Riveted: Drawn Series Book 1 (7 page)

“Stop this Bleu. You need to be honest with yourself. Are
you ready for this? Were you
really
in a relationship with Carl? Okay, okay too many questions. You have to think
about something else. Yes. Anything else but him,” I said, giving myself a pep
talk. I looked around the shower stall for the soap.

“Who are you talking to?” asked Jack. Jumping, I tried to
cover myself, turning towards the wall. Damn clear shower curtain.

“Um, I was actually talking to myself?” I replied. He
chuckled.

“Why?”

“Why are you up? What are you even doing here?” I
screeched. Again, he laughed. Why was he standing there?

“You aren’t allowed to answer a question with a question.
House rules. Besides, I heard the shower. I wanted to make sure you were
alright,” he replied softly with that voice that was just as sexy as him
shirtless.

“I am fine. Really. No need to worry!” I squealed over my
shoulder, my eyes pinched shut. My warped rationale was that if my eyes were
closed, he could not see me. I opened them and shook my head. I was lame.

“Bleu? It’s almost 3 am. Why in the world aren’t you
sleeping?”

“Every time I try to sleep I think about my brother. And
if I am not thinking about him and his stupid ass, I am thinking about your
ass!” I replied.

“My ass? You are thinking about my ass?”

“I meant you! Not your ass,” I said quickly. He chuckled.

“You were thinking about me huh?”

“Yes Jack, you. Alright? I was thinking about you. I
don’t want to lead you on. I would feel bad. That’s all.” I replied, my face
feeling hot.

He laughed.

“This is not funny Jack! Stop laughing!”

“Actually it is! No one ever said that we had to get
married. You act like I am picking out our wedding china.  You are like a
high strung poodle!” he remarked. He moved closer to the shower curtain. My
breath hitched in my chest.

“Um what are you doing?” I whimpered.

“Nice view,” he said huskily. My face felt hot and so did
my nether regions. Turning around to scold him, I gasped as I realized that I
gave him a full frontal view.

“That view is even better!” he replied. I spun around and
covered myself again, earning a chuckle from him.

“This was not a good idea!” I yelped.

“What wasn’t?”

“This, staying over, taking a shower, you. Big mistake,”
I said.

“You think something happening between us would be a
mistake?” he asked softly. Flinging the shower curtain open, I looked at him.

“I don’t want to rush anything. I don’t want you to get
hurt,” I replied as I poked him in the chest with a soapy finger. He looked
down at my naked, wet body and then back up into my eyes. My body felt hot
all over and again the urge to rub myself up against him presented itself.

“Control is overrated,” he replied after he gave me one
last assessing look and left the bathroom. This looked like it could turn into
trouble. I turned the water to the coldest possible, but even that could not
calm down my racing heart or my scorching girl parts. I finally cranked the
water back to warm and positioned the shower head in such a manner that I was
able to “take care of things”. I hoped he did not hear my soft moans, or that I
called his name under my breath when I came.

At five am, I finally ended up falling asleep. The alarm
on my cell phone blared into my ear at 8 am. Walking out of the bedroom, I saw
Jack messing with his cell phone, a cup of coffee on the kitchen table in front
of him. He was wearing jeans and a navy blue Affliction t shirt. He was so
stinking hot. My cheeks felt hot as I thought about last night, but I pasted on
a smile as I approached him.

“Good morning,” he said with a smile. Mmm he even smelled
yummy.

“Hey,” I replied.

“There is coffee on the counter,” he said, pushing a
button on his phone. I looked over his shoulder at the coffee cups with the
Starbucks logo emblazoned on them.

“Thanks,” I said, grabbing a cup and sipping, eyes
closed, in heaven. Sitting across from him, I noticed that he looked a bit
worried.

“Something wrong?” I asked, putting down the coffee cup.
He nods.

“Your brother is AWOL again.You said he came home last
night? “He asked as he placed his phone on the shiny kitchen table.

“Yeah. We argued. But I was the one who left, not him.
Why what happened?”

 “Well, he was supposed to open the shop this
morning. He had an early appointment. Chloe is there now and was able to
convince Axel’s client to reschedule.  Matt and Chloe both tried to call
him and text him. No response to text messages and all calls go straight to
voicemail. Matt went to the house, his truck is gone and everything is locked
up tight.” He looked at me, his eyes filled with worry.

“Shit! That’s not like him. But this is what I meant, the
kind of stuff he has been doing since I got here,” I replied. Jack took one of
my hands and rubs his thumb over it. I looked up into his chocolate brown eyes
and melted.

“It’s been going on a lot longer than that Bleu. Your
Uncle knew and tried to talk to him too. Even tried to get him to go out to
Cali with him or go with your cousin Spike. No dice. Axel just resisted. Or bit
everyone’s head off.”

“Well I can help out wherever you may need me. It won’t
be much,” I said after a few moments.

“Thanks, you have no idea how much I appreciate it. If
you were not here, I have no idea what we would do,” he said.

“Um I have a slight problem,” I said softly after taking
a sip of coffee.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“I don’t have anything to wear, and Axel has the keys to
the house. When I left, I left the key ring on the coffee table,” I replied.

“Which means you have no way of getting into the house?”

“Exactly,” I said. He studied me for the moment.

“I have some jeans you can borrow, and an A shirt. You
can wear one of my button downs over it,” he replied, getting up and walking
down the hall to his bedroom.

“Thanks so much.”

“When you get to the shop, Chloe can probably lend you
some stuff,” he said. He walked into his bedroom, with me close behind. Not
paying attention, I bumped into him. He looked at me and we laughed.  He
looked like he really wanted to kiss me. He pulled me to him and placed a
gentle kiss on my lips, softly sucking on my bottom lip. I moaned softly and he
broke off the kiss, looking down at me. His face was inches from mine. I held
my breath as he looked into my eyes.

“We
will
finish this later,” he whispered. I
nodded. He turned around and began to pull clothes out of his drawers.  I
could not wait until “later”.

I kind of liked how I looked in his clothes. Chloe gave
me a look and then smiled. Rolling my eyes, I smiled back.

“Did someone have a rough night?”she asked as I put my
bag behind the counter.

“You could say that, but not in the way you are
thinking,” I replied. She giggled and I could tell she did not believe me one
bit.

“What happened?”

“Short version, Axel and I had a major fight and I left.
Jack took me in and I realized I did not have a key to Axel’s so Jack let me borrow
some clothes,” I replied.

“You’re right. Definitely not in the way I imagined. But,
I might have some stuff you can borrow,” she replied.

“Thanks so much Chloe, but aren’t you a bit on the short
side? “ I asked. She nodded.

“My cousin Ember lived with me for a while this past
spring, she left a shit ton of clothes behind, some with tags on them. You are
welcome to them. She was your height,” she replied. I gave her a hug. She
hugged back.

“Thank you Chloe, I appreciate it!!!” I replied.

“Don’t worry about your brother. We have been privy to
his recent madness for a while now. I have kind of kept out of his way. But
things are escalating and it breaks my heart to see him go through this. If you
need anything, just let me know. I know all about crazy families,” she said.
She smiled and flitted off to her little piercing room and I saw her begin
to wipe everything down. I was in awe. I felt kind of warm and fuzzy inside.

“She’s a total neat freak,” said Jack coming up behind
me. He handed me a cup of coffee. I smiled in thanks and took a sip.

“Thank you so much!” I replied. He smiled. Matt walked by
him. He was eating a Power Bar. He nodded to the two of us and headed into the
back, a bright green book bag slung over one shoulder.  Jack turned and
leaned on the desk. We made small talk for a few minutes and then he trotted
off to the back too. The front door opened and a tiny girl with spiky black
hair walked in. She smiled at me. She had two cherries tattooed next to her right
eye and huge violet eyes.

“Good morning. I have an appointment with Jack,” she
replied, her voice soft and sweet.

“Okay, give me a sec. He just walked in, but I will tell
him you are here,” I replied. She nodded, walked over to one of the couches and
sat down. She picked up a magazine and leafed through it. I walked over to
Jack, who was at one of the drafting tables and tapped him on the shoulder.

“What’s up?” He asked, as he stopped drawing to give me
his full attention. I looked down at his drawing what looked like two huge,
angel wings, spread in detailed, feathered glory.

“That is amazing looking! “I replied in awe.

“Thanks. It’s meant to go on either hip and end in the
back with an angel, looking over her shoulder with a kind of smirk or something
on her face, you know where the wings meet,” he said. Nodding, I look at it
closely.

“Who is it for?” I ask. He shrugged.

“I don’t know. It’s just a rough sketch right now.
Sometimes the ideas just come to me,” he replied, tacking it up on the wall
behind the drafting table.

“You have a lady out front. She has an appointment,” I
said, as I forced myself to tear my eyes away from the drawing. It was
something to behold that was for sure.

“Okay thanks,” he replied, looking at me and the drawing
again. He tapped me on the shoulder and walked away. What was it about that
drawing? I tore my eyes away it and went back to work.

Jack and Matt were busy all morning. I was too,
rescheduling Axel’s appointments for the day. There was a steady stream of
people. Five or six of them were waiting for the garage. Two girls came in to
get pierced and Chloe took them into the back. A few minutes later she flung
her door open and cleared her throat. I looked over my shoulder.

“Bleu? “She called. I walked into the back, putting the
cordless phone for the front desk in my back pocket in case we got a call.
Chloe had the door of the piercing room cracked and her face was visible. She
looked worried.

“Yes?” I asked.

“Supply closet, smelling salts, pronto,” she ordered.
Rushing down, I opened the door and grabbed the box labeled “smelling salts”.
Grabbing a handful, I jogged down to the door, and hurried inside. There was a
girl with blonde hair sitting in a chair next to Chloe’s station. There was a
second girl in a chair that resembled a chair in a barber’s shop; she was
slumped down and out cold. Chloe held out her hand, taking one of the little
capsules in her palm. She snapped it in half and held it under the girl’s nose.
Her eyes snapped open and she gasped. Chloe patted her arm and smiled. The girl
was naked from the waist down and she was obviously getting her clit pierced.
Chloe went back to work and I walked out, shutting the door behind me.

“You look ten shades of pale,” remarked Jack. Nodding, I
sat down on one of the chairs at the drafting table.

“You ok?” he asked, coming over and putting his hand on
my shoulder.

“Chloe had a girl pass out. I went in, gave her smelling
salts and she was…having her...uh...clit pierced,” I said, my voice sounding
far away.

“First time seeing something like that?” he asked with a
laugh.

“Shut up, it’s not funny,” I said, sticking my tongue out
at him.

“I take it you’re not thinking of getting one?” he asked.

“No.”

“Do you feel that way about all piercings?” he asked.

“No. Just that one,” I replied.

“Good to know,” he said and walked to his booth. Soon, a
tall, burly looking man followed after him. He took off his shirt and I saw a
huge back piece of St. Michael. It was amazing. He must have felt me looking,
because he turned around and smiled. Smiling back, I stood up and walked back
to the front.

Later in that day, I decided to take a walk around the
neighborhood during my official lunch break. It was a beautiful sunny day, and
everyone seemed to be taking advantage of the beautiful weather. I smiled and
chatted briefly with the Asian woman who worked the produce booth at the
farmer’s market. I picked up some fruit and then I walked back to the shop
after grabbing some sushi as well. Jack stood outside smoking a cigarette. He
waved as I came closer, which of course made me smile.