Page 94 of Beneath Your Beautiful
“I can go outside, if you want.”
“Ava,” Connor said. “Stop ignoring me.”
“Did you hear that?” I asked Ava.
She sighed. “Tell him he’s an asshole. He has no idea what he put me and Killian through. I’m never speaking to him again.”
“If she’s saying she’ll never speak to me again, tell her—”
“Enough,” Killian said, cutting him off. “You and Ava sort it out on your own time. Stop putting me and Eden in the middle of your shit.”
“I guess you heard that too,” I said into the phone.
She sighed again. “Loud and clear.Asshole.”
“No, he’s not,” I said, jumping to Killian’s defense.
“Sorry,” she mumbled, and I thought she’d say goodbye but in the next beat she asked, “What’s the tattoo of?”
I was pretty sure she was there last night when Hailey asked, but maybe she hadn’t heard. I looked at Killian’s chest, as if I needed to remind myself. “Well, it’s…wings. With two rows of feathers and there’s a star outline on each side of the wing tips…” It was hard to describe the design. It was dark ink, like dark angel wings spanning his upper chest, which wasn’t my original plan. Initially, I’d drawn one wing for his left side to go above his heart, but Killian said if he was going to do it, he was all in, so I re-did my sketch and now here we were, watching it come to life. “It’s very manly, though. No wimpy angel wings for Killian.”
Killian chuckled.
“It’s awesome,” Connor said, loudly enough for Ava to hear.
“Connor is an awesome tattoo artist,” she said, but not loudly enough for him to hear.
“Yeah, he’s pretty awesome,” I agreed. Killian raised his eyebrows and I smiled. “So, are you,” I told him.
Ava and I said goodbye and I cut the call.
“She said I was awesome?” Connor asked, his voice hopeful.
I repeated what Ava told me and he smiled, feeling like he’d scored a small victory, no doubt. If I repeated everything she said last night, he wouldn’t be too happy, so I vowed to keep that conversation to myself.
“What else did she say?” Connor asked.
Killian clenched his jaw. “Don’t answer that.”
I didn’t answer that. Killian was right—Ava and Connor needed to talk to each other.
Connor lifted the machine and sat back. “Dude, you need to sit still.”
“I am sitting still.”
“You’re flexing your pecs.”
I rubbed my index fingers together. “Naughty boy. Flexing your pecs. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“Tell Connor to stop stressing me out.”
“Connor, stop stressing him out.”
“How am I stressing you out?” Connor asked.
Killian held up his hand. “You need to speak through Eden. She’ll relay the message.”
I laughed. Connor shook his head.
