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There was another shuffling with the phone, and Kassie’s voice came through. “Do not get a tattoo, Adam. I’m serious. Don’t do it!”
“Kass, I’ve got it,” Zariah said excitedly. “Ink And Bear It Tattoo Parlor, Ryan take a left—a left! Oh, shit!”
Curses flew through the phone, and I continued to stare at the street.
“Fucking big-ass truck, I hate those fuckers. They’re so high up, they can’t see shit,” Ryan swore.
“Adam!” Kassie shouted. “Don’t get a tattoo! Okay? You’re not getting a tattoo!”
The words slipped out of me. “I miss her.”
“I know you do, but don’t get a tattoo.”
King sighed. “Please don’t get a tattoo, Adam.”
“He’s not getting a tattoo,” Kassie snapped.
“We’re three minutes away!” Zariah shouted. “Right! Ryan, you need to merge—merge! Merge now! Oh—fuck a duck!”
“No tattoos! Right, Adam?!” Kassie demanded.
“Right,” I replied and ran a hand through my hair. “I miss Piper so much it hurts.”
“I know, we’re almost there—Zariah, is it a right?”
“Left!”
“Just so everyone knows, he’s talking about Piper Fontaine.” Ryan’s voice came through on the phone. “I don’t know if you guys knew. Kassie told me after the pregnancy card.”
“The cowboy outfit, that’s when I found out,” Zariah admitted.
“I’ve known since—” Kassie swore loudly. “Why are folks so allergic to using their fucking turn signals?! I knew since Adam got knocked in the head! King—?”
“RA conference, I found the door decorations in his locker.”
“King wins!” Kassie belted out.
“Left!” Zariah shouted. “LEFT!”
Squealing tires tore across the street, and I watched listlessly as Ryan’s car flew across the road and dipped down to the ditch between the parking lot and the main road. It soared out and hit the concrete with sparks flying up to meet it. The car came to a hard stop in front of me and everyone poured out at once.
Four grateful, happy faces rushed up to meet me. Everyone started talking at once, applauding each other on finding me, but those happy faces melted away into shock. Ryan took three steps forward, double-backed, and slammed his fist on the top of the car. “Goddammit!”
I couldn’t frown, the muscles in my face weren’t working. “What…?”
“Oh…man…” Zariah whistled and took a deep breath. “Okay. Well…he’s not…dead.”
King didn’t say anything, but I could see the grimace on his face, bright as day. He leaned down and helped me to my feet while Kassie took the other side, swearing under her breath for long seconds.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me—” Ryan stopped himself and rounded away from the car. He strode over to me and for a moment, I really thought he was going to punch me in the face, until he breezed past us and walked towards the tattoo shop. He walloped his fist against a door. “He’s drunk! How could he sign the papers?!”
“Papers…?” I turned slowly to look at my right shoulder, encased in some kind of white wrapping. I stared. “What the hell…?”
“Get out of there!” Ryan shouted. “Now!”
A voice peeped out from the shop. “No, thank you!”
“Get the fuck out of there!”
