Page 51 of Just Breathe

“What? You’re going to listen to Paul and bring a date. Is it Steve? God, he’s such an ass. Wait, Steve wants a tattoo? Maybe a dick on his face would make him more likable.” He chuckled.

I laughed. “Oh, no, he’s a dildo and one on his face would be amazing. I’m bringing one of the contractors working on the house with me, but he won’t come unless he gets a tattoo from you because he is a big fan and I don’t think he realizes we are related.” I knew it was a weird situation, but I hoped he just went with it.

He laughed. “Jane, what the hell have you gotten yourself into?”

“Can you do it?” I asked, looking back at our table and seeing Callum kept glancing my way.

“I was going to close shop this weekend, but if you need me to, I can tattoo this guy. He sounds like the opposite from what Paul is expecting, so you’ve piqued my interest.” I loved how he always helped me, especially when it was against Paul.

“Yes! What do you need from me?” I squealed.

“Have him send me what he wants in an email that’s on Instagram and we can go from there. I may or may not have time for what he has in mind.”

“Awesome, and I’ll foot the bill.” I walked back to our table with a pep in my step.

“No, I got it,” he argued.

“No, seriously, I got it. Thanks so much and I’ll talk to you soon.” I made a kissing sound.

“Love you, Janie.” He sounded softer.

“Love you too.” I hung up the phone as I got to the table, and I knew I was sporting a look of triumph.

“She fucking did it.” Kelsey cackled.

“JD says email him what you want. The email is on the Instagram account. Depending on the size, he may or may not have time.” I raised my eyebrow at Callum as I sat down. Aiden chuckled in the background, and I noticed Nathan had disappeared.

Callum looked at me like a grew a third head. “How the hell do you know JD?” He still looked at me like I was crazy. I looked for a photo of Jax and I. I clicked on one that was taken about two years ago.

“He’s my brother.” I showed him my phone. He took it from me and scrutinized the picture.

“Dang Jane, holding out on my brother.” Kelsey grinned at me.

“I didn’t know he was a big fan.” I shrug my shoulders. “I never realized he had such an enormous fan base until recently.”

“Well, shit, I guess I’m going to a wedding.” He gave me back my phone, looking neither happy nor mad about it.

I grinned, thankful I didn’t have to go to the wedding alone. Callum might hate me afterwards, but the tattoo might soften the blow.

“I guess so.” I smiled, feeling relief. “Where’s Nathan?”

“Oh, he had a phone call come in.” Kelsey bobbed her head to Aerosmith’sCrying.

Aiden and Callum both looked a little nervous. I knew instantly something was wrong. Was Nathan going through something? Family issues? Girlfriend problems? Just thinking about him having a girlfriend put me on edge, making me feel a little jealous. I didn’t even think about any of them having a girlfriend.

Son of a bitch, have I been intruding? Is this why he looked really uncomfortable when I had my breakdown? I instantly felt ashamed at flirting with him. I was such an idiot, and this is why it was too soon to do all this shit. For God sakes it’s barely been nine months. It was way too fucking soon. The need to cry crashed over me and I needed to leave now.

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