Permanent (Indelibly Marked) (Volume 1) (8 page)

BOOK: Permanent (Indelibly Marked) (Volume 1)
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If worse came to worse, and it probably would, she would be out of there in five months and nine days, and her parents could fix her disaster again.

 

 

 

 

Chapter Seven

 

“I’m flipping starving.” Ivan tossed a magazine aside. “Send Carson for some burritos.”

Shane shook his head while he picked the chewed eraserless pencils out of Lindsay’s cup and replaced them with a handful of brand new pencils with nice pink plump erasers for her to bite off. As he tossed the old ones, he smiled. When she got working she also got chewing.

“Burgers?” Ivan asked.

Without a word he picked up the artwork of the inside of a computer for his next tattoo. He supposed his customer wanted to be electronic.

“Subs?”

He shrugged.

“Sushi?” Ivan groaned. “Again?”

“I have lunch.” He lifted the pad in front of his face. In ten years, he’d never brought his lunch to work. “Lindsay made me something.” He pulled a cooler out from under the front desk.

Ivan came over. “Look at that. She labeled it.”

He smiled at the paper she’d taped to the cooler with his name. “Well, now I won’t forget who I am.”

“So this week she’s made you breakfast twice, balanced your check book, well actually took it away, and yesterday we got cake.” Ivan rubbed his stomach.

“I got cake. I was just nice and shared.” The first day he arrived early to take her to work she acted shocked and didn’t talk much. He knew she didn’t want to like him, but every day he worked on her and slowly, like erosion, he was winning. “It’s for driving her around this week.”

“When is her car going to be ready?”

“Tonight.” He glanced at his watch, remembering to pick her up soon. She recognized Friday was a busy night at the shop and told him he could get her early. No matter how many times he begged Carlos to take his time with the vehicle, the asshole finished in less than a week. The whole car situation fell into his lap. The bonus landed Lindsay in the shop every day.

Shane put the cooler down to return to his art when Ivan appeared next to him. “What?”

“What does a good girl like little Lindsay prepare big bad Shane for lunch?” Ivan picked up the cooler.

“Hey.” He reached for it, but Ivan held it out of his reach.

“This is pretty heavy. She must think you’re a pig.”

“Give it.” He set his jaw.

“Either you open it, or I do.” Ivan put his finger on the button latch.

“You’re an ass.” He reclaimed his cooler and opened it himself.

They peered inside.

“I think that’s Tupperware.” Ivan pointed.

Everything in the cooler was neatly packaged and Shane hated to disturb it.

“You can’t lose that stuff. Women hate it if you lose their Tupperware, and if it’s Lindsay’s it’s all brand new.”

“I know. I’m not going to lose it.” He prayed he wouldn’t lose the Tupperware and pulled out the first plastic square.

Ivan leaned in as Shane lifted the lid. “Wow.”

“It’s a salad.” Her precision cutting technique had all the vegetables uniformly sliced and diced.

“And not just lettuce, there’s a good representation of different vegetables in there.” Ivan nodded. “She even put the dressing off to the side so it wouldn’t get soggy.”

Shane took a breath. Lindsay was all about the details and watching her work was fast becoming one of his favorite spectator sports. One second she was quiet and going through her papers, the next she was sternly giving him a lecture on finances. Half the time he didn’t understand what she said, but he loved watching her get all riled up. However with his money situation slowly being wrangled, she seemed to soften. Maybe it was time to plan an outing with her that didn’t involve business talk. With Lindsay, timing was crucial.

“What’s your second course?”

He blinked as Ivan interrupted his thoughts and retrieved a round container from the cooler, opening it to reveal a sandwich on a circular piece of bread that fit the Tupperware perfectly.

“That’s cool how she did that.” Ivan pointed. “What kind is it?”

He lifted the bread. “Turkey.”

“Healthy. She must not want you to die.” Ivan rubbed his hands together. “Keep going.”

He dug through the rest of lunch. A rectangular tub contained fruit salad, and a smaller square had cookies. Finally he pulled out a triangle one with a piece of cheese and some crackers.

“How does she do that?”

The lunch was as amazing as the woman who made it. His mouth watered. “What?”

“How does she make all those shapes fit together?” Ivan motioned toward all the containers.

“It’s so the food doesn’t get wrecked.”

“Only girls know how to do that.”

Shane pursed his lips. “Yeah, it’s pretty cool.”

“She even remembered a napkin.” Ivan held up a paper napkin with a floral design. “I guess she doesn’t want you to use your shirt anymore.”

“I like it.” He gathered the containers and went to the table.

“Yeah, I suppose a lunch like that has to be eaten at a table.”

Ivan joined him as Carson returned with the burritos.

“Why are we eating here?” Carson frowned at the table.

“Shane has too many accessories to eat on his lap.” Ivan laughed.

“Why does he have all that?” Carson wrinkled his nose.

“Miss Lindsay made him lunch.” Ivan winked. “Gentleman Shane thinks it’s to thank him for all the chauffeuring while her car’s getting fixed, but I think it’s because she wants to take a walk on the wild side.”

Shane slammed a thermos down on the table.

Carson and Ivan jumped.

“Okay. Let’s eat lunch together, all nice.” Ivan grabbed his food, sat down across the table and shoved a napkin in his t-shirt collar.

Shane glared at them and then opened the thermos. A warm sensation permeated through him at the contents.

“Did you get soup?” Carson laughed. “Remember when mom tried that?”

“Nope. Iced tea.” He made a huge deal out of pouring the liquid into the cup, straightening when a lemon wedge made its way into the plastic cup.

“Dude, she wants you bad.” Carson shook his head.

“Shut up.” He opened his sandwich.

“Oh Shaney, let me know what it’s like to be with a man who wears more jewelry than I do, before I settle down with someone respectable.” Ivan spoke in a falsetto voice, picked up the circular lid and pressed it to his chest.

“Jerk.” Before taking a bite, he ground his teeth together. No one at the shop could say they didn’t think exactly that when they thought about a mainstream girl.

“Aww, did Shaney get his feelings hurt?” Ivan fanned himself with the lid.

He lunged for the lid. “Give me that.”

Ivan tossed it to Carson.

“Die or give it.” He held his hand out to his brother.

Ivan grinned as Carson tossed it back to him. “Maybe if we lose it she’ll give you a spanking.” He raised his eyebrows. “She could be a closet bad girl. She wears those tough business suits.”

He stood. “I’m not joking.”

When the lid soared above his head, Ivan stepped back.

“You asked for it.” He took his cell phone out of his pocket.

Ivan didn’t budge.

“I’m calling Lindsay and telling her you lost her lid and she’ll get that look in her eye like when you teased her for eating pencils, especially after she finds out you ruined the lunch she worked so hard making me.”

“I hate that look.” Ivan flipped the lid and it took flight.

Shane jumped to catch it, but missed. It landed, slid across the floor and disappeared in the vent.

“Uh oh.” Carson stood.

Shane stomped to Ivan. “What did you do?”

Ivan winced.

“Get it.” He pointed.

“It’s cool.” Ivan hurried to where the lid vanished. “It’s evil down there.”

“I think this should make Lindsay happy.” With his jaw jutted out he went right to Ivan’s station and picked up the baseball signed by Dodger center fielder, Matt Kemp. “I think I should take it out of its protective case and wipe the signature off. I wouldn’t want her to think I gave her a used ball.”

Ivan’s held his hands out. “Put the innocent ball down!”

He tossed it in the air. “The lid for the ball.”

“I’ll buy her new Tupperware!”

“Nope.” He caught it and leaned back against the wall, threatening to twist the case apart.

“I’ll get it.” Ivan got down on his knees.

Shane sauntered back to his sandwich and prepared to take a bite when his phone rang. At Lindsay’s name on the screen, he scrambled to answer. “I didn’t lose any of your Tupperware.”

Even through the phone, her laugh tickled his ear. “That’s okay. It’s the disposable kind. You can just throw it away. I didn’t want you to have to worry about it.”

His best friend was on all fours in an attempt to free the lid from the underworld.

“Cool, what’s up?”

“Are you busy?”

He smiled. That was her code for needing something. “Not for you.” His appetite reappeared and took a bite of the sandwich.

“When you pick me up, would you mind coming up to my office and helping me with a few books I need for the shop?”

Her muffled voice told him she had a pencil in her mouth, which meant she was nervous to ask him. Completely cute. “Consider it a done deal.” He took another bite studied the sandwich with the perfect combination of meat, bread and condiments.

“Great.” Her voice perked up. “See you in a bit.”

He polished off the rest of his lunch as Ivan returned and slammed the lid down in front of him.

“Thanks.” He grabbed the trashcan and pushed all of the containers, including the lid into it.

”Wha—”

“It’s disposable, like you.” He stood and brushed the crumbs from his shirt. “I have to get Linds, she needs me to go up to her office and carry something.”

Ivan burst into laughter.

 “What?” He got in his best friend’s face.

“You’re going to an office on Wilshire looking like that.”

He glanced at his clothes. “I always look like this.”

Ivan raised his eyebrows.

Scratching his nails along both sides of his Mohawk, Shane assessed the jeans and vintage concert shirt, then tucked in the shirt.

“Now you look like a fool.” Carson picked up a magazine.

He pulled his shirt out of his pants and held out his hand to Carson. “Give me your jacket.”

His brother stood, took off the parka and tossed it to him.

He put on the black jacket, zipped it and raised the hood up over his head. “There.”

“Now you just look like a criminal.” Carson walked away. “I have to get ready for tonight, we have a full house. You better go.”

He snapped his fingers toward Ivan. “Come on.”

“I don’t know if I can go, I don’t have a thing to wear.”

“She may have a lot to carry.” He headed toward the door.

Ivan followed. “This should be fun.”

 

*~*~*

 

By the time he entered the huge reception area to Lindsay’s work, sweat covered Shane’s body, leaving him somewhere between sweltering and shivering. Before announcing himself, he took in the sleek office of shining grey tile, modern, black leather furniture and bland artwork. It was a far cry from Permanent. He could picture Lindsay working there. He wiped his forehead. “It’s boiling in here.”

“That’s because you’re wearing a parka.” Ivan pulled the hood down.

The receptionist cleared her throat.

She widened her eyes as if she needed to in order to take them all in. Even with the hood down, spontaneous combustion was a sure possibility. Still, he lifted his head and plastered a smile across his face.

“I’m Shane Elliott. Lindsay Stevens is expecting us.” In case she didn’t believe him, he pulled Lindsay’s business card out of his pocket and held it up like a badge of honor.

The woman’s eyes narrowed. “She said someone was coming to pick her up. Let me take you to her.”

“I feel like I’m getting ready to have surgery.” Ivan elbowed him as they walked through the sterile rows of cubes and offices.

He nodded. During the trek through the corporate maze, people stared at them. The whispers weren’t quite hushed enough for him not to hear what they said. In that arena, they were novelty acts, no better than a circus sideshow. It was precisely why they didn’t mix with mainstream people. At the shop and on his side of town, they were celebrities, masters of their domain, but in this conservative setting, they couldn’t even be considered fringe cool.

The woman took them back to a closet of an office. “She’s not here, but I’m sure she’ll be right back. You can sit there.” She pointed inside, gave them another long look and left.

Ivan went to the corner and stood with his arms crossed, and Shane took a seat in the only chair not behind the desk.

“For such a fancy place, they should really turn on the air conditioning.” He pulled on the collar of the jacket and attempted to distract himself by studying Lindsay’s things.

Her postage stamp office didn’t have anything on the walls, making the whole space dull and lifeless. No doubt she couldn’t decide what to hang.

Her small desk was exceptionally neat, with piles of her famous file folders, notepads, paper-clipped documents, and a calculator. He reached over and picked up a well-chewed pencil, holding it up to study the bite marks. What on Earth was he doing there?

“I’ll have the presentation to you by Monday afternoon.”

At last he heard her voice and he leaned back in the chair to find her among the cubicles, facing away from him. A man with plain brown hair in a shirt and a tie followed her.

 “Are you sure you know how to use the program? I’m an expert,” the man said.

“I’ve used the program for years.” Lindsay took a step backward. “In fact, my father knows the original developer of that software. It’s been a standard in accounting for over a decade.”

The man moved closer to her. “What about calculating the depreciation?”

Shane gritted his teeth. The douche bag sounded like he didn’t believe she could do it. In his eyes, she could do anything.

Ivan balled his fist and hit it into his palm.

BOOK: Permanent (Indelibly Marked) (Volume 1)
11.81Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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