Control You (11 page)

“I’m thinking a phoenix.”

“I like that idea, man. You want it rising, right? So it symbolizes the whole rebirth and renewal from going through a rough time? That’s freaking badass, man.” He grinned.

I nodded and gripped my chin, liking the idea of going with a phoenix even more now. “Hell yeah.”

“You want colors this time?”

“Yeah, let’s do yellows, oranges, and reds.”

“Where do you want it?”

I thought for a moment before answering. “On my back, along the right shoulder blade.”

“Nice.” Bo rolled over to a drawer, and pulled out a piece of paper and a black pen. He set it on the counter beside me and got to work drawing something.

I stood there, watching over his shoulder and guiding him with the shape of the body and how sharp I wanted the wings’ tips. Bo never ceased to amaze me with his artistic ability.

“What about the chick in the waiting room? Didn’t she have an appointment or something?” I asked, remembering I’d cut in line for this tattoo.

“Eh, she can wait. She’s in here practically every month for a new piece. I swear to God she like gets off on the pain or something. Tina said I need to get a sign that says, ‘If you get off, I charge more,’ and point it out to her the next time she comes in.”

“Wow, what a freak.” I chuckled. “Why aren’t you hittin’ that?”

“Fuck off, man. You know that shit’s not my style. I go for the good girls.” He flung the paper he’d been drawing at me. “What about this?”

I skimmed over the finished product and felt the pinpricks of excitement stab at my brain. This was going to look awesome. “That’s it, bro. Thanks.”

“No problem. What size you looking at? About this big?” He lifted his shirt and flashed me his side, where he’d had a large koi fish tatted.

“Nice one, and the size would be perfect.”

“All right, I’ll go stencil this up. Sit down and get comfy by straddling that chair, big boy.” He grinned and pointed to the black chair in the center of the little room.

I flipped him off and shook my head. “You’re still just as fucking weird.”

Once he left the room, I reached for the back of my shirt and pulled it off. Hanging it from the hook on the wall, I pulled up my jeans’ legs and straddled the chair with my back facing the door. Another song came on, and I leaned my elbows against the top of the chair, ready to feel the stick of the needle. My heart raced as adrenaline pumped through me. I felt alive and loved it. This was better than any drug I’d ever tasted.

PAIGE

I took the next person’s order and watched the door as the place filled with customers. Of course, they would make the new girl work on a Friday night, when everyone and their brother was coming in. Who would have thought a little coffee shop could be so crammed with people; this place was busier than the local bar. When I’d filled out the application, I had no idea Enticing Aroma was open until ten o’clock at night. Who drank coffee until then?

I glanced around at the bodies filling the place and let out a sigh. There was no way my dad would discredit this place as not being a high-stress job.

Everyone was mostly college age. Some of them I’d seen around campus and at a few parties, and some I’d never seen before in my life. A strawberry blonde walking toward me caught my attention and caused my heart to drop to my toes. I wanted to duck behind the counter and hide at the sight of her.

“Aww, how cute,” Genevieve muttered. “I didn’t know you worked here. Does Craig know?”

The sound of her voice was like nails on a chalkboard. I’d never been embarrassed about any of the places I’d worked at before, but Genevieve held the power to make me feel that emotion times ten.

“Of course he does.” I grabbed more napkins from under the resister and added them to the pile beside it, just to have a reason to break eye contact with her.

She placed a hand on her hip as one of her perfectly plucked eyebrows raised. “And he’s okay with that?”

“Why wouldn’t he be?” I was proud of my unfazed tone.

“Because it’s definitely not something to be proud of.” Her face scrunched up. “And to think, your family is loaded. Did they cut you off or something?” A wicked gleam entered her eyes. I’d seen that look before; it was the one people gave you when they were praying you’d answer their question with something that would satisfy their need for juicy gossip.

“Nope. It’s just a job,” I muttered. “What can I get you?” All I wanted was for her to move the hell on.

She flicked her sapphire eyes to the board hung above me, and pursed her lips together in thought. I noticed her outfit was better suited for her complexion and hair color this time. Maybe someone had told her white was not flattering on her since the last time I’d seen her.

“I’ll take a nonfat iced vanilla latté.”

Of course, she’d choose the most boring flavor known to man.

“All right.” I punched in her order and wished I could make it, just so I’d be able to spit in it and give it more flavor for her. “That’s four eighty-nine.”

Genevieve handed me exact change. I hated people who took their sweet time counting out eighty-nine cents instead of breaking a damn dollar. The more I hung around her, the more I disliked her. Thankfully, after she received her coffee and flashed me another plastic smile, she left. Unfortunately, I saw her pause outside the shop door to talk with someone I couldn’t see.

“Please just go away,” I whispered, eyeing her still.

“Who are we wishing away?” Holly said from behind me. She was the daughter of the owner. She had passed me my application the other day, and was my training partner for the time being.

“The girl standing outside the door. I can’t stand her.”

Holly scrunched up her face. “She looks like a bitch, so I’ll take your word for it.”

My jaw slacked. Until that moment, I hadn’t heard Holly cuss. I’d heard her say sugar and fudge all night whenever something didn’t go her way, but never an actual cuss word.

Holly bumped me with her elbow. “Oh, look who she’s talking to!”

I snapped my head back to Genevieve. Cameron stood with his hand on the door, looking at her as if she were a dog humping his leg he was trying to shake off. My stomach flipped when he pulled on the door and stepped inside. He sauntered through the crowd toward me, and my heart picked up speed. I swallowed hard. What the hell was wrong with me?

“Hey, so you got the job, I see.” He smiled.

“I did.”

“Good call, sweetheart,” Cameron said to Holly, glancing around me. Holly giggled all schoolgirl-like and flushed through ten shades of red.

“So, what can I get you?” I asked. I gripped the sides of the resister as if it was a life preserver.

He bit his bottom lip and shifted his gaze above me to the board. The sight made my insides tingle, and I wondered what it would be like to do that to him—bite at his bottom lip, taste his mouth. “I’ll just take a regular coffee with some half-and-half, and a few packets of sugar.”

“Okay.” I pressed the buttons on the register, glad he’d ordered something easy to ring up so I wouldn’t make a complete idiot of myself. “Two seventy-four.”

He handed me a five. “I’m sorry about the other night. I hope Craig isn’t still giving you shit about it.” He chuckled.

A swift pang of panic stabbed through me at the mention of the other night. Craig wasn’t giving me any more crap about it, but this did remind me of what he’d said more than once that night—he didn’t want me talking to Cameron anymore.

“No, he’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” I waved my hand in the air as I spoke.

Holly came up behind me with Cameron’s coffee, and everything else he’d asked for in a little brown paper bag. “Here you go.”

“Thanks, sweetheart,” he said to her. It was sweet the way that he was. It was such a contradiction to the type of person Craig portrayed him as to me. Cameron’s eyes shifted back to mine. “What time do you get off?”

I hesitated to answer, wondering where he was going with the question. I couldn’t hang out with him again, if that was the direction. Craig would flip, and my guilt from it would eat me alive.

“She gets off in about fifteen. We close at ten, and I don’t need her to stay to help me with anything. She’s learned enough tonight already,” Holly answered for me.

A little smile twisted the corners of Cameron’s lips. I turned to Holly and narrowed my eyes at her. “I don’t mind staying and helping you close up.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I’ve done it like a million times by myself. No biggie.”

Either she didn’t understand what I was trying to get at, or she simply didn’t care and was throwing me under the bus purposely.

“Are you sure?” I pressed.

“Positive.” She smiled.

“Fifteen it is, then.” Cameron grinned. There was a smugness about him, which led me to believe he knew exactly what I’d been trying to do and failed. “I’ll sit over here and wait. I figured we could talk more about your clothing store idea.” He winked and walked away.

I bit my bottom lip as tension squeezed my stomach. While the idea of talking more about my shop with him seemed exciting—due to the fact that he’d had some awesome suggestions the other day—I still didn’t think it was the best idea. I watched him slip into a chair near the window and riffle through the brown bag until he found the sugars. Business, this was what I needed to tell myself this was. It was a business meeting. In fact, Cameron could be viewed as a business advisor of sorts.

He glanced up and caught me staring at him. His lips formed a smile that was too sexy for its own good, and I felt my face flush. Biting the inside of my cheek, I pushed a few stray hairs away from my face and busied myself with organizing the stuff around the register. My heart raced a mile a minute in my chest. Business, that was all this was and nothing more. Craig had nothing to worry about.

The next fifteen minutes were the longest of my life. All because I couldn’t keep my eyes off Cameron. I watched him like a full-fledged stalker as he played around on his iPhone while he waited for me to get off. Right as I was learning how to clock out with Enticing Aroma’s system, my cell vibrated in the back pocket of my jeans. It was a text from Craig.

Hope your first night went well. What time do you get off? I’d like to pick you up.

My heart hammered against my ribcage. If Craig came by to pick me up and saw Cameron here, he’d have a freaking heart attack. But how was I supposed to get Cameron to leave without letting him know it was because Craig was coming to pick me up, and I didn’t want us seen together? My scalp prickled as my mind raced to find a solution. Damn it. The only logical thing to do here was lie to Craig.

Not too bad. I get off in about thirty, but I’m beat. I think I’m just going to head home and call it a night. Can we get together tomorrow night instead? ~ Paige

My gut churned as I hit send. This was not good; this was so not good. I should never let myself get in this position again. Ever.

All right. I’m not going to lie and say I’m not bummed, but call me in the morning or something.

Closing my eyes, I took in a deep breath as I clutched my phone in my hands. Guilt swelled in my stomach. I reread his words again before typing a reply.

I will. Night. ~ Paige

Night.

My eyes shifted to Cameron. He was still staring at his phone and sipping his coffee. This conversation we were about to have had better have some worthwhile information, because I’d just freaking lied to my boyfriend to have it. I grabbed my stuff from where I’d stowed it at the beginning of my shift, and started toward his table.

“So, why are you drinking coffee at ten at night?” I pulled out the chair across from him and sat.

Cameron brought his eyes up to meet with mine. They were the same shade of green from the other night. The shirt he wore made the color stand out again, causing the brown to take a backseat. “Why not?”

I shrugged. His direct attention made my mouth dry. Rummaging through my purse, I pulled out my Chapstick and applied it. The dryness of my mouth felt as though it had made its way to my lips. “Because you’ll be up all night.”

“Nothing wrong with that. In fact, some guys wish for that exact thing.” He winked and my face heated. Damn it, I’d walked right into that one.

“Right, well Holly is closing up, so do you want to walk the strip and talk?” I needed to get this conversation away from anything sexual and to the topic of my store. Quick-like.

“Yeah, we could do that.” He stood. “Want me to buy you a coffee before we leave?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m good.”

He grinned wider, and I waited for some smart-ass sexual innuendo to fly from his lips again, but nothing came. “After you.” He held open the door for me and I stepped through.

The night air was cooler than I thought it would be. “Hold on. Let me grab a sweater from my car.” I strolled across the parking lot and unlocked my car doors. Leaning into the backseat, I grabbed my gray cardigan I’d tossed in there the other day and slipped it on. Cameron was eyeing me when I turned back to face him. “What?”

He put his coffee to his lips. “Nothing.”

The fine hairs across the back of my neck stood on end. Had he been checking me out? Slight tingles of satisfaction and excitement slid through me at the thought. I locked my car and headed back toward the sidewalk. Folding my arms across my chest, I felt nervous butterflies in my stomach begin to dance around.

“So, you mentioned you had more ideas for the shop?” I asked, ready to get this conversation over with so I could be where I’d told Craig I would be—at home, in bed.

“Yeah, that’s part of the reason I was hoping to run into you here. I was down on Westhills this afternoon and noticed a prime location available for rent as we speak.”

Adrenaline spiked through my system. “The old gem shop? I know! I think it would be a great location too.”

I was glad he’d agreed with what I’d thought about the place. For whatever reason, his opinion on the subject mattered to me more than I would have thought.