Page 59 of Revved up & Ready

“Aww.” A smile warms her face. “You two are really cute together.”

“Cute?”

“Yes,cute,” she insists, her hand now resting at my hip. Looking up, she asks, “Would you ever get a tattoo with me?”

“Say the word, and I’ll make the appointment.”

“You don’t even know what we’d get,” she says—as if my immediate answer means I’m not taking her seriously.

“Doesn’t matter. We’ll figure it out.” I hold her gaze. “I’ll be proud to have matching tattoos with you.”

Her lips roll together as her cheeks warm with a blush. “Okay,” she answers.

“Can’t wait,” I say. My eyes snag on some long-healed scars on the side of her leg. Having a good idea what they’re from, I decide not to ask. Instead, mimicking the way her fingertips have been mapping my tattoos, I run my fingertips across the bridge of her nose and across her cheeks. “Tell me about your freckles.”

“My freckles?” Pink hair brushes her shoulders as her head tilts. “They exist—not sure what else to say about them.”

“What’s your favorite memory with them?” I ask.

She rolls her bottom lip between her teeth. “My dad loved my freckles when I was little. He’d always say the best kids have freckles.”

I tap her nose. “I like them, too.”

“I like yours,” she giggles, tapping my nose in the same place.

“There was a short time as a kid when I didn’t like the way I looked,” I say, running my hand over my face. “Got picked on for being pale, freckled, and redheaded.”

Sadie’s brows and lips tip down. “I hate that.”

“It’s okay,” I say, hoping she understands I truly mean it. “I figured out quickly I couldn’t change any of that, so I decided to own it. I used to get the gnarliest sunburns, though. Never remembered to wear sunscreen as a kid. Luke’s mom has these giant aloe vera plants in her front yard, and she’d cut off a piece and rub raw gooey aloe all over me—straight from the plant.”

“You two were always inseparable, weren’t you?” Sadie asks.

“Yup, I was at their house way more than my own growing up. I’m an only child, and my parents are older. They gave me a lot of freedom.” A smile forms with the memories. “Darlene Pine is a hell of a woman—loves the shit out of her kids. She has her issues—wasn’t always able to take care of them the way she wanted. If you ask Skye, Luke did a lot more raising her than Darlene did. But she gives everything shecanto her kids, and from the first day I showed up on her porch looking for Luke—she’s included me in that.”

“So that’s why you say Skye’s like a little sister to you?” Sadie asks.

“Yeah, I’ve known her since she was two or three. Luke and I would bring Skye along to everything, take turns keeping an eye on her. I’d even babysit when Luke had dates in high school and Darlene wasn’t up to taking care of her.” Something undecipherable passes Sadie’s face at that last comment, and she drops her hand to my wrist. I lower my voice, “Don’t tell her I said this, but I think she’s turned out to be pretty awesome.”

“You and Skye are even cuter than you and Luke.” Sadie snorts a laugh. “Do you have a tattoo with her, too?”

“Yup,” I answer on a low chuckle, “I took her on her eighteenth birthday. I don’t think Luke has ever been more pissed at me than he was then, and I even—” cutting myself off from telling her I crashed and ruined his first motorcycle, I say, “I’ve been a pain in his ass for a long time.”

“Which one is it?” she asks, searching my torso and arms.

“Down here,” I say, pulling my pant leg up to reveal my right calf.

“She wanted exact matching tattoos in the same place.” Rolling my foot to the side, I show her my Skye tattoo—on the inside of my ankle, there’s a bundle of orange poppy flowers in a finer line weight than most of my other tattoos. It’s underneath the front tire of a giraffe doing a wheelie on my shin whose neck goes all the way up to my knee.

“Why those flowers?” she asks, shifting forward to get a closer look.

“They’re poppies, the California state flower, and when Skye was little, I used to fuck with her and tell her it was illegal to pick them.” Sadie tilts her head, tsking. “One time she was sneaking around the yard—didn’t realize Luke and I were watching—and she picked one. I played siren sounds from my phone, and Luke ran out of the bushes and scooped her up tohide her from the cops.”

“Not the fuzz,” Sadie giggles under her breath, then shifts immediately to scolding me, “What a couple of assholes. She wanted a tattoo about that?”

“Eventually, it became a thing we tease each other about. They’re still her favorite flower, so the tattoo is a way for her to have them withoutthe copscoming to arrest her.”

Sadie’s dimples appear as her whole face lights up in a smile. “That’s really sweet.”

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