“Hey, we’ve got a last-minute booking, think you can squeeze in a four-by-four-inch tattoo?”

Lucas glanced up at Carly. He wanted to say no. He’d spent the whole day doing wrap up jobs. His back hurt. His arm was almost numb. But he couldn’t deny that after days away from the job, he’d missed it. With the way plans to go to the UK were going, it’d be another week or two before he left. In all truthfulness, he could use the work, if for no other reason than he needed to keep his mind busy.

“Sure, throw it at me.” He wiped Walker’s arm down and examined the tattoo, searching for any sign of the old, faded script underneath. The bird feathers had mostly masked the lines, working with the old letters to form the outstretched wings.

“That looks amazing,” Walker said.

“It’s still going to have a bit of a scab for the wedding.”

“No, it’s perfect as is. Thank you.”

“I’ll get you wrapped up and Carly can finish you off.”

“Actually.” Carly pivoted, her face twisted up. “I need to run down the street. I’ve got to collect some last-minute items from some of the owners, and they only have availability at night. Do you mind?”

“Go.” Ringing up Walker wouldn’t take long, and Carly was building herself a business.

“Okay, I’m gone.” Autumn paused at the front. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow, yeah?”

“Hey, wait for me,” Pandora said. “I’ve just got to bandage him up. I’d appreciate a hand getting this stuff in the car.”

“Is everyone leaving?” He scowled at the three women.

“You still have your key, right?” Autumn asked.

“Well...yeah.”

“Okay, then.” Autumn scooped up Pandora’s things.

The front door jangled as Carly rolled out of the shop.

Lucas smelled a fish. Something was up, probably a dramatic play at getting him to work a bit longer or something equally silly. Come to think of it, Carly and Autumn had been especially nice to him all freaking day.

Whatever they were up to, it wouldn’t work.

He’d see this client tonight, do the job, and leave his key under the welcome mat out back.

Lucas rang Walker up and finished the paper work on his tattoo while Autumn and Pandora escaped out the back. Her client had prepaid, so he merely waltzed out without a backward glance.

“You coming to my place tonight, or your parent’s?” Walker asked.

“You mind if I crash on your couch?” Lucas wasn’t ready to put up with his parent’s arguing. Again.

“Not at all. Want me to take Omen with me?”

“Is that a problem? She probably wants to play and be out of the crate. I’ve been so slammed all day.” Lucas picked up the note Carly had left about the job.

Something about dog paw prints.

He frowned.

That was vague.

Lucas got Walker and Omen out the door. That done, he sat down at his station and pulled up some pictures, ideas to source the concept of paw prints from. Since Carly hadn’t mentioned gender or style, he pulled several into a collage, but only printed the most basic set of two, black prints. He snagged his notebook and traced the paws a few times, giving himself a foundation to work off, then sketched a few ideas. One was generic, simple, no frills. He added claws and a bit of a distressed texture to the second, making it more masculine. The third he added a few swirling lines and flowers. Most often people who wanted paw prints had a specific animal in mind. He could tweak these given some input once the client got there.

Lucas checked the time.

Five o’ clock on a Wednesday wasn’t all that busy, but it was odd the girls had left him completely alone. Well, except for Carly.

Oh, well. It wasn’t his shop, and these weren’t his rules.

The front door chimed.

He turned and met the gaze of a tall, muscular young man carrying a baby in a car seat.

“Hi, can I help you?” Lucas took in the man’s age, the baby, and made a few conclusions.

“Hey, is Kellie or Carly around?” he asked.

“No, man. They’re out for the night. Anything I can help you with?”

“Oh. I guess not.”

“Want me to leave a note for them? A name?”

“Nah, I’ll catch them later. Thanks.”

Lucas watched the man go. Was that the infamous Jacob? The married man who was emotionally connected to Carly? Lucas felt for them, he really did, but carrying on a close, even platonic, relationship was doing neither of them any favors. Look at him and Jenny. Down that path spelled disaster.

He turned back to his station and stared at the designs.

Hopefully, this made someone happy. Part of this job that he liked the best was taking someone’s heart and soul, and putting it on their skin. It was a part of the gig that was more than just getting paid, it was a sense of completion.

The door chimed again.

“Hello, can I...” Lucas glanced up and stared at the woman hovering in the doorway.

She wore a pair of cut-off shorts and a tank-top with the holes so big they exposed her sides. The pattered sports bra was as much functional as fashion. It wasn’t the same outfit that used to drive him crazy, but it was close enough.

Lucas swallowed.

He hadn’t been prepared to see Jenny again. Ever.

“Everyone’s gone home,” he said.

“Oh.”

“It’s just me here.”

“That’s fine.” She picked at the hem of her shorts. “You’re doing my tattoo, then?”

He stared at her and almost pinched himself.

Was this some sort of joke? A plan to get the two of them to make up?

It wasn’t happening. He’d fucked up enough, and one of them had to go. It should be him.

“No.” He closed his notebook.

“Why not?”

“Because you shouldn’t even be here, Jenny. You don’t want a tattoo. I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t like it.”

“I want a tattoo.”

“Since when?”

“Since Batman died.” Jenny planted her hands on her hips and dished out a very serious glare. “Are you going to do it, or is someone else going to?”

“Look around. Who else can do it?”

“Exactly. Show me what you’ve got.”

What the hell was going on here?

He picked up the notebook and laid it on his client chair, showing off the three designs.

“That one.” She pointed at the one with the claws.

“Are you sure?” It wasn’t what he would have picked for her.

“Yes. How long will it take?”

“Do you want any changes? Maybe something with it?”

“No, that’s good.”

“Okay.”

“How long will it take?”

“Twenty minutes, once we get going.” He couldn’t imagine that she’d actually go through with this. Would she?

“Okay. Do I just wait here?”

“Sure.”

He took the design to the back office, out of sight, and spent a moment frowning at the floor. Was this a dream? A trick? He could only imagine that Jenny was up to something, some form of revenge or getting her pound of flesh. He’d play along, because he deserved whatever he had coming and deep down, he was hungry for another couple of moments with her.

Lucas printed out the stencil and trimmed it down. He wanted to prepare himself, mentally speaking, to touch Jenny and feel nothing, but he wasn’t that strong. She was his heart, and soon, he’d be without her.

g

Jenny breathed through the sensation of a hundred needles stabbing her at once.

Lucas had said the ankle hurt. He’d tried to get her to move the tattoo to another area. Had she listened? Nope. Not one bit.

“You’re doing great,” he said for the dozenth or so time.

Why had she thought this was a great idea?

Oh, right. Because Batman was the thing that brought her and Lucas together before there had ever been a them.

She squeezed her eyes shut and did her best not to let the involuntary twitches shake her too bad.

“The worst part is over, I promise.” Lucas swirled the tattoo needles in a bit of the red color, his gaze focused on her ankle.

“How much longer?” she finally asked.

“About five more minutes. I’ve got to do this shading, then you’re done. The line work is the hardest to get through, and this spot is pretty tender.”

“You said that. I should have listened.” She let her head drop back against the cushion.

“Yeah, well, you always were determined to do things your way.” Lucas chuckled.

“How much easier would life have been, if I’d listened to what other people told me?”

“Shoot, don’t start asking yourself that one. That’ll get you in trouble.”

“Where would you be if you’d listened to people?” she asked.

“I’d have stayed in the Marines. Everyone kept saying, how can you get out now?” Lucas shook his head. “You end up with too many dead friends, you start to realize what’s important to you.”

“I’d still be living with my mom, probably taking care of baby brother number eight.”

“Eight? Is she still having kids?” Lucas glanced up at her, eyes wide.

“Yup. He was a complete surprise. I imagine my next youngest sister will end up raising him.”

“Do you still talk to them?”

“Not much. They all think I abandoned them.”

“I guess it depends what side of things you’re on.” Lucas straightened. “There. All done.”

He laid the machine down and grabbed a paper towel, wetted it then swiped it over her abused flesh.

Jenny hissed and closed her eyes.

“Yeah, this part always sucks. Nearly done. Okay. Have a look.”

She pried one eye open, then the other. Lucas sat at her feet, a mirror in hand reflecting back the image of two paw prints, the nails seeming to dig into her skin. Batman had always been a mamma’s boy. The tattoo was nestled between her Achilles tendon and the bump on the outer part of her foot. Lucas had added in the word Batman under one paw in the tiniest script possible.

“Oh... my...” Jenny covered her mouth with her hand and blinked back the sudden urge to cry.

“You like it?”

“Yes.”

She hadn’t expected something as simple and silly as a tattoo to get her choked up, but here she was, swiping tears off her cheeks.

Batman was the proof that all the truly good things in her life began with Lucas.

Her dog.

Her freedom.

Finding herself.

Figuring out how strong she was.

What she wanted.

“Come on, Jenny, don’t cry on me. I can’t handle you crying anymore, please? I’m sorry, okay?”

She turned blindly toward his voice and held out her arms. His hands gently encircled her waist, hugging her back. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and sobbed.

Fear was what had held her back. She’d been so afraid to be happy that she’d created problems where there weren’t any. She was so gun-shy about loving again, believing that this time it would be good, that she’d driven a wedge between them. She’d taken everything he’d done as a slight against her, even when it was kind. And when the true ammo came out, she’d self-destructed in a brilliant, one-woman show.

Lucas scooped her up and cradled her close to his chest, rocking her as she cried herself out.

They’d lost so many years, so much time, because of fear. She didn’t want to waste another minute.

Jenny pulled back enough to wipe her face. Lucas pressed a paper towel into her hand and she did her best to dry her eyes.

He stared at her, his face so creased and lined with worry.

If he were anything like the monster she’d tried—and failed—to make him out to be, he wouldn’t care about her first. He wouldn’t be trying to leave his home for her. He’d make her miserable. Instead, even now, he was doing his best to put her first.

“Walker came to see me today,” she said.

“He—what?” Lucas’ face twisted up into a mask of anger.

“He’s totally different now.”

“It doesn’t give him any right to ask you to do anything.”

“I forgave him.”

“You—what?” Lucas blinked at her.

“I forgave him.” Jenny shrugged. “Holding onto all that unhappiness, the pain, it made me afraid. Of you. Of success. Of being me. I’ve been scared for so long that I make my own problems instead of moving on. I want to move on.”

“You should. You deserve to.”

“What about you?” she asked.

“I guess I’m moving on, too.”

“Have you, though?” She stared at his face, the lines around his mouth, the untrimmed edges of his beard.

“I’m trying?”

“You didn’t make Walker choose to cheat or do any of the things he did. You can’t be responsible for what he did.”

“But I—”

“I know what you did, and what you think you did.” She took his hand in hers and stripped off the rubber glove so she could touch him. “I forgave Walker, and I forgive you, too. All you were trying to do was look out for me, and I took that and threw it in your face. When I asked you to leave, I really wanted you to stay. But I was scared. See? Fear keeps destroying the little good in my life, Lucas. I don’t want it to destroy us, too.”

“But, I was selfish and spiteful, and—”

“And it’s in the past. We were all wrong. And we kept making wrong choices, maybe for the right reasons? What I know is that...I forgive Walker. I forgive you. Can you forgive me?”

“Of what?”

“For running away. For asking you to leave your life behind.”

“Those were my choices.”

“Were they?”

He frowned at her, but she saw cracks in his resolve. It was in the lines around his eyes, the light shining through.

“Lucas, I love you, and that terrifies me. I’m scared that...we’ll be so close I’ll lose myself in you. That you will become my world, because that’s how intense these feelings are. I’m scared that you’ll resent me and we’ll fall apart. That I’ve messed us up before we really got started.”

“Jen...”

“Look, I know I’m messed up, probably more than you realized, but I’m going out on a limb here and I’m totally, selfishly asking you to forgive me and not go to the UK. If you still love me...maybe we can try it again?”

Lucas stared at her, his mouth open and eyes wide.

She’d come on too strong. It was too much. Her chance at happiness was gone.

“Babe.” He squeezed her hand in return and leaned his head toward hers until their brows touched. “I never stopped loving you.”

“Really?” She covered her mouth with her free hand. She’d hoped, but she hadn’t let herself believe.

“Really.” He stroked her skin.

“I love you.” Her head felt light saying those words.

“I love you, too.”

Jenny blinked back tears. As happy as she was to hear those words, they didn’t make a picture-perfect ending.

“Are you still leaving?” she asked.

“Was I?” He frowned.

“Walker said you were.” Her voice trembled. She’d lost her happiness once, she didn’t want to lose it a second time.

“Walker’s a liar.” Lucas winked.

“You’ll stay? Please tell me you’ll stay.” Jenny needed to hear it, to know that it wasn’t just okay between them, but there was a chance.

“You can’t make me leave, even if you wanted to.” Lucas kissed her brow and pulled her across his lap, cradling her to his chest. “I love you, Jenny.”

She buried her face against his shoulder and cried, but this time they weren’t sad tears. Her heart, that missing piece of her, had come home and for the first time in her life she was whole.

•  •