I grunted a little and decided to change the subject. “What about you? No one was pissed about you picking up and traipsing off to find your long-lost little brother?”
She made a face and it was her turn to be unable to meet my gaze. “I was engaged before I left, but it just wasn’t a good fit. I broke it off before I moved and the fact I was more concerned about you and what you would think than him and how I might have hurt him was a huge indicator that splitting up was the right choice.”
“That’s a bummer. Were you together for a long time?”
“Five years, engaged for two. He was a nice guy, just not the right guy for me.”
“That’s still rough.”
She lifted her chin up and gave me a grin. It so surreal how much of myself I could see in her when she looked back at me.
“I think I’d like to hold out for something like you seem to have with Salem. I want someone that looks at me like I’m the beginning and end of everything. That’s the way you look at her.”
“My first and last.”
She cocked her head to the side and looked at me in confusion. I picked up my beer because she might be my sister but she was still a virtual stranger and getting all personal and gooey and emotional wasn’t really what I had planned for this meet-up.
“Salem was the girl that was a lot of firsts for me even if I didn’t recognize it at the time. Now that she’s back in my life I’m trying to focus on the lasts that she’ll be to me.”
Sayer nodded and picked up her own beer. “Like the last girl you’re going to love?”
“Exactly.”
“That’s what I want.” I was going to tell her to hold out for it and to ignore Asa as he walked over with two more beers and put all of his southern charm and hospitably on display, but I didn’t get the chance because Zeb walked in looking like he had been rolling around in sawdust and Spackle for hours. He had wood particles stuck in his beard and grime streaked across his forehead.
I was used to his burly and unkempt appearance but I thought it might intimidate Sayer when he pulled out a chair without asking and ordered, telling Asa to bring him a beer. Asa walked away laughing and sent Dixie back over with a drink for Zeb.
“Who is this?” His voice sounded like it was hewn from the mountains and rattled with thunder. I wasn’t sure but beneath the beard and dust I think he was leering at Sayer.
“My sister. Sayer, this is my buddy Zeb Fuller. He actually designed and built the new tattoo shop in LoDo.” I was surprised how effortless calling her my sister was and how much I liked the way it sounded.
Zeb’s leafy-green eyes glinted in humor. “You have a sister? A hot, classy sister?”
I saw Sayer blush and look at me with big eyes. Zeb kind of resembled a grizzly bear and there was nothing about him that came across as welcoming and cuddly, but I think he was actively trying to flirt with my sister.
“It sure looks that way.” I narrowed my eyes at him and tried to kick him under the table. It was like jamming my boot into a tree trunk.
“Full of surprises, aren’t you, Rowdy? First the cutie from back home and now a gorgeous sibling you’ve been keeping all to yourself. Who else is gonna come crawling out of the woodwork after you?”
I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of telling him Poppy was also in town, so I just glowered at him while he continued to grin at me through his beard. I was expecting an awkward silence to descend, but like she kept doing, Sayer surprised me by being able to talk shop with Zeb like a pro. As it turned out, she had purchased an old Victorian in Governors Park and the thing was in absolute disrepair. Two beers later I think they had plans in place for him to come check her property out and look over the work she thought her current contractor was ripping her off on. She also didn’t bat an eyelash when Zeb disclosed his criminal past. She in return informed him that because she was a lawyer she knew all too well that sometimes the legal system got things wrong. By the fourth beer I think she was actively flirting back with my giant friend and I was distinctly uncomfortable and feeling like a third wheel.
I texted Salem to see if she was home yet, and when she responded with a selfie of herself in bed, curled up with her glasses on and from what I could see nothing else, I bid a hasty good-bye and headed to my girl. Poppy let me in the door and just laughed at me as I brushed past her with hardly any kind of greeting or acknowledgment on my way to Salem’s room.
She was awake and waiting for me and she really did only have on those trendy black frames she only wore when she was at home. Her black-and-red hair was a wild mess all over the pillows and it took me about three seconds to strip down and join her. At some point when I was making her moan and holler my name, it occurred to me that we weren’t exactly alone in the apartment and I should have some consideration for Poppy, but then her hands started rubbing over the piercings in my dick and I couldn’t think about anything but how amazing she was and how I never wanted anyone to put their hands on me again besides her.
We fell asleep wrapped around one another, spent and satiated. Her hair was stuck to my chest and her taste was all in my mouth and it was perfect. Her soft weight on top of me was kind of like the anchor that I had tattooed on my neck. It held me in place, kept me grounded, reminded me she was my home port when we had both been adrift for so long.
I JERKED AWAKE AND SWORE in aggravation when Salem’s elbow landed in my gut as she scrambled up and out of bed. At first I couldn’t figure out what she was doing, but then I heard Poppy frantically knocking on the bedroom door and the dog barking his fool head off. I groaned and reached for the jeans I had left on the side of the bed the night before. Salem had commandeered my shirt, so I was only half dressed as I made my way out into the living room to see what all the commotion was about.
I told Jimbo to hush and fetched him a tennis ball to distract him as Poppy shrieked incoherently at Salem. I was about to whistle and tell everyone to chill the fuck out when the buzzer from the security door at the front of the building went off on the wall unit. It buzzed and buzzed like someone was leaning on it. It was only four o’clock in the morning and this obviously wasn’t a locked-out neighbor.
“What in the hell is going on?” I scrubbed my hands over my hair and made my way over to the girls.
Salem looked at me over her shoulder, her dark eyes worried and fathomless. Even with her tawny complexion I could tell she was pale.
“Poppy thinks it’s Oliver, her husband.”
I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest. The buzzer went off again and I looked at it balefully. “How on earth would he even know how to find you?”
Poppy was shaking her head back and forth and crying big fat tears. “I don’t know. Oh my God, he’s going to kill me.”
I felt my eyebrows dip low over my nose as I made my way to the intercom. “It’s probably just some drunk that can’t get in and keeps leaning on the same button.” I hit the response key and barked, “Move it, dude. Not one is letting you in. It’s four in the morning, don’t make me call the cops.”
There was no response, but as soon as I let up off the call button it started buzzing again. Salem was watching me like I should know what to do, so I just shrugged and said, “Fine, I’m gonna go out there and help them get their damn finger off the buzzer. Whoever it is.” Poppy started crying harder and Salem frowned at me.
“You saw her when she got here. This guy is unpredictable and unhinged. I don’t want you to get hurt. Maybe we should just call the police.”
The buzzer started trilling once again and Jimbo growled at it low in his throat. I reached down to scratch him between his ears.
“Let me handle it first. This guy doesn’t get to harass my girls and maybe he needs to pick on someone his own size.”
Poppy hiccuped. “He’s insane, Rowdy. He nearly beat me to death because I wouldn’t agree to have kids with him. What if he has a knife or a gun? I don’t want you getting hurt because of me.”
I gave both of
them a lopsided smile and pulled the door open. “Don’t worry about me. I’m good at taking care of you, remember?”
They both called my name as Jimbo darted past me and bolted to the end of the hallway where the security door was located. I grabbed his collar just in case and pulled the first door open and made my way to the second where the intercom was located. There was a man standing in front of the console pressing the button with Salem’s apartment number on it and not letting up on it.
He was pretty unremarkable-looking. He was shorter than me by quite a bit, and he was wearing nondescript khakis and an untucked polo shirt. His hair looked like it had been raked through with aggravated hands, and when his dark eyes landed on me I could see fury blazing out of them.
“Hey, man. Knock it off. I don’t know who you are but you have the wrong apartment.” Jimbo growled low in his throat and tugged at my hold on his collar. He was a good dog and never aggressive, so it made me frown at the guy. “Move along, buddy.”
The guy stepped away from the console and looked me up and down. Granted I looked like I has just been loved hard and woken up grumpy, which I had, but I still towered over him and there was no missing the apprehension that crossed his puckered face. His gaze landed somewhere on the pirate ship inked on my chest and he asked me with a sneer, “Who in the hell are you?”
I was so taken aback all I could do was blink. The dog barked a loud, high-pitched yelp and the guy gave him a dirty look.
“The guy on the outside of the security door doesn’t get to ask the questions. Like I said, get lost or I’m calling the cops.”
His chest puffed up and red rage flooded into his face. “My wife is in there and I’m not going anywhere until I talk to her.”
Poppy was right. This guy was missing a few screws.
“No. You aren’t getting anywhere near her. I saw your handiwork last time you ‘talked’ to her and that isn’t happening again.”
“She belongs to me!”
I took a step forward the dog lunged at the guy’s crotch. “People are not property. Poppy is a sweet girl who deserves better than an asshole that uses her as a punching bag and a dad that looks the other way while it’s happening. Go back to Texas and forget about her.”
He took a step closer to me and almost lost a finger when he poked me in the bare chest with it.
“I know about you. The orphan with no family, no roots. You have no one and nothing. Poppy didn’t want you then and there is no way she wants you now. I’m going to talk to her even if I have to go through you to do it.”
I probably would’ve let it go, probably would have managed to maintain my cool, but before I could form words to tell the guy to fuck off, he lifted his foot and kicked Jimbo square in the side. The dog howled in pain and jerked out of my grip. I didn’t have to worry about swinging first because the little bastard tried to get in a sucker punch when I turned to see if the dog was okay. I caught his fist in my hand and jerked his arm behind his back. When he was off balance I clocked him once hard in the mouth, which split his bottom lip open and had blood dripping down his chin. I was just so much taller than him that really he couldn’t get any leverage as he wiggled against me and I turned him around and clamped him in an unmovable choke hold.
He threw his head back and tried to head-butt me, so I grabbed him by the back of the neck and bent him forward so that he was wrenched over at a totally awkward and painful angle. I marched him out of the breezeway and down the sidewalk to the street. I shoved him away from me with enough force that he stumbled and fell forward on his hands and knees.
“Don’t come back, dude. I’m taking Poppy to get a restraining order today, and believe me, if you think I’m bad you don’t even wanna see what her sister has in store for you if you come around again. Only piece-of-shit men hit women and you’re lucky I don’t do to you what you did to her.”
He turned over to look back at me and I swore he was plotting my death as he glowered at me. I really should smash his nose in to teach him a lesson or at least kick him in the ribs to pay him back for the dog.
“Poppy is mine.” It came out garbled and I just lifted an eyebrow at him.
“She feels differently about that. Someone along the way shoulda taught you how to respect women.”
I whistled for Jimbo and laughed out loud as he limped over to where the fallen intruder was still lying and lifted his leg. Poppy’s husband tried to scramble away to avoid the golden shower but he wasn’t fast enough and Jimbo was obviously proud of himself as he bounded back over to me. We watched as the guy got to his feet, swearing at us and calling us names the entire way as he stormed off to his car.
I patted the dog on the head and told him “good boy” as we went back inside to the girls.
Salem was pacing back and forth and Poppy was curled up into a tight ball on the couch when we went back inside. Salem launched herself at me as soon as I cleared the front door, so I wrapped her in my arms and kissed her on the top of her head.
“I called Royal. I had to.”
I kissed her on her trembling mouth when she looked up at me and tugged on the ends of her hair. “Probably a good idea to have your sister talk to her. She’s right. That guy has some serious issues. I think he really might be a major threat to not only her, but you as well. She needs an emergency order of protection and you should see if Royal can arrest him for animal cruelty.” I nodded toward the dog, who had made himself comfortable on the couch next to Poppy. “He kicked Jimbo in the side.”
Salem gasped and then called the guy every bad name that was in the book. “I’m so glad you were here.”
Poppy poked her head over the back of the couch and said, “Me, too.”
I kissed Salem again and told her, “I’m always going to be here.”
She wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her cheek over my heart, which I swear was beating just for her.
“So am I, Rowdy.” I actually believed her when she told me that now, and nothing made me happier.
CHAPTER 18
Salem
IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO go back to sleep after all of that, so by the time Rowdy and I had to go to work we were both dragging. Him even more so since he had to go in earlier than normal to make up for the appointment he had missed the day he was late and hungover. Poppy didn’t want to be at the apartment alone and I couldn’t blame her. So I decided to take her to the shop with me and put her to work up in the store. Everything was finally tagged, organized, and inventoried. We were only about a week out from having a fully operational store above the tattoo shop and there were already inquires in my in-box about online orders for merchandise. The shops were both so busy, the guys and the new artists all booked out over a month in advance, so I knew that Nash and Rule were going to have to hire someone specifically to manage the retail aspects of the business. It was a good problem to have, I just hoped the guys saw it the same way.
Cora was excited to have extra hands around for the busy day. She actually had scheduled a couple of piercings for the afternoon, so she put Poppy to work in the office updating portfolios and working on some kind of spreadsheet that had something to do with office supplies and stuff the guys ordered for their stations. She was in a tizzy about paper towels or something like that, which made Poppy laugh. Cora seemed even more hyper and more boisterous than usual, enough so that Rowdy asked her about it. She just brushed him off and the subject was dropped, at least until she walked up to the counter with her client, a girl that had wanted dermals put in behind her ears and I noticed a big, fat, sparkly ring on that all-important finger as Cora handed me the checkout paperwork.
I felt my jaw drop as I reached out to snatch up her much smaller hand in my own. “Did you get engaged?”
The shop was busy and there was plenty of chatter going on in the background, but when I asked the question the place was suddenly quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Cora yanked her hand back and a hot-pink flush colored her face. Her turquoise eye flashed at me in
humor and the brown one got all melty and soft.
“Maybe.” I laughed at her and reached back for her hand to look at the ring on her left hand.
This was Cora after all, no boring diamond or traditional gold setting would do. Instead it was a ring that twisted around her finger and had two gems sitting offset next to each other, one a creamy golden topaz and the other a pristine blue sapphire. It wasn’t an exact match to her two-tone eye color but the idea was there and obvious. I never would have pictured a big, gruff guy like Rome Archer getting something like an engagement ring so perfectly right.
I felt Rowdy over my shoulder as he reached out and took Cora’s hand from mine.
“I knew he was up to something last night. Secretive bastard.” He let Cora’s hand fall and reached out to squeeze me on the back of the neck. I wasn’t sure if it was a warning not to get any ideas or a warning that something like that beautiful ring was in my near future. “Congratulations, but why didn’t you say anything, Tink?”
I thought it was really cute the guys all called her Tink. It was short for Tinker Bell because she was so small and blond. Even if her personality was more shark than woodland sprite, the nickname fit.
Cora lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “I dunno. I’m still kind of in shock.”
Rowdy laughed. “Oh, come on. We all know Rome’s an old-fashioned guy at heart. Of course he was gonna make an honest woman out of you and ask you to marry him.”
She held her hand out in front of her and turned it so that the light from outside shimmered and glinted of the jewels. She really did look like a hip and trendy version of a Disney character.
“He didn’t ask me.” Both of her eyebrows shot up and a sardonic grin pulled at her mouth. “He told me.”
That made Rowdy laugh and I just gaped at her. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“Nope. He took me out to dinner, which was really nice since we haven’t really had a ton of alone time together since Remy was born. We went back home and I thought my dad and the baby were still going to be there but Rome asked Dad to take her for the night.” She blinked rapidly and wrinkled her nose. I think she was about to cry before she reined it in. “He also asked my dad for permission, which is so crazy. Rome never asks anyone for anything, ever.” She put a hand to her chest and sighed. “He got down on one knee and told me he didn’t care if we lived in the rental forever or if we lived in a tent in the woods as long as we were together forever. Then he told me I was going to marry him, that I didn’t have a choice.” She flashed the ring at me. “Then he put this on me and told me I’m never allowed to take it off.”