Page 17 of The Fake Out

He disappeared from the doorway before I could say anything. I never understood that man. Sometimes I felt like he was proud of me, but other times I couldn’t get a read on him. Was that some stoic European thing? I could never tell.

The only thing I knew for sure was that I couldn’t let Astrid breaking my heart mess up the rest of my career. Next season would be a fresh start with Philly. I wouldn’t mess it up. Not this time.

My phone vibrated against the bedside table, and a grin spread across my face at the slew of texts from my sister.

MAJA: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MAJA: HOLY FUCKING SHIT! Is this real?

MAJA: Bro! Tell me it’s real!

MAJA: TELL ME!!!

MAJA: Also, am I homeless now??

I shook my head with a laugh and called her instead.

If there was anyone excited about this trade, it was definitely my Bulldogs-obsessed baby sister. I had to love her for that.

Chapter Six

VERONICA

OCTOBER

“Okay, why the cherry blossoms?” I asked. I laid out my tattoo sketches on the counter and stared up at the hot six-foot-four giant.

Behind him, his curvy girlfriend smiled. “Because it’s my favorite flower,” Rox explained.

“Ugh! Love! It makes me sick!” I teased. “What do you think?”

Benny nodded. “Your artwork’s amazing. Let’s do it.”

I put the sketches aside and grabbed the stencil I had already made up. “Come on, big guy. Take off your shirt.”

He technically wasn’t getting her name tattooed, but a dude getting his lady’s favorite flower on his heart entered that territory. I almost said no to this client, but it was Rox, and she pleaded. I didn’t have time to argue, and I needed the money anyway.

The shop was swamped. Back in July, when we were having issues with Andy, it only got worse. He up and quit last month, and we had been down staff for a while. We wanted to hire two more artists, but the artists coming in weren’t that good. Since I had been right about Andy, my brother and his husband had been leaning on me a lot. Served them right, but it meant I was scrambling to make all my appointments.

“That’s what all the women say,” Benny teased.

Rox glared at him. “They better not.” She looked so mad at the thought of other women macking on her man.

He smiled and pulled her by the waist to him. He kissed her quickly, and I swear she melted into a puddle on the floor.

“Do I need to spray water on you?” I teased.

The two lovebirds pulled apart reluctantly, and I walked them over to my station. Benny shed his leather jacket and took his black t-shirt off. Holy fuck, he was big. I had him lie down on his back in my tattoo chair while I pulled on my gloves and put the stencil on his chest.

“This isn’t your first tattoo, right?” I asked.

He pointed to his arm, where he had a cool Calavera tattoo. I leaned over to study it, and the artwork looked vaguely familiar to me. “Did my brother do this?”

“Is your brother a light-skinned Mexican guy?” he asked and squinted at me.

I knew what people thought when I said Alex was my brother. We called him Alex, but his first name was Alejandro, after his mom’s dad. People got confused because I was pale as a ghost, and my brother had light brown skin.

“We have different moms,” I explained. I peeled back the paper on the stencil and held up a mirror so he could check the placement. “Are you good with this?”