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“And you can’t handle it?”
“No! That’s not— I can handle it fine.” Jasper takes a deep breath, running a hand over his crew cut. “I’m being a fuckin’ baby. I was a bartender before I even went to prison. This feels like a step backward. Plus, this time, I can’t even enjoy the drinks. I guess… I’m just…” It takes him several seconds to get the words out. “Sobriety hasn’t been easy.”
“I get that.”
“I doubt you would,” he sighs. “You’re good at everything.”
“You trying to flatter me?”
He gives me a shit-eating grin that takes me right back to our days in max. Then he passes a hand over his nape. “I get why you’re keeping me on the outskirts. But I’m willing to put in the time it takes to get to the inner circle. I want to prove to you that I’m worthy of it.”
“Good. Because I’ve gone to bat for you, Jas. Don’t let me down.”
He nods emphatically. “I won’t.”
I meet up with Dominik outside. I know the second he shoves his hands in his pockets and rolls back on his heels what he’s going to say, but I let him say it anyway. “You should’ve turned him away the day he showed up, Arsen.”
“Don’t start this again, Dom,” I snap. “I don’t have the fucking energy.”
“Yeah? Well, that makes two of us. You’ve repaid your debt to him ten times over. So why the hell do you still feel you need to take care of that screw-up? He’s dead weight.”
“Maybe he was once, but he’s trying to be more. He’s sober. He wants to make something of himself. As long as he wants it, I have to give him a chance.”
“It’s a mistake,” Dominik snaps.
“How can I expect Laila to give me a second chance if I don’t extend the same courtesy to Jasper?”
“I—” He works his jaw back and forth. “That’s not the same thing.”
“At the end of the day, it’s all the same. Forgiveness is forgiveness. I’m trying to learn it from both sides.”
24
LAILA
Arsen’s eyes flare when he opens the door and finds me standing there. They take a slow, meandering trip down my body, and I have to admit, it gives me a little thrill to know that he still wants me.
“Where are you going?” Arsen plucks Nina out of my arms. He presses a kiss into the crook of her chubby neck, making her giggle, and I’m tempted to say,Nowhere, and stay right here for the rest of forever.
I mean, I told Arsen I needed space, and I did. I do.
But a woman has other needs, too.
I clench my thighs and tell him the truth. But only because I know it will piss him off just as much as if I refused to tell him at all.
“A tattoo parlor. I have an appointment in half an hour.”
Arsen snorts. “Very funny. Where are you actually going?”
“It’s called Stonemason’s Inkery. Guilia told me about it. They specialize in really detailed, intricate body art.”
Arsen’s face plummets. “You’re serious.”
“Deadly. I’m going to be late.” I flip my hair over my shoulder and turn around.
Arsen follows me. “Since when do you want a tattoo?”
“Oh, I dunno. Since, like, an hour ago?” I drone. “I’m feeling spontaneous.”
