Chapter 7
By Tuesday, it’s been crickets from Kelly.
It’s not uncommon for us to text over the weekend, especially if we haven’t seen each other, but even when I checked in on her, it was met with silence.
It puts me on edge. My more basic instincts are dying to corner her.
I want to crawl into her head and read her thoughts.
I’d like to know how much work I have ahead of me.
Casper is wrapping up a big session with one of his repeat clients.
It’s a massive back piece. I pause by his station and check out the work.
A lifelike python is curled up, waiting to strike, spanning from the guy’s neck down to his waist. He’s putting the final touches on it with white ink to brighten up where light reflects off the serpent’s scales.
“Damn. Well done,” I comment, appreciating his work.
Casper straightens his back and inspects the piece. “Yeah, it turned out great.” He returns to his hunched-over position to finish working. “You wanna grab lunch later?”
“I gotta wrap up some stuff in the office. My next appointment is in thirty minutes.” With my fist, I thump the top of the partition wall dividing his space from mine. “Have you seen Kelly?”
He sits up and nods toward the piercing bay. I should have figured. I resist looking in the doorway as I walk past, but I eavesdrop on the conversation she’s having with her client.
“Any plans for your birthday?” the woman asks.
“Yeah, I’m actually getting off work a few hours early because my boyfriend is taking me out to dinner.”
“Aww,” the woman squeals. “That’s so sweet!”
Is it? Sounds like bare-minimum behavior to me.
“Where’s he taking you?”
“Lupa.”
The rest of her response fades when I shut the door to my office. That’s enough of that. I plop down in my office chair and lean back, staring at the ceiling.
My jaw clenches. I grab the phone from the cradle and hit the button to connect to the front desk.
Frankie answers. “What’s up?”
“Hey, I need you to cancel my appointments after four o’clock, I’ve got an errand to run.”
Jason doesn’t know it yet, but his time’s already up.