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She rolled her eyes and faced me. “Good job, Bishop.”
I nodded my thanks as I taped up his arm, then moved to clean up my area, and CJ walked off to go bullshit with a customer. I glanced over my shoulder when I felt her still there.
“Faith okay?” she asked.
I turned to face her. “She is.”
Her narrowed gaze raked over me. “I meant what I said that night. You take care of her.”
“She’s used to taking care of herself,” I said. “But I’m sure as hell trying. Got any suggestions?”
She nodded, her expression unreadable. “Sometimes a strong woman needs her partner to be even stronger... sometimes not. Either way, what she really needs at the end of the day is to feel heard, seen, and safe.”
I blinked, absorbing that. “Right.”
She offered me a small smile, then turned and moved away, leaving me to wonder if in all my efforts to keep Faith safe had I made her feel seen? Heard?
“Yo, Adam,” Tobias called from the front desk, cutting off my thoughts. “Come meet your client.”
I glanced over to find him facing me with a frown, Jessica Martell at his back, also frowning, clearly not happy Tobias was pawning her off.
I had to chuckle as I headed that way. Jessica had crushed on Tobes since middle school, and after a less than amicable divorce a few months ago, had been relentless in her desperate pursuit of my brother. Obviously, the fact that he was happily married meant shit to her.
“Hey, Jessica,” I said. “Looking to get something done?”
She shrugged, her doleful gaze moving to my brother as he walked away, purposefully mentioning he needed to call his wife. “Thinking about it,” she said, turning back to me.
I nodded. “No problem.” I offered her the books of design ideas and she leaned over to look through them, offering up a large amount of cleavage. “I could also come up with a custom design if you wanted.”
She glanced up, her gaze raking me over as she cocked an eyebrow. “I might want.”
“Right...” My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out.
I frowned when I didn’t recognize the number, but the text made it very clear who it was.
All future pickups to happen at my home going forward. Starting tonight. Come over after work. Delivery first thing in the morning.
I fought back my growl at Pittman’s condescending tone and tried to focus on the mission. Helping Mateo take him down. Getting in Pittman’s good graces was key, and him inviting me to his home—well, that had to be a step in the right direction.
“This constellation of stars is nice,” Jessica said, getting my attention as she pointed out a girly design in a book. “Think that would work well across my hip here?” She traced her low hip toward her pubic bone.
I raised a brow, wondering if that was where she wanted it all along, or if this was a come-on. I could be as professional as the rest of them, but it felt weird to touch another woman like that with Faith just upstairs. Especially after today.
“If we placed it right,” I acknowledged.
She nodded, her gaze sliding to Tobias in the back. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
“Great. Let me just work up a stencil. Have a seat there and give me a few minutes.”
I managed to make it through her tattoo painlessly, albeit slowly, while ignoring her blatant attempts to flirt—the giggles, the subtle touches, the casual mentions of where she’d be later. It wasn’t about me. It was about her own insecurity and need to get a reaction out of my brother. The more he ignored her, the worse it got, and I was never so happy to finish a project. She was thrilled with it and left a huge tip along with her phone number, which I threw in the trash.
“Looks like I’m off the hook with that one, little brother,” Tobias said with a smirk after she left.
“I doubt it.” I pocketed my cash. “She was just taking me for a test run, but I have a feeling she’s into older models.” I shot him a grin and he guffawed.
“Yeah, well, this old man is happy. Why would I trade in my sports car for a used sedan with high mileage?”
“Damn, Tobes,” I said on a laugh.
