Messy Love(85)

“You fucked me up for eight years.’’

His eyes narrowed, and it drew my attention to his deep crow’s feet. “Is that how you want to play it?’’ He nodded and jerked on the collar of my ruined shirt. The fabric protested again with a ripping sound that told me the damn thing would hang off my shoulders, only good for the trash. “Think of your adorable adoptive parents and that little sister of yours. Ava. Isn’t that her name?’’

“Leave her out of this!’’ I bared my teeth then.

“And what about that whore that visited your place every day for a little while?’’

My arms moved before I uttered a word and I pushed him hard enough that it caused him to take two steps back. He barely caught himself before he landed on the armchair with a thud. His malicious look and that damn smirk made another appearance. My blood boiled.

“Don’t talk about her. In fact, don’t talk about any of them.’’

“You’ll do what I ask then?’’

“Or what, uh? My adoptive father is a cop. With just a text he’d drag your ass to jail.’’

He laughed then and sat on the armchair as if everything was fine. As if I played right into his hands.

“Remember your friend Tim?’’

Just like that, I shut my mouth and realized the kind of crap I was in. I trusted my cop father and I wouldn’t have any qualms about getting my bio dad in jail. It’d probably help me sleep better, but the fact remained. I was aware that he knew people, some of which he probably owed to and acknowledging what kind of scumbag he was, he told them everything about me and the people I was close to. What better way than that to ensure I’d help him?

“Don’t pull that face, Wyatt. It looks like you need money and I’m sure we can work something out.’’

I glared at him and found him holding my list of part-time jobs. He had me with my family and Marissa’s safety at risk, and he had me because now he knew I was in a tight place too.

I was a prisoner to my father. Again.

And again, I was too much of a coward to do something about it.





MARISSA


“I can’t believe Kam said he’d hire you at the end of the month and full time!’’ Sophie squealed again, her smile so big it warmed my battered heart.

It’s been over a week since Paul was born and Kam had told me the very next day about the end of my apprenticeship and the good news that came with it. I was lucky and a mix of happiness and excitement with a dash of sadness at seeing my dream fulfilled. That was the downside to a broken heart. Everything was tainted in dark colors, dulling the brightness of the picture.

“I know. I didn’t think it’d ever happen,’’ I said in a chuckle while working on a sketch of a punk version of Tinker Bell for a guy in a local band that stopped by the previous day. Kam wanted me to work on the design and if the client liked it, work on the tattoo myself with Kam at my shoulder, but he wouldn’t say a single thing.

I brought the drawing pad closer to my face and squinted at a shading area. I rolled the chair from the office closer to Sophie’s desk as she clicked away on the computer, probably double-checking appointments. She was a bit OCD sometimes, but that’s why she was so valuable, as much as for her talent piercing people, as for keeping most of the paperwork and appointments in top order. I knew Kam was glad that Sophie was so diligent in her work, which left him more time to do what he loved best; tattooing.

“We haven’t celebr—‘’ she began but stopped when the front door opened and someone walked in. I looked up from my sketch and widened my eyes when I saw Denny Burton, his eyes taking in all that made InkSpired with one sweeping glance before he focused on me and offered me a tight smile as he walked to me. Right before he made it to the front desk, Sophie elbowed me and whispered in my ear. “Who’s that?’’

I wasn’t surprised she asked me. Danny Burton didn’t look like someone here for a tatt or a piercing. Not just because his bare arms were virgin canvas, but because at one glance he didn’t give the vibes of someone coming for body decorations. He was too tense I guess.

“Lydia’s husband.’’

“Oh,’’ she whispered back, and it made me smile when I stared at my best friend and how she didn’t appear one bit the kind of person who would work at such a place, or someone with piercings and who pierced. I knew for a fact that her list of clients here for Prince Albert kept growing. She saw more cocks than me but had never been with a man with so much as a single tattoo or with a piercing other than in the ear.

“Good afternoon,’’ Danny said with a strained smile for Sophie and me before his attention focused solely on me. With that stern look, unwavering and that stoic fa?ade, it was easy to see the cop he was when he interrogated a suspect or whoever he had to interrogate.

My stomach twisted as I greeted him with a subdued voice. He was a good man, and he had welcomed me warmly when I met Lydia, but somehow, I knew that if he was here, it couldn’t be good. I had been in contact with Lydia and Ava with a few texts here and there and two phone calls that were brief mostly because I didn’t want to hear about Wyatt or be too tempted to ask about him.

“What brings you here?’’ I asked then and put my drawing pad on the desk along with the pencil and eraser.