I found the most obnoxious wrapping paper I could find. Pink unicorns with shooting stars. I figured it would be nice to put Tate in the hot seat for a change.

As I bought the wrapping paper, it really hit me just how long I had been at St. Skin and how much I had gotten to know all the guys. I had learned to deal with Prick and his constant advances. I learned that Prick had a dark past himself and that piercing meant more to him than what met the eyes. I had a private photo shoot with Cass and his beautiful family. He even invited me into his custom studio where he was working on some music just for the hell of it. Working with other local bands, letting me take their pictures, helping them to get exposure. It was like St. Skin was this endless resource.

Even at the new building, watching the place unfold.

Going from a big, empty structure to starting to look like a proper tattoo shop.

Seeing people come and go, interviewing for a job, so many personalities and stories, it was incredible. Tate had a long table set up and had the guys seated on the other side, putting the interviewee on the opposite side, answering questions, telling stories, showing their portfolios.

But tonight, Tate wanted to have a little get-together at the new shop. To break the place in a little, the St. Skin way. Which meant music, food, and booze. Because for as professional as they all were, they all shared the same sharpened edge when it came to partying. Even Cass. He had a family side to him, but when the time was right, he would let loose a little and have fun. My favorite picture of him was him sitting on the arm of his couch in his studio, playing an acoustic guitar, staring down at his daughter, Paisley.. The picture couldn’t capture the beautiful sound, but the picture showed a man who loved his daughter, and it showed a young daughter staring up at her hero.

I got it framed and done both in color and black and white.

But the gift I had for Tate was the one I had been working on for a while. The gritty image I custom made with the neon colors of St. Skin and everything around it dark and run-down.

I drove myself to the new shop.

I collected the gift from the back seat and carried it into the half-renovated building and leaned it against one of the walls. There were lights hanging from the ceiling by wires. A few of the walls were up, an empty glass case in the corner. Two of the rooms were already built which would serve for privacy for those getting ink or piercing.

The first person I saw was River. He looked at me and gave a nod. I smiled and grabbed my camera. I was taking as many pictures as I could for Tate, letting him review hundreds of pictures and sending me back what he liked and what he didn’t like. Anything he didn’t like, I was still saving, just storing it away on a separate hard drive that I planned on giving him when everything was done. The amount of money he’d paid me plus the work he got me warranted a little thank-you gifts in return.

“I figure, we get a monster stereo system in here,” Tate said as he appeared from one of the rooms. He was with one of the construction guys and a guy in a suit and tie. “I want to be able to control the music up front and make sure all the guys and girls have their own systems. No more cheap little stereos in each room. I want this to be authentic, okay? Now, let’s talk the logo on the floor.”

“Logo on the floor?”

Tate nodded. “I want to know how much. Two styles. One being just the logo on the floor, the other a big fucking neon one in glass.”

“Glass?” the suit and tie guy asked. “Jesus, Tate, you asked me to make a budget…”

“I can make that happen,” the construction guy said.

“Of course you can,” Tate said. “You want to spend my money. So, talk to my accountant.”

Tate looked at me and broke away from the two men. They then stood there, wondering what the hell to do next.

“A neon light in the floor?” I asked.

“St. Skin, Hazel,” Tate said. “Maddox is in the back.”

“I got you something,” I said. I motioned to the present.

“I got you something,” said a voice next to me.

It was Prick, holding a bottle of beer. The cap was still on. He put the bottle into his mouth and twisted. Then he spit the cap on the floor.

“Drink up,” he said. “Just imagine what else I can do with my mouth.”

“How about shutting it?” Tate asked.

I took the beer from Prick but said nothing.

Tate pointed to the present. “That what you got me?”

“Yup. Open it.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Maddox. He was walking with Axel, two burly men shoulder to shoulder.

When Maddox saw me, he bumped his shoulder into Axel and hurried to get to me. We were at the point where it didn’t matter that people were around us or that I worked for Tate and St. Skin. Maddox scooped me up and spun me around. He kissed me. He tasted like a mix of whiskey, smoke, and beer. My favorite flavor of Maddox. Prick made an awwww sound which was then echoed by everyone else doing the same.

“What’s with the unicorns?” Maddox asked Tate. “That going to be your new office wallpaper?”

Tate fake-laughed. “Hilarious. Your girl got it for me.”

Maddox looked at me, eyebrow raised.

“A thank-you gift,” I said. “For all the work.”

“Well, open it up,” Maddox said.

Tate put the large present on a makeshift counter the construction guys had made out of spare boards. Then he grabbed the paper and ripped it off. I was able to get a picture of his face when he realized what it was. Tate moved even faster to strip the gift of its paper and lifted it up for the rest of the guys to see.

“Holy shit,” Tate said. “Look at this.”

“Oh, damn,” Prick said.

“That’s awesome,” Max said. “It’s like a music video.”

“Yeah,” Maddox said. “That’s what I was thinking.”

“You did this?” Tate asked.

“Yes,” I said.

“The buildings on the sides and stuff?”

“Yes,” I said again.

“Damn, that’s cool,” Axel said in his really rough voice. “Where’s that going, Tate? Your office? Home?”

Tate looked around. Then he looked up. His eyes went wide. “Right there.”

“Where?” Maddox asked.

“Above the door,” Tate said.

“Here?” Prick asked.

“Yes,” Tate said. “Fuck yes. So anyone who’s here can’t leave without seeing where this all started. For all of us. Give me a ladder, a hammer, and a nail.”

Max and Prick did just that.

To my shock, Tate climbed up the ladder with the picture in his hand. He stood on the second-to-top rung and balanced the picture on the top of the ladder and the wall. All I could imagine was the picture falling and the custom frame shattering on the floor.

Tate smashed the nail the into the wall and hung the picture up.

“It’s crooked from down here,” Prick called out.

“I bet you’ve heard that before,” Axel said.

Everyone—including me, the construction guy, and even the accountant—all burst into laughter.

I thought I saw Prick blush for a quick second before he went to get himself a drink.

Tate came down the ladder and moved it out of the way.

He pointed to it. “That’s the best thing anyone has ever gotten me.”

“Not a chance,” Maddox said.

“I mean it,” Tate said. “When I started St. Skin, I maxed out every credit card I had. I applied for a shit-ton more cards, and anyone that approved me, I maxed them out too. That’s where St. Skin started. And look where it is now.”

Prick appeared with his arms full of drinks. Everyone took a bottle, twisted off the caps, and threw them to the floor. I stepped back, put my beer on the floor, and got my camera ready.

“This next chapter is for you,” Tate said. “I don’t like being filthy-rich alone.”

Everyone laughed.

He raised his beer.

They all raised their beers.

I started snapping pictures.

I got some really good shots of the guys.

They all drank and then they all stood there. In weird silence.

Tate grinned.

“We doing this?” Prick asked.

“Doing what?” I asked.

“Cheers, drink, break this place in,” Maddox said.

Tate looked at the construction guy. “You don’t mind a little mess, do you?”

“As long as you keep paying me…”

“Tate, we need to talk about this budget,” his accountant said.

“Fuck the budget,” Tate said.

Maddox winked at me. “Get that camera ready, sugar.”

Tate lifted his bottle again. They did it again.

I was ready.

Tate gave a three-count, and they all slammed their bottles to the floor.

Glass shattered, beer sprayed, and they all cheered.

Fucking crazy and wild bad boys…

* * *

I was a little drunk.

Maddox had my hand and pulled me into the one room. I laughed as I stumbled, almost dropping the drink in my hand.

“What are we doing?” I asked.

Maddox spun me around, then shut the door and locked it.

“This is my room now.”

“Your room?”

“We’re all getting our own room at both shops. So we can spread our work out a little more. So I claimed this one.”

“I like it.”

“I like you,” Maddox said.

He grabbed me and kissed me. “I love that you’re here, sharing this moment with me.”

“I’m paid to be here.”

“I like that,” Maddox said. “You’re on company time, and I’m going to be on you.”

I burst out laughing.

Maddox slid his hands up my body and touched my face. “I’m not lying, sugar.”

“I know you’re not,” I said. I grabbed at his shirt. “How did we get like this?”

“Like what?”

“So broken and now so whole.”

“Fate,” Maddox said. “The one thing I fought against for way too long.”

Maddox kissed me.

I spread my hands against his shirt, feeling hard muscle through the cloth. “Hey…”

“Hey, what?” he whispered.

The beer was making my head spin a little bit. “Everything I told you so far.”

“What about?”

“There’s more to the story,” I said. “Things I haven’t said.”

“Okay. Do you want to tell me right now?”

“I don’t know,” I said. I looked up at Maddox. “It’s really bad. What happened. What I did.”

“What you did?” he asked.

“What I did.”

Maddox ran his thumbs across my cheeks. “I still stand true to you, sugar. When you’re ready to talk, I’m here. And I will never judge you.”

“I never meant for Mitch to step in and do what he did,” I said. “It just happened out of nowhere. I fell into a bad habit.”

“That’s okay. You’re with me now. Nothing bad is going to happen.”

“But before that…when I was with Lance. It was so serious. I was younger, you know?”

“Who?” Maddox asked.

“I never told you his name, did I?” I sighed. “I probably never talked about him. His name was Lance.”

“Lance?”

“Yeah, Lance,” I said.

“Lance,” Maddox repeated. “What kind of car did he drive?”

“What? You want to know about his car?”

Maddox took his hands away from me. “Just answer the question, Hazel. How much did you know about him?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “And his car…”

“It was sleek black. Annoying-looking. Loud, too.”

“Wait, what?” I asked. “How did you…”

Maddox looked at me. I looked at Maddox.

“And he died in a car accident,” Maddox whispered. “Right?”

“You’re starting to freak me out, Maddox,” I said. I was sobering up really fast. “I’m not lying, either. This isn’t a funny.”

Maddox shook his head. He touched my face again. “No, it’s not funny at all, Hazel.”

Then he backed away, turned, and left the room.

I spun around.

What the hell had just happened? How the hell did he know so much about Lance?

I hated myself for being drunk because I couldn’t think straight.

Then something hit me. Something Maddox said a while back.

When he was telling me about Ava and his best friend. I asked him if he got to deal with the guy who had been hurting his girlfriend.

“That’s the even more fucked up part, Hazel…because that same night, he died too.”

I felt like the room ran out of air.

I hunched forward.

My mind was starting to piece it all together.

My life and Maddox’s life changed on the same night…