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“Just about done, love.” He speaks gently. “If you want to, you can look now. Or you can wait until I finish cleaning it up.”
“I’ll wait.”
Those are the first words I’ve heard from her in a week, and they hit me right in the solar plexus. She sounds different, ridiculous as it may seem. But I’ve gotten so used to her crying and breaking apart, that her voice filled with certainty throws me off.
“Sounds good.” Tom carries on like I’m not obsessively watching what he is doing.
Casper’s entire upper arm is a mix of intricate black lines. Thin, thick, and everything in between. From the top of her shoulder down to her elbow, her arm is covered in different flowers that hadn’t been there before. The only ones I recognize are daisies and sunflowers. Except those are only part of the masterpiece. The top is darker, thicker, more in-your-face than the rest. As Tom moves down, wiping the last remnants of stray ink from her skin, I see exactly what he’s done. Her tattoo is bold and darker at the top, but at the bottom it fades into a cloud of gray.
“Beautiful.” My whisper has Casper opening the amber eyes I’ve been missing the past week and looking straight into my soul.
I don’t blink.
I don’t flinch.
I don’t back away.
I don’t do anything but let her see what the last week has done to me.
That I’ve done nothing but think about her.
I want her to know what she does to me and how she wrecks me. She’s been it for me for the last 168 hours.
She’s probably going to be it for me for a hell of a lot longer than that.
She finally breaks eye contact first when Tom runs another paper towel across her skin.
I watch, enraptured, while she takes in the tattoo he’s given her. I’ve seen those flowers before. On the photo that’s hanging in her house. Cassie had something similar covering her entire arm. The knowledge that she’s done it for her sister has me ready to pull her into my arms. To offer her the comfort that she needs as she falls apart.
Only Casper doesn’t break this time.
“Tom.” Her awe-filled voice filters through the area around us. “I can’t believe it. You did amazing. I just… I can’t believe it.”
There aren’t tears. There isn’t a choked sob. Casper stares at her arm, with the fingers on her other hand hovering above the permanent marks on her skin.
“I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.” She smiles, and everything around me shifts on its axis.
“Holy shit,” Emmett whispers from my side.
I can’t take my eyes off her, so I wait for him to go on.
“I see it, coz.” He leans in. “I see why you’ve been obsessing. It’s like she’s a completely different person than the heartbroken woman I met a few weeks ago.”
Honestly, I’m far too entranced by Casper to even answer Emmett, but he’s right. Casper’s face isn’t showing any of the shadows that I’ve grown accustomed to seeing. She isn’t worn down by the weight of her loss. She isn’t fragile and ready to shatter. Dumbly, I have to think back to make sure it has only been a week since I’ve seen her. The impossibility of the situation hits me like a freight train.
“She’s gone,” Casper says quietly in response to the question in my eyes. “I miss her, and I always will. But it was time to say goodbye. Cassie would slap me upside the head for wallowing. Really, she would.” She looks away. “You look good, Cole.”
Strength… That’s what she’s exuding, and in that moment, I realize exactly why I haven’t been able to take my eyes off Casper since the moment I met her. She is the strongest woman I’ve ever encountered in my entire life. And I don’t want to lose her.
“See you later, Emmett.” I keep my voice down, but I know that he heard every word I said. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I can get Casper home from here.”
Emmett walks away without looking back. I hear him lift Sori into his arms and then leave, but I never take my eyes off Casper. If I do, there is no telling where she’ll disappear to. I watch Tom moisturize her tattoo and cover it, taking care not to hurt her irritated skin. Casper doesn’t even wince when he covers it. In fact, she just continues smiling.
While I stand there looking like a stalker, Casper and Tom carry on as though I’m not there. Diana is still sleeping behind us, snoring lightly, and no one pays attention to her. After Casper gathers her bag, Tom starts to lecture her on proper tattoo care.
“Keep it covered for a few hours, Casper. And if you need it touched up, don’t go to anyone else. Come back to me and I’ll take care of you. Also, make sure to keep it moisturized daily. It’s important.”
“I will.” Casper listens to every word as though her life depends on it, and the look of utter concentration while she memorizes the instructions have my dick hard. My head is filled with images of her staring at me that way, and suddenly all I can think about is that I haven’t had her in a week.
