I found the shoebox in the back of the closet. I didn’t keep much from years past, but I always managed to hang onto that shoebox. Sometimes I added memories to it. But I hadn’t touched the box in a long time. Being in the back corner of the closet took me back to being a kid again. I wasn’t sure how exactly that made me feel. There was a big innocence back then that didn’t exist now, but what used to happen made me uneasy.

The first picture I saw when I flipped the lid off was of Donna.

I stroked my thumb over the picture of me and her. Standing under a brightly colored tree that had freshly blossomed.

I tried to check on Donna from time to time. She owned a handful of salons. Her dream had been to get to Hollywood to be a makeup artist for movie stars or to work on horror movie sets. She was into that creepy stuff, but not me. She didn’t get to Hollywood, but owning her own business was pretty cool.

The picture made me smile.

It was a nice memory to have.

I missed her. I really did. She had been my best friend since first grade, when a girl named Rebecca tried to take my chair. My chair had been steady while hers was wobbly. Before I could figure out why Rebecca took my chair, Donna appeared. She was bigger than everyone else at the time. This girl with pudgy cheeks, freckles, honestly looking like a cliché bully. She punched Rebecca in the shoulder, and Rebecca never bothered me again. Donna sat next to me, we both kept our good chairs, and when she needed to borrow glue, I gave her my glue. And that was the beginning of our friendship.

Donna turned out to be a beautiful young woman. While the rest of us went through some awkward stages with pimples, periods, and worrying about the size of our boobs, Donna filled out perfectly. She paid her price in elementary school being the tallest girl with extra weight and glasses. But come middle school into high school, she was like a super model.

Her desire to fight and protect never left her soul, and that was the downfall of our friendship. Which was caused by me. She never understood why I couldn’t fight and defend myself. Neither could I, half the time.

I dropped the picture and just sat there in the closet.

Why the hell was I doing this to myself?

I was trying to figure out what was happening with Maddox. Going down memory lane probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do right now. But I was bored. I had to cancel three jobs because I had no camera. I added up what I had left on credit cards and found that I could get a basic camera. But it wouldn’t be the same quality I wanted to offer people. So that meant I needed to get a new job. Work, save, start over. Or find someone to lend me the money to get a new, proper camera. But I hated that idea. I didn’t want to owe anyone a thing. Not after what happened with Mitch.

I shivered.

I could still picture him touching my shoulders as I put in his credit card info to buy the camera. The way he squeezed, now realizing it was him sinking his teeth into me for good. Taking control. All I saw was the camera. My business. Finding my happiness.

Sliding the lid to the shoebox, I tucked it away.

I put my head back and let out a sigh.

My cell phone started to beep. I wrestled to get my hand into my pocket.

It was Maddox.

Come to St. Skin. Don’t argue, sugar.

Sugar.

I didn’t do the whole nickname thing, but the way sugar rolled off Maddox’s sexy lips, it made it all okay. I could hear his voice in my head. That roughness from being a man and from smoking. I could smell him too. Hell, I could still feel his body against mine. His body thrusting, holding me, loving me. It all happened so fast, but to me, it had been a slow build from the second I turned the corner to the back of St. Skin and saw him flicking his cigarette across the back lot.

I didn’t reply to the text.

I pulled myself from the closet.

I hadn’t been to St. Skin in a few days. I had called Tate and quit but never faced him in person. Not to mention, he paid me in advance for another round of work that I hadn’t completed yet. So, I owed him money, and I fully intended on giving that back.

I sat at my desk and figured out how much Tate paid me and divided it by the days worked, blah, blah, and I got a number that seemed right that I owed him back.

I wrote a check and left the apartment.

I had a really heavy heart. I didn’t want to be done with St. Skin. Every day there brought new stories to capture. I liked the tattoo scene. I liked talking to the people getting ink. I liked figuring out the different personalities of the guys. It was the shot of life that I so needed. Not to mention the money was good. Very good.

I got to my car and opened the driver’s door and climbed in. I threw my bag across seat, looking as I did, realizing there was something on the passenger seat.

It was a black box. Big. With a green bow stuck on top.

“What the…”

I looked up into the rearview mirror and saw a truck parked behind me.

Maddox was behind the wheel.

* * *

Before I could make a move, Maddox drove away.

I put my window down but didn’t yell for him. He was too far away. So I grabbed for my phone and sent him a text.

What is this?

I waited.

No response.

I set my attention back to the box next to me. I didn’t do the whole present thing. It always came with a price. Some kind of favor attached to it. Some kind of payback that could be called up at anytime, anyplace.

I slowly lifted the lid of the box and let out a gasp.

It was a camera. A brand-new camera. One that was far better than the one that got smashed into pieces. Complete with a set of lenses, too. Really expensive lenses, ones that would allow me to take a variety of shots at different angles and distances. This camera was amazing. It was beautiful. It was perfect. It would change everything about my business.

And tucked under it was a folded-up piece of paper.

I opened it, and there was a gift card for way too much money, along with a note from Maddox.

Whatever else you need to keep taking your beautiful pictures, Hazel with the green eyes.

• Maddox

I stared at the paper, the gift card, the camera, all of it going round and round in my head, wondering what to do.

I wanted to be thankful, but I was honestly scared. Worried what it meant. Was it just a kind gesture from Maddox, or did it come with strings attached? He wanted in on my life, my personal life, so badly, and I didn’t understand why. Only that it involved some girl he couldn’t save. What did that even mean? Did she leave him?

Slowly, I inspected every piece of the camera and the accessories. I kept a running total in my head, a total was the insanely large, even before including the number on the gift card. It was by far the most expensive gift I had ever gotten. And all from a man who wasn’t…well…mine.

My heart was racing, my hands were shaking, and I didn’t know what to do. I looked at my bag and thought about the check I wrote to pay Tate back for the work I wasn’t going to be able to do.

Then I looked at the camera again.

I guess I was able to work.

At St. Skin.

Where Maddox wanted me to go.

I finally allowed myself to smile.

I started my car.

I knew the first picture I was going to take with the new camera.

* * *

I walked through the front door, and Danielle waved to me. She pointed toward Tate’s office, and I waved her off. I showed her the camera, and she raised an eyebrow. I wasn’t sure if anyone knew that I had quit the job or not, but whatever. I had a one-track mind, and I wasn’t going to let anything get in the way. Those moments of total empowerment were amazing. And ever since meeting Maddox and climbing his wall while he climbed mine…I felt more empowered. I felt safer. I felt stronger. Even with the hell that Mitch had caused.

It was a relief to have someone who cared, someone who didn’t judge.

I opened the door to Maddox’s room, but it was empty.

My finger was on the button to get a picture of him.

Damn.

I turned and walked across to Prick’s room. Slowly, I opened the door to find that was empty, too. I gazed around the room. The whole place had a horror vibe to it, which sort of fit Prick’s personality. The big chair. The supplies for piercing. It made me shiver. He had shown me pictures of places people got pierced. And he flirted that he had plenty of naughty places pierced on himself.

I shut the door and started to move on to open every damn door I needed to open.

First, I glanced back.

Maddox was probably outside.

I turned and went that way.

I opened the back door, and sure enough, there was Maddox, along with Prick, Axel, and Tate.

Maddox turned and grinned at me. “Looks like you got yourself a new camera.”

“Does that mean you’re working here again?” Tate asked. “Because if not, I’m going to have to hire out again…”

“Hey,” Prick said. “Maybe we can get a topless photographer. Now that I would smile for.” Prick looked at me. “Unless you want to…”

“See this button?” I said to Prick.

“Yeah…”

“Press it,” I said.

Then I made my move.

I cracked my own shell. I climbed over my own wall.

And I pulled the camera off my neck and threw it into the air.

Maddox’s eyes went wide.

I trusted Prick to catch the camera, which he did.

Then I jumped forward, right at Maddox. His strong hands caught me. I moved to my toes. I planted my lips right against his and hoped that Prick was smart enough to get the picture. The first picture taken with the new camera.

The kiss was quick, but the picture would last forever. And the cat calls coming from everyone around us seemed like it would never end.

The sounds of Ow! Yeah! Get it, girl! Daaaaamn…kept coming, along with whistling and clapping.

I looked up at Maddox, realizing what I had done. So my face started to burn with deep heat.

“You like the camera, then?” Maddox whispered.

“I don’t get why.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I got a great picture of your ass, Hazel,” Prick said.

I turned. “What?”

“Look.”

I grabbed the camera from him.

The stupid… Prick… took a picture of my ass. Then I saw it was labeled 2. I pressed the button and the first image showed. It was me kissing Maddox. Somehow, Prick had pulled it off.

“Thanks,” I said to him.

“You gonna jump into my arms and kiss me now?” he asked.

“Not quite.”

“Oho, so that’s exclusive to Maddox?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s interesting,” Prick said with a sly grin.

I looked back and saw everyone staring at me.

“It’s not…we’re not…I mean…”

Tate pushed forward between them all. “Okay. Break-time over. Go tattoo someone. Hazel, I need to talk to you, please.”

Maddox opened the door and held it for everyone.

He was last to go, winking at me before he did so.

The door swung shut.

“Should we go in?” I asked Tate.

“Actually, let’s stay out here for a minute.”

“Okay.”

Tate put one of his bear paw hands to the door. He looked down, then at me. “You got a new camera.”

“Yeah.”

“Maddox did it?”

“Yeah.”

“But you two aren’t…”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Does it matter?”

“Actually it sort of does, Hazel. There’s something I have to tell you…something that’s going to happen…”