“You okay?”
It was Stone’s voice, and she forced her eyes open. They’d been squeezed shut and she’d completely tuned out everything else around her. She could feel perspiration on her upper lip and her breaths were shallow. There was no pain in her right arm, though. She looked at him and nodded.
The look on his face told her what she needed to know. She must have looked like an insane woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She swallowed and tried to remove the worry and fear from her eyes, forcing a smile…and a few words. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“It’s done. Want to take a look?”
Already? She peeked over and looked at the tiny tattoo on her arm. It was perfect. A little black musical note decorating her arm…forever. The skin around the tattoo looked red and swollen, irritated by Stone’s gun, but she was glad she’d powered through. She looked up at him. “I love it.”
He smiled and started talking about tattoo aftercare, but Kory’s mind was still wrestling with a demon she’d forgotten she had—and she wondered if she’d ever be able to get rid of it.
Chapter Eight
THAT NIGHT WHEN they left the tattoo shop, Stone had taken Kory out for ice cream before driving her home, but when he dropped her off, there was no mind-blowing kiss. Instead, he pulled her into an embrace and held her close. How the hell had he known that was what she needed? If she had managed to find her guts, she would have asked him to do that all night long.
She really should have, because she had nightmares throughout the night. It started with dreaming about getting the tattoo—the sensation of the gun vibrating against her arm, causing her pain, followed by Art approaching her in monster-like fashion, ready to devour her.
She knew it was stupid.
She’d thought she had moved on. After discussing the guy with her therapist ad nauseum, she thought she’d managed to let it go.
Yeah, Kory had figured becoming a slut the last year or two in high school had proved she’d let go of any scars left behind by that twisted man, but now she was beginning to think she’d just stuffed it all down and pretended it didn’t exist. In fact, the only reason she’d curbed her slutty behavior was because she’d discovered a guy who made all other guys pale in comparison. Despite that, she’d thought all the sexual behavior had eliminated the need for therapy, had somehow healed her. What she’d seen in her head last night convinced her she hadn’t let it go—not by a long shot. And somehow that tattoo gun had pulled it out of her.
Now she thought maybe she better understood her fear of needles. Only it wasn’t a fear of needles. It was a fear of being hurt by someone she was supposed to trust.
She was beginning to think Stone was psychic too, because somehow he knew she needed time to process. He didn’t text her until Monday, and when he did, it was to ask how she was doing. She let him know she was fine. Then he called. “Are you really fine or are you just saying that?”
She didn’t know, but she wasn’t going to tell him that she was considering calling her old psychologist and getting back into therapy. “I’m fine. The tattoo’s healing nicely, by the way.”
“I figured it would. And sorry to ask. You were just…pretty out of it Friday. I wanted to make sure you were all right.”
“I am. Really. I’m a survivor.” Shit. Did she really have to say that? “Thanks.”
“When do you have your next night off from work?”
She knew the next three nights were work nights, which was fine, because when all the stocking and cleaning was done, she usually had an hour or so to work on homework. She needed to do a little catch up because she’d spent far too much time over the weekend reliving parts of her childhood that she wished would just get out of her head. She wanted to see Stone, though. That idea made her feel warm and happy. “Thursday.”
“Wanna do something?”
“Yeah. What do you have in mind?”
“Well, really, there’s not much to do in this town except drink. We could go to the movies or go bowling or do some laser tag. I’d invite you to go hiking, but I don’t think it’s a good idea doing it at night.”
“That might be kind of exciting. You wouldn’t see a bear until you were right up on it.”
“Exactly. So what’ll it be?”
She smiled. She didn’t think she’d ever really dated a guy before, so Stone’s attention, while foreign to her, was welcome. “How about you surprise me?”
“Oh, that’s how it is. You’re gonna be a pain in the ass and make me choose. Then when you don’t like what I pick, you’re gonna give me massive loads of grief.”