Permanent (Indelibly Marked) (Volume 1) (14 page)

Before she had the chance to protest, Carson, Emily and the other three came over and she was thrust into a sea of introductions. Honestly, she could have been meeting the President and it wouldn’t have thrilled her. What would have happened if Ivan only waited another thirty seconds? Maybe it wouldn’t have happened at all.

The group moved back to the table, and Shane got caught up in talking with his old mentor. The sight of Shane, Ivan and who she now knew to be Hugh and Stubbs, almost made her smile. Hugh and Stubbs appeared to be two older versions of their protégées, complete with tattoos on almost every available surface but without Shane’s slight bit of flair which made him extra special.

“Blah.” Emily took hold of her arm. “We’ll never eat now.”

She didn’t say a word, eating was not on her mind.

“They’ll get to talking and that’ll be it.”

The scenario didn’t surprise her but she widened her eyes at the woman draped over Shane. She had her arms around him, and was strategically pressed into his hip.

“Do you need to go to the bathroom?” Emily shook her arm.

Lindsay didn’t realize how tight her jaw clenched until she spoke. “Who is that woman?”

Emily made a huffing sound. “Some girl who loves my brother.”

Emily wasn’t referring to Carson. The woman touched Shane’s chin, trying to get him to look at her. What made things even worse, was the woman fit right in with her skimpy clothes, and tattoos, talking and joking with all the guys. While Shane listened to one of the other men, the woman shot Lindsay a blatant glare. With her heart thudding and her cheeks heating hotter than a jalapeno pepper, Lindsay needed to escape. Five minutes ago she could have sworn that Shane was going to kiss her. Wasn’t it her hand he held? But maybe he was just trying to placate her.

It was no different than her twenty-first birthday. Why was emotional pain so crisp and clear? That guy had told her to meet him that night, yet he had left with another girl. She shut her eyes against the humiliation that blasted as strong as ever. When she opened her eyes the woman’s leg was up on a chair while Shane looked at something on her upper thigh.

“Everyone Shane ever worked on has to show him the tattoo every time they see him.” Carson put his arm around Lindsay. “This is just something you have to get used to.”

She’d observed the ritual many times, but Shane never had a silly grin plastered on his face. No, she wouldn’t fool herself into thinking for one second he didn’t enjoy the view. She would never be more than a momentary fling because she didn’t belong with him. How could she be wrong every … single … time?

After inspecting the tattoo to its fullest, Shane extracted himself from the viper and walked in her direction.

She turned to Emily. “I have to go to the restroom.”

Chapter Ten

Lindsay slammed the thesaurus on her desk. She knew she was being ridiculous, ludicrous, nonsensical and outlandish. Two hours earlier she’d turned off her cell phone ringer in hopes of ignoring the thing, but it didn’t work.  She lifted the device to check for calls. Nothing. At least nothing from Shane.

Since the day he rescued her, he’d called or texted every day. In fact, he’d programmed her phone and scared her half to death the first time his custom ring tone chimed.

At that moment, she’d have given anything to hear it. She tried calling earlier but hung up after the first ring. He never returned missed calls. Apparently the man realized he’d made a mistake at the Mexican restaurant. The woman wearing next to nothing piqued his interest much more than an accountant in a riding outfit. She thumped her head down on her desk.

“Your office is beginning to look like a tattoo parlor.” Rick walked in without knocking.

Yes, her office had become a shrine to Shane Elliott and his artwork adorned her walls. Normally she loved staring at Shane’s version of the ocean, a dragon and a giraffe, but that day they burned a hole in her chest. “It adds some flash to my office.” She couldn’t even muster a smile at her own joke.

After the tattooed woman left last night, Shane held her hand again, but the magic was broken. She tried to be rational, but he should have called or texted. His lack of contact said everything and nothing.

“We won’t be looking at much of that anyway.” Rick helped himself to a seat. “Thanks to you.”

She grabbed a pencil, shoved it into her mouth and bit down, a momentary satisfaction as her teeth broke the smooth yellow paint and gouged into the wood.

“You had to go and say something.” He hit her desk.

“The deductions weren’t correct, that’s not something you estimate.” She flinched and wondered if Shane’s old accountant and Rick were one and the same.

“Now we have to go through all the files by tomorrow. That account has always been happy with my work.”

“They didn’t look very happy today.”

“Every time I take them out they’re happy.” He raised his eyebrows.

“I have no doubt.” Her mind wandered. Carson and Emily filled her in on what happened at those after hour excursions. Maybe the woman last night needed a second tattoo job, she definitely looked the part. Once more she picked up her phone to a blank screen. “I think we should get started.”

Rick strummed his fingers on her desk. “I think we should get this done and then go out to eat.” A strange crooked smile crossed his face. “If we team up, they will be powerless against our evil forces.”

Acid rose in the back of her throat as she pondered the meaning behind his words. “There’s a lot of work here.”

“Hurry up. I know a great sushi bar.” He stood up. “Then we can talk.” As he left her office he turned and shot her that smile again.

She watched him go and snatched up her phone, her finger automatically dialing Shane. He had remained silent. She did receive a text from Emily that she’d picked up some lipstick for her. How many clues did she need? She was in Los Angeles to make it on her own anyway. Life was like investments and she needed to diversify.

*~*~*

“Carson.” Shane yelled as he finished a huge tattoo of a sunset covering most of the man’s back. “Let’s get ready to dress this.”

Carson ran over and reached for a pair of gloves.

“Wait.”

Carson held his hands up.

“Check my phone first.” Shane tapped the guy as he wiped away the last of the ink. “Take a look buddy.” He held up a mirror.

Carson found Shane’s phone. “Am I looking for Lindsay?”

Shane nodded. “Well.” Usually she texted him at some point during the day, maybe a joke or to complain about the jerk at work, often just to say hi. He rearranged his schedule trying to clear up his evening to take her out later that night. There would be no more going back and forth. He was going for it.

“Your phone’s off.” Carson pressed a button.

“Messages?” Shane indicated that his customer to lie back down.

“No, but you got a text from Angie.”

“Oh man.” Shane wrinkled his nose. “Every time I see her I get texts for weeks.”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t be looking up her skirt.” Ivan came by. “That gives girls weird ideas.”

“I put the tattoo there and she showed me.” He shrugged. “What am I supposed to do?”

Carson put the phone down and donned a pair of gloves. “Why don’t you ask Lindsay? I’m sure she could have told you.”

Shane turned to him. “What are you talking about?”

Both Ivan and Carson burst out laughing.

“What?”

Ivan leaned down. “If you think about Angie’s thigh, your eyes, and Lindsay, I’m sure even your simple mind can work the equation.”

He stared at the wall and thought back. Before Ivan interrupted him, he had been going in for the kiss, the timing was perfect, she was receptive and he was turned on. Then everyone came over and Angie hugged him and showed him where she wanted some touch up’s on her tattoo. Trying to remember the rest, he closed his eyes. By the time they returned home, a kiss didn’t seem right and Lindsay rushed into her apartment, but she wasn’t acting strange. He thought she was nervous and he found that cute. But then there was Angie and her thigh. He raised his eyes to Ivan.

“I can see the gears turning.” Ivan grinned.

“This is your fault.” He shot up from his stool causing it to slide across the floor.

“Me?” Ivan pointed at himself.

“Why did you come over anyway?” Shane tore the gloves off and grabbed his phone. “Carson, finish up!”

His brother took over.

“Hugh and Stubbs were there!” Shane stomped his foot and stared down at his phone, erasing the text from Angie and quickly reading a text from his sister about some lipstick she bought for Lindsay. With no way to know if she called or not, he paced and tried to think of something to text to Lindsay. The words had to be exactly right.

“Holy crap.” Ivan let out as the bell on the door rang indicating someone arrived.

“Shut up.” He needed to come up with something obvious without being obvious.

“Uh … Shane.” Ivan’s voice took on the same tone as the day he admitted liking boy band music.

Shane turned. When he realized who had entered, he forgot all about the text. “Damn it.” He kicked a huge hole in the drywall, shoved his phone in his pocket and walked away.

*~*~*

After driving around Hollywood for two hours, Lindsay finally walked into Permanent Tattoo. No way she’d let it all go without talking to Shane.

She slammed the door right into Shane and her stomach bottomed out. “Hello.”

Silent, he stared down at her.

Though she could barely breathe, she forced herself to continue. “Is something wrong?”

“I’m really busy and I have a hole in my wall.” He crossed his arms. “Where have you been?”

“I had to think.” Any hope of recapturing the mariachi music dancing magic vanished, along with her ability to stand in front of him. “Would you mind if I went to one of the private rooms and got some work done?”

“Go do what you need to, I need to do some wall patching and then we’ll figure everything out.” He motioned toward the back.

“What’s there to figure out?” She fished for answers.

“Exactly.” With a shake of his head he walked away.

She dashed into the private room.

Though she tried to be tough, tears fell the second the door closed, but she wasn’t sure if they were for Shane or for her own stupidity. Everything in her mental ledger led her to that precise event and the numbers never lied. Shane was not the man for her. She put her head down on the table and closed her eyes.

“You must be the business manager.”

A deep male voice broke her self-loathing and she lifted her head and to see a tall man with an air of familiarity, although she didn’t know him. In dress pants, a white oxford shirt and neatly combed dark brown hair, he appeared just as out of place at a tattoo shop as she. She shot out of the chair.

“What’s the matter?” He stepped into the room.

No wonder Shane was in a bad way and had to fix the wall, an inspector showed up and she prayed she wasn’t violating any code or law by doing paperwork there. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Yes.” He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.

“What?” She waited.

He put his hand out. “I wanted to introduce myself, I’m Dillon Elliott.”

“Elliott.” She narrowed her eyes. Of course he looked familiar, his features had traces of Shane, Carson and Emily, but he was nothing like them.

He flashed an incredible smile and nodded. “I’m the black sheep.”

For the first time all day Lindsay laughed.

*~*~*

“I think that’s about as smooth as you’re going to get it.” Ivan knelt next to Shane.

“Is he gone?” Shane smoothed out the spackle once more anyway.

“Think so, but he hates me.” Ivan shrugged.

“How about you take on a roommate?”

“We can’t live together, we tried.” Ivan took the spackle knife away from him.

“I was talking about taking in my big brother.” He took a deep breath.

“He’ll get another apartment soon enough.” Ivan patted his shoulder. “He knows the two of you can’t be anywhere near each other.”

“Three thousand miles apart wasn’t enough.” He rubbed his chin. “I could do less than 100 square feet with Lindsay.” He breathed in the fresh spackle fumes. He deserved a headache.

“What did you do to her now?”

“I snapped at her.”

“Good going.” Ivan then yanked his Mohawk forcing Shane to look up at him.

“What?”

“Either do something or leave her alone. She’s too cool for your crap.”

He glared at Ivan. “Today blew.”

“How do you think her day was? Didn’t you notice she was more than a little late getting here?” Ivan leaned in. “And, she didn’t call.”

Shane narrowed his eyes.

“Whatever you are going to say to me, go say it to her and if you’re going to reach your hand up any skirts, may I suggest you do it with Lindsay and not another woman.” Ivan pointed in the direction of the private rooms.

Shane stood. What could he say to her? “Yesterday she was mad at me for no reason.”

“So, in the course of twenty four hours you gave her plenty of reasons to be pissed at you.” Ivan gave him a huge grin. “I think you’re scared of her.”

The comment stopped him in his tracks.

“You can’t just assume she’s yours, she’s not that type.” His best friend lifted his hands. “I’m going to go find the maroon paint.”

He fluffed up his hawk and took in the shop. When Angie decided to show him, well everything, it didn’t give him a thrill. Deep down he knew the time was right to make a move with Lindsay. He’d never formally gone out with anyone. It was more enjoyable to just to hook up, but Lindsay wouldn’t accept that and he didn’t want it.

Lindsay’s and a man’s laughter radiated from behind the closed door. He hit the wall, almost making another hole. He recognized the man’s laughter all too well.

Originally he planned to tiptoe into the room get down on his knees, plead insanity and then beg Lindsay to let him take her out. At the laughter, his plan disappeared like tattoo ink under a laser beam, so he flung the door open and stomped inside.