Chapter 13 #3
The moment I say that, the smirk drops along with his jaw. His eyes lock onto me, to my body, and his fists clench like he’s physically trying to hold himself back. With a wink, I giggle and close the door.
Fucking take that, Ty.
From The Ashes is so cute. It’s like a little grunge space inside the picturesque Main Street of Haven, Arizona. The window is wide and has a beautiful, hand-drawn logo of a phoenix with swirls of smoke around the bottom and From The Ashes clear in the smoke.
Ty walks in front of me, opening the door, and helping me through.
“Thank you,” I say softly.
“Anytime.”
There’s no bell overhead and it’s almost unnerving. The only sound that they’d have to know someone walked in would be the door closing. That can’t be safe.
“You guys are here!” Asher calls out from behind the desk that spans the whole front of the room length-wise. He’s leaning over the forearm of some girl, tattooing her.
“Hey, Asher,” I call out loudly over the sound of the rock music playing and the machine buzzing.
“Welcome, welcome,” Asher says, sitting up and smiling, “Ty, you good to take that gentleman in the front?”
“Yeah, man, I got it.” Ty puts his hand on my lower back, guiding me to the desk on the opposite side of the wall.
One where the space is so completely Ty, I can tell it’s his immediately.
He has these traditional designs tacked onto the wall, framed art here and there, but the whole work area is the same as his room; tidy, neat in a disordered way, but it’s obvious that it’s very cared for.
I walk closer to the wall, looking at all the designs that Ty deemed worthy enough to keep.
And one catches my eye.
It’s a traditional tattoo of a clearing with a stone wide enough for someone to lay against, or on. With a girl laying in front of it, sound asleep with a smile on her face, resting her head on the thigh of someone strong watching over her.
My breath catches in my chest and I tilt my head, taking in each piece of the picture. It’s…beautiful. I wish I could see it in full shading and color. I bet Ty made it magnificent.
“Wow,” I breathe out softly. Ty’s standing at the small cabinet next to his desk, pulling out the different tools and things he needs. But when I whisper, his whole body stops. I can see the way his shoulders curve in just slightly because he knows what I was looking at. “Did you do this?”
Instead of answering, Ty just nods, not looking at me, and it’s like his body restarts. His hand slowly starts to move again, pulling out plastic wrap.
“Did you finish it?”
“What do you mean, it is finished.” The gruff tone in which he says it tells me that I struck a nerve.
“It’s not shaded.”
“It’s not meant to be.”
I nod, pursing my lips together as I turn back towards the design.
“I’d be interested to see how it’d look shaded. Maybe colored if you’re into the traditional design.”
“You think you’re a tattoo artist, now?” Ty says. I can hear that he’s trying to be jokey about it, but there’s a heat on the edge that tells me I struck a nerve.
“Maybe. Maybe one day.” God, wouldn’t that be great? I think wistfully. No more trying to fight to survive on scraps. No more fighting period.
“Do you…draw still?” Ty asks softly, almost like he’s afraid that he might say the wrong thing and piss me off.
“Here and there. Sketches, doodles, nothing like Athena anymore, that’s for sure,” I laugh, trying to make light of the fact that the one thing that used to bring me some…clarity, I had to abandon. All the while, Ty honed his skills and created all this.
“Well,” he says softly, like he heard every word I didn’t say.
“If you want, we can change that.” He slides a heavy black notebook across the desk and a pencil.
“It’s one of my old ones, sorry I don’t have a fresh one on hand.
” He gestures to the book. “We’re going to be here until after dinner.
So you’ve got a lot of time to kill. Feel free. ”
My eyes widen at the gift he’s offering me.
A piece of my past that I didn’t see myself ever getting back.
I slowly lean towards the notebook and drag it towards me, nodding.
“Thank you,” I say softly, pulling the book into my hand so gently it’s almost reverent.
“Yeah, of course,” Ty says. Shrugging like he’s trying to play it cool, but he can see how much it means to me. “You can sit wherever. There’s water and some drinks in the fridge in the back. Are you hungry?”
To answer my stomach decides right fucking then to growl and I wrap my arms around my middle to try and silence the sound that’s already embarrassed me.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” He smirks softly, looking at my crossed arms before turning to where Asher’s tattooing. “Have you ordered lunch?”
“No, not yet. Harriet stopped by when I opened and told me I was getting skinny again and that she’d be dropping the stuff later tonight.”
“Yes,” Ty hisses happily. “So I’ll call and order some small stuff and then we’ll wait.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Asher agrees and gets back to working.
“You guys said a lot of stuff without really saying anything,” I say. My hands are still holding my middle with the notebook trapped in between my arms and my body.
Ty just chuckles and nods. “Yeah, I get that, carino. Go find a comfy spot, I’ll get some food and bring it to you.”
“Alright,” I say with a tight nod. I can’t help but feel like the best move would be for me to go to the backroom. Out of gossiping people’s sight. My feet move quickly towards the backroom, and I don’t look back.
The moment I walk back there, I can breathe a little easier knowing I’m out of view. There are no windows, no doors. It’s simply a white room with a little kitchenette, big bulky fridge and a beat up table with some chairs around.
Almost giddy, I go over to the table and create.
Time flies by, I’m so enthralled with the piece I’m working on. My skills are rusty as hell, but that doesn’t stop me. Instead, it makes me clench my jaw and focus harder. I won’t let this beat me.
I decided on drawing an updated version of Athena. The Goddess of Wisdom and War. My fifteen-year-old self got about halfway and then life forced me away.
I sketched out her long, lithe, strong body, standing ethereal and powerful at the top of a hill, just staring down at the battle ground.
My focus is on her, but I’ve roughly sketched out the rest of the details. There’s a helmet on her head, glinting with the sun as she doesn’t even squint. Like even the sun bows for her.
I’m working on the staff in her hand, shading it just right so it pops off the page.
“Wow.”
I jump out of my fucking skin. My hand covers my hammering heart as Ty stands on the other side of the table, watching me work.
“What the actual fuck, man? How are you so goddamn quiet? Do I need to put a bell on you?” I’m breathing deeply, trying to calm myself as he stands there looking incredibly proud of himself and chuckling.
“Sorry, Rox. I stood at the door for a while, waiting for you to hear me. I said your name a few times too, but you were zoned in.” He pulls out the chair next to me, sitting down gently. “May I?” He gestures to the book.
Sliding the book over to him so he can see my work closer, and I feel like I’m fifteen all over again. Sitting next to the cute boy that actually took interest in me instead of anything else.
“Athena,” he says breathlessly.
“I… I didn’t get a chance to finish my last one,” I say quietly, twisting the pencil nervously in my hand. “I’m a little rusty, but I think it’s pretty good.”
“Very good,” Ty tells me, not looking away from the page for a moment. “It matches mine.”
He flips through the book and lands on one of the first pages. Sliding the book back over, my breath is taken away at what’s on the page.
“Wow,” I saw, the word being pulled from my lungs with the air. His work is like a gut-punch I’d gladly take over and over. “You have such a gift, Ty.”
I look up at him after my eyes get their fill of his version of Athena. His cheeks are red.
Burning red.
He clears his throat and shifts slightly. “Thanks.”
“I’m being serious.” I want to show him I’m being honest about his talent, but let’s be real. I want to see how far I can push him until that blush goes down his neck or…more.
Ty starts to stutter a little before flipping back to where I was drawing, but I stop the pages from flipping when I see something like a portrait. Maybe a girl he’s into, or was into.
“What’s this?” I tease him softly, smirking as I see his eyes dip down and the blush intensifies.
I want more.
“Nothing,” he says quickly, trying to move the pages, but my hand doesn’t move.
“No, no, no, Ty,” I say teasingly. “What is it?”
His eyes widen slightly as I start to look down, but instead of saying anything, he just watches me.
My eyes trace the paper and…it feels like my chest cracks open.
It’s me. Me.
The teasing smirk drops from my face as I look at the portrait in better detail.
It’s beautiful. In the drawing, my hair is long and completely black like it was back then.
My eyes are closed as I sleep, but it’s undeniable that I’m happy.
Content. Peaceful. The way my eyes scrunched as I was sleeping.
The way my lips were in a slight pout. The way my hair fell around my jaw.
Off to the side, there are another pair of my eyes, dark and seeing staring back at me. Like he was trying to get them just right again and again.
The detail… The gold ring in the darkness around my eyes is visible. The flecks of dark brown within the mid-brown.
“Ty,” I whisper.
“I… I didn’t want to forget,” he says simply. Not offering any more information than that, but my eyes prick with tears anyway. He didn’t want to forget me.
“Wow,” I repeat, swallowing the sobs that are threatening to come through, so I cough softly. I trace the picture with my finger one last time and look at him. I look him in the eye and try to show him just how much this meant to me.
I thought I was forgotten, but here he was, drawing me over and over to make sure he didn’t forget any small detail of me.
“Thank you.” I don’t try to explain what I’m thanking him for, but I don’t think I have to. He knows.
Ty leans closer, and the air between us changes. It’s not teasing and light anymore. It’s thick and charged. It feels…inevitable in the best fucking way.
I mirror him, leaning in slowly, my eyes drifting from his to his lips.
“Roxie,” he breathes my name out like it’s the air he needs to survive or the thing that might bring him to his knees.
“Yes,” I answer and close the gap between us.
My lips press against his gently, sweetly. There’s that tension and heat between us, but the kiss… The kiss is gentle. One that feels like coming home, actually.
Ty’s hand moves to cradle my head, holding me like I’m something precious. His fingers slip softly through the hair at the nape of my neck to hold me in place against him. I slide my hand across the table, pushing the sketchbook aside and holding onto the fabric of his shirt.
Pulling back slightly, my eyes open quickly to make sure that was okay. But his lips chase mine and his eyes stay closed as he initiates the kiss this time.
I gladly give him the control, curious to see how he uses it.
Is Ty the kind of partner that wants total submission? That wouldn’t surprise me.
Would he talk me through it? I nearly fucking groan against his lips because I know he’d talk me through it in that accented voice while moaning and hissing and making all the right noises.
Is he rough? Would he want me to match that right away? I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to handle that.
Ty’s tongue slips between my lips, deepening the kiss and its intensity. My breath catches, my heart hammers, my fingers feel shaky like I have to touch him more to prove that he’s really here. With me. Again.
“Ty! Walk-in!” Asher’s voice cuts through the tension, deflating whatever lady boner I had with three words.
Asher’s hot, but definitely not for me.
But Ty is. He’s mine.
Ty leans back barely back enough to let me breathe, his eyes dark and heavy like the absolute last thing he wants to do is go back to work, but we both know he needs to.
“That was…” he says breathlessly, his hand moving to cup my cheek and his thumb brushing my bruised cheekbone softly.
The start of something powerful.
What should’ve been happening all along.
The best fucking kiss of my life.
The last fucking first kiss of my life. I know it.
His eyes search mine and I can see every thought I just had swirling in his as well.
“I know.” I nod, pulling him in closer, dragging him by his shirt before kissing him again.
“Ty!” Asher barks out and we jolt apart.
“Remind me to smack him,” I grumble, my hands dropping to my lap as he chuckles and takes my hands in his.
“Will do.”
“You need to get out there,” I say softly.
“I know.”
“Before you get in trouble.”
“I know.”
“Ty,” I say with a slight whine to my tone because the way he’s looking at me… It could melt me to this seat. There’s heat swirling in his dark eyes and intention that I can’t quite get a handle on just yet, but know I trust.
He snaps before I do.
“I don’t care. One more,” he growls and pulls me back in for a kiss–desperate and needy, like a man starved. My hands fly to his face, cradling his sharp jaw on either side.
“Ty!” Asher’s voice booms and Ty pulls back just enough to yell back.
“In a fucking minute!”
I laugh breathlessly, and smile. A real, genuine, smile for the first time in a long time.
“Food will be here soon, I’ll call for you when it’s here, okay?
” he says softly, like the words are just meant for me and his eyes drop to my lips again.
Ty leans forward, pressing another kiss on my lips, softer this time, and then physically rips himself away with a grunt from the bubble we’ve created.
Ty crosses the room quickly and before closing the door behind him, turns back to look at me with a smile that tells me he wouldn’t be leaving me if he didn’t have to.
I smile, resting my chin in my palm and my elbow on the table as I look at him.
“Go. I’ll be right here.”
Ty smirks. I see his chest rise with a sharp breath before he nods and closes the door.
I touch my reddened lips softly and smile.