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He popped the locks on the car and we got in

"How about, ‘Thanks for saving us froht our way out of there, Rowdy’?"

The car started with a sexy purr and I had to cringe when thundering guitars and screa what Jet did for a living and there was no doubt that he was a very talented dude, but that metal music he liked and played was not , whichyou musicians wouldn’t understand"

"Hey, I watch football when it’s on"

"I’ve watched games with you You watch for five o find sos by half tiue with me "Still, I had no idea you were seriously fa a ball around I er, but not that you were like on ESPN and shit"

I groaned and leaned back in the seat "I didn’t throw a ball I caught a ball and ran with it, and the only reason anyone cared one way or the other was because I walked away from all of it without an explanation"

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and I purposely looked away

"I don’t suppose you want to explain it now?"

"You suppose right"

"Well, hell I thoughtthe past a secret Turns out she don’t got nothing on you"

I just grunted in response

The truth was I never really thought about my past I had put e, watched it get shredded, and had decided then and there I was never going to invest ain I dropped out of school, not like I really had a choice after the incident with the quarterback anyway, and ended up doing the sa everything behind

I left Texas--all the e, and Poppy Cruz in the dust, where they had stayed until a feeeks ago when Salem sauntered back into ht I isted about Sale in Denver So twisted that I wasn’t sure hoas ever going to get irl had ruined et the way I felt when she walked away I didn’t want Salem anywhere nearabout her, trusting her, being captivated by her, only to have herme empty and alone

CHAPTER 2

Sale across the desk from me She was obviously nervous Noticeably out of her elementthe tailored pantsuit and the Gucci purse on her ariveaway that this was probably the first time in her life that she had stepped foot in a tattoo parlor I gave hersmile and cocked a brow at her as she put her manicured hands on the desk in front of e the traffic, toand that they were ht artist It was also my job to make sure I didn’t let someone make a mistake that they would be stuck with on their skin forever

The woht or twenty-nine, but she had that vibe about her that broadcast that she wasn’t really sure what she was doing at the Saints of Denver This was the new shop Nash had opened after his dad had passed It was right in the heart of the trendy, more upscale part of LoDo and far more modern and slick than the shop that was on Capitol off of Colfax The artists that worked here had been handpicked by Rule and Nash They were skilled and pretty awesome, and since this was a brand-new shop, and Nash wanted to build a reputation for it as well as have it double as a retail space for clothes and other tattoo-the uys were based They rotated days so that one of theh the doors

Today was Rowdy’s day at the shop and normally that would thrill me--if he hadn’t been determined to pretend like we didn’t know each other and that I didn’t exist It was going on a month, and every time those sky-blue eyes landed on ravation I tried to corner hiet him alone ood at evading me and I had never had to chase a o about it and not seeulp and she shifted nervously and I asked her, "How are you doing, doll?"

She snapped her gaze toin a very refined and country-club kind of way Her eyes were the color of the ocean and looked terrified as she blinked at aze dart up to somewhere over the top of my head as I could literally feel Roalk up behind me I was so attuned to him, so aware of the space he took up and the way he smelled and affected the air around him, that I didn’t have to look over my shoulder to know that he was there The pretty professional gulped again and her eyes popped open even wider Roas hot, and when he smiled it was hard not to fall in love, but this woman looked like she was about ready to faint or throw up