Chapter 1
1
KINGSTON
T here were some days where it felt as if you were on top of the world. Where nothing you could do would be wrong. You hit every green light. You were always the first one at a four-way stop. If you needed to go by train or light rail, you would never miss a stop, and would always find the best place to sit. You would get the most perfectly ripe pineapple at the grocery store. The ones that were perfectly sweet, and yet not too soft. And then you could also get the avocado that was a little firm when you first got it that morning, but as soon as you needed it that evening, it was perfectly ripened.
There were some days where your life just made sense. And nothing could go wrong.
And then there were days where you were knee- deep in what had to be some form of dog excrement, looking up at the gutters you had slightly fallen from, wondering exactly where life had gone wrong.
“You okay down there, Kingston?”
I glared up at my cousin Kane and wondered exactly when my life had taken just such a drastic turn.
He was still safely on the ladder, while I knew I’d be covered in mud—and whatever else—for the rest of my life. There was no way I was going to get it out of every crevice it had seemed to sink into.
Because it wasn’t that I had just fallen off the ladder. No. I had been pushed . Not by my cousin—by the German shepherd that had been the previous security for this tenant.
Apparently, he didn’t like the fact that I was taking over his job.
I owned Montgomery Security with my family. We did numerous types of jobs around the city. Whether it was bodyguard services, potential layouts for large corporations in security, or planning for those security systems. We did a little bit of everything—including adding security systems to homes. Like this home, which had used a German shepherd as its security for so long that apparently this four-legged adorable doofus who could bite me at any minute didn’t appreciate the change.
Today however this lovely German shepherd named Bosley had decided my ladder needed to be taken down a peg. Or rather I did. So now I was knee-deep in this mud pit after the lovely Colorado rain, staring at Bosley.
“Should I be looking him in the eyes? He is not a golden retriever. He’s a German shepherd. He could bite my face off.”
“He’s not going to bite your face off,” Kane answered while clearly holding back a laugh, as he slowly made his way down his ladder.
Ford, our co-owner and my cousin-in-law, gave me a sigh as he walked around the building. “What did I say about playing in the mud?”
It wasn’t only mud, but I wasn’t in the mood to explain that. “That I should do it with more vigor?”
“Come on, Bosley. Let’s go for a walk.”
Bosley tilted his head as he stared at me, even though he seemed quite interested in Ford’s words.
“Walk,” Ford repeated, and Bosley scampered off to go see his new best friend, while I tried to get out of the mud pit.
“I just bought these jeans,” I grumbled, as I slid once again, slamming my knee into the ground. “Fuck,” I muttered under my breath, grateful the owner wasn’t here to witness this.
Oh yes, top-notch security and professionalism. Me rolling around in damn mud because they had decided to leave their dog in the backyard rather in the house where they’d said they would. I liked dogs and wanted one of my own. But this one was a little rambunctious and didn’t listen to all commands. Bosley was headed back to training so he could provide a sense of safety for others, but he was just a little young and a little wild as of yet—hence why he’d knocked me off my ladder. We were almost done with the installation, and now I needed a damn shower.
“I’ve got a towel in the truck.”
I raised a brow at Kane. “Why do you have a towel in the truck?”
“In case it rained,” my best friend and cousin said, as if it made all the difference.
I just shook my head and toed off my boots so I wouldn’t drag mud splotches all over the pavement and stone pathway the owners had put in. So now in my socked feet, I tiptoed my way to the truck. Kane had graciously unlocked it for me, and I found the towel on the back seat before trying to wipe off some of the mud. It became this cakey substance, and I definitely smelled dog shit.
Great.
Great.
I’d had a shitty month. Hell, I’d had a shitty six months. Everything that I seemed to do these days turned to ash. Literally in some cases. I was just too tired these days from watching things that I wanted to happen fall through.
Whether it was dates, plans, or even household issues.
I’d moved in the past few months because the place I had been sharing with Kane no longer worked for our situation. Considering Kane was now happily with Phoebe, and they were ready to start their lives and forever and all that bullshit. Meaning we all needed space. So I had a new place that needed work. Apparently saying that I wanted a fixer-upper meant I got one. It didn’t help that some of my family was in the construction business. So they all wanted to help, and could do it better than me, but I had wanted to try it myself.
And that meant everything was taking longer than it should. I just needed to get over myself and let them help.
I pulled off my shirt in the middle of the driveway and tugged a clean one on. I had extra pants, but I wasn’t about to get naked in here. I would just have to sit on a towel and shower when I got back to the office. Thankfully the security setup was almost done, and Ford would put the dog back in the house where he needed to be, and we would get back home.
I just wanted my house to fix itself, I wanted little things at work not to turn into big things like they seemed to these days, and I wanted Claire to answer my calls.
I frowned at my thoughts, knowing Claire ignoring me was the source of my problems lately.
Claire Harlow.
Phoebe’s best friend, and a thorn in my paw.
It really wasn’t her fault, but it was. She had been hurt a few months back when Phoebe’s stalker, and a man that had wanted to hurt our family, had taken both Claire and Phoebe hostage. It was something that happened in my line of work far too often. Not our friends being attacked per se, but violent people were in our lives, and it was our job to protect those around us. We were the ones who stopped things like this from happening. That was why we were Montgomery Security. But we hadn’t been able to stop that man from hurting Phoebe and Claire.
Claire had been stabbed in the process.
I could still feel the sticky blood on my palms as I had held Claire’s side, keeping the wound sealed as much as possible, telling her that everything would be okay, even though I felt as if I were lying to myself and her.
I could still see her reflection in the mirror when she had been staring at her stitched-upside and looking far more lost than I’d ever seen her.
Claire was a pistol. She had come into our lives because Phoebe and Kane started dating, and because Kane and I were best friends, Claire and I hung out. She was quiet, but nice. Always had good jokes and could make everyone at the table laugh unexpectedly.
And then she moved out of the apartment she shared with Phoebe to find her own place because Phoebe and Kane were going to move in together.
I had failed to protect her. I had failed to keep her safe. And all I really wanted to do was keep her safe.
I wanted to make sure she was okay because I hadn’t liked what I had seen in that mirror. But she hadn’t let me take care of her.
“Not friends? Fuck that,” I muttered to myself.
She had laughed when I had said we were friends. At least I thought we had been. But maybe we had just been friends of friends, and those connections didn’t matter. But now here I was, grumbly like a bear, on one of my last days of work before I was taking a damn vacation.
What was I supposed to do with myself?
“Why do you look like you’re having a very deep and angry conversation in your head right now?” Kane asked.
I scowled since he’d not only read me correctly, I’d also been talking to myself. “Can we just get me back to the office. I need a shower. And then I have a meeting with Hudson. ”
“Oh yeah. Today’s tattoo prep day. Although I do find it strange that you’re going to Montgomery Ink and not having a family member tattoo you. I thought that was sort of a thing .”
I shrugged, and then set the towel down on the front seat. I ignored Kane’s wince as I got onto his beautiful leather seats. Well, now his whole cabin was going to smell like shit, and I didn’t care since that’s what I smelled like.
“Hudson’s good. And I’ve already had Leif and Sebastian ink me. Plus the uncles. I think I’m okay.”
Our family was big. Okay, that was an understatement when it came to the Montgomerys.
Some of the Montgomerys had founded Montgomery Ink in downtown Denver years ago, before I’d even been born. Then they’d opened a second shop in Colorado Springs with a few of my aunts and uncles. And then a couple of my cousins had decided to open the next generation and call it Montgomery Ink Legacy. It happened to be right next door to our shop. The Montgomery family itself owned the building, and we therefore owned the four offices within it. With Montgomery Security, Montgomery Legacy, a cafe and coffee shop, and an art studio and gallery. I didn’t much go to the latter, but some of my cousins ran it, so it was all in the family.
My cousin Leif had done my first tattoo, and then my Uncle Austin had done another. My Aunt Maya had scooted in and done my third, and then Sebastian had done one more. I had another aunt and uncle as well as countless friends who could tattoo more as I thought of new things to get, but Hudson was the new tattoo artist at Montgomery Ink.
The fact that he happened to be Claire’s brother didn’t make me a stalker.
No, I just wanted to ensure I got the best. And make sure that Hudson knew that we thought he was one of the best.
“He does great work, and I want to encourage him. If a Montgomery lets him do work, that means he’s aces. Plus it’s just the sketch today. It’s going to be a big piece, so it’ll take time. I’ll get inked right after we get back from vacation.”
“I see the rationalization. But are you just trying to tell Claire that you believe in her and her family?”
“Has she even answered Phoebe’s calls?” I asked, ignoring his question with one of my own.
“Yes. And they go out to lunch, and she’s even spent the night at our place when I was forced to sleep on the couch and watch movies myself. Apparently, it was girl time.”
My lips twitched at that. “Really.”
“Really. I could have gone to your place, but you were having the plumber issues. ”
I winced. “It’s okay, I called the cousins, and they fixed it.”
“You should just have them do the whole house. You didn’t need to buy some shoddy work and do it yourself. You work as many hours as any of us, and you’re not a certified contractor like our cousins. Not quite sure what you’re thinking.”
“I’m thinking that I just want to figure things out. I’m sorry. I want to do things myself. Have it be my hands that fix it.”
“Like the hands that kept you steady on that ladder when Bosley knocked you off it?”
“Fuck you.” Though I had to hold back a smile.
“No, thanks. You’re the one that smells like dog shit. I’m going to go with a no on that.”
“I hate you.”
“Maybe.” We pulled into the parking lot, and I was grateful for the employee lot because the place was busy. Between the tattoo shop, our clients, the art studio, and the cafe, people were constantly in and out. It was good for business, bad for parking.
“Claire’s fine. She’s talking to people. She’s working. And she sees Phoebe. I don’t know why she’s not answering your calls but Phoebe’s watching her and so am I. And so is Aria and all of the other girls. Maybe it’s you. ”
“I hate the fact that you’re probably right,” I grumbled.
“I know you didn’t do anything to her, but I don’t know… Claire’s still weird around me just a little.”
I paused in the act of opening the door and glared at him. “What do you mean? You didn’t mention that before.”
He looked around the parking lot, as if expecting Claire to show up. Claire never showed up. That was the problem.
“We were the ones who were there. Phoebe’s her best friend, practically her sister, so she’ll open up to her. But us? We were the ones who entered the room when she was hurt. Both of us had ended up bleeding and needing a few stitches in the process—though not as many as her. It was traumatic. And I’m not a therapist, so I’m not going to dive any deeper into that.”
The idea that Kane’s thoughts aligned with my own felt like a punch in the gut. “I just don’t want her to hate me.”
“She doesn’t hate you.” He paused as he stared at me. “Shit, man. I didn’t know you had feelings for her.”
I nearly fell out of the truck, going for full grace today. “No. It’s not like that. I just don’t like people not liking me. You know?”
It was a flaw—one I knew very well. But I had known my entire life. After all, I had not one, not two, but three loving parents. I was a product of one of the famous Montgomery Triads, and I had two brothers who I loved with every ounce of my being. We were close as hell, and in addition to them, people just liked me. I wanted to know what the hell I had done to Claire.
Only I didn’t think there were going to be any answers. So we slid out of the truck, and I ignored the pointed looks from my team as I walked through the building and into the back showers. I would forever be grateful for the fact that my cousin Daisy had said we needed office showers. I had been a little confused why, but the number of times we had shown up with blood or dirt on us from random experiences, told me that maybe this job was a little weirder than some people might think. I showered and changed into another set of clothes, grateful that I seemed to have a whole closet here and made my way to the tattoo shop next door. I still had a couple more days of work before my forced vacation—so I could use up those days—and this was only the start of it.
Leif was in his front booth as I walked in, and he tilted his chin at me. “Hey, Hudson’s in the back, you can go sit in his booth. I still can’t believe that you’re letting a non-Montgomery ink you.”
“Cold man,” Nick said, and raised his pierced brow at me .
I flipped both of them off and made my way to Hudson’s booth. “I still haven’t let Nick tattoo me. Maybe he’s next.”
“He’s practically a Montgomery. But still, next has to be a Montgomery. If you’re going to do this, you’re going to have to alternate.” Leif’s eyes were twinkling as he said it, a smirk on his face, so I knew he was only kidding. We might be territorial but we weren’t complete idiots.
Hudson walked in, tall, broad-shouldered, and brown hair pulled back into a stub of a ponytail. He flicked his tongue over his lip ring and raised a brow at us. “You see, I knew inking a Montgomery was going to start some form of feud. However, with so many of you out there, it’s just sheer statistics I’m going to get at least one of you.”
He winked at me, and I rolled my eyes. “I’m excited for you to work on my arm piece. You do fantastic gray scale.”
“I do, don’t I?” Hudson asked, a broad smile on his face.
Nick whistled through his teeth. “He’s as cocky as a Montgomery.”
“You’re married to one, so watch it,” Leif grumbled, before they turned on music, and Hudson sat down in front of me.
“I’m really excited for this. I’m excited to flesh out the art concept you’re thinking about since I know placement’s going to be an issue. The fact that it’s eventually going to connect to a larger piece by another artist is pretty intriguing to me.” He frowned at me, gesturing to my wet hair. “You showered? Long day?”
“I don’t really want to talk about it. But I’m all clean. Don’t worry.”
“I feel like I should worry. That seems a little awkward.”
I laughed and then we sat to go over the designs and placement. Because I wanted the art to feel like it could move with the flow of my other work and how I moved my body, we had to work on stencils too. It was a longer process than some of my other work, but since this was my first time working with Hudson, we wanted to make sure we got it right.
I loved ink. I loved the art and the statements that it made. I loved the fact that it could be something ridiculous, or something that moved you.
My family was filled with artists in one way or another, and I was grateful they hired people with amazing talent as well. I liked the feel of needle on skin, as it was a familiar pain, and I would ease my way into it, knowing it wasn’t the worst thing I ever felt.
After all, I had been shot before, and stabbed. But that was when we had been working with the company prior to building our own. We needed to be trained somewhere, and we had taken harder jobs. Of course, I’d also been blown up in a building along with my cousin Daisy, but we had survived. Barely.
And as if I had conjured moments of terror and memories in my mind, the door opened, and Claire walked in.
My mouth went dry, but I ignored that. Because she was real. And she was here. I hadn’t seen her in months, and it was all I could do not to fall down in front of her and beg her to tell me why she was avoiding me.
But that would make me feel like a stalker, so I didn’t say anything. Instead, I just watched as her chin lifted slightly, and her eyes darted around the room until they landed on Hudson. She had elf-like features—so tiny, almost like a pixie. She had cut her hair to below her shoulders, and it was this brownish color that the word brown really didn’t give justice to. It almost had natural auburn highlights, and she was beautiful.
I had always thought so. Even when I told myself I shouldn’t.
But she was Phoebe’s friend. And she had clearly wanted nothing to do with me. And her brother currently had a marker and stencil against my skin. So I wasn’t going to think anything about that.
“Hey there, Claire Bear. ”
Claire’s gaze shot to mine even though it was her brother who spoke, and she froze, her face paling, and I hated myself more than anything.
Because she looked scared to see me.
What the hell had I done?
Or rather, what the hell had I not done?
She dragged her gaze to her brother, ignoring me. “Oh, I have your dinner. Just wanted to stop by and drop it off before I go to my thing. I know you’re busy. So I’ll head out.”
“You can come over,” Hudson said, confusion etched on his face. “You know everybody here.”
“I’m going to be late. But I’ll just leave it here on the counter. Love you.” She darted out, and Hudson frowned again.
“What the hell was that about?” he asked.
“No clue.” It was all I could do not to ask Hudson if she was okay. Because she clearly wasn’t. But I wasn’t going to get anything from him. Instead Hudson frowned harder, and then he went back to work, and I let the sound of the needle and the motor from surrounding artists filter out my thoughts.
By the time we were settled into what we wanted, I smiled at the other man in the mirror’s reflection. “It’s going to look amazing.”
“It already does,” Hudson said with that cocky air, and I grinned .
We settled on a time for the next appointment, and I showed my cousins the work as they whistled through their teeth and congratulated Hudson on a job well done. I waved off invitations for dinner, just wanting to get home and be alone.
It had been a weird day, and I hadn’t liked the look on Claire’s face.
I just wanted to forget, and to be alone.
“Kingston?”
I froze, wondering why I wasn’t keeping my attention on my surroundings better, when I looked up and saw Eddie, my friend from school who happened to live in my new neighborhood.
“Hey there. What are you guys doing here?” I asked, as I waved at him and his wife Samantha.
I had known Eddie back in elementary school, and then he had moved away in middle school before moving back in high school. We had both gone to the same university here in Colorado, and now lived in the same neighborhood. It was weird that no matter how large the world could be, how many times you could move around, sometimes you gravitated toward others. And Eddie was always one of those people.
“Actually, we were looking for you,” Samantha said, and from the way that her eyes darted around, I frowned.
“What’s wrong? ”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Eddie said, before he sighed as Samantha gripped his hip. “I really don’t know how to begin this. And I didn’t want to put it in a text.”
On alert now, my gaze darted around the fully lit parking lot, and I moved closer. “Do you need my team?”
Eddie’s eyes widened, and Samantha let out a laugh. It was one of those laughs that seemed to have surprised her, as if she hadn’t done it often recently. “No nothing like that. We’re safe. Well. Hell.”
Eddie ran his hands over his face, as his wife held him close. “I wasn’t really planning on saying this in the middle of a parking lot in front of your place of business. We could have stopped by your house, but well, we’re kind of running out of time. And then we were here, and I thought maybe I’d ask you for a cup of coffee and blurt everything out.”
Eddie rarely rambled and this worried me. “What’s going on, Eddie?”
“The cancer’s back,” Eddie blurted, his face crumbling, as Samantha’s remained stoic—ever the strength in the face of horror.
I stood there, that odd buzzing sound in the back of my head going louder and intensifying over time until it was a sharp pinching. The pain from the tattoo was gone, all confusion from my day whispered away in that instance .
We’d been in college the first time Eddie had cancer. The first time I’d stared death in the face and realized there was nothing I could do except pray and hoped to hell that science and doctors could do their work. I’d been a bone marrow match for Eddie. Out of all of his family, he’d only had one match in his life—me. His friend. I’d donated as early as I’d been able, going through the entire process while waiting on pins and needles to see the results. And now I knew exactly what to say—even if I didn’t know if these were the right answers.
“I’m so fucking sorry. When do you need me? Anything you want, Eddie. I’m here.”
And when his wife broke down into my arms, Eddie wrapping his arms around her, I knew it was the right decision.
I couldn’t fix most things. Hell, even today it felt as if I couldn’t fix anything—not my job, not Claire, and not whatever I was feeling in that instant.
But maybe, just maybe, I could fix this.