Page 7 of Inked Heart
He leans down and presses a quick kiss to my cheek.Not my lips, my cheek.
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he says, already walking toward his truck.
I stand there watching him drive away and the parking lot grows quiet again.Across the street, a familiar black pickup pulls out of the Magnolia Room lot and turns onto Main.
Damien.
He probably doesn’t even realize I’m still standing here.But something about that small, ordinary moment makes a strange thought drift through my mind.Earlier today ...when he took that cupcake from my hand.The way his fingers brushed mine.The way he smiled, soft and genuine.Like I was the best part of his day.
I shake my head quickly.That’s simply ridiculous.
Damien is just a friend and I have a boyfriend.
Still...As I climb into my car and start the engine, one quiet question lingers in the back of my mind.Why does it feel like Damien Grey sees me more clearly in five minutes ...than Emette has in five years?
Chapter Three
Old Ghosts
Damien
There are two kinds of memories.The ones you look back on with a smile and the ones that crawl out of the dark when you least expect it and remind you exactly who you used to be.
Tonight?It’s the second kind.
I pull my truck into the gravel lot behind House of Ink and sit there for a moment longer than necessary, staring through the windshield at the back door of the shop.
The engine ticks as it cools and somewhere down the street a dog barks.And my brain, traitorous bastard that it is, keeps replaying a scene from the Magnolia Room over and over like a broken record.
Quinn sitting at that table.Her shoulders pulled slightly inward.The way she smiled when I waved.The way Emette Black looked at her like she was something mildly annoying he had to tolerate.
My hands tighten on the steering wheel.I shouldn’t care.It’s none of my business.She’s his girlfriend.
End of story.
Except ...old habits die hard.
