Chapter 15 #2
“How the hell did you get into the—” I closed my eyes for a moment, shaking my head. “Lottie?”
Cole gave me a sheepish smile, and I stepped back to let him inside. Dammit, Lottie, you can’t go around giving people my front door code. Even if it is just Cole. Now my whole fucking plan is ruined.
I realized Enoch had moved when he tugged my belt loop at the base of my spine. I stumbled into his chest as he wrapped an arm around my middle, fingers splayed possessively.
I watched Cole step inside, taking in the apartment before landing behind me.
He jolted, a hand over his heart, as he stuttered, “Fu-uck, I didn’t know you had company.”
He dropped his hand from his chest, winking at me and then his eyes were back on Enoch.
“Cole,” he said holding his tattooed hand out for Enoch to shake.
There was a moment of hesitation, and he looked down at Enoch’s hand. Cole quickly pulled his hand back and his eyes landed on my face with a look of fear, “What’s with the knife?”
“Fuck’s sake,” I muttered. I stepped out of Enoch’s embrace and grabbed the knife from his hand.
“You know how it goes. Living alone and all. I get paranoid whenever someone shows up unexpectedly. Especially when there’s supposed to be a locked front entrance to the building,” I stressed, shoving the knife back into the butcher block.
I spun back around to face the men. Enoch shut the front door and locked it before turning back to Cole.
“Sorry. I’m Nox,” he said, holding his hand out. “You’re a friend?”
Cole hesitated for a moment before his shoulders relaxed and nodded with a smile, shaking Enoch’s hand. “Yeah.”
“Well, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Cole said with a soft chuckle, eyes bouncing between Enoch and me.
I rolled my eyes, leaning my elbows onto the kitchen counter as I tried to release the tension that lingered in my body. My heart was still racing with adrenaline, and I was getting sweaty.
“It’s fine. We were just hanging out. You want something to drink?”
“Uh, sure. You got a Coke Zero?” His eyes twinkled because he knew the answer already. My addiction to Coke Zero was well known within our friend group.
“Yes,” I said with an eyeroll. “Well, go on. Sit down, you’re stressing me out.”
“Right, sorry,” he muttered, and Enoch gestured for him to take a seat on the couch.
I grabbed Cole a Coke from the fridge and a glass of water for myself and walked into the living room.
I handed Cole the cold drink, holding the water out with a raised brow to Enoch.
He shook his head, leaning against the doorframe of my bedroom.
I took the other empty space on the couch, folding a leg underneath myself as I turned to face Cole.
“If you’re here for what I think you’re here for, the answer is no.”
Cole chuckled, cracking open the soda and taking a sip. “Really? And just what exactly is it that you think I’m here for?”
I narrowed my eyes at him, seeing right through his bullshit. “Lottie put you up to this, didn’t she?”
“Maybe,” he shrugged, still trying to play coy.
I rolled my eyes. “Well, the answer is no.” You can have it back once I’m gone. Something you’d have found out tomorrow morning if you hadn’t ruined my fucking plans, dickface.
He blew out a breath. “Fine. But I’m pretty pissed that I had to find out from her about it. We’ve been texting all week and you didn’t mention anything about the bike.”
“What’s the big deal with the bike?”
We both looked to Enoch, and I bit the inside of my lower lip. Cole eyed me, a brow raised as he waited for me to explain. I sighed, looking up at Enoch.
“Cole sold me his motorcycle, and my friend Lottie has a thing against them. Wants me to get rid of it. Which is why she sent Cole here to try to convince me to…what? Sell it back to you?”
Cole shrugged with a sympathetic smile. “Pretty much.”
I rolled my eyes with the shake of my head and caught Enoch’s stare. He looked surprised and I sank further into the couch.
“Why does she want you to sell it so badly?”
I shrugged but Cole shoved my leg.
“Bullshit. Em got into an accident two weeks ago. Two weeks and I’ve just found out about it today.”
I kept my eyes on the coffee table, counting the crumbs left behind from something.
I could feel Enoch’s stare on me, making my skin itch.
“Are you okay, Emory?”
“I’m fine,” I huffed, glancing at Enoch’s concerned face.
“Are you healing up okay?” Cole pressed.
A gave Cole a quick forced smile and nodded. “I’m totally fine. Just some scrapes. No big deal.”
Cole’s mouth set into a firm line, and he gave me a stern expression. “Some scrapes my ass. She said you weren’t wearing any gear. I know that shit must have hurt like a bitch. You could’ve lost a fucking limb. What the hell were you thinking?”
I didn’t like his accusatory tone, it made me feel weak and ashamed. I couldn’t explain to him that I didn’t care about the gear when at the time I was kind of wishing the crash had taken my life.
“Alright, Dad,” I gritted out, glaring at him. “I fucked up. It won’t happen again.”
Cole’s face fell and he reached for my leg, giving it a light squeeze.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound all lecture-y.
I’m sure you got an earful from Lottie already.
” I scoffed and rolled my eyes. You could say that again.
“I just don’t want to see you hurt and I definitely don’t want to feel responsible. ”
“Shut up. Just because you sold me the bike and taught me how to ride, doesn’t make you responsible for how I choose to ride on the road.”
“It kind of does, when I clearly failed you by not instilling in you a better sense of safety. Is this a regular habit?”
I closed my eyes, not wanting to get into an argument over something stupid. Besides, that was the whole point of getting the bike in the first place. The closer to death something brought me, the closer to peace I got.
“It was a one-time mistake, and it won’t happen again. Can we drop it?”
Cole sighed but nodded.
“Well, since you’re okay, I guess it’s socially acceptable to ask about the bike now. Is she totally fucked?”
I chuckled softly and shook my head. “From what I can tell, just scratched the paint. She drove home okay. She’s just been sitting in the garage since the accident though. I was afraid if Lottie saw me riding it to work, she’d unfriend me.”
Cole laughed, rubbing his forehead. “No, she’d more likely sabotage the bike so you’d be forced to scrap it. You want me to look her over?”
I chewed my lip for a moment in thought before shrugging, “If you want.”
There was a beat of silence before Cole spoke again. “So, how do you two know each other?”
Enoch and I shared a look, and I wished so badly that I didn’t have to lie to another person.
“We had dated years ago but recently reconnected when I ran into him at work.”
I glanced back at Cole who seemed to be sizing Enoch up.
“Oh. Cool. Are you new to Anchorage or from here?”
I could tell Cole was trying to feel him out, get a sense of who Enoch was.
Something his protective nature compelled him to do.
I was unexpectedly warmed by the gesture.
We weren’t especially close, Cole and I, not when I hadn’t allowed myself to get close to anyone.
But we’d shared a bond after all the hours spent together, tattooing my sleeve, and then teaching me to ride.
“Sort of. I moved here a few months back. But I had lived in Anchorage as a kid for a few years.”
“Ah, military brat?”
Enoch nodded. “I’m in the Air Force now.”
“Good for you, man.”
There was an awkward silence, and I felt the need to fill it.
“So, um, how’s work?”
Cole perked up, placing his can down on the coffee table.
“Wait! I finished a draft. You want to see it?”
I nodded and he leaned over, grabbing his phone out of his pocket.
“It’s a rough sketch, but enough for you to get an idea and tell me what you want changed.”
“Okay,” I said with a smile. A sad, but genuine one. I had been eager to get this tattoo. I’d been saving for it for a while.
Cole handed me his phone, and I took a moment to look at the sketch.
“Damn,” I mumbled. “This is amazing.”
“What do you think about the vines on the cage?”
“Yeah, looks better than I had imagined.”
“Are you still thinking right forearm?”
“I wanted to start another sleeve, I think. I’m not sure.”
“It’s definitely got potential for a whole piece. And the forearm should be big enough to get the details that you want.”
I nodded and caught Enoch shifting in my peripheral.
“You wanna see, Enoch?”
Enoch nodded and crossed the room to stand behind the couch. I could feel his presence as he leaned over my shoulder to view the screen.
“Sorry, this is for a tattoo?” he asked hesitantly.
“Yeah,” Cole nodded with a smile. “Did all of Emory’s except the script on her forearm.”
I looked up over my shoulder at Enoch, whose gaze had landed on my covered arms. I hadn’t changed out of his black long-sleeved shirt from last night.
“Wow, how many tattoos do you have?”
Enoch seemed curious and I usually didn’t mind having my tattoos on display, but with the road rash and the scar buried beneath the ink, I wasn’t eager to feel that exposed.
Of course, Cole knew about the scar, although he never really questioned me about it, just gave me a look like he knew it wasn’t from an accident with the half-truth I’d sold all my friends about coming from an abusive family.
“Uh,” I paused to clear my throat. “Just a sleeve. On my left arm. But it looks like shit right now with all the scabs from crashing my bike—”
“Is anything deep? Do you think you’ll need touchup work?” Cole interrupted.
I shook my head. “No, I think it’ll be fine.”
Enoch and Cole both nodded.
“Is that like a crow or…?”
“It’s a raven.”
“And it’s eating…a heart?”
I nodded, feeling majorly uncomfortable explaining this.
He hummed in thought for a moment before straightening up. “Well, I can’t wait to see it once it’s done.”