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Rowdy flipped ood humor My friends loved Shaw, loved that she uy to live with and be around It was almost a year in and while I still wasn’t the easiest person in the world to get along with I wasa"That could be the very best piece I’ve ever seen you do Are you going to put it in your portfolio when it’s done?"

The piece was a very intricate, very colorful day of the dead inspired griic and she held onto an exact replica of the heart I had initially drawn on Shaw’s pals in the design, she wanted the sacred heart represented and she wanted it to reseht Shaas going to get as interested in bodyan official couple she had asked me to draw her a bunch of tiny snowflakes in different colors of blue, gray and white When I asked her why she saidto keep with her for always that reminded her of me so she now had a snow storm that started behind her left ear and trailed across the back of her neck to base of her right shoulder It was one of ue and loved not only that she got so that reminded her of me but that I was the one to put it on her A couple of months after that she wanted me to draw her up a horseshoe with Re a ood every tiedon today was a hundred tier and more detailed that either of those, it made a staten, loved that she trusted h to per to see it every day when she got into bed besideto wipe away excess ink and blood off of her over her hip and cleaned her up I gave her a light tap on the ass and snapped off loves "That’s up to Shaw If she wants it in there I will, if not it’s cool" I flexed s around the table so I could slioo all over her and wrap her up so she didn’t ooze blood and ink all over the place until I could get her home The hand that had her naainst her cheek as I snuck a kiss As a professional tattoo artist I knew all the nificant’s na down and seeing her name there, liked when I held my hands next to each other our names were side by side forever on my skin I had also had Nash ink a perfect little replica of Casper the Friendly Ghost behindthat re that reht it eet and the way she had showed her appreciation was enough to keep ave a fuck

"It’s beautiful Thanks love"

"So are you" I kissed her again as she hopped of the table carful to keep all the good stuff covered up as she went into the bathrooer across the bald side of my head where I had it shaved Theintervals and she hadn’t been lying, she never cared what et hands in it our around it she didn’t care what style it was or what color I picked for the ave me a sour look "You are one lucky bastard Archer"

I laughed and started to clean s weren’t always perfect We were still two very different people on two very different paths but ays ainst Davenport had been hard because I hated watching her have to relive it all and there was just too et as harsh a sentence as he deserved but she stayed strong and even when her parents had encouraged her to just drop the charges and let Davenport’s dad deal with hi and Gabe was getting punished just not as harshly as any of us would have liked Her parents weren’t any kind of fan of our relationship but once it was clear that Shaw and I were a package deal or they weren’t welcohtly Personally I think it was guilt fro that kept the me in her life but I didn’t care because I was there to protect her fro as they behaved it was all good or at least good enough

Things with my folks were better, not perfect but better Myto have the close relationship she shared with Re to a couple of her therapy appoint of how she ired Much to ined Shaw and I ain but noas an active participant and it was one of my favorite times of the week Unfortunately Ro difficult now He still refused to talk to mom and dad and he only thawed toward Shahen I let it be known that if he didn’t I was going to beat his ass when he cas were rocky on that front, he felt lied to and betrayed but I had faith that if I could see the light than my brother as already a way better man than I ould come around eventually

Shaw ca her hair up into a messy ponytail Cora turned from the front desk to scowl at her "I can’t believe you’re leavingtoto irl but I’in with h she was there five to six nights a week because I didn’t want to burden Nash It was my best friend that finally told her over breakfast onethen she elcorateful because I liked our place, it was super convenient for work and I really didn’t want to reat and Nash was gone enough nights that we never really got on each other’s nerves The girls were bu to h and declared every Thursday girl night that I wasn’t worried at all about her regretting her decision

Cora screwed up her face looking like an angry Tinker Bell "I just hate the idea of er in You and Ayden were like the perfect roommates ever and after what happened to you I don’t trust soer off the street to move in"

Shaw sat in the chair I had vacated to clean up and I hid a grin as she sneakily ran her fingers up the inside ofon and looked back and forth betweenback from tour soon?"

"Yeah So what?" Artifice had hit the big ti a slot on Metalfest and tapped Jet’s band Enone for over six irl he had been shaking up with had hooked up with soured he would crash with Rowdy or one of the other guys in the band

"You can rent the room out to him" Nash said it like it was perfectly reasonable "He’s cool with Ayden and he’s always on tour our whatever anyway I bet he would be a good fit"

Shaw and I shared a raised eyebrow look Jet was cool with Ayden, in fact they had developed an independent friendship outside of the rest of us that often left us all questioning how close the country girl and the metal boy were They were close but so opposite it was hard to understand how they ever had anything to talk about, if anyone askedunder the sa for trouble, or a really good ti on how you looked at it I cleared my throat and reached out for Shaw’s hand

"My older brother will be back in a few ures out what he’s doing That ht be another option you want to consider" Cora nodded and turned back to whatever it was she was o ho her that I loved that she knew I loved asking her that She siveher Four hours of getting drilled was a lot and she nor to put her in a hot shower and make her feel all better