Page 21 of Tony

“Yeah. Maybe. My brain thinks that too. But my heart…” She places her hand over it. “It’s sick at the thought that we’re not meant for each other.”

“Hmm.”

“Is that how you feel about Belinda?”

“No.” I shake my head. “No. It’s more like… an obsession. One I lost control of without knowing it.”

She points to me. “An addiction?”

“Yeah. Like that.”

“So walk away.”

“I don’t think I can.”

“But why?”

“Why can’t you walk away from Vann?”

“Touché.”

But it’s a real question. And we both know this because we go quiet as we stare out the window. People are coming and going at the tattoo shop. This is a college town and that college is just a couple blocks down the street. So I’m guessing students wander in there all the time. To look, mostly. Dream. Maybe even some of them make appointments.

But you can tell the students from the actual customers without much effort. You know who’s really getting work done just by their look.

They are serious tattoo fanatics. This shop is no joke. These brothers are the real deal.

And I hate that. Because Belinda is an artist. Even if tattoos were never part of her creative dream before she came to live in this town, there’s no way she doesn’t appreciate what goes on inside Sick Boyz Ink.

“Are we really going to stay here until they close?” I ask.

Soshee doesn’t even look at me. Just nods her head. “I am.”

“Will you follow him home?”

“Hmm.” She drags her eyes off the shop and finds mine. “Will you follow her home?”

I nod.

“We can do that together. They live at the same place.”

“I know. I hate that.”

“Me too.”

“I followed her last night.”

“Vann didn’t work last night.”

“I know. But the two other brothers did. They walked her home.”

“Fucked up your good time, huh?”

“Nah. I sneaked around the garage after they went inside. But she caught me. She was waiting for me.”

“Did you guys…” Soshee waggles her eyebrows at me.

“No. I kissed her. And she kissed me back. For a second. Then she told me to stop.” I sigh. “And I did. And she pushed me away and told me to get out of her life. That’s pretty much where it ended.”