SAWYER

1.

I thought I’d get some giant check like a lottery winner, but instead it was just a bunch of papers and everything done electronically. The sleaze ball I called a lawyer stood there and shook my hand for about an hour, smiling with his perfect teeth and slicked back hair. Of course he loved this deal, he not only made money off me, but he got to work on the development of the strip center that was going to bring in millions. I owned a small shop smack dab in the middle and was the last person to sell. I never intended for my shop to be open for the rest of my life. It was a way to kill time, working with two other guys - Tiny and Brutus - living close enough to the ocean that the smell of salt forever lingered in the air. I walked the beach at night too many times to count, my feet in the shallow water, holding the hand of a woman who’d offer a few nights of comfort and nothing else.

When I finally got out of the lawyer’s office, I called Tiny and Brutus and had them meet me at a pizza place right on the beach. I sat in the corner and looked to the ocean as the warm air swept across my face. I had a cold beer in front of me, the glass sweating. All things considered, I should have been celebrating. I paid next to nothing for the space and was just given enough money to last me the rest of my life.

I didn’t give a shit about money.

Tattooing kept my mind at ease, but that was gone now. I could go work at any shop across the country and make a living. Or I could just open another place. Brand new. Ground up. State of the art. Find the best tattoo artists and make the shop into something nobody had ever seen before.

Hell, maybe that’s what I should have done.

I thought about it for a second as Tiny and Brutus started to walk toward me. Tiny stood seven feet tall and was built like a goddamn professional wrestler. Ink everywhere on his body except his face. The guy was terrifying but had a heart of gold. He was a single father and took care of his four-year-old daughter. I’m talking taking part in tea parties, dressing up in costumes, and going to her preschool to help with the class. I don’t know how the hell kids didn’t have nightmares after looking at Tiny.

Brutus was short but built bigger than Tiny. He was fucking wide and if you bumped into him, you went flying. He could shoulder hit a brick wall and leave an impression.

But these two guys had been loyal to me for a few years now. They knew why I opened the shop and they knew there was always a chance one day it would be closed. They knew I wasn’t living here for the rest of my life. My heart was always somewhere else. And when it came down to business people sniffing around for me to sell, they were there as it all happened. I had nothing to hide. Hell, everything I made at the shop, I split three ways. Maybe in some way I was trying to make up for what happened back in Hundred Falls Valley with Tate. Funny thing there was that my damn name was still on the neon sign. St. Skin was as busy as ever. And I was still getting checks from it. Tate never missed a payment owed to me as the place grew.

Good for him.

I stood up and skipped the handshakes with Tiny and Brutus and hugged them both. Brutus always smelled like body odor and Tiny smelled like cologne and syrup (the syrup from his daughter).

“So, it’s all done, huh?” Tiny asked, looking down at me.

That was unusual for me - to have someone looking down at me.

“It’s done,” I said, not wanting to beat around the bush.

The waitress at the pizza place came over and asked if we wanted anything. I ordered a round of beer and a pizza.

But I knew they weren’t going to hang around for long.

If there was one thing I was good at… it was goodbyes.

* * *

2.

“They’re going to level it all and put in a fucking mall, aren’t they?” Tiny asked.

“Probably apartments,” Brutus said. “Overpriced condos.”

“Maybe we should have become real estate people,” Tiny said with a laugh.

“Christ, man, with your look… people would buy anything off you because they’d be afraid of you,” I said.

“Cheers to that,” Brutus said and raised his beer glass.

We sat there in silence for a few minutes, looking out to the water.

“So, what’s next, Sawyer?” Brutus asked.

“For me? I don’t know. I don’t worry about that. What about you two?”

“Plenty of shops around town,” Tiny said. “As long as they work with Angel’s schedule.”

“Forever the father, huh?” I asked.

“Nothing else matters, man. Someday you’ll get it.”

“Me?” I asked. “Having a kid? Yeah, right.”

“You might already have a family you don’t know about,” Brutus said. “The way you float around.”

“I always protect my assets,” I said.

“Talking like a businessman now,” Tiny said. “Hanging around that lawyer too much.”

I laughed and leaned forward. “Look, I didn’t ask you guys to come here for pizza. Or to try and force small talk. I’ve been up front with you from day one. You know that.”

“Actually, we don’t know a lot about you, Sawyer,” Tiny said. “You never really opened up.”

“Not my thing to do,” I said. “But I know this. You took a chance to hang with me at my shop. We grew it. We did a good business. And now it’s gone. My lawyer finished the transaction this morning and I asked him to cut two checks. I can’t in good faith take the cash and run with it.”

“Thought you were an outlaw?” Brutus asked.

I reached for his thick shoulder. “I am, but it’s not all about taking without asking. It’s about loyalty and appreciating that.”

I wasn’t sure if I was exactly talking to Brutus or talking to myself. A humbling reminder of the hell that had been back in St. Skin a few years back.

I reached into my pocket and took out two envelopes.

“For you two,” I said. “Not sure what you consider a lot of money to be. Or how long it will last you. But it’s my way of saying thanks.”

“You didn’t have to do this,” Tiny said.

“I did it anyway,” I said.

Brutus opened the envelope and raised an eyebrow. “Wow. You sure about this, Sawyer?”

“Checks are cut. Signed. Delivered.”

Tiny stood up. “Angel has a class thing today. We’re making chameleons with paper plates and camouflaging them with another plate behind it or something.”

“Right,” I said. I stood up too. Brutus did the same. “Stick around for another five minutes? Take some pizza home for your daughter.”

“I think we can eat just fine tonight,” Tiny said and waved the envelope.

I stuck my hand out. “You got it. Maybe I’ll see you around.”

Tiny laughed. “Yeah. See you around.”

Tiny walked away.

I looked at Brutus and he had a look about him. I smiled. “He’s your ride, isn’t he?”

“Yeah,” Brutus said. “So, I, uh…”

“You have to get going too. Right.”

We shook hands and I thought Brutus was going to break every bone in my hand. It amazed me how he could be so strong without knowing it yet handle giving a tattoo with gentle grace.

I rubbed my jaw as Brutus walked to catch up to Tiny.

From the corner of my eye I saw the waitress carrying the freshly baked pizza toward me. I already had a plan in mind to offer her a slice… of the pizza and me.

But there was one thing I knew for sure.

I would never see Tiny or Brutus again.

* * *

3.

I sat on the large rock and listened to the waves crashing to the shore. I had a beer bottle resting between my legs. Becky had her head on my shoulder, hugging my right arm. She was almost like a dream the way she sat there with her bleach blonde hair dancing against the sea breeze. A thin white shirt that moved the same, revealing a bikini that was more like a piece of lingerie than something you’d swim in.

My plan for the waitress had almost been perfect.

I got her to smile. Take a slice. Give me her number. And here we were, sitting on a rock at the beach at night, drinking a few beers. Things were supposed to progress but damn, I sat there and just stared out to the dark night.

“What are you thinking about?” Becky whispered to me.

“Everything,” I said.

I lifted the beer bottle to my lips and took a drink for about two seconds before Becky pulled my hand away, spilling beer on my jeans. She grabbed my face and inched up until her lips touched mine.

There was nothing quite like the taste of a woman’s lips. More dangerous than whiskey, that’s for sure. I sucked in a breath and touched her face, knowing exactly where this should end up going. See if I could make her moan louder than the waves hitting the rocks.

But she broke the kiss and smiled. “You should go to her, Sawyer.”

“What?”

“Whoever it is you’re thinking about right now.”

Becky turned and slid off the rock. Her black sandals were on the beach and she stepped into them.

“Hey, wait a second,” I called out.

She turned and the wind caught her hair again. She was a beach beauty for sure. Long legs, everything tight, her smile addictive, and that open white shirt blowing back showing off a body that my tongue craved to taste.

“Have a good night,” I said to her.

“See you around,” she said and started to walk away.

When Becky was out of sight, I realized I still had four beers to drink.

Waste the six pack and fall asleep right there on the beach.

Then I could wake up and shake it all off and go back to whatever version of normal I wanted to explore that day.

But when I looked up and saw the stars, my heart twisted.

I had been quiet long enough.

It was time for me to head back to Hundred Falls Valley and take what was mine.

My tattoo shop - St. Skin.

And Kate’s heart.