last year he was number three on a top ten tattoo artists list on a popular tattoo website. Since then, his business has doubled and there are people coming all the way from New York to get a tattoo by him. He’s hiring another artist to work in the shop,” Grace said.
“Honestly, I’m surprised he even tattooed you last night,” Kira said. “Connor tried to book him for August and Preacher is booked solid until late October.”
“His assistant guy did say he was booked, but then Preacher said he would tattoo me last night,” Addison touched the tattoo again. “Shoot, now I feel really bad about paying so little for the tattoo. I told him it seemed too low, but he said it wasn’t.”
“Don’t feel bad,” Grace said. “You asked him the price and he’s the one who said it was a hundred bucks. Besides, you more than made up for the low price by banging him. Hell, he should have been paying you for the great sex … wait, that didn’t come out right.”
Both Kira and Addison laughed as Grace slapped herself on the forehead.
“Thanks, you guys. It really helped to talk about this,” Addison said.
“Girl, any time you want to talk about sex, just call. I’m always up for talking about dick,” Grace said.
Kira laughed again. “Oh God, Grace. I love you.”
“Love you too, Kira, baby. Love you too.”
* * *
“So, are you going to tell me why you texted me last night asking me to ask Grace to make sure Addie was safe at home without telling either of them you were asking? Because,” Gideon drank a swallow of beer, “it feels like some next level teenage girl drama bullshit.”
“Busy in here tonight.” Preacher studied the people crowded into the pub. Like it always was in the summer, the Thirsty Beaver was overrun with tourists and locals. Hell, he was lucky he’d found a table for him and Gideon near the back that was relatively quiet.
“Always is this time of year. What was up with the Addison thing?” Gideon said.
Jesus, his best friend was like a dog with a bone. He supposed Gideon couldn’t help it – he was a goddamn cop after all.
You invited him out tonight knowing he would ask. You want to tell him what happened with Addie last night, you dickhead. So fucking tell him.
“Preacher?” Gideon leaned in. “What the hell is going on, buddy?”
“I fucked Addison last night.”
Gideon’s mouth dropped open and the look of shock on his face almost made Preacher laugh. Would have made him laugh if he could get the look of regret on Addie’s face after they were done fucking out of his head for one goddamn second. His apologies had only made it worse and after she’d taken off, his worry about her walking home in the dark had kicked in. He’d almost grabbed his bike and gone after her, but what the hell would he have done if she refused to get on the bike? Just followed her home at a snail’s pace like some fucking weirdo stalker?
He'd done the next best thing he could. He texted Gideon and asked for his help. He hadn’t stopped pacing his small apartment until Gideon texted him with an update that Addison was safe at home.
“Close your mouth, asshole,” Preacher said when Gideon continued to gape at him.
“What the fuck, Preacher?” Gideon said. “You seriously had sex with Addison Moore last night?”
“Yeah. She came into the shop just as it was closing and wanted a tattoo.”
“Okay, even that’s fucking weird, but how the hell did you go from her wanting a tattoo to having sex?”
Preacher glanced around. None of the tables near them had locals sitting at them, but he lowered his voice anyway. “It just happened. I finished the tattoo, she hugged me, and then she kissed me and then we had sex.”
“There’s so much more to this story than you’re telling me,” Gideon said.
Preacher cracked his knuckles and drank two big swallows of beer. “Fine. Here’s the entire fucking story, you nosy bastard.”
Ten minutes later he was finished telling Gideon about Friday night at the pub and Sunday afternoon.
He drank another swallow of beer to ease his dry throat. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me she and that lawyer had broken up?”
“One, I thought you knew, and two, I didn’t think you’d care. I had no idea you were into Addison,” Gideon said.
“I’m not into her,” Preacher said. “We fucked, it doesn’t mean anything, and it’ll