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I tugged my sweater off until I was just in a tank top. The back dipped to where my bra strap cut across my back, leaving my upper shoulders bare.
“Yep, right in the middle.”
Callie made some sound and then let out a sigh. “Okay, now regarding the lettering…” I could hear the hesitation in her pause. “Are you sure you want it to say…that?”
At war with myself, once again, I had to shove down the fear and just push on.
“I’m positive.”
There was no turning back now. This was going to thrust us into new territory, and I had no idea how it would end, but for the first time since meeting Killian, I was completely sure of what I wanted.
I was watching Callie’s coworker finish up Natty’s tattoo. The original plan was for Callie to do it, but my design took well over an hour to complete, and my beautiful, pregnant friend was tired. Trey, Callie’s coworker, was a nice guy with massive arms and a goatee he’d died pink. Natty seemed to warm up to him, considering they’d been chatting peacefully for the past forty-five minutes.
I was scrolling through my phone, trying to ignore the fact that Killian hadn’t texted me. I wasn’t sure what I had expected. We’d had a moment this morning, and sure, I technically slept in his arms last night, but it wasn’t like he offered me a property patch or said we were dating now.
It made me feel foolish, thinking he might reach out to me at some point during the day. I didn’t like feeling this way, and the longer I went without hearing from him, the more I realized how unacceptable it was that I was merely waiting on him to be the first to reach out.
So, gathering my bottom lip between my teeth, I texted him.
Me: Running a little late, did you eat already?
It was already past seven, and part of me wondered why he wasn’t curious where I was yet.
I watched the screen, seeing that he’d read the message and was now about to respond. The dots on the screen bounced and then stopped.
When nothing else came through, I decided to navigate over to the tab I still had open for available rentals in Rose Ridge. It was habit now. It was also hard to convince my brain of what Killian had said about following me wherever I went and not letting me out of his bed. I wanted to think that meant relationship, but I was too scared to trust that notion. I browsed through one-bedroom rentals, I was also listening to Natty talk about her tattoo with Trey.
“Why a forest of dead trees?” he asked, while his hand moved in a steady motion over her chest.
Her gaze was up on the ceiling, her ankles crossed, and overall, she looked cozy and comfortable. With a sigh, she quietly answered, “It’s sort of complicated. It’s the dark woodland, like a cursed forest…but a forest just the same. It represents someone I know…someone that is a part of my life, even if I don’t want him to be.”
Trey stayed quiet and the buzzing from the gun stayed consistent. Callie was cleaning up her space, and then I heard Trey ask.
“Sounds like maybe it’s someone you should forget. They hurt you?”
Natty shook her head. “Never.”
Then with a contemplative look, she expanded, “There was this movie when I was a kid that I watched…it was about this man who was in love with this woman, but she was cursed and turned into a hawk every night, and he a wolf. It made it so the two could never be together, even if they only loved each other and all they wanted was a life together. They knew because of the curse it was impossible. That’s how it is with him. We have this curse between us, this thing that will always keep us apart.”
Trey wiped up the ink as he continued moving his gun over her chest. The dark lines against her fair skin were oddly mesmerizing.
I was so entranced in her story about this person who was her dark forest when my phone vibrated with a text.
Killian: Something came up. I’ll be back in a few days. Giles is going to shadow you whenever you leave. Please use my truck while I’m gone. Don’t walk anywhere alone, that includes around the property line.
I stared feeling my heart flutter and my stomach swoop.
Instead of replying, I tucked my phone back into my purse and peeked back over at Natty. Her dead forest was nearly finished when Trey must have asked a new question that I had missed because Natty was still sharing with him more than she ever had with me or Callie.
“He is dangerous. I don’t pretend he’s not; it’s part of why we’re not together. He would never hurt me, but he would very seriously burn the world down on my behalf. He’s all fire and fury. But somewhere, down deep—” She trailed off, flicking her gaze in my direction.
I wasn’t fast enough, so I stared back at her. I wanted her to know I was a safe space, but I also knew she was too guarded to trust me. Still, this story she told of this man who loved her…it touched some place inside me that was starved for that sort of obsession. For someone on this planet to love me that way, to want me like that.
A flush crept up my face as embarrassment sunk into my chest. I had assumed that would come from Killian, but my gut told me it wouldn’t. Maybe for once I’d be wrong. I had no idea if Natty saw my face or had the sense to know what I was thinking of after the brand I’d put on my back, but her next words felt like they were just for me.
“We write each other letters. We don’t add our names or address it to one another. It’s just this phantom idea that one day our curse will be lifted. It’s been years since I’ve felt his touch, but he finds other ways of getting through to me. Sometimes it’s the lack of words, and the things they don’t do that we need to pay attention to. Sometimes these creatures of darkness only know how to show their love by not bringing their demons around us. With him, I understand that. His fire would burn me; all I want is to live in peace, but he’s war.”
My phone buzzed again, and I pulled it free to see Killian had texted again.
