Page 20 of Eight Steps to Alpha

And then another…

And another….

“One time.” She yawned two hours later. “Phillip’s friend—the youngest of my brothers—had a crush on me and asked me to the Homecoming dance. I was only a freshman, he a junior, and when Phillip found out, he walked across the football field and punched him right in the nose.”

“Ouch…” Elliot muttered.

“He actually broke it.”

“Double ouch.”

Fe yawned and looked over to the tattoo guy, who they now knew as Brian. “How much longer?”

Brian picked up the needle and peered up to the ceiling. “Hour. Hour and a half, at most.”

“Jesus, Elliot!” Her eyes widened as she turned back to Brian. “Are you serious?”

Not a man of many words, Brian only nodded.

Elliot grinned in response, then glanced over to his shoulder to check on the progress. They’d been there for hours, and quite frankly, it only looked halfway done. It was large, yes, but cupped his shoulder perfectly, and anything smaller would’ve been pointless. When Brian settled the needle once again to Elliot’s flesh, he scrunched up his face. The pain finally getting to him.

He turned back to Fe. The concern on her face more than he could take.

“Does it hurt?” she asked him, her own face contorted, making him think she could feel each stroke.

He shook his head. “Nah, I’m fine.” Because she didn’t need to stress. Not over him. Not over this.

She narrowed her eyes, but her dimple flashed at the corner of her mouth. “Liar.” The words were quiet, followed by a yawn so large, it was hard to believe it came from a woman so small. “Sorry,” she whispered.

She was tired. So tired, and she’d somehow migrated herself halfway onto his chair without him noticing.

“Come on,” he said, patting the spot beside him on the chair. “There’s room enough for the both of us.”

She glanced at him warily, assessing the small space, as though calculating in her head. “I don’t want to mess anything up,” she finally whispered.

Even as she said the words, she could barely keep her head upright. “You won’t mess anything up.” He chuckled. “Trust me.”

Her eyes fluttered closed again, but instead of arguing like he’d expected, she gingerly inched up the chair and crawled up into the space beside him. She was right, there really wasn’t enough room, because her body was halfway on top of his—she must have been too tired to care, because all she did was nestle her head into the crook of his shoulder, and yawn.

“Close your eyes,” he ordered. “I can’t feel my arm anymore anyway.” Which was a complete and total lie. It hurt like a mother, but he didn’t need her knowing that.

Her lips curved against his skin, and she yawned again. “Liar.” But she burrowed a little deeper, tickling his chin with the silky softness of her hair. “I just need a little rest is all,” she whispered, but her words were so faint, he could barely hear them. Then they trailed into nothingness, and she was asleep.

In a matter of seconds, her body surrendered completely into his side, melting against his skin, like butter left out in the sun. He tucked his arm around her form, and closed his eyes, trying not to think about how good she felt in him is arms.

This wasn’t the first time she’d fallen asleep like this, but it wasn’t often. It had been year as a matter of fact…but his body seemed to remember every inch of her, responding in the way any perfectly healthy man would. Or at least, that’s what he kept telling himself. He began focusing on the hum of the tattoo gun and reminiscing about all the stories Fe told him about her brothers. The bothers he was sure would kick his ass right now if they knew what his was thinking.

“Are you going to put a ring on that?” Brian asked, breaking him from his thoughts. Brian had removed the needle from his skin and was looking at him in a strange way.

“Excuse me?” Elliot asked, instinctively pulling Fe closer.

“Are you going to marry her?” Brian asked again, nudging his chin in Fe’s direction.

Elliot looked down to her face, which was smashed into his shoulder and appeared as peaceful as a baby.

The needle hit his skin again, forcing his attention back up to Brian.

“She loves you, dude,” he said to him over the buzzing. “Put a ring on it before someone else does, that’s all I’m sayin’.”

He thought about arguing with the guy, telling him how he’d gotten it all wrong, but for some reason, he couldn’t. “She doesn’t like me like that,” he said instead. Repeating the words she’d used earlier that week. The ones that stung deeper than an ass full of hornet stingers.

“But I’ll tell you one thing,” he said on a heavy breath. “Whoever asks for her hand in marriage will have one hell of a battle on his hands. Because first he’ll have to get through her three brothers, and then he’ll have to get through me.” And Elliot wouldn’t give her up to just anyone. Especially not anyone with a stupid-ass name like Todd Peeking.

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