Tribal (2 page)

Chapter
2

Ash

I
sat out on Cris’s back porch with a cold beer watching a storm slowly roll in.
 The black clouds looked menacing especially when the sunny sky of the
afternoon was still shining bright side by side with the storm clouds.  I
sighed, only in Texas did you see skies like this—where you can literally have
both seventy degree weather beside fifty degree storm clouds in the same
neighborhood.  I glanced over and watched Cris walk outside with me.
 I knew we were going to have the same argument that we had lately, and I
really didn’t want to.  That’s why I walked out of the bedroom when he
asked me to move in again.

“So
you ever going to answer me?”

“Do
I have to?” I asked looking over at him.  He really was gorgeous with his
short dark hair, dark brown eyes that were almost black, his tattooed arms and
chest were showing since all he had thrown on was a pair of jeans.  His
chest was a work of art that led down to abs made for licking that tapered down
to that perfect V.  Damn, he was gorgeous, and he was mine, and would be
mine for good if I could give him what he wanted.

“It
would be nice.”

“I
can’t move in with you right now.”

“Why
not?”

“You
know why not, we had this discussion last week.”

“Yeah,
we did.”

“So
you know why I can’t move in with you.”

“I
love Devi, just like you do, and I love her kids, but Ash you can’t give your
life up for them.”

“I’m
not giving my life up, I am doing my job.”

“And
you can do your job and not live there.”

“They
need me.”

“I
need you.”

“Cris,
you don’t understand what they are going through right now.”

“Yeah
I do.  I talk to her daily.  I know exactly what she’s going
through.”

“Then
you know why I can’t leave right now.”

“All
right, what about when Seth comes back from tour?”

“What
about it?”

“They
are taking a break after the tour is over.  Talked to Sam about it
yesterday; he says probably a year or so.”

“Okay?”

“Okay,
so I understand not wanting to leave them while Seth’s on tour, because yeah,
Devi needs you most then, but after?”

“I
can’t just leave them like that.”

“I’m
not saying quit, I am saying just not live there anymore.”

“And
if it’s a live here or get fired what then?”

“It
won’t be.”

“You
know that for a fact?”

“I
know Devi.”

“It’s
my job.  I agreed to be a live-in nanny from the beginning.”

“Yeah,
but that was before me.”

“There
wasn’t a
well until I meet someone
condition in my contract.”

“You
signed a contract?”

“Yep.”

“And
the contract said you had to live there?”

“Don’t
remember.” I knew there was a non-disclosure along with some other contracts I
signed to help protect them from the press, and I couldn’t blame them for it.

“You
don’t remember?”

“Nope.”
I really didn’t want to get into this with him again, but I knew he wasn’t
going to let it go until he got what he wanted.

“So
why not look through it and see if it does?”

“Because
I like living there.”

“You
like it more than being with me?”

“No,
that’s not what I said.  I said I like living there.  I like the way
things are going with us as they are now.”

“We’ve
been together for eight months and no one knows about us, Ash, you’re okay with
that too?”

“No,
I am not okay with that,” I told him. “I’ve been thinking about this, let’s
tell everyone this weekend at the bar-be-que.”

“What
bar-be-que?”

I
sighed then glared at him.  “Do you ever listen to me?”

“Yes,
I listen to you, sometimes.”

“Yeah,
that’s what I thought.  Devi is having a bar-be-que this weekend for I
think, Max’s birthday.  Hell, I don’t remember.”

“Fine,
you want to tell them this weekend, we’ll tell them this weekend,” he grumbled.

I
smiled over at him.  “Good, now let’s stop fighting and enjoy our day
off.”

Cris

Sunday
afternoon Max and I rode our Harleys to Devi and Seth’s house for the
bar-be-que to celebrate Max’s birthday earlier that week.  Since Sunday
was the only day the shop was closed, it was the only day all of us could get
together to really celebrate it.  I was looking forward to seeing Ash, but
I didn’t know what to expect when everyone found out about us.  I also
didn’t really give a shit, but I knew she did especially since it’s her
employers as well as friends.  We were going to say something before but
things always seemed to happen to interfere with the timing, like Drake’s
accident, so I was waiting for something else to stop us from finally letting
the cat out of the bag.

“Ready
for this?” Max asked as we were heading up to the door.  He already knew
about us and knew the plan to let everyone else know.

“Yeah,
been ready for a while.”

“Well
good luck, I don’t think they will care much,” he said and smirked over at me.

“Shut
up, let’s go in,” I said, ringing the doorbell and walking in the door to chaos
which is typical of Devi’s house lately.  The kids were screaming, Jaks
running around, and the guys were either trying to soothe a baby or completely
ignoring it while playing video games—ah, life at the Taylor household.

I
walked through the house to the kitchen and found Devi, Mags, and Ash in there
getting food ready for the grill.  I walked behind Ash and ran my fingers
across the skin showing on her lower back and had to fight a smirk when I saw
her shiver.  I loved that I could get a reaction like that out of her.
 I happened to glance over at Devi and found her watching us.  She
winked at me and went back to what she was doing—well I guess we weren’t being
as circumspect as we had thought.

“So
Cris, more interviews tomorrow?” Devi asked.

“One,
I am meeting Haven tomorrow.”

“I’ve
heard good things about her.”

“Yeah
me too, and she was trained by a pioneer of body modification.”

Devi
nodded.  “Let me know how it goes.”

I
took a deep breath.  It was still strange to think that Devi had just as
many rights to my shop as I did, but Devi wasn’t acting any different than she
normally would have.  I had always discussed hiring and firing with her.

“Will
do.”

“So
how long have you two been together?”

I
chuckled, that was Devi, she never missed anything.  “About eight months.”

“And
I am just now figuring it out, damn, I am slipping.”

“You’ve
been a little busy.”

“That’s
true,” she muttered.

I
glanced over at Ash who was beet red.  I guess she hadn’t realized her
boss knew about us.

“You
okay?” I whispered to her.

She
nodded but didn’t look up at me; I didn’t know why she was embarrassed.

“So
you don’t have a problem with it, do you?” I asked not really caring for me,
but I knew Ash did.

“I
don’t give a damn, as long as you keep everything zipped around my kids, but
that goes for everyone.”

“Yes,
I already received that lecture after X in your kitchen.”

She
nodded.  “Everyone did.”

“So
we’re good?”

“Yeah
we’re good, just be nice to her or I will kick your ass.”

“I
would expect nothing less from you.”

She
smiled over at me. “As long as you’re both happy, I am happy.”

“Thanks,
Devi.”

“You’re
welcome Cris, now get out of my kitchen unless you want to help cook.”

I
knew when to get the hell out, so I went in with the guys.  We quickly got
into talking about music, tattoos, and bikes.

Chapter
3

Ash

I
watched Cris walk out of the kitchen, then looked back at Devi.  “You’re
sure this is okay?”

Devi
shrugged.  “Is it really my place to say that I am or am not okay with
it?” she asked looking me in the eye.

“I
just don’t want this to screw up my job here.”

She
nodded still watching me. “I can understand your concern over that, but I’ve
never told you that you couldn’t date anyone from my tattoo shop, that rule has
only ever applied to the band.”

Mags
snickered and Devi shot her a glare.

“I
am starting to think that a rule of all employees will be made though,” she
mused.  “I keep losing my best and favorite employees to these guys.”

“You…
You’re firing me?” I stuttered.

“Of
course not, but I know Cris and he keeps his private life private so if he’s
making it public then it’s more than just play between you two.   I
just don’t want to see either of you hurt.”

I
nodded a little confused by this.  “I can understand that.”

She
looked me over once more.  “I don’t think you do, at least not yet. 
You will though, Cris has been hurt before,” she said sadly, “and I don’t want
to see that happen again; he’s my friend.”

“I’ll
try not to hurt him.”

She
nodded again and gave me a small smile.

“So
Ash,” Mags began smirking at me, “how’s Cris in bed?”

“Uhm,”
I said eyeing Mags then looking over at Devi who was staring at Mags like she’d
grown a second head.

“You
can ignore her,” Devi said winking at me.  “I already know that Cris can
be a bit unusual, no one needs to know what you two do behind closed doors.”

With
that, she turned and walked out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of food Mags
following her asking questions about her last comment.  It’s not that I
was embarrassed about being Cris’s submissive, I just didn’t really want that
information out to the general public.  Like Devi had said some things
were better left behind closed doors.  It also left the question how did
Devi know about Cris?  As far as I knew, he didn’t go around advertising
his sex life or what it entailed.  Hell, it had taken two months of us
dating before he told me about his less than vanilla likes; I just happened to
enjoy the same thing.  After that discussion, we never looked back, and
we’d spent the last six months learning each other in that aspect of our
relationship.

It
wasn’t like either of us wanted a Dom/sub relationship all the time, that
lifestyle quickly became boring, in my opinion.  Once in the bedroom
though, that was a different story, having someone I trusted to dominate me in
bed just worked for me.  It wasn’t like I didn’t enjoy normal sex, I did
and it had its place.  Only more often than not I liked more.  I
liked being ordered, begging, and the bite of pain he could deliver.  That
just wasn’t anyone’s business but Cris’s and mine though.  So I had every
intention of finding out why Devi knew about Cris and his less than usual sex
life.

I
grabbed the salad I had been working on and brought it out amongst the squeals
of Jaks, and cries of Cait.  I laughed when I put the food down and saw
Jaks shoot Xavier with a Nerf gun then run away.  Seth was fighting with a
tired Cait; it was past her naptime and she was fighting it hard.  I
walked over in his direction when an arm wrapped around my stomach and pulled
me back against a hard chest.

I
didn’t need to look back to see who it was.  “Yes?”

“So
how was it?” Cris whispered in my ear.

I
shrugged.  “Fine, but we need to talk before you leave,” I told him.

He
stiffened and let his arm drop.  “About what?”

“Later
okay, I need to get Cait down for a nap and its lunch time.”

“Sure,”
he muttered and I looked over my shoulder at him. 

He
gave me a strained smile before spinning and walking off towards where the guys
from the shop were sitting in the family room.  I shrugged it off and went
and saved Seth from a cranky little girl, I was working today.

***

Cris

“So
I hear that you’re leaving soon; have a tour to finish?”

Sam
took a drink of his beer and nodded.  “Yep.”

“What
after that?” I asked Sam.

“We’re
taking a break, working on a new album.”

“My
Misery Muse, you and Max have some family stuff to deal with.”

Sam
jerked his head to look at me.  “You know about that?”

“Yeah,
Max told me, he wanted me to know so if he needed to take some time off, he
could.”

“Yeah,”
Sam said running his hand through his hair, “that makes sense.”

“I
take it you haven’t told them?”

He
shook his head.  “Don’t know how.”

“Well
if you need anything, even someone to talk to.”

“Thanks,”
he said softly.

“You’ll
be gone six weeks?”

“Yeah,
we have to finish the last leg of the tour we canceled after Drake’s
accident.  None of us really want to, but it’s in our contract.  Once
we finish this though, we’re done with that label.”

“I
heard about that, congrats on buying your own label.”

“It
should be interesting,” he murmured.  “Seth and I have wanted this from
the beginning.  More control over our music, closer to home, it should be
good.”

“So
is it just you and Seth?”

“That’s
the way it was planned but X wanted in also.  Eli wasn’t interested.
 He just wants to beat on his drums, hang out, and not have any kind of
real responsibility.”

“Yeah,
but you can’t blame the guy.  His dad had been riding him since birth, all
he’s known is responsibility.”

“That
is true.  So what’s new with you and the shop?”

“Devi
bought in as a silent partner in the shop.  We’re hiring a body modifier
as well as some new tattoo artists.”  Sam nodded so I went on.  “And
I’ve been dating Ash.”

Sam
smirked at me.  “I know, how’s that going for you?”

“Ash
or Devi?”

“Both,”
he said grinning.

“Devi’s
always been there, this doesn’t change anything.  She and I have been
partners since the place opened; it’s just official now.  Ash and I are… I
don’t know what we are but its good.”

“Good
for you,” Sam said looking at the floor frowning.

“You
okay?”

He
nodded but was looking off in a different direction.  “Yeah, I’m okay just
thinking.”

I
cocked my head to the side and looked at my longtime friend.  “What’s her
name?”

“Whose?”

“The
girl you’re thinking about.”

He
shook his head.  “No one, at least not how you think.”

“Then
how is it?”

“A
friend who needs help.”

“Someone
I know?”

He
nodded. “Yeah you know her, but she doesn’t want you or anyone else to know,
hell,, she doesn’t want me to know.”

“Then
how do you?”

“Would
you believe by accident?”

I
nodded slowly getting a bad feeling.  “If you need anything…” I began but
he looked up at me and I could see the pain etched in his eyes.

“I
can’t,” he said softly, “though I want to.”

I
nodded reluctantly feeling like we were having two very different conversations
right then.

“So
how did Ash take you and Devi’s history?” Sam asked slyly.

It
was my turn to look away.  “Haven’t told her.”

Sam
stared at me, I could feel it even though I hadn’t looked back at him.

“Are
you crazy or stupid?”

“A
little of both?”

“Oh
I would say a lot of both, you know she will find out.  Don’t you think it
would be better if it came from you that you proposed to her not only boss but
friend?”

I
rubbed the back of my neck and looked at him.  “Yeah?”

“Then
why haven’t you?”

“Haven’t
gotten around to it?”

He
shook his head taking a drink of his beer.  “You are a dead man,” he said
then walked way still shaking his head.

I
sighed and silently agreed with him.  This is why since Ash told me she needed
to talk to me I had been avoiding both her and Devi.  Though if someone
would have told her, especially Devi, I think my balls would have already been
detached from my body.  Both women were scary when angry, though Devi’s
moods had been all over the place lately.  That alone should scare me into
telling Ash my history, as innocent as it was, with Devi.  I still
couldn’t; I had tried more than once then stopped for some reason.

Max
waved towards the door and I nodded following him out the front door and to our
bikes.  I left without saying bye to anyone, something I knew I would pay
for later.  Only I didn’t want to deal with my bubble being popped yet if
that’s what was going to happen.  I had already been dealt that blow once
when Seth came back.  I couldn’t handle losing Ash, even though it would
be my fault for not being honest with her.  A few more days I told myself,
then I’d tell her everything.