The Darkest Link (Second Circle Tattoos) (15 page)

“Julianna,” her father called out. “I have someone I would like you to meet.”

Lia turned and walked toward them. The man next to him looked like a clichéd extra from
The Godfather.
His dark hair was slicked back, drawing emphasis to a shiny forehead. He wore a perfectly tailored navy-blue suit and black shoes polished to within an inch of their lives.

“Julianna,” her father said as she held out her hand politely. “Let me introduce you to Winston Bell.”

* * *

Reid pulled up alongside the no-parking zone in front of Lia’s condo. He wanted to get the car off the trailer before he took the truck underground, and this was the only place he could see to do that. The ride down from Fort Pierce had been uneventful. There had been a limited number of assholes on the road, which always made life easier.

The more time he spent in Miami, the more he loved it. The vibe. The pace. Even the crazy architecture. What he wouldn’t give for a glass-and-concrete showroom in South Beach, where the super-rich could browse ready-made bikes or sit down in a high-end office to meet with him to discuss custom-made specs. When he’d first moved south, he’d considered Miami, but the cost of a space was way beyond his means.

He killed the engine on Chase’s truck. They’d traded vehicles for the weekend because he’d needed the power of the truck to tow the trailer and the garage couldn’t afford to be without the tow truck for two days. Which meant his precious baby was probably being driven around the neighborhood by Chase, likely with his elbow sticking out the window like a jackass. The recently turned twenty-one-year-old wouldn’t be able to resist.

Reid jumped down out of the truck just in time to see Lia walk out of the lobby. She was wearing a navy-blue-and-white-striped dress with three-quarter sleeves and a short hem that clung to her curves. A red-and-white patterned bandana held her curls back from her face. Unusually, she was wearing blue-and-white Converse—while sporting white sunglasses and sucking on a lollipop.

She looked cute, sassy even. Especially the smile. She hurried toward him, squealing unashamedly on the sidewalk, but as she got close, she veered away from him and threw herself against the side of her car, arms spread wide. “You’re home,” she mumbled around the lollipop and stroked the paintwork lovingly.

Reid laughed as he walked toward her. “There’d better be a welcome for me like that. Preferably now, babe.”

Lia pushed away from the car and popped her hip to the side. She took hold of the lollipop stick and twirled the end.

He raised an eyebrow.

She pulled the lollipop from her mouth with a loud pop. “What have I said about calling me babe?”

“I didn’t. You must be hearing things. What did I say about welcoming me back?”

Lia sidled up to him, her hips swaying as she walked his way. She stood up on her toes, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him briefly on the cheek. “Hello,” she said, before letting go of him completely.

“Let me get this straight,” Reid said, trying not to smirk. “The car that I lovingly restored for you gets a full-blown body hug and the pleasure of you rubbing up against it, which by the way, in that dress, is seriously fucking hot. And I, the person who restored said car, gets a peck on the cheek? Try again, babe.”

Lia backed up a couple steps. “Think you can catch me?” she asked. She hitched the hem of her dress up a little farther.

“Always, babe.”

This time she flew at him, jumping into the air to wrap her arms and legs around him. She kissed him excitedly and her lips tasted like cherry. Reid gripped her to him, one arm around her waist, the other under her butt. Sure as fuck, people were staring at them. And yes, on a scale of zero to too-fucking-old-for-this-shit, he probably shouldn’t be making out with her on the street. But damn, she was sunshine in a perfect human package.

He kissed her, allowing himself a few moments more than was probably appropriate, and then pulled his lips from hers without putting her down.

“Better?” she asked.

“Much.” He grinned as she straightened her legs out behind him and extended her arms while keeping her hands behind his neck.

“Thank you for fixing my baby,” she said.

“You’re welcome. Ready for me to take it off?”

“Are we still talking about the car or something else?”

“You can apply that to anything you want, but it might be better if we deal with the car first.”

Lia laughed as he lowered her to the ground.

Reid went around the trailer and loosened the wheel straps on the rear first. Then he released the straps across the front and rear. Once he had lowered the ramp, he fished in his pocket for the keys. He jumped into the car and put the key in the engine, turning to watch Lia’s face as the car roared to life.

Like a five-year-old who’d eaten too much cake at a birthday party, she was bouncing up and down on the spot while clapping her hands.

Watching for traffic, he reversed the car slowly down the ramp and along the road until it stood a few feet behind the trailer. Not having ever heard the engine before the spring broke, it was difficult to say whether it had ever sounded this good before, but it sure as shit purred now. Reid killed the engine, stepped out of the car, and handed Lia the keys.

“Oh my God, Reid, you got my baby going again.”

Unable to resist, he put an arm around her waist and kissed her lips softly. “You can thank me properly when we get inside.”

Reid dealt with the straps and the trailer ramp and followed Lia into the underground parking for the condo. With a little help from the superintendent, they found a place to park Chase’s truck and the trailer, and they were soon back inside Lia’s apartment.

“You didn’t have to bring your own groceries, you know,” Lia said, looking at the bags he’d retrieved from the truck.

“When I had to leave here last week, I was gonna try to make you breakfast and leave it on a tray. But leftover pasta, out-of-date coleslaw, and a quarter-full container of half-and-half didn’t really feel like a breakfast that would impress. And given how that drawer,” he said, nodding in the direction of the kitchen, “contains about one hundred and sixty takeout menus, I figured that was how it usually looked.”

“I admit cooking is not generally my strong point. But what I lack in culinary talent,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist, “I make up for in many other ways.”

She kissed him tenderly, and for once he allowed himself to sink into the moment. If his heart squeezed a little tighter and his pulse raced a little faster, he was just going to roll with it. Because he really liked the woman standing on her toes in front of him.

When she pulled away, he smiled. “Yes, you do, babe.”

“I hate to say it, but I think I might be getting used to the babe thing.”

“As long as I’m the only guy who gets to call you it,” he reminded her. They hadn’t had a conversation about exclusivity, but she didn’t strike him as the kind of girl who would mess around. In fact, she’d been more than transparent about her propensity for falling in love too quickly.

“You are,” she said, and ran her fingertips along his jaw. It tickled and he liked it. “Listen, I have something I need to tell—”

There was a knock at the door, but it hadn’t been preceded by a buzzer.

“Damn, we always get interrupted by that door of yours.” His cock twitched at the memory of her from the previous weekend, seated on the counter, legs apart. “What did you need to tell me?”

Lia looked toward the door and shook her head. “Oh, nothing. It can wait. Would you mind getting that while I put these groceries away?”

Reid wasn’t convinced by the easy way she blew it off, because beneath that tight smile, there was a whole heap of worry he’d not noticed when he first arrived. It knotted in his chest. Was it something about his not-so-subtle hint at making their relationship official that worried her? Regardless of the cause, it was going to have to wait a moment.

He opened the door to the most mismatched couple he’d ever seen, a tiny purple-haired woman and a man with long dark hair who stood a couple of inches taller than him. The dude, who looked bizarrely familiar although he couldn’t place him at the moment, was holding a baby dressed in the most ridiculously colorful outfit. She kind of looked like a tiny butterfly with little tufts of dark hair pointing in every direction.

“
You
must be the brother,” the woman said with a huge grin.

“Someone else said that to me recently, too,” he said, thinking of Cujo.

“Oh my God,” he heard Lia squeal from the kitchen. She pushed past him and hugged the woman. “You’re home.”

“Arrived safe and sound from Paris,” the woman said.

“And we’re a little messed up on time zones,” the guy added.

“Petal,” Lia cooed, taking the baby out of the guy’s arms. “Look how you’ve grown.”

“Reid Kennedy,” Reid said, holding out his hand to introduce himself, seeing as Lia had forgotten. “And yes, I am the brother.”

“Dred Zander,” he said, taking Reid’s hand. “My girlfriend, Pixie, and my daughter, Petal.”

Preload.
Dred Zander was in that metal band. And he was on that tattoo reality-TV show with Trent, his soon-to-be brother-in-law. Reid shook his head at how his life had suddenly gone from sedate in Fort Pierce to all kinds of crazy. He remembered some news article now, something about the musician finding out he’d become a father after the baby was born. And wasn’t there something about his girlfriend being involved in an old abuse lawsuit with her stepfather? He’d read the article because something about it made him think of his sister.

“Pixie manages Second Circle,” Lia added.

“Only part-time now, though,” Pixie added. “Between Petal and getting ready to head off on tour with this guy, I had to drop a couple of hours. Harper called and told me she’d seen you, Reid. How are you doing?”

Concern etched her eyes as she reached out and placed her hand on his arm. While it was none of her business, the fact that she cared enough to ask was touching.

“It’s good to see my sister, and it’s also crazy as fuck,” he answered truthfully, looking across at Lia.

Suddenly Petal wailed in Lia’s ear. “Hey,” Lia said, bouncing her up and down. “That’s no way to treat your aunt. Do you guys want to come in?”

“Thanks, but she’s hungry and tired. We need to go feed her, but I just wanted to say hi first before we got settled. And see if I could meet you,” Pixie said, looking straight at him. “I know you have no idea who I am, but I’m incredibly happy to see you.”

Lia handed Petal to Pixie, and it was impossible to miss the way Dred looked at his family. Envy gripped him. He wanted that sense of family in his own life.

As the door closed, Lia’s phone began to ring. Worried that she wouldn’t make it to her phone in time, Reid hurried to the kitchen and reached to grab it from the counter and hand it to her. It was impossible to miss the word
Dad
as it flashed on the screen. Lia placed the phone facedown back on the counter. When it rang again, Lia walked away from it without even turning it over.

“You don’t want to answer that?” he asked.

“My father is an asshole on a good day, and I really don’t want my day ruined.”

The ringing stopped. Within moments, though, it started again. This time Reid picked up the phone and swiped the screen to ignore it for her. “Well, I’ll say this, he’s a persistent asshole.”

“He’s been practicing for years.”

“I know how that goes. My father’s been mad at me since I was about fifteen. So what was it you wanted to tell me?”

She placed both hands on the edge of the counter, her knuckles turning white. “I’ve been thinking about how to say this. My dad is one of the best defense lawyers in the state. He has the highest win rate.”

“I thought you said he wanted to run for office.”

“He does. But that doesn’t change the fact that people seek him out in cases where they really want him. Or should I say where they can afford him to help them win.”

His heart dropped. “Okay, babe. You need to just spit it out, because I don’t think I’m gonna like where this is going.”

“Harper told me that you now know about Nathan. About what he did when he went to prison and after he was released. Well, I was over at my father’s place last night. And Winston Bell was there.”

* * *

That Reid wasn’t saying anything was clearly not good. He stood on the opposite side of the kitchen counter from her, his hands too far away to reach out and hold. Periodically he would rub his hand across his forehead, pressing his thumb into his temple. Blurting it out had certainly not been her intention, but it had suddenly seemed crucial that he know. She was certain that miscommunication about something as important as this would put an irrevocable cleft in their fledgling relationship. Plus, secrets were just stupid.

“Please say something, Reid.”

Instead of talking to her, Reid walked toward the balcony doors and stepped outside.

Lia silently debated following him, but she didn’t want to chase him for chasing’s sake. Her heart hurt for him, that he had to deal with this on top of everything else when his wounds were just starting to heal. No. She wasn’t going to go after him. And she most definitely wasn’t going to force him to explain what was going on in his head. She was going to give him room to breathe.

Feeling confident in her decision, she opened the fridge. There had to be something she was capable of making among everything he’d brought. There were eggs and vegetables. How hard could an omelet be? She pulled up a recipe on her phone.
Hmm. Flipping. Folding.
Okay, that was a recipe for disaster. She huffed at her own pun. What else? There was some spinach. She could definitely do a salad. The meat to go with it could be a bit trickier. He’d brought chicken breasts and steaks. Now that Pixie was home, she could give her a call and ask her what to do with them.

“You’re overthinking it,” Reid said from behind her.

She closed the fridge door and turned to face him. “I can’t cook anything.”

“I already realized that, babe.”