Chapter One
Ace Heart watched as Trixie Dean placed a tea beside him. It was late, and he was just going over one of the sketches his clients wanted him to do. It was some kind of superhero thing for a punk ass kid who was more than willing to part with his hard-earned money for a piece of shit tattoo. In years to come he’d regret it, and probably get it removed leaving a big ass scar. There were times Ace wondered why he did what he did.
“That is going to look tacky,” Trixie said, wrinkling her pretty little nose. “Think he’ll go through with it?”
“Yeah. He’ll go through with it. Look cool for a while, and then have to live with the fact he looks like a damn adolescent kid.” He put his pen down, grabbing his cup of tea and taking a sip. His love of tea often amused Trixie. He wasn’t a coffee drinker. The damn stuff had him so wired all the time that he stayed away from it. “You can laugh all you want. This is the good stuff.”
She held her hands up. “I’m not saying a word.”
“You don’t have to. I can see how you’re laughing at me.”
“You’re a guy covered in ink, and own a tattoo shop. All of your badass self and you love tea.” She giggled, and he loved the sound. She had been working for him for well over three years. They had both gone to high school together. Neither of them had been close. He’d been the bad boy in school that good girls like Trixie had stayed away from. Throughout the years he’d watched her often. There had been no way that he couldn’t. Her red hair had been like a beacon, calling him.
Once high school had finished, she had gone away to some fancy college, got a business degree, and then some mega shit happened, and she’d ended at his shop one Saturday night. She had been pristine business woman with tears soaking her face. She’d begged him to ink her back with a tramp stamp, and as he touched her skin, he’d wondered if she remembered him. Every other week after that one time, she’d come to his shop, asking for something else, some new design, or letting him pick what to put on her flesh. Slowly, he’d painted parts of her body. After about a year of visits, she asked if she could apply for his receptionist post. If it had been any other woman, he’d have told them to fuck off.
When it came to Trixie, he couldn’t turn her away. She’d looked so desperate, and she had been. Caught up in the world of business, she had forgotten who she was. In the three years she’d been working with him, he had found out everything there was to know about her. Considering she was the head of a company, she’d been miserable, close to suicide, and dying inside.
From the moment she’d left high school, her life had been about following some design, some plan. Once her degree had come, then the job, and her parents tried to find a husband for her—it had all been too much. She’d snapped, and now he was the only family she seemed to have.
“There’s a lot more to me than a bit of ink,” he said.
“I know there is. You were always so withdrawn and reserved. No one could touch the precious Ace Heart.” She patted his arm. “You’re not a bad guy. So is your latest bimbo going to be around much longer?”
“Bimbo?” He’d not been with a woman in a long time. Three years now and counting. Seeing Trixie again had made him incapable of falling for any other woman.
“You know. Blonde woman, was here earlier with a sandwich for you, and we both know she wants something more.”
“You mean Kathy?” he asked.
“If that is her name, then yes.”
“Kathy is not my bimbo. She’s my cousin, and she’s trying to get me to put some ink across her tits, and that shit is not happening. I don’t do cousins or any relatives. She’s like a sister to me.” Kathy had grown up in the trailer across from his parents, and they had always been close. He didn’t have any feelings for her. Besides their close relation, she was way too skinny for him.
He liked a woman with juicy thighs, rounded hips, a nice stomach, and a big pair of tits. A woman exactly like Trixie. She appeared in all of his fantasies. Late Friday nights instead of fucking any random woman who wanted him, he was in the shower beating off to images of her. He loved watching Trixie work, especially if she had to reach up for something. Her arms would lift over her head, and the shirt she wore would rise up, and her tits thrust out. His cock was getting hard just thinking about it.
“Oh, now I feel weird. I was a little mean to her. She’s been around three times this week. I thought she was your girlfriend.”
Trixie made to pull away, and he caught her hand.
“When have you known me to have a girlfriend?” he asked.