Page 90 of Sugar & Ink
I stared at him, and he stared back. I knew I was going to lose.
I wanted to be near him, too.
After Brandi.
After the awful day.
After every voice in my head tried to convince me I didn’t belong anywhere close to him.
I wanted Rome.
I sighed. “Fine.”
He smiled.
Rome helped me finish closing, and I let him. He wiped tables while I cleaned the scoops. He took out the trash without asking. He checked the back door. Then he stood near the front while I turned off the lights.
The shop went dim around us and the display case hummed quietly. The mural on the back wall faded into shadows.
His hand settled on the back of my neck. “You ready?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
We stepped outside and I locked the door. Then checked it twice. Rome noticed but didn’t comment. He simply held out his hand, I looked at it, then at him.
He waited.
Patient.
Steady.
Mine.
Maybe.
I slipped my hand into his and Rome closed his fingers around mine. He led me across Main Street toward Bad Habit.
The tattoo shop glowed beneath its black sign.
Scoop & Swirl sat quiet behind us.
And for the first time all night, I felt like I could breathe.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Rome
The buzz of my tattoo machine had always been one of my favorite sounds. Steady. Predictable. A rhythm I understood.
Tonight, though? I kept looking up. Not because I was distracted by the guy sitting in my chair. Mason was easy. Local mechanic. Good dude who sat still, knew what he wanted, and paid cash.
I kept looking up because Josie was sitting at the front desk laughing. Actually laughing. The sound carried through Bad Habit, bouncing off the dark walls and glass display cases. And every time I heard it, I couldn’t help but look at her.
Mason hissed when I wiped his arm. “Shit.”
“Don’t be a baby.”
“I’m getting stabbed a thousand times.”
