Page 61 of Rivals
“Uh, yes,” I say, wiping my mouth and leaning back against the tub.
“I’m sorry, hun. Would you like for me to call back at a later time?” I shake my head, trying to catch my breath and realize she can’t see me.
“No, uh, could you just repeat that?” I ask her. My heart is halfway up my throat, and my stomach lurches again. I’m sure it’s about to pop out.
“Oh, sure, no problem. Your mother wrote in her last will and testament that she would like you to be notified of her passing, and we have a letter she wrote for you. We just need your address, and we can send it today.”
“How did she…uh, find me?” I ask the lady.
“It looks like she hired a private investigator to find you and your contact information,” she says. I don’t know if there are words to convey how I’m feeling. It’s all too much.
“Your address, hun?” she asks.
“Sure,” I list off my address. She says she’s sorry again, and that’s it. A five-minute conversation just obliterated every part of my world. I knew something else would happen. I could feel it. But I certainly didn’t expect this.
Growing up, I always wondered who she was and why she left me the way she did. The question has eaten at me for the majority of my life. I just learned to work around it to survive. When you get too stuck on asking yourself the same question over and over again, never getting an answer, you will make yourself crazy. I did until I realized I had to work around it.
I needsomething.I’m craving the magic pill to make everything in life easier to process. I grab my phone off the floor and text my dealer. A minute later he gives me an address. I hunt through the last of my stash of tips and head out the door.
Chapter 39
Lachlan
Thethoughtoftyingher up so she couldn’t leave crossed my mind. I don’t mean the insane kind of tying her up. There aren’t any radiators here, but if I did tie her up, then it would have been fun for both of us, and we would get nothing done. Instead, I watched her leave. At least she agreed to go to Italy, and she’s working more to get the cash together. I texted my boss and told him he could book me for tonight, and ten minutes later, he sent me three appointments.
I want her to be here all the time. I tried to talk her down from whatever spiral was making her tweak, and I wanted her to want to stay. She didn’t, and I need to accept that. I’m mad about it, but I’m aware that I have very little control when it comes to Revna. If she wants something, I will get it for her, and I don’t care what I have to do. In this case, she wanted to go alone, so I watched her walk out the door.
I sat down and researched plane tickets and what it would cost to feed ourselves. Luckily, I found some travel blogs from people who stayed in Italy for an extended time, and they explained what they spent. I figured if I double that, it should cover Revna and me.
We will need at least three grand, but I would prefer four because I don’t know what our supplies will cost or what else we will need. Plane tickets will be a little more than a thousand, even with the discount. I’ll probably make about four hundred tonight, and hopefully, Revna can pull in some tips this week. We can do this, it’s fine. If I am anything, I am a determined, angry bastard, and I will get us on that plane if it’s the last thing I do.
***
I get to the tattoo shop, and other appointments are well underway. My boss Elias told me my clients just wanted my work on them. They weren’t looking for something specific, so I got here earlier to draw up a few ideas I had in mind.
My thoughts continued to go to Revna and what she was thinking. Did she regret us? Did she regret last night? If she did, it would feel like a knife to the heart, but I won’t push her again. We can keep things…platonic even though I will have one hell of a time keeping my hands off her. But if that’s what she wants, then I will deal.
My mind lets go as the thin pen curves and swirls when I draw. When I was drawing Revna, it was like my hand saw her instead of my eyes, and my brain completely left the building. My hand stops and I realize I drew a wave that curves high and violently crashes into the water below it.
I move on to the next one and find myself drawing my little bird. Not her face, but her namesake, a raven that looks at you with knowing dark eyes. It can fly and see everything below with its wide-spread wings and an open beak, screaming its caw.
The last one I came up with before my first appointment walks in is a rib cage with flowers trying to grow and ones that are already dead. As I am finishing it, my first appointment comes in. “Dude, I want that,” my appointment says. One of the receptionists must have brought her back.
I spin around on my chair and hold out my hand. “Hey, I’m Lachlan. What can I do for you today?” She takes my hand and a sensual smile curves on her lips. She’s a beautiful woman, tall, with long blonde hair and tats scattered over her arms. Her tight jeans and low-cut top show a few more on her chest. There was a day when I would have done her tattoo and met up with her later if I was feeling it, but now I just feel nothing. This is a job, and I’m here to make cash. At least I get to do art.
“I want whatever you just drew,” she says. I turn and grab the sheet. She looks at it carefully and nods.
“Where do you want it?” I ask her. Before I know it, she drops her pants and hops onto the seat.
“Right here,” she points to her thigh. It’s not uncommon to see a lot of things when you work at a tattoo shop. Nudity is common since people ask for tattoos in the strangest places. But hey, I don’t care. I’m not the one getting the tattoo.
“Alright, no problem.” We discussed the size and type of flowers she wanted within the ribcage, and I got to work. The piece is about two by two inches and goes relatively quickly. I let her take a break before I fill in the flowers and the dripping petals. She tries to talk to me, but I’m not in the mood for it.
I gave her short responses and made some attempts not to be rude. But the more she talks, the more I’m beginning not to care.
“You’re not a talker, are you?” I shrug and tattoo the curve of a petal. “Fair enough, you’re basically in my crotch.” I shoot her a look and shade the petals. I just have a few more to go.
“I’m so excited I could get an appointment with you. I love your work.”
