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Rick didn’t know the half of it. No one did. Bella was pretty tight-lipped about her family. All anyone knew was that she didn’t really get along with them. End of story. She left it open for interpretation exactly why that was. They probably assumed it was the whole tattoos, black hair deal, working at a tattoo shop deal.
“Don’t worry. If I haven’t kicked my sister’s asses by now, and god knows they deserve it, I think they’re safe.”
“So, it’s not a guy? You’re sure it’s not a guy.”
“Yup. Positive. Last time I checked, I would know.”
Rick stared at her. She stared back. His eyebrows leveled out and the left stopped twitching. He looked like he was going to spin around and get back to drawing, which he needed to do given that it was nine in the morning and his client was coming in at ten and she knew he hadn’t finished the design because she’d popped in when she got to the shop and asked, but three strikes on the luck thing. Rick didn’t leave. Instead, he eyed her up, the kind of hairy eyeball stare that would undo even the hardest of criminals and the best liars. Which of course, she was neither. God, the guy should get a job doing interrogations or something.
“Um, yes?” Bella’s palms went damp on her lap. She carefully didn’t rub them on her clothes since it would be a dead giveaway.
“So, that guy that came in here a month and a half ago? The one who got the panther on his leg? He seemed like a friend of yours. Seemed like he might have tracked you down and just shown up here to get a tattoo from me because you work here. The moping around lack of vitamin D has anything to do with him?”
Bella slowly shook her head. “How do you even know that?” He must have overheard them talking when Rhett walked into the place.
“He told me. Everything.”
“Everything?” Bella’s mouth opened.
“Pretty much.”
“How is that even possible?”
“You know. We’re tattoo artists, but we’re also therapists. Like hairdressers. We hear everything. All our clients dark, dirty confessions. I know it all, Bel. So, I’m going to ask you one more time. Do you want me to find him and take that panther back?”
“Like- carve it out of his leg? What the fuck, Rick? That’s disgusting.”
Rick chuckled low in his throat. He shrugged, but it was a scary, menacing shrug. He wouldn’t actually follow through on anything so gruesome, but the ass-kicking thing- yeah. That could go down.
“We don’t let anyone mess with our own. And you’re a part of this team, Bella. You’re our friend. I have two little sisters. I would never let a piece of shit fuck around with them. It’s not the first time I’ve kicked a guy’s ass.”
“I hope there hasn’t been a first time for tanning either.”
“No, that was a joke. But I’ve blackened a few eyes. One punk thought he could cheat on my sister. Fuck that. I taught the prick the meaning of respect. He’ll probably stay celibate for the rest of his life if he knows what’s good for him.”
“I don’t doubt it.” Bella shuddered. “You don’t have to worry. Rhett didn’t do anything. He was a perfect gentleman. I broke it off.”
“So, there was something.”
“Uh- yeah… you just said…” Bella felt like she’d just run smack into a glass door and fallen flat on her ass when Rick smirked at her. “So, he didn’t actually tell you anything. You were just saying that so I’d confess.”
“Pretty much. You catch on fast.”
“Not fast enough apparently.”
Rick leaned against the desk and the whole thing swayed a little. He straightened after he realized it wasn’t designed to hold his weight. The guy looked like he could bench press trees just for fun.
“So, what happened? Why did you break it off? He seemed like a decent guy.”
Bella rolled her eyes. “Nope. Not going there. We work together. I don’t have to give you details of my personal life to keep my job. It’s probably better that personal shit stays out of it.”
“Okay, well you don’t have to tell me, but it might make you feel better. That’s the whole reason you got half those tattoos, wasn’t it? So that you could talk to people?”
“I guess so, but not here. Not like this. I’m not getting tattooed right now.”
“Talking helps.”
“That sounds like an infomercial.”
“Just spit it out. Did he fuck up? Hurt you? Do I still need to kick his ass?”
“No! I just said that it was nothing he did,” Bella hissed. She took a deep breath and willed herself to calm down. Her chest felt like a crowd of frenzied fan girls had just knocked her down and stomped all over her. “It just- wasn’t going to work out.”
