Page 11 (1/2)

"Yeah?" My voiced sounded like I had sht

"Rowdy?" Salem’s voice was concerned and I flinched involuntarily

"Yeah What’s up?"

I addedcereal and took a bite

"Do you know that it’s after noon? Your first appoint for thirty minutes"

"Fuck me" I tossed the cereal bowl into the sink and rubbed a hand all over ive them a discount for the inconvenience I’ll be there in a few er out ofto take more than a few ain with her concern andin ht and blacked out on the couch I’m fine, just a little annoyed at myself"

"Okay I’ll handle the client"

Her tone had switched frout Whatever was going on between the two of us, whatever she was doing to s professional between us at work I owed that to the guys, to my clients, and even to Saleize, and I’ll have sons for you to look at Sunday if you want to meet up"

She made a weird noise and I heard her move the phone to the side to talk to so them by my place or just e-mail them to me when you have them ready I need to spend Sunday and Monday at home this week"

I wanted to ask her why, and i those days alone, and then wanted to kick reed and she toldup and let oddaether It didn’t help aze landed on the abandoned sketch pad fro upto run fro to drink away

It was all thereher dark eyes, her endless waves of ebony hair, her perfectly sculptedjewel above her lip, her knowing grin Plus, the knowledge of every secret I had was there in that hastily drawn ietting hoet around having to deal with her and the hurt she had left behind

I picked the pad up and tossed it on the couch in disgust This was getting out of control and I really had to do soh to scald and rushed to get out the front door in under twenty minutes My next appointment was at one thirty and I didn’t want to disappoint anyone else today I hated that feeling

Work was a night everyone else a hard tiuy ready with a quick retort But there was no denying that I looked like ha like a bear with a thorn in its paw, so Rule and Nash were ruthless about it all day long I took the ribbing good-naturedly and h the rest ofSaleo to the LoDo shop not long after callingunfulfilled and unsatisfied on top of being

Nash wantedto eat for dinner since Saint orking a late shift in the ER and Rule had taken off to go hoht after work anymore and I think it buht and noith all the business stuff going on and each of the into domesticated bliss, their bro-times were few and far between

I had to decline because I needed to work on the drawings for the store I wanted to show Salem I wasn’t really as much of a screw-up as I had appeared to be in the last few days Nash told me he understood and promised he would have some sketches to me within the next feeeks as well, and left me alone to draw

I sketched out a pirate ship I sketched out a o I sketched out a gypsy and then had to argue with myself not to throw it in the trash when I realized how ht before All the iraphic They were old-school tattoos with enough flare toto a consumer not in the business I liked them so much I decided on the spot I couldn’t wait until tomorrow to show Saleht or that I ht come across as crazy, I texted her and asked her if it was all right if I brought theht I really could’ve just snapped photos with my phone and sent them to her but I didn’t want to do that I wanted to show them to her in person

I hadn’t felt like this, the rush, the chill of anticipation rushing up and downon paper to show her I was fourteen and Saleo to her prom because as usual she had broken one of his endless rules She was so sad about it, too, because the captain of the football tea to be her dreaht in her roo about her dad Because I was always hanging around, always at her house instead of my own, I had ended up on her bedroo to e boy, so there wasn’t much I could do, but when she told me how sad she was that she would never have a picture to keep--a good h school days--because her father had thwarted her once again, I knew there was one thing I could do