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I don’t know how we got the house, I don’t remember walking in the front door, but I sure as fuck shake out of my stupor when we breach the living room and all fucking eyes land on me.
All five sets.
Leo with his phone attached to his ear stops mid-step in his pace, words trailing off at the sight of me.
Toby’s wide eyes swing from me to Ian to Leo like someone’s supposed to break the ice rolling over the room.
The ice I put there.
Fin pins me with a gaze, his hands frozen with a pocketknife to his nails.
Mac’s hand falls to my shoulder and squeezes when Rex’s bare footfalls pause on the plush carpet.
“Babe.”
It’s not the words that my attention catches on. Not the bare pecs or the stitches in his arm and his side that still look blistered and angry as hell.
Not the rings through his nipples on full display or the one through his busted lip. Or the colored skin.
Not even Rex’s mother as she comes up behind him and places a reassuring hand on his forearm.
“Babe…”
It’s the bob of his Adam’s apple in his throat that leads my eyes right to the brilliantly colored skin covering it. The freshly done ink underlined by his collar bones. My fucking name.
ARIA
The words from the breaking news article bounce around in my head, the TV vocalizing the shit in the background.
New ink, New girl!
Rex from As Above was spotted out and about with some fresh arm candy and a fresh tattoo.
As Abovefront man seen manhandling a mugger—but wait!! Is that a new tat!
“Looks like no one can tell what it is just yet.” Leo is the first to break the silence. He comes to me, flashing his phone with a close up of my name on his fucking neck and the tagline asking for pros to analyze the lettering for confirmation.
“Great.” The word doesn’t sound like me. It sounds like it comes from someone else’s mouth.
“It’s only a matter of time before they do.” Toby, forever helpful, comments, earning himself a slap to the chest from Rex’s mom. “OW!”
“Not helping,” she scolds.
“Baby.” Rex rushes me in that moment, wrapping his uninjured arm around my shoulders. He kisses my head and whispers apologies to me that I don’t feel.
In fact, I don’t feel anything right now.
I think I’m in shock.
“We could spin this into a one-night stand kind of thing.” Leo drones on, back to pacing the floor. “We could blast the other shit to drown this one out.”
“No.” Rex’s words are resolute and immediate. Steadfast, he spins until he’s looking at Leo over my head, my back to the room.
“Could suggest it’s a longtime friend.” As if Leo’s comments hit play on the room, everything comes rushing around me.
“You could admit it’s his girlfriend.”
Am I?
