CHAPTER FIVE

Grey

I’d been working at the tattoo shop during the day and the gallery in the evenings. I was pulling double time because my dad needed someone to help with the front desk and scheduling. Their main chick was out sick as a dog. I didn’t mind doing two jobs at once. I ended up going to the gallery so late in the day that my mom wasn’t making me wear the damn button up and tie anymore.

Plus, grunt labor carrying large canvases and crates meant I was getting a workout in at the same time. I thought I would feel more put out, not hanging with my friends over the winter break. Turns out, I didn’t miss any of them all that much. The only person I had an urge to see was Luca. I’d been missing her at the gallery, and part of me wondered if that was my dad’s doing. He really hadn’t wanted me to hook up with her. And he knew if I wanted to, I would.

“Mom, you here?” It was Luca’s show opening, and my dad and I had both come to support the gallery. My dad came to all these big nights. He loved my mom more than anything, and never missed any of her shining star moments. He was so damn proud of everything she’d accomplished here. And vice versa. Mom told anyone and everyone about Revival Ink and how talented my dad was. They were sweet. They were goals. Not that I was racing in that direction or anything. Obviously. “Mom? Mother? Momma? Mom? Maykin? M—”

“I’m here, I’m here.” My mom came up behind me, tickling my ribs and making me squirm. “Chill.” She released me and moved further into her office, picking up the glass of champagne that was sitting on her desk. “Thanks for coming, G.”

I fluttered my eyelashes playfully. “Of course. Tonight will be great, I can appreciate a good piece of….art.” I knew how my dad felt about me and Luca, but maybe by some miracle my mom would be cool with it.

She narrowed her eyes over the rim of her flute. “You better be here to admin the art, and the art only.” She shook her head. “Luca isn’t—”

“For me.” I nodded, letting out a long sigh. “So I’ve been told.” I hated it when she and my dad teamed up like this. If they agreed on a course of action, I was screwed. Or not screwed in this instance. “Welp, let’s get on with it then.” I needed to show my face, congratulate Luca and then get out of here. “I have plans.”

If I couldn’t have her, I wanted to go find someone I could have. It’d been over a week since that roof party. Texas never had particularly brutal winters, but there was a chance of snow starting tomorrow and the bars would be considerably less packed with the threat of flurries. We didn’t know how to exist or drive in a white Christmas.

“Oh that’s funny. I didn’t realize you had plans other than being here with your mommy and daddy.” She handed me the last swallow of her drink. “Because you’re still grounded.”

I tossed it back, fighting the urge to stomp my foot like a small child. “I’m still grounded? I’ve been working my ass off for a week. That doesn’t earn me a little yard time, warden?”

She shook her head, not even bothering to turn around and look at me. “Nope. No time off for good behavior. When you get arrested, you serve the full sentence.”

“You got arrested?” Luca’s sweet voice carried a hint of amusement.

I hadn’t realized she was waiting right outside my mom’s office. She looked beautiful, wearing a tight black cropped shirt, and black trousers below which were Gothic inspired Prada loafers. She had this tortured artist meets old money vibe tonight. It was a heady combination and a far cry from the sweater set she’d be in the first time I met her. I found I enjoyed each version of Luca I’d gotten to see.

“Luca, sweetheart, you look fantastic. Love the shoes.” My mom brought her in for a hug, kissing one of her cheeks like she had the first time.

“Thanks. They were a good luck gift from my Aunt Lexi.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, glancing down at her feet and laughing lightly. “I’m so nervous. I didn’t think I’d be this nervous.” Her words were spoken softly, almost like she was speaking only to herself.

My mom snatched a flute of champagne from a passing waiter and handed it to Luca. “Here, one glass before everyone arrives, it’ll help drown those nerves.” Luca took a small sip. “You hang back here, I’ll come get you when it’s time, okay?”

Luca nodded, taking another larger sip of her drink. Her hand was shaking.

“I can stay with her.” I gave my mom my most innocent smile, letting her know that I would be a good boy. Luca looked like she was going to pass out, it would have been wrong to leave her alone and inside her own head.

My mom waited until Luca turned toward the office and then she grabbed my ear, dragging it down so she could speak directly into it. Which, yeah, hurt like a son of a bitch. “You better behave, do you hear me?” I nodded and she released me.

“Jesus mom, chill.” Did I find Luca hot? Yes. Did I want to bend her over my mom’s sturdy desk and take her for a spin? Also yes. Would I? No. Most of her family was outside and the other guests would be arriving any minute. I was reckless, not stupid.

“Don’t touch that girl.” One final warning and then she plastered a smile on her face and went into gallery owner mode.

“What were you arrested for?” Luca was perched prettily on the edge of the desk, like she knew all about the fantasies living inside my head.

I shut the door, drowning out the increasing hum of voices and music. “I threw a rave on the roof of the Dean’s building.”

She nodded, lips pursed like she was impressed. “Nice. Drugs?”

“I wasn’t high, and I didn’t supply. But there were drugs present, yes.” I sat in front of her in one of the two available chairs. Slouching down, I man spread my legs. We were close, but not touching. I wasn’t breaking any rules. I’d wanted to see how she reacted to me being in her space. She’d simply raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

“Were you the only one who got caught?”

I doubted my mom would want me sitting here telling one of her artists about my indiscretion. But I had time to kill and this seemed like a good distraction for Luca. “The Dean caught us, not the cops. He allowed everyone else to leave, but made me stay.”

“Why?”

Well, at least she didn’t seem nervous anymore. Really, I was doing the gallery a favor by keeping her so thoroughly entertained. My mom wouldn’t let me use my hands, so my words were all I had. It was her own fault really. “I was fucking his daughter, in his office. She was high. Again, not from drugs I provided. But. Yeah. He was pissed.”

“You’re dating the Dean’s daughter and he had you arrested anyway?”

I couldn’t help my soft laughter as I shook my head. “I didn’t even know the Dean had a daughter until he told me to get my hands off her.” I stood, putting me inches away from her. She had to tilt her head back to hold my gaze.

She smelled like amber and spice, and I wanted to press my nose to her slender neck and breathe her in so deep that I’d never forget how delicious her scent was. “Never met a girl I wanted to keep longer than a couple of hours, you understand.”

There was a smile playing on her lips and a light in her eyes that was drawing me in like an adrenaline junkie to a twenty-foot half pipe made of ice and snow.

She wasn’t put off, she wasn’t disgusted.

She liked it.