Page 38 of Forbidden Harmony

“It’s good to see you too, Samar.”

He shook the older man’s hand. He toweredover the jeweler and outweighed him by at least a hundred pounds, but he wasn’tfooled by the man’s slight stature or his age. Samar was an expert in jiujitsu, and Preacher had seen him take down men twice his size at the local sparringgym.

“How can I help you today?” Samar asked.

He fished the barbell out of his pocket andheld it out to the jeweller. “I was wondering if I could get this engraved.”

“Of course, of course.” Samar took thebarbell from him and Preacher followed him to the front counter. “What do youwant engraved on it?”

“Initials on either end of the barbell. SWon each, please.”

“Do you want a script font or something thickerand bolder?” Samar asked. “With the small area, I would suggest you skip the script.It’ll be more difficult to read.”

“Plain lettering is good,” he said. He wantedthe next guy Addison Moore slept with, to know exactly what the initials said.

One – no one in this town but Gideonknows your real name so it doesn’t matter if they know it’s an S and a W ornot, and two, you really want someone who isn’t you, looking at her tits?

No, he fucking didn’t, and the intensity ofhis feelings on the subject was a little alarming.

So, you think putting a barbell in hernipple with your initials engraved on it, like you’re branding her as yours orsome happy horseshit like that, is gonna stop her from fucking another guy? Isthat it?

Of course not. She wouldn’t have a cluewhat the SW stood for. Hell, she might not even notice the initials.

Then why the fuck are you doing this?

The hell of it was, he didn’t know why. Butthe second he found out she was getting a piercing, the urge to have his initialsengraved on her barbell was too fucking great to ignore.

“I need it by six at the latest,” he saidto Samar. “Is that doable?”

“For you? Of course,” Samar said. “I’ll askDiya to drop it off at your shop when it’s finished.”

“Great, thank you.” He pulled out hiswallet and paid for the engraving before leaving the store and heading to Nan’sDiner. He didn’t have to put that barbell in Addison, he reasoned. Maybe by thetime she arrived for her appointment, some of his sanity would have returned andhe’d keep the marked barbell the fuck out of her nipple.

Maybe.

Chapter Ten

Addison glanced at the clock on the wall ofthe tattoo shop. It was ten after seven and she’d been sitting on the couch inthe seating area since six thirty, her nerves fraying like cheap yarn, and herresolve to pierce her nipple weakening by the minute.

She’d borrowed her brother Daniel’s car todrive here. The weather was too friggin’ hot to walk. She’d snagged a spot rightoutside the shop and she glanced at the car through the big front window behindher, tempted to just jump up and run out of the shop.

The two young women sitting on the couch besideher were on their phones, taking selfies, texting, and talking in high pitchedgiggles about some guy named Doug who may or may not have a large penis.

She tuned them out, staring at the curtaindrawn around the station farthest from her before her gaze drifted to thetattoo bed in the first tattoo station. That was the tattoo bed Preacher hadbent her over and –

“Shouldn’t be too much longer.” Nolan saidfrom his spot behind the counter. “Preacher’s just finishing up his lasttattoo. Don’t know why it’s taking so long.”

“We know,” the girls beside her said in unisonbefore breaking out into high pitch giggles that made Addison want to throw atattoo binder at them.

The girl closest to her on the couchgrinned at her. “Our friend is getting tattooed by him, and she’s, like, got atotal crush on him. They’re probably, like, making out behind the curtainright now.”

“I can hear the tattoo gun,” Addison said.

The girl blinked at her. “Oh, right. Well,whatever. Bethany wants him and what Bethany wants, Bethany gets.”

The other girl laughed. “Get it, girlfriend.”

The two girls bumped fists and Addison staredat the curtain again. She could hear the buzz of the gun and the high murmurof Bethany’s voice as she talked non-stop. She was annoyed to realize thatfeeling in her stomach was jealousy.

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