AllFreeNovel
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I walk through the storefront entrance into a posh-looking place. It’s decorated in black and white with a tufted red couch in the corner.
“Can I help you?” a big dude dressed in all black asks from behind a counter. He has a thick beard and tattoos run up and down his neck and arms.
I walk up to the counter. “Yeah. I need to see your boss.”
“Who’s asking?” the man says gruffly.
“Just tell him Laura is here and that it’s urgent.”
“You got it.” The man walks off with a yawn. He obviously doesn’t give a shit. A few minutes later, he comes back. “He’s in a session right now but he said you can come on back.”
I follow him down a hall and through a curtained doorway. When I enter, there’s a woman squeezing her friend’s hand tightly as Niko sits next to her running a tattoo gun over her skin. She looks like she’s in a fuck load of pain. Yeah, I’m never doing that.
“Here she is, boss,” the gruff man says before turning and walking out, leaving me standing there with all eyes on me. Shit. Maybe I shouldn’t have worn this two-piece. My midriff is on display and Niko looks up and pauses mid-tattooing.
The girl yelps and he pulls the gun back. “Shit, sorry.”
He puts the gun on his cart and stands. “Why don’t we take a break? I’ll be right back with some water for you.”
He walks over to me, gripping my arm and navigating me out of the room towards a door. He pulls me into what looks like an office and shuts the door. He stands back once we’re behind closed doors, leaving too much space between us for my liking.
“What are you doing here?” he asks, his voice deep and full of . . . nerves?
“I, uh, I talked to Nathan. He told me what you did,” I start.
He meets my eyes. “And?”
“And I came to tell you how wrong I was,” I said. I reach into my bag and pull out a manila folder. I quickly hand it to him. He begins leafing through it as I ramble, “It turns out I got some money from Pops. I figured I should invest it. I don’t think I could find a better place, so . . .”
He reads over the paperwork from the folder and his eyes go big. “This says you bought Nathan out of his half of this shop.” He looks up at me and I nod. “So what does this mean?”
“Well, I was hoping that it meant that maybe I could your partner, but if you decide that’s not what you want, then there’s another set of paperwork in the folder that was drawn up for me to sell all of my rights to you. All you’ll have to do is sign.” I look up at him after I finish. He’s smirking at me, and it’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.
“Shady,” he says, moving a little closer.
“Yeah?” I swallow deeply as I look up into his face.
“Shut up,” he says. Then he smashes his mouth to mine.
This kiss makes the last five years worth every damn moment. All of it—as long as each day going forward is spent making sure I never leave his world again.
