Page 59 of Shattered

“Is this okay?” he questioned.

She nodded a yes, then he began drawing lazy circles on the exposed skin of her thigh.

“What does she do now?”

“Can we talk about something else?”

“Yeah. Okay.” They entered a comfortable silence for a moment and she closed her eyes, soaking in the feeling of his hands on her.

“Tell me about the tattoo shops.” She was desperate to change the subject without losing the momentum of the previous conversation.

“They’re pretty straight forward. You come in and pick out what you want and then one of our artists puts it on you.”

She shook her head with a laugh. “I know the general idea. I mean, how did they come to be. You and Drew are really lucky to be so young and have so much success, right? How many shops do y’all have?” It was truly amazing how well they had done in such a short time and while so young. “Wait, how old are you?” Sam quickly cut in before he could answer.

“I’m twenty-five. I told you about how we would tattoo each other in high-school. Well, it just kind of evolved from there. When I first took a break from college, I didn’t really have anything going for me, so I worked at Topline and was living with Drew.”

It was the first time he had ever mentioned college. She wanted to ask more on the subject, but she let him continue.

“We were low on cash and started doing tattoos again on the side for money. Eventually, word spread about how good we were, and more and more people came to us. We started in a small little basement shop down in Five Points. I swear there were rats living under the floors and it smelled like vomit. But it was a start. Then we just got busier and busier and ended up with two real licensed shops downtown within a year. By the next year, we had one in Charleston as well. And we just opened up a second one in Charleston last summer. That’s why we were gone so much during that time. But anyway, it’s all about word of mouth. People want a good artist, and thankfully, Drew and I are really good. So, it just kind of took off. I bought Topline a little over a month ago on a whim. Honestly, I had been thinking about selling it. Even if the money is insanely good, it’s more work than I had realized. But then I wouldn’t have met you.”

“I’m glad you didn’t sell it, too.” She smiled up at him. “Your drawings are amazing. I would love to see some of your other

artwork.” He was a great artist. She could attest to that after seeing

some of his work.

He squeezed her leg at the compliment, giving her a sheepish smile.

“Thank you.”

“How long have you been drawing?”

“All my life.”

“Are you going to draw me again?” she asked in a moment of bravery.

“Yeah,” he said as he stared out toward the water.

“Why?”

“I already told you that.”

“So, what? I’m just stuck in your head. What does that even mean?”

“It means…I don’t know what it means other than the fact that you drive me absolutely fucking insane.”

“But–” Sam began to argue, but he cut her off.

“No, stop. I don’t mean that in a bad way. I just mean…I can’t stop thinking about you.”

“There is a part of me that is convinced you hate me.”

He chuckled and shook his head at her words.

“No. I could never hate you. If I hated you, I wouldn’t have had you in my bed like I did, and you know it.” A blush started to creep its way across her skin at his words.

“Callum.” Sam turned away, not sure if she could voice the truth while staring into his eyes. “Honestly, I don’t know anything. I mean, no offense, but you confuse the shit out of me. And we got interrupted when I wanted to talk about it at Topline. I feel like we have this thing going on between us. It’s more than obvious. But it’s just out of reach somehow. I don’t know. Does that even make sense?” Saying it out loud made it more real by the second.

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