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How fucking pathetic was he that he wouldn’t make it one night without hitting up some sort of party?
A knock sounded on the door and Rhys bolted upright, almost running to the door and flinging it open. Luna Sullivan, bandmate and drummer, ran her steely green eyes over him and she nodded, lifting her brows as she said. “Well, you look like a decent meal has done ya good. For a while there, you were starting to look like the fucking dead arisen.”
Rhys barked out a laugh, despite himself. “Still subtle like a sledgehammer, Luna.”
Luna swept her braid off her shoulder. “That’s why everyone loves me. Now, you can wallow in self pity for a few hours but then you’re getting out and about and I won’t take no for an answer.”
The last thing Rhys wanted to do was venture out in public. Andi had managed to keep his accident quiet so no one knew that he’d ended up where he did. She’d also managed to delay the final recording sessions for their album so Rhys could get sorted and back to what he did best.
“Get dressed pretty boy,” Luna said as she shoved past him, glancing round the room. “You walking around naked in Cork city will do nothing to keep the media hounds away. Hurry up, I don’t have all day.”
Rhys rolled his eyes, but still went and did as he was told. Luna Sullivan was a scary SOB when she wanted to be...that girl had bigger balls than most men.
ChapterThree
Shay
Shay Gleeson doodledin her sketch pad in the back room of Rebel Ink, the tattoo shop she managed for her close friend, Cathal Horgan. It might not have been the job she’d pictured for herself, but Shay loved it and she loved the boys of Rebel Ink like family. Considering her own family disowned her because of her career choice, it was a blessing to be surrounded by her little tribe of heathens.
Her father was a solicitor, one who worked for the criminals and drug dealers of the city and Shay had hated it. The extravagant lifestyle her parents were used to was provided by dirty money. When her dad tossed her out when she told him she was going to art school and not getting a law degree to go work for him, Shay had applied for the job at Rebel Ink as a means to pay for rent and food but had gained much more than she'd ever expected.
An only child, Shay had to quickly adapt to being a sister with overprotective brothers, even if she felt sometimes like she was a glorified babysitter.
The memory made her smile as she smudged the outline of her drawing. Her plan had been to manage the shop while working her way to becoming an apprentice. But as Cathal, Isaac, and Darren’s reputations grew, the more business they got, and the busier the shop became. And she was too much of a control freak to hand the reigns of the shop over to someone else so she could tattoo.
Besides, the expansion meant that Cathal could hire more artists to work at Rebel Ink, the building next door being renovated so that in another couple of months the shop would be triple the size. Plus Cathal was now dating rockstar Luna Sullivan so Shay basically had to force him onto a plane to spend time with his girlfriend if she was in another country for whatever reason.
The money Cathal made during that time was so bloody good that he couldn’t justify not going, even if he worried like the worrier he was.
Cathal’s upbringing had been the complete opposite to hers. While she'd attended private school and art classes, Cathal had bounced from foster home to foster home before ending up on the streets as a teenager. Her father had represented the gang leaders who lured kids like Cathal in with the promise of food and safety. Cathal had ended up arrested but instead of prison time, he’d been sent to do community service with the previous owner of Rebel Ink.
That was it for her friend. A few years later he was the owner of Rebel Ink and had a home for the first time in his life and a newfound family. Cathal worked harder than any other person she knew and when he finally let himself be loved, she was glad it was by a woman who didn't back down from a fight and was tough as nails. She called Cathal out when he worked too hard, even though as the drummer for the hottest band around Ireland right now, Luna worked just as hard as Cathal did.
Thankfully today there was no building work going on next door and Cathal was the only artist in the shop so it was fairly quiet. He’d had a few clients to see today, had told Shay to head off but Shay had stayed so he could not be distracted by having to stop to answer the phone or get up when someone walked in.
Shay had suggested locking the door when one of them were there on their own but Cathal had frowned, not wanting to turn a single customer away. That was Cathal all out, a workaholic.
But as Shay continued to doodle in her sketch pad, she kinda wished either Isaac or Darren were around so she at least had someone to else to talk to. But Isaa was on daddy duty today, his six year old Melody, or MJ, was his life and having sole custody of the smart, funny little girl was hard, even though he never complained.
Darren Fitzgerald, or Fitz, was the other resident tattoo artist and it was his turn to take his grandmother and her friends to bingo. They all teased him about it, but Fitz just grinned and said, at this stage, he was in every old biddy’s will and set to inherit a fortune. Shay knew that Fitz would do anything for the woman who raised him, after his parents decided a kid was too much hassle.
Shay considered that when you put all of them together, they really shouldn’t have worked. However, their little gang of heathens was the only family Shay needed in her life. She would take a bullet for them all.
The door to the shop opened, the little bell signalling someone’s arrival. Shay was about to go see who had come in when Luna Sullivan popped her head around the door with a grin on her face.
“Hey Shay,” The drummer said in greeting, glancing over her shoulder. “Cathal still working?”
Shay nodded, waving her hand. “Yup, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind being interrupted by you. The rest of us might get annoyed glares but you’ll be grand.”
Luna laughed, a husky sound. “It’s the sex. It’s the really good sex.”
Shay pulled a face and Luna laughed harder. When you saw them together, Cathal and Luna looked like a rockstar couple but it wasn’t only that. They complimented each other so well that they just made sense. . Luna was crass and outgoing and Cathal was quiet and reserved. Luna loved attention while Cathal was happy to linger on the side-lines.
“Go, before I hear more about my boss's sex life than I ever needed to know.”
Luna just grinned, glancing over her shoulder before turning back to Shay. “Hey, you mind keeping an eye on the sour faced idiot outside and making sure he doesn’t bolt the minute I’m out of sight?”
Before Shay had a chance to answer, Luna vanished, leaving her to release a sigh and push off the counter, grabbing her sketch pad and pens before heading out to the front of the shop. For a second she thought that whoever Luna had left alone in the reception area of the shop had indeed bolted, but when she got to counter, Shay froze almost dropping her sketch pad.
