CHAPTER 2

THE SET UP

 

Charlie

 

 

I told myself that I spent extra time getting ready this morning because I was going to lunch with Livy and Staci. It had absolutely nothing to do with Brandon. Not one dang thing.

I didn’t put on my jeans that somehow managed to wrap around my ass in a way that made it look ten times better than normal because I thought I might run into him. And as sure as heck didn’t spend ten extra minutes trying to wrangle my curly hair or apply makeup that brought out my freckles because I didn’t want him to think I was a mess one hundred percent of the time.

Nope.

Definitely not.

He may have been one of the hottest men I had ever seen, but I had a bit of self-respect. A teeny tiny bit.

And I wasn’t about to waste it on him.

I hadn’t seen any of them all morning.

And trust me. I had been looking out the storefront every few minutes.

I held the door open for the delivery men that were bringing in my new display counter, and I may or may not have leaned as far to the right as I could to try to get a glance into the tattoo shop. I could only see a glimpse of the walls and the people who mingled inside, but I could already tell that it was super cool.

You know because that’s what twenty-eight-year-old women say. Super cool.

The delivery men got my attention when they asked me exactly where I wanted the display counter, and I stopped creeping long enough to make sure it was in the right place. There was no way I would be able to move it once they left. The thing was massive, and it had taken a massive hit to my budget too.

But I loved it.

I ran my finger over the crisp white top as I started daydreaming about how my creations would look inside it. I already had it planned out in my head. The cupcakes would go in the middle, and there were three different levels where I could display them. My world-famous cinnamon rolls would go right beside the register because they were by far my biggest seller.

I just needed to figure out the rest.

“Pour Some Sugar on Me” started blaring through the room, and I quickly grabbed my cell phone out of my back pocket and tried to avoid the eyes of the delivery men who were still trying to straighten up the counter.

“Hello.” I didn’t recognize the number, but I was hoping it was the internet company who was supposed to be coming by today to get it set up.

“Hey.” Livy’s voice came through the phone. “We’re running a couple minutes behind. Why don’t you meet us over here in the shop, and we’ll leave from here?”

“Sure. That’s fine.” Totally fine. I wasn’t jonesing to get a look inside or anything.

“Okay. We’ll see you in a few.” She was so upbeat and happy, and I wondered if she was ever in any other mood. Staci on the other hand. I could imagine that.

I slid the phone back into my pocket and turned to sign the delivery form before the two men walked out of my shop.

I grabbed my purse out of the back, and I wasn’t too proud to admit that I leaned forward then slung my hair back to make sure it had plenty of volume.

When I stood at the door of Forbidden Ink, I took a deep breath and walked inside. There was music playing throughout the shop, music I had never even heard, and there were so many people just sitting around talking. Three girls hovered together in one corner as they flipped through a book which I was sure held tattoo choices. They all looked like they were going out for a night on the town instead of about to be in excruciating pain.

I stepped up to the counter where Livy was talking with some guy and then moved a few feet away while awkwardly waiting for her to finish. The walls of the shop were covered in art. Art that was seriously incredible. I wasn’t sure if they were tattoos or not because they were either drawn or painted on canvases, but I was sure that every single person that walked in here would be chomping at the bit to get one.

They were even making me consider it.

Almost.

If I wasn’t a complete chicken.

“Freckles, is that you?”

My heart that was already beating a bit too fast took off.

I looked over my shoulder to find Brandon standing in the doorway behind me with black gloves covering his hands and his eyes firmly planted on my ass.

“Hey.” I waved. Waved. From about four feet away from him.

“What are you doing here?”

It was an innocent enough question, but somehow it made me feel even more out of place than I already clearly was.

“Umm.” I turned toward him and shifted on my feet before looking back at the counter to see if Livy was finished yet. “I’m meeting Livy and Staci for lunch.”

Brandon looked her way as well then took a step back. “Come on. You can wait in here.” He motioned to a chair that I could barely spy from where I stood.

“Oh. That’s not necessary.” My fingers fiddled with the edge of my shirt. “I don’t want to get in your way.”

He tilted his head to the side as if he was trying to figure me out, and the pressure of his stare made my stomach flip. “You won’t be in the way. Plus, if Staci finds you standing out here before Livy is ready, she’s going to push you on that whole piercing thing.”

“Oh.” I could feel the heat in my cheeks as I took a step toward him. Especially when I took in the way his lips curved up at the corner.

There was a man sitting in a chair in the center of the room with his legs raised. There was a black outline of a lion on his calf.

“Freckles, this is Jonathan. Jonathan, Freckles.” Brandon sat down on a black stool that was perfectly positioned near Jonathan’s calf.

“Nice to meet you.” Jonathan nodded his head toward me.

“You too.” I slid my hands in my back pockets because I was unsure what to do with them. “My name is Charlie, by the way.”

Brandon smirked at that, and that smirk was so dang handsome that I had to look away. I looked around at the art that filled his space. I wasn’t sure if they were all something that he had done or pieces that he had collected, but my God, they were amazing.

There was a small canvas on the far wall behind the chair where Jonathan sat, and I quickly moved around him to get a better look.

The delicacy of the flowers that were painted on the stark white canvas seemed to be in such contrast with many of the other pieces of art in the room. There was something about it that reminded me of well, me, to be honest. It was like as soon as I laid eyes on it, I needed it.

I had just laid my middle finger against the edge of the canvas when the loud buzzing of a tattoo gun filled the room.

I pulled my eyes away from the painting long enough to watch Brandon. He was so focused as he ran the gun along Jonathan’s skin. Watching Brandon work somehow made him so much hotter. It was a distracting hot. He was the kind of handsome that got you in trouble.

The kind of handsome I had no need for.

“That painting is available.”

It took me a moment to realize he was talking to me.

“Available?” I glanced back at it.

“Yeah. In case you decide on that tattoo.”

“Oh.” It was beautiful. So beautiful that I would want it marked on my body forever, but that didn’t change how badly it would hurt. “I’m not really into pain.” I shrugged my shoulders.

The corner of Brandon’s mouth jumped into a barely-there smile, and I imagined myself pressing my lips against that exact spot. I wondered what it would taste like.

“It’s not that bad.” The buzzing of his gun stopped for a moment while he wiped away ink.

I watched Jonathan’s face as he began again.

“Jonathan seems to feel differently. Look at his face.” I motioned toward the guy who looked like he may be going into labor at any moment.

Brandon chuckled and pulled the gun away from Jonathan’s leg. “Jonathan, I think Freckles here just said that you’re being a pussy.”

The word off his lips made me almost choke while simply breathing. “I did not,” I said, shocked.

“Damn, Charlie. I thought we were becoming friends.” Jonathan laughed even though his words were laced with pain, and I watched a scowl form on Brandon’s face.

I opened my mouth, to say what I wasn’t sure, but I was saved as Livy poked her head in the room. “Hey, Charlie. You ready?”

“Yeah.” I quickly moved around Jonathan and Brandon to make my exit.

“Think about that tattoo, Freckles.” Brandon’s voice carried out of his space and into the main room where everyone could hear. I didn’t stop to respond. “Just because you think Jonathan’s being a pussy doesn’t mean you have to be.”

Livy raised an eyebrow at me, but I just covered my face with my hand and followed behind her.

 

 

We walked into a Mexican restaurant, and by the way all the staff acknowledged Staci and Livy, I assumed they came here a lot. There were chips and salsa on our table before we even managed to sit down, and the server only asked for my drink order as if he already knew theirs by heart.

“Do you all come here a lot?” I laid my napkin out on my lap.

“Every Taco Tuesday,” Staci said before loading a chip with salsa and stuffing it in her mouth.

I fidgeted in my seat. I was more than excited to get to know both of them, but the number one reason I didn’t really have any girlfriends besides the fact that I worked all the time? I was the most awkward person you would probably ever meet.

I blamed it on my parents. They were those parents who told me that I could be anything I wanted to be, and they meant it. If I wanted to be the girl who wore brightly colored mismatched socks all through middle school, then they told me to rock it. If I wanted to be the girl who got friend-zoned so fast that I never even got a chance to play the game, they told me how much better I could do. They never once mentioned to me that boys weren’t into girls that played soccer eighty percent of the time and studied their butts off the rest. They might have been if my messy red curls weren’t in a knotted bun on the top of my head because I had exactly zero knowledge on what to do with it. It probably didn’t help that I was also in a too big soccer t-shirt more days than not.

But my parents supported my quirkiness as they called it, and they never tried to change me from exactly who I was.

Some would call that love. I called it sabotage.

“Charlie, are you dating anyone?”

The water that I was just drinking somehow manages to go down my windpipe. Staci patted me on the back as I coughed.

“No.” I shook my head. “I haven’t had much time for dating.”

It was the truth, and it was a lie. I didn’t have time, but I also didn’t have much interest in dating.

I hadn’t met anyone who had caught my attention long enough.

“We should totally hook you up.” Livy looked like I had just given her my dating life on a silver platter, and I was a bit scared by the wild look on her face.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” I shoved a chip in my mouth.

“Nonsense.” She picked up her phone, and I could just imagine that she was probably going through her Instagram to find her victim.

“Mason has a guy who works for him that’s cute as hell.” Staci didn’t even look up from the salsa as she threw out the suggestion. “I can ask him to talk to him.”

“Who?” Livy looked up from her phone to look at her friend.

“David.”

Livy’s eyes lit up, and I swear I started curling into myself. “Yes.” Livy’s fingers moved across her screen before she pushed her phone in front of me.

There was a picture of a guy who was definitely attractive. He was more than attractive really. He was handsome as hell, but he wasn’t Brandon.

And I hated myself for that thought.

David looked like the kind of guy I should date. I scrolled through his Instagram feed, and there were pictures of him laughing with friends, pictures of him holding a large golden retriever who was trying to lick his face, and so many pictures of him just enjoying life.

Everyone knew you could trust a guy who dogs trusted.

Or something like that.

I bet Brandon’s Instagram had no puppies whatsoever.

“So?”

I looked up at Livy. “He’s cute.”

She pulled her phone back toward her and started scrolling again.

“He works with my boyfriend, Mason. Her brother.” Staci hitched her thumb toward Livy. “He’s a super nice guy. Obviously, he has a job. Win-win.”

I looked between the two of them. “You’re dating her brother?”

“Yup.” Livy finally set her phone down. “Unfortunately for you, I don’t have another one.”

Staci held her own phone out to me this time to show me a picture of her and Mason.

“He’s umm…”

“He’s hot. It’s okay. You can say it.” She smirked.

“Yeah. He is.” I took a sip of my water. “But he’s not at all what I pictured you with.”

Staci angled her head toward me. “Who did you picture me with?”

“I don’t know.” I looked between the two of them. “Someone like Brandon.”

Livy practically spewed her drink all over the table, and Staci tsked.

“Stereotype.”

“No.” I rushed to find my words. “I didn’t mean it offensively. I just… You look like you might be a lot to handle.”

Livy was still wiping her drink from her chin, and I was sure that if there was anything left she would have lost it again.

“I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

Staci grinned at me and didn’t look offended in the least. “Trust me. Mason more than handles me.” She winked.

“That’s disgusting. Please remember that he’s my brother.”

Staci rolled her eyes at Livy’s comment and picked up another chip.

“Plus, Brandon is basically the furthest from being my type. He’s never serious, he’s full of shit ninety percent of the time, and he’s a bit of a manwhore.”

I tried to school my features at this information, but I could feel Livy watching me.

“Do you have the hots for Brandon?”

I winced at her question.

“Me?” I pointed to my chest. “No. I’m with Staci. He couldn’t be further from my type.”

Another bit of truth and a lie.

“Then let us hook you up with David. We can even go on a group date if you’d be more comfortable with that.”

“A group date,” I said out loud. “I’m sure he’ll think I’m a real catch then.”

“It doesn’t have to be like that. We’ll just invite him out to hang out and tell him there is someone we’d like him to meet.” Livy looked so hopeful, and I hated the part of me that refused to let her down.

“No pressure?” I looked between them.

“None.” Livy smiled, and I felt like I had just signed a contract that would come back to haunt me.