Page 25 of Open Road (Tattooed Hearts Duet 3)

“Oh, wow! I love it.”

“We need to catalog it,” a SIT official said, and I glanced up, seeing that most people were done and had been watching me. A few people clapped, talking about it. I looked over at Slade’s station, finding his eyes on me. He smiled, nodding. His way of telling me I’d done well.

Cleaning up, I went over the aftercare and explained what she would need to do to keep the colors vibrant. By the time everything was put away, it was already time for them to announce the winners.

“For best hair color, the award goes to Simon Fisher.”

Simon stood, shocked, and I had to nudge him to go and accept his award. I noticed many people were looking at him differently after that too. Take that, snobs.

“For the best tattoo design, the award goes to Lennox James, from Tattooed Hearts in Bowling Green, Kentucky.” This time it was Simon and Zane who had to nudge me to walk up there.

“For the fastest tattoo, the award goes to Slade Evans, also from Tattooed Hearts in Bowling Green, Kentucky.”

Slade walked up, taking his award, not smiling the whole time. After a few more awards, with first-place overall going to someone from Inkjection studio, we went back to our booth to pack up.

“Not bad for our first one,” I said, zipping the last of our ink into the bag.

“It wasn’t as horrible as I imagined,” Slade muttered, winking at me. “I enjoyed the view, at least.”

“Do you know what places you want to visit tomorrow? I was thinking for tonight, we’d grab some food and then just hit the pool or relax in the room,” Zane offered, picking up a tote of things.

“Yeah, that sounds good to me. I’m peopled out.”

“Nice job,” a man I didn’t know said, stepping up to our booth. Slade ignored him, throwing one of the bags over his arm.

“Ah, just going to ignore me then,” the man said, chuckling at Slade. His eyes turned to me, and I didn’t like how they fell over my body. “Now you, my lovely dear, were amazing. Some of the shading you did was perfection. Why are you wasting your talent in some backwater tattoo shop? You should be in the big city. Here’s my card if you ever get adventurous.”

“Bless your heart,” I cooed. “Aren’t you just precious? I guess you’ve never had to deal with a rutting chicken before if you think our backwater town isn’t exciting.”

Grabbing Slade’s hand, I pulled him away, leaving the man gaping after us. As soon as we were clear, Simon and Zane burst out laughing, needing to stop at one point to gather themselves.

“What’s a rutting chicken?” Zane asked me, wiping his eyes.

“No clue. But it sounded like something a hick might say, and since he thought we were beneath him, I went with it. He’ll be too scared to look it up.” I shrugged, making Slade breakout into laughter this time.

“Oh, Peach, I love you. That was Lee from Inkjection. We interned at the same parlor, and he’s hated me ever since. He’s a tool.”

“Then I guess we better work on our game to take them down.”

“I love your ruthlessness, Peach.” Slade kissed me, pulling me along to the room. “And now I’m ravenous.”

The look in his eyes told me it wasn’t just for food either.

ChapterThirteen

SLADE

Looking at Peach,I could only think about getting her naked, her creamy skin on display for me to devour. Her new hair color stood out bright against the landscape, pulling everyone’s eyes to her. It was enough to make me want to claim her right in front of everyone so they’d back the fuck off.

A growl escaped me, echoing my thoughts and I grabbed her hand, pulling her through the crowd, unable to take their stares. I loved that people finally noticed her and gave my girl the credit she was due. But I didn’t like the calculating looks or the gleam of what they could take or use her for. Lennox was more than a hot commodity. She was generous, sweet, and passionate, and I’d never let anyone take advantage of that.

Things calmed some when we exited the convention center and the crowd dispersed. Branson was lit up along the strip, calling us to come and investigate what lay behind the doors. If I hadn’t been exhausted from the day, it would’ve been fun to do some things with our group. But my brother had the right idea about escaping to the room. It sounded like the best place to be at the moment.

Thankfully, the hotel wasn’t too far. I stopped in my tracks and began looking around at what food options were close. When I spotted a food truck, I didn’t even care what they served as I made my way there, dragging Peach with me. The smell hit us as we neared, my stomach growling on command.

“Oh, this smells amazing,” Peach cooed, inhaling the food deeply.

“Yeah, good choice, man,” my brother said, slapping me on the back.

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