Razed (Barnes Brothers #2)(32)

He had to go to San Francisco so his mother didn’t kill him.

He had to pretend to look at a few spots there.

Then he had to do a few photo shoots back home, appointments he was already committed to.

Then he was heading back to Tucson. He hadn’t specified when, but he was coming back.

She had no doubt about that. He was serious about this. Very serious.

His house was up for sale.

He was leaving Albuquerque and moving to Tucson.

Bent over a sketch for a custom piece she had to do that afternoon, she eyed her phone and wondered if she would come off as completely lame if she called him. Or sent him a text.

She could maybe take a picture—

Her phone started to buzz. She looked up, smiling as a now-familiar ringtone filled her work area.

Sheryl Crow and Kid Rock—“Picture.”

And there was a picture of Zane filling the screen. She’d snapped that one, while he was talking to Zach in the parking lot out back. She couldn’t even compare when it came to photography, not with Zane, although she knew how to point and shoot.

Still, she’d wanted a picture of him, just him, that was hers and only hers. Of course, even that thought made her feel silly and stupid.

Reaching for the phone, she swiped her finger across the screen and watched as the message bubble popped up.

You doing anything tonight?

She smiled.

No.

She hit Send and then settled down in the chair. Earbuds in, music blaring, she was completely unaware of anything else in the world.


*

“I bet they’re sexting,” Javi said, his face straight.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Zach wince, then, carefully, his expression went blank. “What have you got on for the afternoon, man?”

“Just finished up a walk-in. Have a repair job due in this afternoon.” Rubbing at his goatee, he looked back down the hall toward Keelie’s work area. Although none of the rooms were completely private, they had four walls and were closed off by a set of swinging doors, offering privacy to those getting tattoos of a more intimate nature. The only room that was completely private was the piercing area where Anais worked, although as of yet, she hadn’t talked Zach into letting her do anything more intimate than a naval piercing.

She kept calling him uptight.

Personally, Javi was with him on that. He didn’t want to think about a man getting his dick pierced or a woman getting a piercing in anything close to her hoo-haa—Aida had taught him that word. But some people were into that and Javi wasn’t opposed on principle. It was just that his balls shriveled up and died a little every time Anais talked about Prince Edward piercings or clitoral piercings and all sorts of other piercings.

He had a feeling that was why she persisted.

Just for the hell of it.

Same reason he was yanking Zach’s chain right now. It was fun.

“I gotta say, I never would have thought I’d see the two of them making eyes at each other, but that look on her face, amigo,” Javi said, heaving out a theatrical sigh. “I’m telling you, he’s gone and done something to her. I used to think you had a way with women, man. But Zane’s got you beat if he’s done that to Keelie.”

“Whatever,” Zach muttered, red creeping up his neck, spiraling past the tattoos.

Javi bit back a grin.

“You think he’s gonna start visiting more often?” he asked, watching as Zach bent over the design in front of him, sketching with a little more intensity than necessary.

“For f*ck’s sake.” Zach threw his pencil down and shot him a look, his blue eyes aggravated. “Don’t you get enough of this watching those soaps you love with Aida? No, he won’t be visiting more often. Z’s moving here. As soon as he gets things settled in Albuquerque.”

For a few seconds—only a few—Javi was speechless.

Then he caught the back of the chair across from Zach and hauled it out, dropping into it and leaning forward.

Zach was already bent back over the sketch.

“Moving. As in here? Mierda,” Javi muttered. “That went and got serious quicker than I thought. No wonder you’re all twitchy.”

“Hell.” Zach sighed and leaned back in his seat, his eyes glinting. “I’m not twitchy. Or if I am, it’s because you’re needling me. But Z’s not moving here over Keelie. Or not . . .”

Zach blew out a breath, crossing his arms over his chest. “Maybe she’s part of it. I don’t know. But he quit the bar where he worked. He’s making a go of his photography.”

“Really?” Javi grinned. “That’s awesome, man. He’s good. Real good. He oughta be . . . like on magazines, in museums or shit.”

“He has been.” Zach slanted a look at him. “He could be a hell of a lot bigger if he’d just focus on it.”

There was something unsaid at the end of that sentence, though. Javi had known Zach too long not to catch it.

“But . . . ?”

“He holds himself back. Stays on the side. Always did. He’s reaching for it,” Zach said, pushing the chair back and rising, gathering the sketches on the desk, staring off at nothing. “Reaching, finally, and that’s something. But he always holds back and he can’t make this work if he doesn’t really let himself go.”