Ink Enduring (Montgomery Ink #5)(9)

“Hey, Maya,” Holly said with a smile. She was just so nice. But not fake nice. Like a genuine person who actually cared about others. Maya cared about others, too, but she also liked cursing and f*cking. “Jake wanted to show me the place since I’ve never been here before.” She looked around, her eyes a little wide. “I love the hot pink and black. It’s so very you.”

Maya’s brows rose. “I’m hot pink?”

“Well, yeah. It’s not pastel, but it’s still girly. A little rock star and sexy all rolled into one. Plus, the black balances it out and makes it pop all at the same time. So, it’s totally you. I’m glad Austin let you do the colors.”

Maya blinked, a little unnerved at how Holly saw her. “Austin didn’t really have much choice in the matter, but I don’t think he cares too much anyway.” She shrugged. “It’s been over a decade with versions of this color scheme and we haven’t changed much.”

“But it looks fresh, not as…scary as I thought it would be.” Holly winced and shook her head. “I’m an idiot. I didn’t mean that it would be frightening to be here or anything. I don’t know what I thought since I’ve never been to a tattoo shop before and what I’ve seen on TV and things isn’t the…best.”

Maya just chuckled softly. “The media gets it wrong, but they tend to get it wrong about most things. Our place is clean and tidy. Yeah, we have art on the walls, and the colors are vivid, but that’s what we like. Our ink is vivid when needed, and it’s also art. So it fits us. If it wasn’t clean, we couldn’t work. There are a lot of standards in place for us to keep open, and frankly, we want to be better than those standards. We’re literally taking a needle to your body here, I want it to be clean and sanitary.”

Holly looked around some more, a smile on her face. “You’re so passionate about your work. I love it. Not everyone is, you know? But you have a job you love, and from the work I’ve seen on Jake, you’re good at it. Great, actually.”

Maya held back a wince at the thought of what ink Holly had seen exactly. Jake had ink all over his chest, back, legs, and arms. Other than a few small pieces he’d gotten before he’d met her in that bar all those years ago, she’d done every single inch of him.

He was hers in a way, but not in the way he was Holly’s.

And Maya was fine with that.

And if she kept saying she was fine, she was going to have to kick her own ass.

Jake strolled up to them, a smile on his face and a fine sheen of sweat at his temples. He swung an arm around Holly’s shoulders, then Maya’s, and grinned.

“There my girls are,” he said with a smile.

He was so f*cking clueless sometimes. If he had actually looked carefully, he’d have seen Maya breaking at the edges. If he’d just see her like he had all those years before he’d met Holly, then he’d see how much she was hurting even if she had no right to hurt. Instead, he only saw Holly. And that’s how things should be. Maya didn’t have a leg to stand on. But it still hurt like hell that he couldn’t sense that something was wrong. He’d always been aware before.

Now she wasn’t his first, wasn’t the one he looked to.

She was so f*cking selfish, it wasn’t even funny. So she buried that part of her that hurt like hell and leaned into him.

“You’re an idiot,” she drawled. “I said break up the fight, not join in.”

“You said corral. So I did.” He smiled wide. “I just had to infiltrate first.”

Maya rolled her eyes and punched him before meeting Holly’s gaze. The other woman studied Maya’s face intently before giving her a small smile. Maya didn’t like that smile, didn’t like the way Holly seemed to see too much.

Danger, danger, Maya Montgomery.

“So, you here for new ink?” Maya asked as she moved away from the couple. She needed distance. A whole hell of a lot of distance.

Jake shook his head. “No time, but I have an idea for a new piece when I can think of it.”

Maya nodded and turned to Holly. “And you?”

The other woman shook her head. “No, I don’t have any ink and…well, I don’t know if it’s me. It would have to be important, you know? To have it on my skin for the rest of my life and all. And well…I just don’t know.”

Maya shrugged. She didn’t blame the other woman at all because ink was permanent. And, yeah, it had to mean something, even if that something was to make her feel good every time she saw it.

“You’re right,” Maya said finally. “It has to mean something, totally.”

“But if I ever decide, I’d want you to do it,” Holly said with a smile. “I trust you, and well, I know you’d do a great job.”

Jake grinned like a man knowing his two best girls were getting along, and Maya could only nod. Because if Holly ever wanted Maya to do a tattoo, then she’d do it and it would be f*cking perfect. Maya didn’t f*ck up ink.

Because ink is permanent, she told herself. Just like she’d thought the idea of Jake being in her life would be. Yet unlike the ink on her skin, she could feel him slipping away, fading into a forgotten memory.

And she didn’t like how she felt about that.

Didn’t like it at all.