Page 126 of Filthy Liar

“Ry is… complicated. He’s super sweet when he’s sober, but he turns into an asshole when not. He was an asshole to you.” My face heated at talking to her about the fact I’d made out with her son and almost let him take my virginity, but she gave me a knowing look. “I don’t condone my kids being pushy towards others, and he knows he freaked you out that night purely to try and start a fight with the guys. He holds a lot of self-blame and hate for his actions, and part of his process to move forward is facing those people to apologize.”

“Oh, he doesn’t?—”

“He does,” she corrected, eyeing me. “You might not want it, but he needs to know you forgive him. Unless you don’t, then I get it, but it’s been recommended that he does this. If you could hear him out, I’d appreciate it.”

“I can do that. He didn’t freak me out that much, and I know he’s a different person when sober. I hope it helps him move on,” I replied slowly, unsure if the guys would love that idea or not, but if it helped Ryder, then it was worth it.

He wasn’t a bad person.

“So, you want to get the first tattoo in here?” Lexi asked, and it took me a second to realize she was talking to me.

“Oh, um, I don’t have the money for that,” I said with embarrassment, earning a look of amusement.

“I wasn’t going to charge you. C’mon, help me christen my new shop by getting some ink. Whatever you want, unless it’s huge.”

Rory raised an eyebrow at me, waiting for my answer.

“I don’t know what I want,” I said quickly, and Rory snorted.

“You just told me earlier you’d get Josh’s name.”

“Yeah, but what font? Style? I don’t know,” I shrugged, and Lexi turned to the front counter, grabbing some folders and bringing them over.

“Here. These are a bunch of different fonts I can do.”

I took it, flipping it open to have a look. I almost dropped it from how nervous I was.

“Be honest, will it hurt?” I asked, and Lexi smirked.

“I’m shoving ink into your skin with a needle. It’s not going to feel like fun. It depends where you want it too.” I pointed to my inner forearm, and she nodded. “That’s a good spot. Most people say it’s not too bad there. Donovan didn’t squeal too much when I did hers.”

“Bitch,” Rory grumbled, crossing her arms. “It’s more like a warm scratch, you’ll be fine.”

I paused on a graffiti font, the colors looking like the paint was dripping slightly. It was similar to how I did my text when I painted.

“This one,” I said as I pointed at it, and Lexi nodded.

“Easy. You wanted the name Josh?”

“Yeah. He was my brother.”

“I’ll sketch it up and see what you think. Keep looking for color schemes if you want.”

She walked over to her booth, and Rory excused herself to take a phone call, leaving me alone to look through the folders while I waited.

Hopefully, I didn’t look like a little bitch and do something dumb like cry.

CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE

ZAVIER

My best friend was drowning in his inner battle of finding Dante. I’d been with Slash most of the day, and he’d dropped me off at the Thieves’ compound on his way home so I could go with Ander.

If I could convince him to leave the damn computers, anyway.

“He skipped lunch,” Drake said under his breath once he’d let me in, making me cringe. He’d skipped breakfast on his way out the door too.

“I’ll make sure he eats at home. I take it you’ve had no luck?” I asked, and he shook his head.

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