Page 14 of Pomegranate Kiss

Danny crouched in front of the duffel bag and unzipped it. Inside lay sketchbooks, as well as photo books of different tattoos.

“I brought some of my personal stuff and the shop stuff, but if you both want to get inked for your wedding gift, I’d love to be the one who does it. Whatever you want,” Lex said, striding over beside her. She tugged out a few more sketchbooks from the duffel and offered one in Cam’s direction.

“You show me yours,” Cam murmured as she accepted the sketchbook, her fingers itching to flip open the pages. She couldn’t forget their first night at the Waterfront Park if she tried.

Danny threw her arms around Lex. “I wouldn’t want anyone else doing my tattoos, and you can bet I’ll be taking you up on it. As for Adrian, who the hell knows. Though, I could get behind the idea of my fiancé with a couple of gorgeous tats.”

Cam flipped open the book, and the breath hitched in her throat. Where Cam’s style leaned more toward impressionism, Lex’s fell staunchly in surrealism. The landscapes, figures, and shapes whorled together on the pages in ink, in watercolor, and in acrylic. The strong lines were a thing of beauty, bold in a way only Lex could be.

The splash of color on the pages, the twisted Dali-esque clocks, the spindly trees transforming into a staircase to the clouds,and the fantastical shadows she’d mutated into monsters on the page, all of it held a creativity and depth that made her heart ache. This woman might keep her emotions out of her words, but on paper, she bled.

“What do you think, art expert?” Lex asked, her voice low as she glanced her way. Cam didn’t miss the flicker-flash of vulnerability there or how she looked away at once.

“Beautiful doesn’t even begin to describe it,” Cam murmured. Her fingertips traced along the lines and patterns of the acrylic piece before her of a stark cemetery, the trees bending like they wept. “These are unforgettable.”

That was Lex, from beginning to end. Cam’s heart wrenched tight. This whole thing had started out light and sexy, but all too fast she waded into deeper waters, ones threatening to drag her under.

Chapter Seven

Every time Lex met with Dana, her parole officer, the aftermath left her wanting to speed on the freeway or break windows with a tire iron. All she could see was the pale walls of the penitentiary, the feel of the orange jumpsuit on her skin, and the stale lighting permeating her pores.

She couldn’t end up there again. Lex had done fine on the surface—loudmouthed with a penchant for violence, she nipped any competition in the bud fast and made some friends while she was at it. But inside, she screamed and screamed and screamed.

She leaned back in her Chevy and lifted up her phone, the bright bluish light glaring at her. All she had waiting for her back at the townhouse was half a bottle of whisky. Mitch was working tonight, so they couldn’t zoom across the highway, and she wasn’t in the mood to be a barfly. Tonight, Lex wanted someone’s entire attention, their whole focus.

You free?

The jumpstart of her heart once she sent the text had her internally cursing. This whole thing with Cam where they hung out, flirted, fooled around, and got to know each other better than she’d let just about anyone in—fuck, she had no idea what she was doing. Or what she’d do when the six months were up.

Yeah, why?

Lex chewed on her lip.

Meet me at Magnolia Cemetery in a half hour.

She didn’t wait for the response, simply started the ignition and began to drive.

***

Magnolia Cemetery was a slice of the macabre separate from the picturesque, pastel parts of town and the hazy ocean breeze saturating the air. The creek glittered in the late afternoon sun, which threatened to turn to dusk. She strode past the metal sign, the yellow letters bright and familiar. Lex basked in the fragrance of the magnolia trees that swayed in the wind here and the stale scent of granite and limestone from all the tombstones lined around the place.

This had been one of her safe havens ever since she was a teenager and had escaped here with her friends to get high. She and the other rejects would kick back and toke up late at night. Something about this place —whether the quietness, the air of solemnity, or the sense of “other” guarding the area—every time she came here, she could breathe. The buzz in her mind muted, and her cocktail shaker of problems seemed to pour out.

Lex slipped out a cigarette to light and leaned against her car. The embers glowed at the tip when she sucked in a drag, letting the nicotine cool her nerves. She hadn’t checked Cam’s response, because she didn’t want to be disappointed. The location was weird, but it was also wholly her. Part of her braced for theinevitable rejection, the foreign look in Cam’s eyes where she realized they didn’t know her at all.

Time and time again.

The familiar mausoleums cut starker figures in the fading light, the miniature pyramid clear even from where she stood. A car rumbled across the parking lot, one she recognized at once. She tapped the ash off the end of her cigarette and sucked down a final few drags before crushing it under her heel. Lex ran a hand through her pixie cut, smoothing her gel-tamed strands.

Cam’s car door slammed, and the woman stepped out. The breath snagged in Lex’s throat. Camilla Muhuri was the opposite of her in every way. Where Lex rolled up in a mess of torn jeans and wrinkled shirts, everything Cam wore was pressed, neat, or clung to her curves in a style that made Lex salivate. Today, Cam wore gray leggings showcasing her toned calves and a goldenrod tunic highlighting her slender curves—clothes Lex wanted to peel off Cam’s body with her teeth.

“So, we’re meeting at the graveyard?” Cam asked, surveying the area with a wrinkle across her brow. “Not that the tombstones aren’t picturesque, but I’m not enough of a spooky bitch to get down and dirty on top of someone’s grave.”

Lex couldn’t help the laugh that slipped from her. Mere minutes in this woman’s presence and she already felt lighter, which was more dangerous than anything.

“You sure? Sounds positively sacri-licious,” Lex responded, waggling her eyebrows.

Cam delivered the droll look she’d come to love and pursed her lips. Lex hooked her thumbs through the belt loops of her jeans and rocked back and forth. She stared up at the cloudless sky, trying to ignore the prickle up her skin. “This is the place I’ve been running to ever since high school when shit gets too overwhelming. I know that makes me a ‘spooky bitch’ but there’s something quiet here that speaks to me.”

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