Breathless_ Steel Brothers Saga - HELEN HARDT Page 0,38
my pockets. I didn’t have money to spend on expensive flowers, and I didn’t have the emotional strength to get involved with anyone—especially Marjorie Steel, who deserved everything in the world.
I wandered by the tattoo shop. I was ink free, but I’d often thought of getting one. Definitely not a phoenix. A dragon, maybe. Or an eagle. Absently, I turned the handle on the door and walked in.
“Hey,” a multipierced young woman with spiky black hair greeted me. “Can I help you?”
“Just thinking. Do you have any design books I can look at?”
She pointed to a table where several thick books sat. “Knock yourself out.”
I picked up the thickest book and sat down, plunking it on my lap. I thumbed through the pages quickly, waiting for something to catch my attention.
Something did.
Not a tattoo I’d consider getting, but the phoenix Ruby’s father had on his forearm, the very tattoo that had both tormented and saved Talon during his months in captivity. Theodore Mathias had gotten the tattoo years ago, using the name Milo Sanchez.
I quickly turned the page. I couldn’t deny it was a fascinatingly beautiful tattoo, but to the Steels and to me, it meant so much more than that. It was a symbol of an evil man, a man we all wished we could forget.
Maybe a tattoo wasn’t such a good idea after all. I had no idea what image I was looking for. Most probably went into a shop already knowing what they were looking for.
If only I could find something that could negate my father.
Could negate…
I slammed the book shut. This was stupid. Completely stupid. A tattoo wasn’t some magic charm that could fix my life.
Maybe it was time to talk to someone. Really talk to someone. I put the book back on the table and walked out. As I opened the door, I met a familiar gaze.
A gaze that was only familiar to me because of my father.
Colin Morse.
His hair had grown out from the shaved head my father had given him. I cleared my throat. “Excuse me.”
Colin cringed but held his ground.
Just what I didn’t need. Another reminder of how much I resembled that psychopath who’d sired me.
What to do? Escape? Or say hello? Or say I’m sorry my father put you through hell?
Nothing seemed right. This innocent young man not yet three decades old had been brutalized beyond my imagination.
At the hands of my father.
He said nothing, just froze, the door still open, staring at me. Did he know his father had contacted me? Did he know what it could be about? I wanted to ask him all these things, but the words lodged in my throat.
“Hey!” the girl behind the counter yelled. “Shut the door, will you? It’s freaking cold outside.”
The weather was actually nice for early February, but Haley—as her nametag said—was wearing a black camisole crop top, no doubt to show off the triple piercing in her belly button.
I stepped back in and allowed Colin to pass. “Sorry,” I said to Haley. Then, to Colin, because I felt like a fool not acknowledging him, “Getting a tattoo?”
He nodded.
“You Colin?” Haley asked.
He nodded again.
“Come on in. Trevor’s ready for you. You’re a virgin, right?”
I swung my head around and stared at Haley.
“Yeah,” Colin said.
“A virgin?” I couldn’t help asking.
“Virgin skin. Never tatted,” Haley explained.
“Oh.” I nodded. “I guess I’m a virgin too.”
“Did you see anything you liked?” she asked.
“Not really. Nothing stood out to me.”
“Well, you think about it.” She nodded to Colin. “Follow me.”
I should leave. I should walk right out that door. But I couldn’t. Everything in me forced my body to immobility.
I wanted to know what Colin was having tattooed on his body. Where he was having it tattooed on his body. And why he was doing it here, in Snow Creek, the home of his brutalizer.
Once Colin had disappeared into the back, Haley returned. “You still here?”
“Yeah.”
She lifted her brow. “And…why?”
“Curious,” I said.
“About what?”
“About which tattoo Colin is getting.”
“You a friend of his? Because he didn’t say one word to you.”
“Not a friend, exactly. An acquaintance.”
“Then what do you care?”
I didn’t have a lot of money to spare, but I pulled out a twenty-dollar bill from my wallet and pushed it toward Haley. “Just tell me what he’s getting.”
She took the money and slipped it beneath her crop top. “Sure. It’s not like we have a tattoo artist and client confidentiality thing. You didn’t need to pay me.”