Faster (Stark Ink, #3) (17 page)

Emilio seemed reluctant to let her go, squeezing her for a moment, then finally releasing her. He got up too, though, and followed her down the porch steps.

As they crossed the lawn to his own driveway, he looked at her askance. “You were ditching me,” he declared quietly.

Ava bit her lip and slid on her jacket. “It’s not you, it’s me.”

He snorted. “Well,
that
I know. But if you think you’re just going to slip away, like a ghost, it’s not going to happen.”

Ava didn’t know how to reply to that, so she simply said, “It’s complicated.”

“I bet.”

They reached her Honda and she threw one leg over the side, settling down into the leather seat. Before she could put on her helmet, he reached out and put a hand on it. “You live fast, muñeca. You need to slow down.”

Ava looked up at him, saw everything she wanted but wasn’t sure she could have. She swallowed hard and pressed her lips together. “What if I can’t?”

He leaned down, his lips gently touching hers. “Then I’ll fucking chase you,” he said before he slipped his tongue inside.

A
va had barely enough time to get home, hop in the shower, and show up at Stark Ink with her hair dripping and her tank top in disarray. She wasn’t late for work, but Adam was still waiting for her when she arrived. He glared at her from the doorway of his workroom.

“Where were you last night?”

“With Sienna,” Ava replied as she tossed her jacket onto one of the receptionist chairs.

“Try again. Sienna came by. Looking for you.”

“I mean, I saw her earlier. Then...”

“Then what?”

Then I did some illegal racing, made a drug run for a one-percenter gang, and, oh, had sex with a hot-ass Latino with a dirty mouth.

As she looked at Adam, it was clear none of that could come out of her own mouth. No siree.

“I was with someone,” she finally told him as she flopped into the chair. She’d slept well beside Emilio, better than she would have expected, but she was still bone-tired today.

Adam’s eyes narrowed. “Who?” he demanded.

“No one you know.”

Adam merely waited. She knew her answer wasn’t good enough. He’d want a name. An address. Possibly a criminal background check.

She sighed wearily. It didn’t appear that being 18 had any effect on Adam’s over-protectiveness. Given the state of things, Ava wasn’t so sure that was a bad thing. Adam had a nose for trouble, and if she wasn’t careful, he would root it out of her.

Despite her penchant for leather and tattoos, racing was the only thing she’d ever lied to her family about. Ava was not a liar by nature. She’d never had a reason to be. As she looked at Adam across the lobby, she figured that sticking as close to the truth as possible was the safest bet.

“I really don’t think you know him,” she parsed out. “He works at Burnout, the garage not far from here.”

Adam’s eyebrows rose. “With Shooter Sullivan and his crew?”

Ava nodded.

Adam chewed on it for a while, still staring at her. “What’s his name?”

“Emilio.”

“I met him,” came Jonah’s voice from behind her.

She turned in the chair to see him standing at the end of the hallway that led to the apartment Jonah now occupied. She looked up at him, pleading, since Adam couldn’t see her face. Jonah had covered for her once before. She hoped he would again.

“What’s the problem?” Jonah asked Adam, ignoring her entirely.

“Nothing. I guess,” Adam replied. “She stayed out all night.”

Jonah finally gave Ava a real glance. “With him?”

She held her breath and nodded slowly. Jonah could guess at all the things they’d done last night. The way he was looking at her now told her he definitely was.

Finally Jonah shrugged and took a step across the black and white tile floor. “He’s okay,” he declared. “Seems like a decent guy. And Sullivan wouldn’t hire him if he wasn’t a stand-up guy.”

Jonah headed for the doorway to his own workspace. Right next to Adam’s.

“So, you like this guy?” Adam pressed.

“Eh. I don’t dislike him. And I’ve told him what’ll happen if he fucks with her.”

Adam paused to consider this. “Well, if he’s still around after that, he’s got some balls on him.”

Jonah stopped and grinned.

Ava’s heart fluttered as she recalled the bar fight Jonah and Emilio had gotten into earlier.

But all Jonah said was, “Yeah. Seems like it.”

Ava was beginning to get annoyed. “Are you two done discussing my sex life?”

Jonah groaned and disappeared into his workroom.

Adam made a similar, pitiful noise, but didn’t retreat. “Don’t say that word.”

Ava cocked her head to the side. “What?
Sex?
”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Why stop there?” he asked loudly. “
Life.
Let’s just say life, which covers... everything. You’re not allowed to have a life. You work in my shop, so I can keep an eye on you. I live at home, so I can keep an eye on you. I’m not ready for you to have a life.”

Ava snorted at him. “I have one.” Admittedly, it was a little fucked up at the moment. But she
did
have one.

“You’re grounded,” he moaned, but it was half-hearted.

“You can’t ground me. I’m an adult now.”

“I can duct tape you to the chair.”

Ava squirmed a little at that. Knowing Adam, it might actually be an option.

“I want to meet him,” Adam declared.

She squirmed again. This time for a different reason. She was supposed to be breaking up with Emilio, not bringing him home with her. “Um...” she replied, casting about for a response. “You don’t need to,” she said casually. “I don’t think it’s going anywhere. It was just a one-time thing.”

Adam’s face changed from resigned to resolved in an instant. “Ava, we talked about this.
I’m
not like that.
You’re
not like that. You can’t just—”

“No, I— I mean... I just mean things are kind of complicated right now. With Pop,” she added quickly. “I’m just not sure I’m up for anything really serious. Nothing like ‘meeting the family’ or anything.”

At that moment, her phone chirped. Without thinking, she fished it out and glanced at the screen.

Maybe I’ll let you win at Poker, too.

She smiled, unable to help herself.

Adam noticed. “Is that him?”

She sighed and set the phone down on the desk. “Yeah.”

“Don’t think he’s on the same page,” Adam pointed out.

Ava chewed her lip instead of responding.

The phone chirped again, almost immediately.

Need you for a run.

Disgusted, she shoved it away. Then she glanced up quickly to see if Adam had noticed. But he hadn’t. He was already turning away. “Don’t think he’s on the same page, at all,” he repeated.

Ava shut the phone off and tossed it into the desk drawer. Let Clint stew for the day. She was busy and not inclined to help that bastard any damn way.

At noon, the bell over the door jingled and Sienna slipped inside. She was carrying an armload of Tupperware but glanced at the open doorway to Jonah’s workroom rather than at Ava.

“He’s out,” Ava told her. “Grabbing burgers down the block.”

Ava watched as Sienna’s shoulders sagged. The poor girl had been making up excuses to be in the same room with Jonah, even for a minute, for the last few years. Lunch was a new tactic now that Ava had taken the receptionist’s job.

Jonah had cottoned onto it pretty quickly, though, and managed to be out or with a client almost every time Sienna “dropped by”.

Ava was grateful for the potato salad, though.

“You weren’t home last night,” Sienna declared. “
All night.
I checked for your bedroom light. So, how’s your Latin lover?”

Something in Ava’s face must have given her away, because the other girl’s eyes grew impossibly wide. “No way!” Sienna whispered fiercely. “Really?!” She hesitated, glanced to see if anyone was around, then asked, “How was it?”

Ava couldn’t lie, especially not to Sienna. Nor did she want to. Last night with Emilio had been A-maze-ing. “
Incredible.
”

Sienna squealed. “God, I’m so jealous.”

Ava shushed her but retained her grin.

“When do you see him again?”

“Tonight.”

“Wow,” Sienna breathed. “He’s really into you!”

Ava shrugged. It was still a few days until Adam and Dalton’s weddings. A few more days of pretending that she was still the same old Ava. It was starting to wear on her. “Yeah,” she half-mumbled.

The shop’s phone rang and she was relieved for the distraction. “Stark Ink.”

“I told you to pick up the fucking phone when I call you.”

Ava froze, forcing herself to stare at the open appointment book in front of her rather than glance at Sienna sitting next to her.

“Don’t make me come down there,” Clint warned. “With a sack full of weed, waving it around the lobby, like I just don’t care. ‘‘Cause I don’t, Ava. I don’t care. I will seriously fuck up your life if you screw me on this.”

Ava sighed inwardly and tapped the book with her pen. “We have an opening today,” she said finally. “At four.”

She was off at 3:30 and could make it across town in thirty if she hustled. She hoped Clint would go for it. Asking Adam for the day off out of the blue would raise too many questions, ones she couldn’t answer. So he wasn’t likely to let her out early.

Clint swore loudly. “Fine,” he bit out. “Fucking fine. Just get your ass here by four. If you’re even a minute late, I’m coming to Stark Ink to find you.”

“Okay,” Ava said brightly. “No problem.”

She hung up and tossed the pen across the table.

“Can’t do it?” Sienna asked.

Ava turned to her. “Huh?”

“You didn’t write down the appointment.”

Ava looked down at the open spot and shook her head slowly. “Oh, no. They wanted in right away.” She rolled her eyes. “You know how it is.”

Before Sienna could say anything else, the bell over the front door jingled and Jonah stepped inside. He was loaded down with fast food bags and a drink tray. Normally, he stopped at the reception desk to deliver the food, but his gaze darkened as he caught sight of Sienna sitting in the other chair.

He passed them up, headed into Adam’s workroom, and then disappeared into his own without so much as a grunt.

Sienna watched, lips pursed together. “I should book a piercing appointment,” she grumbled quietly. “Then he’d have to look at me.”

Ava grinned at her friend. “Oh, sure. Absolutely. You should get your clit pierced. Show him what he’s missing.”

Sienna’s face turned bright red at the suggestion. She stood up and grabbed her purse off the chair. “Whatever. I’m out.”

“Bye, Felicia!” Ava called after her.

Sienna flipped her off on her way out the door.

The truth was, Ava did feel bad about Sienna’s non-existent relationship with her brother. But at this point it was just easier to joke about it than keep commiserating over Häagen-Dazs. Ava figured it wouldn’t take much longer for Sienna to finally give up and move on. She knew her friend was almost there.

And Sienna was hot. If she primped and preened for anyone other than Jonah, she’d have a real boyfriend by now, probably even a string of them.

Maybe Emilio had some younger friends.

Or maybe Sienna and Emilio would end up bonding over Ava taking off. They’d end up together, the jilted friends-turned-lovers. Ava slammed the door on that thought—
hard.
She had a decent plan. It would work. It had to.

The clock on the wall ticked past one.

Only three hours left until she got out from under Clint— permanently.

––––––––

W
hen Jeannie arrived, Ava sprinted out the door and hopped on her bike. She sped across town at warp speed, headed straight for the warehouse. She didn’t have anything on her so she didn’t care if she got a ticket.

When she turned into the lot, Clint’s BMW was in the small lot. No one else was there, though. The Tweedles must have been out on runs of their own. Ava thought that was better. With no one to show off for, Clint would see things her way. He’d take her up on her offer.

She found him by the workbench, stuffing the familiar green backpack. She wondered if Clint had picked out the bag himself. Subtlety had never been his strong suit. He tried to pass it to her, but she shoved it back at him.

“I’m not going,” she told him.

“The fuck you’re not.” He slammed the pack into her belly— hard— but Ava still refused to take it.

“You can’t want me for this,” she insisted. “There are plenty of people who’d do this kind of shit. Anyone from the races. Weasel could rec— ”

“Fuck that! You owe me,” Clint snarled.

“So, let me pay you back.”

Clint paused for a moment, blinking at her.

“I have the money,” Ava continued, talking quickly now that she had his full attention. “All of it.”

Well, almost all of it. One more race and she’d have enough. She didn’t bring what she had anyway. Clint wouldn’t expect her to produce it on the spot. She’d put him off a few days, take the finish line for one last race, and put all of this shit in her rearview.

“Just let me pay you back,” she pleaded.

Clint glared at her. The shadows of the poorly lit building did a lot to make him seem more menacing. But Ava knew he was mostly an idiot, mostly made decisions based on pride and what other people would think of him. “You owe me more than that,” he told her.

Ava knew he was still stinging from the humiliation of having been ripped off.

She sighed inwardly. She’d known it might come to this. She’d half expected that he wouldn’t take her up on her initial offer. There was little satisfaction to be had in simply taking the money back.

Clint wanted to hurt her, ruin her life.

Ava knew she’d have to take her lumps if she wanted to avoid jail, or something horrible happening to someone she loved.

She frowned, though, and bit down on the inside of her cheek. She hated this moment. She was always going to hate this moment. Years from now she’d lie awake, thinking about it, getting pissed off about it. And knowing that there had really been no other way.