What. The. Fuck!Was he serious?
There was no way he was doing that, and besides, the list of all the men who’d treated him like shit was too long. He couldn’t even remember their profile names, let alone their real names.
“Kieran?”
“I’m fine, Grant. I like to leave the past where it belongs.”
He didn’t look happy but thankfully decided not to push it.
“Well, if anyone from the past shows their face, be sure to tell me straight away, won’t you?”
The look on his face made it clear there could be only one answer.
“Of course.”
Grant smiled and then focused on making their tea. He wondered what the man would think if he knew the kind of guy he had in his inner circle. Would he take the same approach? Kieran doubted it, which is why he’d be keeping his history with Carl to himself. At least with Grant being around as well, there’d be less opportunity for Carl to do anything. That made him feel safe... for now.
The feeling of safety didn’t last long. Over breakfast, Grant said he was going to Boston for two weeks on business, but Kieran should call him if he needed anything. Carl would be there to support him day-to-day, but Grant was always there at the end of the phone. He wasn’t sure what he’d done to get him so much attention from a mob boss, but while the guy was terrifying, you couldn’t help but feel safe knowing he was in your corner, which was all manner of fucked up.
When he got back to the shop, Carl wasn’t there, but the other tattooists were. They didn’t seem bothered that Kieran was now in charge. A couple of them were older than him but had no interest in management, and he got on with everyone. It was Jez who nobody had liked. Kieran wondered what had happened to him. He hoped Jez had just been sacked and nothing more permanent had happened. He needed to stop thinking like that, or he’d be a nervous wreck. Maybe he needed to watch fewer gangster movies too. He might have gone on a mafia film and TV binge ever since he met Grant for the first time. It had probably warped his perspective a bit.
The day passed in a blur of clients, and there was a cheerful buzz in the place. Jez had been funny about having music on, but Kieran had no such qualms. It had been a great atmosphere all day, and before he knew it the others were waving him goodbye, leaving him to lock up.
As he was about to lock the front door, Carl appeared, scaring the shit out of him. Should Kieran just lock him out? But then, this was the only exit, so that wouldn’t end well for him. He opened the door, and Carl walked in, giving Kieran a smile that made him shudder.
“How was your first day as the boss, Kieran?”
“It was . . . yeah . . . it was good.”
“Excellent. I thought we could have a drink and clear the air. It’s important to Grant that we get along, and we don’t want to disappoint him, do we?”
“No . . . no . . . of course not. Have you been to Knights Corner?”
“I think it would be better to have a drink here, where we can talk in private.”
Kieran froze. He needed to get the fuck out of here.
“Kieran, relax. I know you’ve got your own dom now.”
“Huh?”
“The guy at The Back Room?”
Did Carl think Derek was his dom? That could be to his advantage.
“Yeah . . . I mean, when we . . . it wasn’t . . . we weren’t.”
“It’s fine, Kieran, we had a couple of good scenes. I was drunk that night in the club, so I apologise, but our other two scenes were fun, weren’t they?”
The first was, but the second definitely wasn’t. What was Kieran supposed to say?
“You didn’t use your safe word. Did I do something you didn’t like, Kieran?”
And there it was. He didn’t know whether Carl would have stopped if he’d used his safe word. Technically, he’ddone nothing wrong, and it was clear he was trying to put the past behind them. If he thought he was off the market now, then he’d hopefully keep his hands to himself, and he hadn’t been around here all day. He’d left Kieran to run the place by himself. He’d assumed Carl was going to be around all the time, but if he was just a mentor, then why would he? Carl probably had a lot of businesses he oversaw for Grant.
“Everything’s fine. Just a bit tired after a full-on day.”
“How about just a quick one, and then I’ll let you get home?”
