Bad Boy Ink (Get Ink'd #5) - Ali Lyda

1

Aiden

Tomorrow was a big day. Tomorrow I was officially twenty-one and I’d be starting my final year of college. I couldn’t wait to finally have my degree. Turning twenty-one...I didn’t care as much about that.

Getting older was something I should look forward to. I’d be able to get a job doing something I loved. People would pay me to do the kind of computer work I currently did under the radar. A paycheck meant I could stop worrying about when the nest egg my parents had given me would tap out.

And a real job meant I didn’t have to let gross, pervy rich men treat me like a pet rather than a person.

But getting older also meant that if plans fell through? I’d be fucked. Because it would get harder and harder to find sugar daddies to fleece. They wanted the young and malleable, not the old and jaded. It also meant that if I kept doing the...not-exactly-legal hacking that I loved, I absolutely couldn’t get caught, or I’d be locked away for a long time.

Not all of us wanted to be some tattooed ex-con working at the local celebrity tattoo shop.

“Earth to Aiden.” Bryan’s smug voice cut through the bullshit worry that was clogging my brain. I glared at him, but he just shot back a wry smile. “Where’d you go, birthday boy?”

“Up your ass,” I shot back.

“You’ll have to share the space with Mateo, and let me tell you, he takes up a lot of space.” He paused for dramatic effect. “You know, because he has a huge co—”

“Stop! Stop right there.” I shook my head and smiled. I was definitely happy Bryan had found a healthy, loving relationship. He deserved it, especially after the last year. But that didn’t mean I wanted the dirty details.

“Okay, but if you drift off into that clever mind of yours again, I’m going to give you all the graphic details,” he said. “All of them.”

I gave an exaggerated shudder. “Say no more. I am present and accounted for.”

Bryan nodded, satisfied. The waiter showed up with our drinks: two Shirley Temples, bright red with grenadine. Mine had an extra cherry in it. The waiter winked and said, “For the birthday boy.”

I groaned. “You didn’t tell them it was my birthday.”

Bryan rubbed his hands together like a villain. “Oh, I did. You get an extra cherry, a free dessert, and a waitstaff serenade before this lunch is over.”

“You evil bastard.” I sipped the virgin drink, its overly sweet syrupy taste coating my mouth.

“I’m sorry we can’t do a more traditional twenty-first celebration,” Bryan said. “But with school starting tomorrow—”

“Eh, I’m not a big party person anyway,” I said honestly. “Besides, who would we invite?”

That last part came out a bit more pathetic sounding than I’d hoped. Bryan shrugged, unfazed. “The guys at Get Ink’d love any excuse for a celebration. You could come, drink, mingle, maybe make some friends--”

Diversion time.

“Uh, thanks, but no thanks. School will take up all my time, anyway. Speaking of which, what classes are you taking?”

“They are really nice guys,” Bryan said, not taking the bait.

He wasn’t even wrong. They were nice guys, as much as I hated to admit it. I’d done some...snooping. On Bryan’s behalf. When your only friend starts working with a bunch of muscled, tattooed men, it’s okay to be suspicious. But despite all of them having juvenile records or run-ins with the police, or some roughened aspects of their pasts, each and every member of the Get Ink’d team was a solid member of society. Like, practically golden boys, just covered in ink instead of halos.

But I didn’t want more relationships. My friendship with Bryan was enough. More than enough. Courting anything more would inevitably lead to opening up, to trusting more—and of course, then it would all come crashing down around my head like a house of cards.

I wasn’t interested in any more heartbreak, thank you very much.

I sighed. “I’m sure they are, Bryan, but I have a ton of shit on my plate. I’ve got my eye on a prize, and I’m devoting all of myself to it.”

The prize being a spot as a technical analyst for the FBI. Maybe eventually moving up into professional hacking for them. Using my skills for good for once. There was one job opening that I’d come across at the job fair at the end of last year, and it was going to be mine.

My fingers itched in anticipation.

And my stomach flopped as I remembered someone else