Page 9 of Blue

Flicking her attention back to him, she took a deep breath. “Well, I gotta…” she gestured toward her aunt. “We’re late for lunch.”

A frown creased his features. “Before you go,” he said as he reached into his back pocket.

Shifting her weight from foot to foot, Blue tried to shake off her nervousness. Between the tattoo meeting and repeatedly bumping into this guy, she was all out of sorts. “Give me a call sometime.”

From his wallet, Dylan offered her a small white business card.

Blue stared at it. Who did that? Who used cards when they hit on women? Did people even have business cards anymore?

“Uh.” What was she supposed to do? Panic gripped her throat.

He waved it. “Or not.”

The color crept into his features as he rescinded his offer.

This was perfectly acceptable. Blue was single. She broke up with Mooky, goddamnit.

“No,” she said as she snatched it from his fingers before he tucked it back into his wallet. “I’m sorry.”

He cocked his head to the side.

She fanned herself with the card. “I just.” Just what? She had no way to finish this sentence. “Thank you. I’ll call you.”

Blue held up the card and stepped aside to grant him entrance to the shop.

He chuckled. “I look forward to it.”

Once he made his way past her, Blue trotted over to meet her aunt.

“What was that?” Aunt Elaine asked with glee sparkling in her eyes.

Blue let out a heavy sigh as she tucked the card into her purse without even looking at it. “I got a number.”

Laughing, her aunt wrapped an arm around Blue’s shoulders. “Let’s get lunch before I go home. I want to hear all about it.”

Food was the last thing she wanted. Her stomach gnarled with every emotion, battling for dominance. Sadness, loss, anger, disappointment, confusion. None of it felt good. Food could not fix this.

Her aunt nudged her shoulder. “You never know.” She winked. “Maybe we’ll have a cute server and you could get his number too.”

Blue did her best to match her aunt’s hopeful smile. It could be the cutest waiter in the world. It wouldn’t matter. They wouldn’t be Mooky.

Her heart ached as the sadness took hold, defeating everything else.

Even Aunt Elaine couldn’t fix this.

CHAPTER 4

Blue

Cradle of Filth might have played over Rune the Skin’s radio, but Barenaked Ladies “One Week” repeated in Blue’s mind. The buzz of her tattoo machine couldn’t drown it out. The song wouldn’t leave her brain. Persistent little bastard.

Twisting, she dipped the needles into a tiny cup of blue ink, and she mouthed the words. Her head bopped involuntarily to the upbeat rhythm.

No.

Stop it now.

It’d been one week since she’d seen Mooky. One week sinceshe’dbroken up with him. Seven days since she’d been to the clubhouse. One week since he’d been released from police custody.

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