Riveted: Drawn Series Book 1 (2 page)

When I went to visit last time, Axel did this amazing
angel tattoo on my back, its big. And it’s so beautiful. It took forever, but that
was only because all these women kept coming into the shop to talk to him, to
get “tattoo advice.” Panty droppers basically. The skanks were puddles at his
feet. As if he was some sex god rock star! Axel?

 MY brother is skinny, but not too skinny. And his
eyes are a piercing green. Like mine. We both have black hair like pretty much
everyone on my father’s side of the family.  Mine is down to the middle of
my back.  The last time I saw Axel, his hair was spiky black with blue
here and there. He can tend to be very intimidating and he cannot sit still,
cannot settle down. And he is a man whore, while I was still a virgin. I will
say, Axel has had some close calls in regards to getting girls pregnant and he
liked to mess with rich girls. If it has a pussy and a pulse, he is all over
it. On second thought, a pulse may be optional.

Driving slow, avoiding the inevitable, I pulled up to
Axel’s house. It is a modest two story dark blue house with black shutters that
he bought a few years ago. The lights were on upstairs and a BMW was in the
driveway. He drives a F250, dark and sleek, like him. Unfolding myself from my
own black pickup truck, I grabbed my bag from the seat next to me and almost
limped into the house.  Trying to turn the handle, I found that it was
locked. Sighing, I rang the doorbell. A laughing woman with long, blonde hair
and wearing a pair of boxers and a man’s polo shirt answered the door. Another
rich girl I was betting. She looked at me for a moment and swayed on her feet.
She was shorter than I, and she eyed my jeans and wife beater clad self and
raised an eyebrow. I willed myself to not roll my eyes and just shove past her.

“UM, who are you? I don’t think we ordered pizza,” she
said, slurring a bit. Taking a deep breath, I counted to ten. She’s drunk, I
tell myself. Don’t take offense. You may be tired, but there is no need to be a
bitch.

“I am here to see Axel,” I replied. She looked at me for
a moment and then laughed.

“Let me guess, you are some tattoo groupie who wants to
talk
to him? Honey, he does not want to talk to you, he has me. So scram!” She
actually said scram?  Who says “Scram”?

“Listen Barbie, I am not some tattoo groupie, which
obviously, you are. By the way, who shows up to the door half naked? So let's
make this easy for BOTH of us, step away from the door before I kick your ass.
And believe me, I can do it. And in case you are wondering, I am Axel’s
sister.” I said, my voice rising a bit. She stood there with that whole “Deer
in the headlights” look, so I shoved her to the side. Because she was more than
a little drunk, she landed on her ass by the front door. Smirking, I set my bag
down on the bottom step of the stairs leading to the second floor and walked
into the kitchen. Grabbing a can of soda, I leaned against the counter and
sighed. Around Carl, I was a submissive shell of myself, when I am away from
him that is another story. Granted, I am usually non-confrontational, but shit,
I’m tired, stressed and my heart hurts. This has been one HELL of a week
already and it will not be hard to piss me off.

“I see you’re making friends wherever you go sis,”
laughed Axel, coming into the kitchen with a towel wrapped around his waist,
showing all his tattoos. His chest is not completely covered. On his right side
from his armpit to his waist, he has tattooed an angel, head bowed, and tears
running down her face. My mother’s name is underneath the angel. Uncle Tangler
did it for him and it’s incredibly detailed and breathtaking.  On his left
side is the Celtic tree of life, also incredibly detailed. One hand has a
Celtic style shamrock on it. Like I said, there is a lot to take in when
looking at his inked skin. His back is my favorite. A huge Celtic cross covers
his shoulder blades and extends to his lower back. He has others underneath the
towel, but I don’t care to see them. His eyebrow is pierced, his bottom lip is
pierced, as are his tongue, nipples, and I am guessing some other things too.
On his left hand, he has my mom's name tattooed on his fingers. On his right
hand, the word Harley was newly tattooed. I am guessing because of the bikes he
is obsessed with. My brother is a definite work of art.

“Whatever. I am tired, hot and irritated. Plus when I
knocked on the door,
she
acted like I was some skeezy tattoo groupie. So
I shoved her,” I replied, taking another sip of my soda. He smirked.

“Well, Little Miss Sunshine, she took off. Happy now?” he
asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the counter with a smirk.

“I am sorry. I guess you and Rosie Palm are going to be
best buds again tonight huh? Besides, why do you care? It’s not like she is
wifey or anything, is she? Where did you meet this one?” I asked. He looked at
me.

“I
am
upset Bleu. She could have been the one,” he
replied sadly, looking down. Staring at him, he looks back up at me and we both
break out laughing. He still did not answer my question though. Weird.

“How long are you staying for?”  He asks suddenly. I
toy with the tab on my soda can and avoid his eyes.

“Bleu?”

“Not sure how long. Um...Carl...and I are over,” I
mumbled, willing myself not to cry. It did not work at all.  He walked
over to me and lifting my chin with his hand, wiped the tears that were flowing
down my face.

“Why?”

“Well I came back from a work launch party and caught him
fucking my boss in our bed. He was all proud of himself and blamed me because I
would not put out. Then I lost it and kicked his ass, ended up in jail and I
got fired,” I said the last thing softly.

“What!!? Wait, what do you mean because you would not put
out?”

“All of that information I just spilled and
that's
the one thing you focus on? I know it’s hard to believe, especially with your
endless supply of booty. I was waiting until I got married to have sex.”

“As in never ever having sex ever?” He raised an eyebrow
and leaned across the counter, stunned.

“Yes Axel, like as in never ever having sex,” I replied
snappishly. He was getting on my nerves.

“Wow, sis. I mean wow. But you lived together! How the
hell did he not go crazy? I mean you are my sister, but you are hot!”

“Thank you. Believe me it was HUGE bone of contention
with us, no pun intended,” I remarked bitterly. He snorted and punched me
lightly in the arm.

“You really kicked his ass?” he asked after a minute. I
nodded.

“Yeah he pressed charges, so at some point, I have to go
back for court. And because Amanda's dad owns my company, she gave him some sob
story about me being a threat and they fired me. So I am homeless and jobless,”
I replied. He shook his head.

“Well you can stay here as long as you like. Things are
kind of crazy for me here too, but you are my blood. You have taken care of me
all of my life, its time someone took care of you,” he said, putting his arm
around me and squeezing me to him. I honestly did not expect that sort of
reaction from him.

“What do you mean things are crazy?” I asked him. He just
smirked.

“Let's get you a bed,” he said, before turning and
walking out of the kitchen.  Fine, let him be Mr. Mysterious.

Axel cleared out his extra bedroom; pushing aside boxes
filled with various tattoo paraphernalia. Apparently he stored some of his
extra stuff in here when he was not in the shop. The bed was a full and had
clean black sheets on it and a maroon comforter. Tossing my bag on the bed, I
smiled at my brother as he hugged me and walked out the door. Kicking off my
flip flops and taking off my glasses, I laid face down on the bed and closed my
eyes.

“Hey, geek girl?  Get the hell up!” yelled a male
voice. Opening my eyes slowly, I looked up at my brother. He looked like a deranged
elf with a cup of coffee in his hand. Sitting up, I brushed my long hair out of
my face. He handed me the cup of coffee. He was wearing all black and his hair
was styled into some kind of faux hawk. I hated that he hopped out of bed
looking fabulous, while I always looked like Morticia Addams on meth.

“Morning,” I mumbled as I took a giant sip of the coffee.

“Any plans today?” he asked. He had this look in his eye
that made me nervous. The last time he had that look; we ended up in jail and grounded
for three months.

“Why?” I asked cautiously.

“Well I figured you needed some cash. So I have an idea.”

“No, I am not having sex with your friends for money,” I
mumbled, taking another sip of my coffee. He smirked.

“ Yeah, no. Adam, the shop guy, who does everything but fix bikes and tattoos,
well he quit. Like I said last night, things have been crazy and I don't have
time to go through all kinds of apps to weed out the crazy and hire a competent
person. I figured I would have you work the shop. Sound good?” he tugged on the
small silver hoop in his left ear, waiting for my answer.

“Yeah that would be awesome, especially since I haven't
really had the time to look for a new job.” He shrugged.

“Whatever works,” he replied .Taking another sip of coffee,
I studied him. He looked like he was about ready to jump out of his skin and he
had these bluish black circles under his eyes.

“Ok. It’s real easy sis. Jeans, tank top, boots, flip
flops. Whatever. We are not fancy. Just try not to show your tits okay?”

Raising an eyebrow, I reached for my glasses and snorted.

“Aww shit bro. And I was planning on wearing booty shorts
and pasties my first day!” I said with a whine. 

“Yeah, I don’t think the guys would be able to work if
you did,” he laughed. He stood up and wiped his hands on his jeans, giving me a
stiff smile.

“Well I got to go to work. You know where it is
right?”  He pulled at his lip ring and looked at me. Stop tugging on the
damn lip ring.

“Sure do. Let me take a shower and I will be there,” I
replied. He nodded and shut the door behind him. I heard the front door close a
few minutes later. He better calm his jumpy ass down.

I stared at the water going down the drain, in a
trance.  Thoughts of Carl crashed through my brain. When would he get out
of my damn head? I hated myself for comparing everything and everyone to him.
Relief flooded me over not having given up my body to him as well as my heart.
Grabbing a towel I stepped out of the shower and wrapped the towel around me.
Towel drying my hair, I opened up my bag and pulled out a pair of well-loved
jeans that hugged my curves perfectly. I am not rail thin, my Irish ancestors
saw to that. Curves in all the right places that would be me. Decent sized
chest, not porn star huge. I pulled on a black tank top with thick straps that
went past my waist. It has a Day of the Dead type female skeleton on it,
straddling a chair in pin up lingerie. The pic is amazing looking. Looking in
the mirror, I smiled to myself. Tying my hair up in a messy bun, I grabbed my
black leather messenger bag and headed downstairs to leave.

My brother’s shop, Insatiable Art and Cycles, is two
blocks away from his house, so I walked. It is a large black building with a
two bay garage attached.   As I got closer to the building, I saw the
doors of the two bay garages were open and music was blasting. There was a tall
guy leaning against the open garage door frame. He had a shaved head and from
what I could see, his bottom lip was pierced and one of his eyebrows as well.
He had on baggy jeans, black Docs and a gray form fitting t-shirt that
showcased a nice muscular form. He had both arms all tattooed, an ankh, Celtic
style, on the left side of his neck and I am sure more ink was underneath his
shirt.  He smiled at me; his eyes were deep brown and piercing.  I
gave him a shy smile in return.  Other guys were working on various bikes
inside the garage. They stopped working when they saw me go inside shop. I gave
them all a wave and opened the shop door.

 Let me tell you, the inside was impressive. Having
never been here before when everything was finished, I looked around. To the
left of the door was large counter with black granite top on which sat a swanky
computer system. To the right of the door was a large waiting room with honey colored
cushy couches and chairs and a bookcase unit with artists’ portfolios and back
issues of Inked Magazine. There was also the shop office behind the couches.
Two huge windows in the front of the shop let in tons of natural light.
Straight ahead as you walked in, was the shop. There were four work stations
and a closed off room for piercings (there was a sign on the door.) There were
two drafting tables for the artists to draw up the tattoos.  There were
three tattoo artists and my brother. The shop logo was brightly painted on the
shop floor which that complimented the funky colored walls and old school signs
from tattoo shops. When I had walked in, the bell above the door jingled and a
head poked out of the office. Out walked the guy from the garage. He smiled and
I remembered to catch my breath. He looked familiar but I could not place him.

“You must be Bleu. Sorry about staring at you earlier.
It’s weird though, you and Axel have the same eyes and smile!” he remarked. His
voice was deep and but smooth like honey. Girly parts snapped to attention.