Jet (Marked Men, #2)(74)

I was going to walk away, but her hand on my elbow stopped me. Her bottom lip was quivering and I would like to say it broke my heart, but I knew her concern wasn’t for me or for herself, but for that selfish bastard sitting in a cell for trying to kill my dreams.

“If you go and he’s in jail, I’ll be all alone, Jet. I can’t be alone.” The last word was said on a whisper that I barely heard.

“You know what, Ma? Alone is better than one second spent with that *. I’ve spent my entire life trying to make you see that I would take care of you, that I would never leave you alone. That all changed when you let them shove me in the back of police car for trying to protect you. It’s time you start protecting yourself.”

I shook her hand off, which was surprisingly easier to do than I thought it would be. I couldn’t look at her anymore, couldn’t let her shadow pull me under with it, so I took a step away from her and said, “I’ll call you when I get back. Maybe the time alone will do you some good and we can talk. If not, I’m done with this. If the old man thinks he’s going to f*ck with me, f*ck with my band and my music, he better get a wake-up call. I tolerated it for years, because I was so worried about you and what he would do, but now I’m only worried about me. Bye, Ma.”

I walked away with the sinking feeling I was walking away from her for good. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called the Marked, the tattoo shop where Cora and all the boys worked. Since the shop had caller ID, Cora was less than professional when she answered the phone.

“Hey.”

“Hey, is Rowdy around?”

“Did you just get out of court?”

Man, that little pixie was like a pit bull when she had something in her teeth.

“Yeah.”

“How did it go?”

“Fine. Seriously, Cora, I want to talk to Rowdy if he isn’t busy.”

“You know all of them are going to be hounding him to know what happened as soon as he gets off the phone with you anyway, so you might as well just tell me, so I can tell them. It saves everyone time.”

I sighed and relented.

“I got a ton of community service, a million fines, and a restraining order. The old man got the cuffs and a ticket to lockup. I’m sure my mom is going to try to bail him out, but the cop assured me the theft was enough to keep him there a for a good long while, and that the bail isn’t going to be cheap. I’d like to say he was gonna be there for the whole time I’m gone, but I don’t know that it’s very realistic. I’m fine, Cora, really.”

She muttered something under her breath and I heard her call Rowdy’s name across the shop.

“I’ll consider you fine when you stop playing hide-and-seek with Ayden and just talk to her.”

I snorted. “That ship has sailed, girly.”

I think she was going to snap something back, but I heard the sounds of a scuffle and Rowdy’s gruff voice came on the line.

“Yo.”

“And it’s team Jet for the win.”

“No doubt, dude. What’s up?”

“What does your schedule look like today?”

“Hold on a sec and I’ll check it out, that is if I can get the Tasmanian Devil to move her fine ass outta my way.”

I heard Cora shriek in outrage, and more scuffling sounds, only this time male laughter rang loud in the background.

“My last appointment is at four and it should be quick. Some girl who just wants a little fleur-de-lis on her foot.”

“Wanna start something for me?”

“What did you have in mind? Something big or something little?”

“Big.”

“We won’t have time for that before you leave.”

“I know. I just want you to draw it and get the outline done.”

“Talk to me.”

I had been thinking about it since the studio got trashed, since Ayden had pulled out my heart and tossed it away. I wanted something that captured the way music exploded out of me, the way the fire flowed in and out of me with the words when I was onstage.

“I want an old-school microphone broken, like split open, with a bunch of fire spilling out of it. It needs to look shattered and rough, not old-school or traditional.”

I could hear him scratching stuff down on paper as I talked.

“The fire needs to be hot and out of control and I don’t care how big you make it. My whole back is open, so you have whatever space you need.”

He whistled between his teeth.

“All right. I’ll get something sketched up and text it to you. If you like it, stop by around five.”

“Don’t worry about the text, just draw it and let’s go. Come on, dude, you know me; this tattoo is all about me and my music. I know you got it.”

“You can be totally insane, you know that, right?”

It was funny because for the first time in a long time, I was feeling like I had things figured out and insanity played no part in it.

“Don’t they say all great art comes from suffering or madness?”

He laughed. “I think you have both of those covered. I’ll see you later.”

I had avoided going to the house during the day, on the off chance I would run into Ayden, but I didn’t want to be in court clothes anymore, so I decided to risk it. I swore out loud when I saw her Jeep was still parked in the driveway. I locked my jaw and decided I was grown-up enough to handle a run-in with her, even if looking at her made all my exposed parts hurt.