Page 19 of Come Take Me Now

“Liners hurt more than shaders,” he adds.

“What do you mean?”

He flips his forearm to show the underside, where grapevines and leaves decorate his skin. “These lines hurt more than the shading on the leaves, but I numbed out to tattoos after a while,” he explains. “Or maybe liked the pain after a while. I don’t think I’d recognize myself without them now.”

Masochist…knew it.

“Is that why you have so many?” I ask without thinking.

He shakes his head. “No,” he answers simply, with no sign that he wants to elaborate.

“Enzo, can’t you take a fucking day off?” a female voice fills the garage. I snap my head toward the voice and spot a petite blonde with curly hair walking into the garage. Her sunglasses are pushed into her curls, and when she meets my eyes, I glance away. “Oh, I didn’t know you had company.”

“Appa, this is Tilly. Tilly, Appa. She’s married to my cousin, Robby.”

“So, you’re Tilly,” Appa says. A shock shoots through my veins.

He’s talked about me…to his cousin’s wife?

How close is this family?

I walk over toward her. “Yeah, it’s nice to meet you.” I’m a few inches taller than her, but she’s completely angelic from her blue eyes to her naturally blonde hair, radiating sunshine in the covered garage. “Is Robby here, too?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “No, he’s home with our kids. I had to drop something off at his parents’ house.”

“You have kids?”

“Yep, a three-year-old daughter and a three-month-old son. It’s as crazy as you’d think it would be,” she adds with a laugh. She pulls her sunglasses off her head and bites the end of one arm of the glasses. “So, what’s going on here?”

“Just changing her brakes,” Enzo answers.

“Mm-hmm, I bet you are,” Appa teases.

What?

Enzo chuckles. “I don’t even know what you could mean by that.”

“If you’re offering, want to do an oil change on an Escalade? Save me a trip to the dealer?”

“You have a husband for that,” Enzo says, but then laughs. “Scratch that, he can’t handle an oil change.” Appa laughs with him, too.

“You’re probably right. Anyway, I should go. I’m sure Robby’s pulling his hair out by now.”

“Bye, Appa,” Enzo says.

“Nice meeting you,” I add.

“Yeah, it was nice meeting you, too.” She shoots Enzo a look before turning and hopping into a red SUV.

“What’s with the Escalades?” I ask. “Mick seemed to think it was the symbol of your family or something.”

“Or something,” Enzo agrees. “I don’t know. I think they’re trying to come off as Italian mafia wannabes.”

I giggle. “The mob wife trend was a fun one.”

“I genuinely have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Anyway, you’re Italian?”