“So, he’s giving up the music thing?”
“God, I hope not. They’ve worked too freaking hard for this. But Cara will be there too.”
“She’s leaving Chicago?”
“I hope after this, she never sets foot back there again. I want her to transfer to NYU or at the very least Loyola in Maryland if she’s hung up on it being Loyola.”
“Isn’t that the strangest thing though? That there’s a university right here called Loyola. Went there myself.”
“Okay, okay, but I could never leave Pete. He doesn’t have anyone else.”
“And from what I heard Pete doesn’t spend a lot of time in New York anymore. Heard he’s a bit of a southern boy himself.”
A long sigh escapes me. He is literally ticking off one by one the reasons I have forleavingNew York. He's right. There's not a lot holding me there anymore. “Yeah, I think Pete would’ve left a long time ago if not for me.”
“So, what you’re telling me is the only thing holding you back from accepting my job offer is you.”
“It’s not that easy,” I laugh. “I don’t even know where I would stay here. I have no idea what I would be able to afford.”
"I would make sure you had a place to stay if that's what's holding you back, but," Bastian glances over his shoulder into the apartment. I follow his gaze to Zane who is throwing Bella in the air, making my fucking ovaries sing. “I think you wouldn’t have any problems with a place to stay.”
“Bastian can I ask you something?”
He turns his head towards me with a smirk. “You just did.”
“Smart ass,” I mumble with a grin.
“Never claimed to be much else.”
“Why are you offering me the job? I haven’t been doing this very long. I’m not sure I’m good enough to work in your shop.”
He angles his entire body to face me. His face is serious and thoughtful. Not a look I’ve come to associate with him. “Tori, you are good. The fact that you haven’t been doing this very long is proof of how much potential you have. I asked you to work for me because I want to have the best. And if in the process it helps out my boy, then sobeit. Besides, do you think I was born tattooing like this? I had to learn just like you. Just so happens, my best friend didn't mind being a human canvas. Neither did Jax. I've done so many on Jax. There are probably dozens of layers of tattoos over his tattoos.”
“So, Zane did play a part in the offer?”
“He didn’t ask me to give you a job if that’s what you mean. But I want him happy. All that damn kid has done with his life is chase women, balls, and everyone’s else’s happiness. It’s time he found some of his own that doesn’t revolve around Jax and Zoey.”
I nod but I can’t reply. What do I say to that?
And what do I say to the job offer. Working with Sebastian Delrie is a big fucking deal for me. Even knowing what I now know about him. Dane would probably lose his mind. I know he’d tell me to go for it.
But Dane won’t be on tour forever. Cara won’t be at school forever. Then there’s Maddox and Ryder. They’ve become my best friends. Can I really just leave everything I’ve gained in the last few years behind? Especially after spending most of my life feeling alone?
I never had a problem being alone when I was a kid. It was me and Pete most of the time. And whoever I was training with on any given day.
Then I walked into that damn tattoo shop and found the brother I never knew I had. Never knew I wanted. Found the little sister I wish I’d had more time with. Found friends who accepted me for my sass and attitude. People who had my back.
The feeling was foreign for so long. Now it feels like everything.
And it’s because of Maddox that I have found even more people I care about. Who care about me.
Large, strong arms slide around me. I can’t stop the smile that spread over my face as I lean back against his chest. His shoulder length hair tickles my face.
I’ve found more than just someone I care about. Or even love. I’ve found everything. Right here in the arms of a man that shouldn’t exist. A man who looks beyond the surface of a person to their very soul. A man who, as dangerous and volatile as he may be at times, is only that way because he loves with his entire being. A man who puts everyone else’s happiness above his own.
“What are you thinking about so hard?” he whispers in my ear.
“Something Bastian said,” I answer almost wistfully. “Or something that what he said made me realize.”
