She pulls out her phone and flips through her pictures before she shows me a huge black cat, wearing a bowtie, sprawled on a cat tree. “Oh, my heavens, he’s adorable,” I murmur, my finger stroking over the picture.
“He can be an asshole when he’s hungry, but he loves to cuddle and even gives me night-night kisses like Micki does,” she says, causing me to giggle.
“Did he learn it from her?” I question, my curiosity roused.
“I did it when he was a kitten, then after Micki came along, I did it with her, too. Look at this one,” she says, flipping to another picture. I see her little girl, fast asleep, with Jonas curled up against her head as he takes over the majority of her pillow. “He’s decided he’s her guardian. She’s so good with him, too. Always gentle and loving.”
“I’m glad you have that,” I admit. “I’ve got my uncle and before she passed, his long-time girlfriend, Marcella. They helped get me through the worst time of my life.”
The rest of my day is filled with walk-ins, but I made an appointment with Gina’s friend, Gretchen, for next week, so in between clients, I sketch several more sobriety tattoos, so she has options.
Thankfully, Abyss is busy as well, because my head is so confused where he’s concerned, I don’t know which way to turn. My mouth wanted to say yes, but my brain engaged first and blurted out ‘no’ and I know it ticked him off.
Sighing, I finish cleaning up after dinner, Uncle Mack is once again at the clubhouse ‘communing with the club brothers’. Satisfied that everything is as good as it’s going to get, I take a shower then climb into bed to read until I fall asleep.
“You should give him a chance, Shelly,” James says.
I look around and realize I’m someplace I don’t recognize. “What are you doing here, James? You… you’re dead,” I whisper.
“Someone needs to get through to you that it’s time for you to live again, ShellBell. I figure it should be me,” he replies.
“I miss you both so much,” I murmur, my voice cracking. “We were so happy and had so much to look forward to and in a flash, it was all gone.”
“Does it help you to know that I felt no pain? One minute we were in the truck, and the next minute, I was here. Shortly after that, Amberlea showed up. She’s beautiful, Shelly, and perfect.”
“Where is she?” I ask, looking around. “Why didn’t she come with you?”
“Because you needed to hear some hard truths from me, sweetheart,” he replies. “You’ve been wallowing in your grief long enough. I know you’ll never forget me or what we had, but there’s someone who wants to get to know you and give you the life you deserve. You need to give him a chance and stop putting up roadblocks.”
“Abyss?” I question.
“Yes. He’s a good man. He may have some rough edges, but I know this much. Once he claims you, you’ll have a family with the Kings as well as him. He’ll give you the world, ShellBell, but you’ve gotta let him in.”
I wake up with tears on my face but with a determination to change how I react to Abyss. If James can take the time to visit me from the afterlife, the least I can do is try. Right?
CHAPTER
TEN
Abyss
“Infuriating, aggravating, stubborn woman,”I mutter as I stalk away from the woman who’s consumed way too many of my thoughts since she walked through the door of Anarchy Ink.
I know what her fucking tattoo means. I know she’s got secrets she’s not willing to share. I also know that I’m patient enough to wait until she’s ready to talk to me about them.
Because she’s the one. I knew it the day she opened her mouth and asked for a job. The zap of electricity I felt when she shook my hand hit me hard.
Now, I just have to convince her.
Challenge motherfucking accepted.
As I work, thoughts of her consume me. I know she needs patience and understanding, so I know I’ll have to make some changes. Because of my background, I tend to take what I want, which is why I’ve asked Shelly out so many times. Today, I thought she was going to say yes, but she said no once again.
Once the day finally ends, I clean my station and head out to the clubhouse. Right now, I don’t have a home of my own since I’m single, but I know that if things eventually go the way I want them to, I’ll need to live somewhere else. Granted, I’ll still have my suite at the clubhouse, but that’ll be used for those nights when we party a little too much.
Shower done, I’m about to head down for some dinner, a few beers, and maybe a couple of games of pool when I decide to do a little bit of sleuthing on the computer. Sitting at my desk, I turn my laptop on and wait for it to start. I may not have the skills that Nerd has, but I’m able to maneuver around enough to find shit.
I type Shelly’s name into the search bar and within seconds, several articles pop up. Opening the first one, I start to read and my heart shatters at what she went through. I know I heard what she said to Beth, but seeing the pictures of the vehicle, as well as the report itself, all I can think is that Shelly is strong as fuck.
