Page 72 of The Devil's Scars

Chapter Thirteen

Late the next afternoon, Zoe turned when the tattoo parlor door opened, setting off the bell that let her and the guys know that a customer was entering. When she saw Scars standing there, staring at her, all huge and muscular in a jean jacket and his cut, she started, blushed, dropped a stack of papers.

“Heeeeeyyyy, Zoe,” he said, still staring, drawing out the first word so that it sounded vaguely like a threat. She suddenly panicked that he was going to say something about the Friday night in his office, about his fingering her to orgasm on his desk, right there in front of the guys. She was pretty sure that he was pissed about her running out of the office, and she’d made one hell of an effort to avoid him all day –and now here he was, looking like he had plenty to say. “How you doing on this lovely day?”

“Good,” she whispered, picking up the invoices and order forms, planning her escape out the back door, through her office and the storage room. “You?”

“Mmmm-hmmm.”

She looked at him again, that sound instantly throwing her back to Friday night. She flushed, then stiffened her spine. If he was going to let the cat out of the bag, fine. He could just go ahead and stop messing around. She’d deal with it.

“So – can I help you?” she asked crisply. “You need something?”

“Actually, he’s here for me,” Arrow said, appearing at her side and pulling his long, black hair into a ponytail. “You ready, man?”

“He’s here –” Zoe was perplexed. “You mean – for a session?”

“Yep,” Scars said, wandering over and past her, like he barely knew her. Like he had no idea how she looked naked, or how she tasted, or what it felt like to have her bucking and begging under his touch. “I’m getting another tattoo.”

“Oh, right,” she muttered, not sure if she felt relieved or disappointed. “Well… I’ll let you guys get on with it, then.”

“Mmmm-hmmmm,” Scars said, the sound positively loaded with meaning; she felt his breath on her skin, and she silently cursed him. “See ya.”

Zoe fled to her office, looked at the laptop clock. Argh. Two more hours before she could leave. She thought that two hours in her office was just the perfect way to spend the rest of her work day.

Far, far better than going out there.

**

An hour later, Arrow knocked on the door jamb, and Zoe looked up.

“Hi.”

“Hi,” she responded, glancing at the clock again, knowing that his shift had just ended. “You done?”

“Not quite.”

“You need some overtime? Or you want to come in later tomorrow?”

“Normally, yeah, I’d be open to either. But I got to get to the dentist, Zee, and nobody else is here to finish Scars’ tat.”

Time seemed to slow to a crawl, then actually move backwards. “Ummmm. What?”

“He’s about twenty minutes from being done, and everyone’s gone.”

“What about Viking?” she said. “He had a client an hour ago, and no way he’s done already.”

“Yeah. The guy never showed, and Viking just left to run some errands with Rebel.”

“Saint?” she asked, just before she remembered that it was his half-day. “Oh, right. Damn.”

“So you’ll do it?” Arrow asked her. “Seriously, boss, it’s twenty minutes. Thirty, tops. You’ll get home to Keira on time, I swear to you.”

“And Scars can’t come back tomorrow?”

“Not really. He and Wolf are off tomorrow for a few days.”

“They are?” she said, alarmed. “Is something wrong?”

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