his name though.

“Didn’t wait for the tits to come out?” she teased him.

“How dare you!” the newcomer said. “That’s my wife you’re talking about…and I never have to wait for the tits.”

She snorted as the guy made his way through the kitchen.

“Hey, man,” he said to me.

It was convenient, being a man sometimes. My noncommittal grunt was fully accepted. I kept my face hidden as he rummaged through the kitchen.

“Mason will go upstairs in just a second,” Ryleigh whispered to me. “Don’t worry about him.”

I wasn’t sure that Mason could recognise me from the few times I’d visited Dublin before, but I wasn’t sure that he couldn’t either. His presence here was like a watchdog.

Mason walked past us with a bowl of something. But he halted when he saw me.

“What the fuck, Ry?” he said, frowning.

Shite. He’d recognised me.

I kept my face buried in my hands, brain racking over how the hell I was going to talk myself out of this.

“W-what?” Ry said, sounding just as guilty as I felt.

What didshehave to feel guilty about?

Mason reached out and tugged at one of the handcuffs still around my wrist and let out a laugh. “Babe, if you wanted to borrow them, you shoulda just asked.”

I almost burst out laughing with relief.

Ry went as red as a tomato and began spluttering. “Oh my God. It’s not—it’s not what it looks like.”

“Uh huh,” Mason said, an eyebrow lifting almost into his hairline as he glanced between her and me.

“I swear—”

“You kids have fun now…” he said before he strolled off.

“Mason, it’s not like that,” she called after him.

“Sure it ain’t,” he called back as he mounted the stairs.

“Mason!”

“Try not to be too loud, yeah?”

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