43
E rin waved to Paetyn as she walked into her shop. It was Monday morning, and while she wasn’t open that day, she had some supplies being delivered that she needed to sign for. Since she’d spent the night at their house, Paetyn volunteered to drive her into the city since he had a few errands to run. She took him up on it since she would return to their house once done, and Cruz had left earlier that morning for work.
The company had given her a delivery window between eleven and one, and she would spend the time restocking the snack station, which she usually did before opening on Tuesday, and working on designs for clients she had scheduled. Paetyn would return by one to pick her up, and they would have lunch together.
She restocked the snack station before sitting at the desk and putting a reminder in her phone to replenish her inventory of snacks within the next couple of weeks. She pulled her tablet from her purse and put the finishing touches on the first design. It was going to be a large rib piece, and Erin had initially been skeptical when the client told her the placement because she only had two other small tattoos. After telling her about the discomfort she might feel because that was a sensitive area to tattoo, she still wanted it there. Erin was determined to make the piece as beautiful as possible so the discomfort would be well worth it.
When she finished that design, she checked any direct messages the shop’s social media pages might have. She’d always believed in keeping business separate from her personal life as much as possible, so she didn’t typically check or respond to messages outside her operating hours. Some might consider it a way to lose business because those people could go elsewhere. She was sure those who felt entitled to twenty-four-hour access would, and they weren’t the type of customers she wanted anyway.
A few wanted to book consultations or appointments for Christmas Eve or the day after Christmas, but they were closed for Christmas Eve, and the day after the holiday was a Monday. Even if they were open on Christmas Eve, she wasn’t sure they could fit them in on such short notice since it was in four days, and since opening, they’d been booked out at least a week in advance.
She checked their upcoming schedules before responding to the messages with alternate dates. There were no messages on the phone, and she moved on to her next design as she thought about what she wanted to take to the Christmas Eve gathering at Alijah and Kieran’s. They’d chosen to celebrate that night since they’d be with their families for the holiday. She’d found a recipe for rum cupcakes she’d wanted to make for a while and thought they might be the perfect option.
I t was almost twelve-thirty when her delivery arrived, and she led the man to where she kept the shop’s supplies. He unloaded the boxes in the corner for her. She signed the delivery slip, retrieved her copy, and wished him a happy holiday. She heard the bell go off as he exited several seconds later.
The boxes were not labeled. Instead, they were branded with the company’s logo. She debated only momentarily if she wanted to open and sort them. She decided to get a jumpstart on it since she still had time before Paetyn’s arrival. There would be less she needed to do tomorrow.
The first box she opened contained disinfectant wipes, and she’d just started putting them away when the bell over the door sounded. She realized she hadn’t seen the delivery person out to lock the door. She hoped it was Paetyn, not a potential customer, that she would have to turn away.
Stepping out of the room, Erin paused. Of all the people she expected to see, this person would have been the last to come to mind.
“Stu?”
He’d been a walk-in that quickly turned into one of her regulars in Florida, and while Erin appreciated the business, she later had to turn him down when he’d asked her out, telling him that she didn’t make a habit of dating her clients. He tended to call or text for things that were not appointment-related or designs he never got, and after a while, Erin just stopped answering the phone and texting back.
That had turned into him stopping in a couple of times a week at the shop to say hi, as he’d put it. She hadn’t thought she would see him again after she’d left him standing in the parking lot of her old place of employment in Florida over eight months ago.
“So this is what you abandoned Florida for,” he said, looking around. “Cold, snow, and a shop of your own.” He ran his hand along the desk. “I can’t say I blame you. It’s a nice place.”
“What are you doing here?” Erin asked.
“Your opening was lovely,” he stated, ignoring her question. “So many people came out to support you. Your dad was even here.”
She didn’t remember seeing him at her opening, but it clicked. She did remember someone she hadn’t been able to speak to. Initially, she thought it was because they were taking in the portfolios or the tattoos she’d done on her friends and boyfriends. Knowing it was him made her realize it had been intentional on his part. He’d been staying away from her on purpose, but why would he have done that, and why was he here now? Erin had a sinking feeling in her stomach.
“Was that you calling me?”
“It was. Then you blocked my numbers, so I had to get new ones,” Stu shrugged.
“What do you want?”
He pulled something from his coat pocket and set it on the desk before walking towards the tattoo stations. Erin’s eyes widened at the frame, housing a picture she’d taken with her men at the botanical gardens. “You broke into my apartment.”
“I did, and I was pleasantly surprised to see you forgot to set the alarm. You might want to remember that from now on, but it didn’t take me long to figure out what I wanted to remove from the apartment. So, it wouldn’t have matter if you remembered.”
“Why are you here, Stu?” Erin asked, moving to the desk. Her taser was in her purse, and as soon as she got it, she was going to shock the shit out of his creepy ass.
“You lied to me, Erin. You were never going to a convention.”
“I did go to a convention. I just didn’t go back to Florida.”
“I waited, you know. I called your business number, and it was disconnected. Then Ford finally told me you left, but he was nice enough to give me your cell number.”
That petty, vindictive motherfucker, Erin thought.
He approached her. “We’re friends. You shouldn’t have lied to me. I don’t like being lied to, Erin, and you looked me in my face and did it twice.”
“No, I—”
“This one,” he started, picking up the frame he’d set down and pointing to Paetyn as he crowded her. “Was a client. I saw him in the shop when you gave him that tattoo on his shoulder. But when I saw the two of you together, I knew I had to be mistaken because you told me you didn’t date clients, current or former.” He let out an unamused laugh. “And you with him.” He pointed to Cruz. “Another client that you’re dating. How does that feel? Do you enjoy being between them?”
Erin ignored his questions and refrained from correcting him since she was dating Cruz before she gave him the tattoo. Something told her he didn’t care about semantics. Just that he thought she’d lied to him. She hadn’t. At least not at the time; she didn’t date her clients. Paetyn was the exception; she’d only done one tattoo for him, so it wasn’t like he was a regular.
“You’ve been stalking me.”
“That’s an ugly word. I’ve been checking in on you.”
“Why?” Erin asked, trying to inch toward her purse.
“Just because you’re pretty doesn’t mean you’re dumb, Erin. So don’t act like it with me,” he shot back through gritted teeth. “Why them? We would have been perfect. So why?”
His tone was laced with anger, and as fucked up as the situation was, there was even hurt in it. He wanted an answer Erin couldn’t give him because Stu wouldn’t understand. She could tell him that she felt worry-free, uninhibited for the first time with them, or that time slowed down with them, and she could enjoy every millisecond. Erin could tell him that when they weren’t around, she couldn’t think straight, she couldn’t breathe . Yes, Erin could tell him all of that, but she knew it would only serve to piss him off.
“Stu, I understand that you’re upset with me, but you said it yourself. We’re friends, right, and sometimes people are better as friends than—”
“Don’t!” he yelled, cutting her off and throwing the frame onto the floor at their feet, the sound of glass shattering soon forgotten by his raised voice. “Don’t patronize me! Don’t try to treat me like some child, Ma?y!”
That name, that endearment, sounded wrong coming from his lips, and she realized he’d been around them together. It sent a shiver through her because she never saw him. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry.”
She didn’t think that getting to her purse was an option any longer with him on her, and until that outburst, he’d been pretty calm, but she knew that could change at any second. This man had admitted to stalking her; he’d broken into her apartment to take pictures of her and her boyfriends that she had displayed. He’d tracked her from Florida to Denver. She wouldn’t put anything past his capabilities, but Erin knew hers, and she’d been attempting to keep it from turning too ugly. However, she had no qualms about doing what she needed to escape the situation. He wouldn’t be the first man she fought if it came down to it.
“Why don’t we sit and talk,” she tried. If she could de-escalate the situation, she would prefer to handle it that way.
“I don’t want to sit and talk, Angel. I want an answer.”
The endearment sounded as wrong as the other one coming from him. “I can’t give you one.”
He grabbed her arms and shook her as the bell went off again. She went to knee him in the nuts but didn’t get the chance as he was ripped away from her. She stumbled, steadying herself on the desk as she heard the impact. Stu was on the ground holding his nose, and Paetyn was fuming.
P aetyn completed the errands he needed to run early. He and Cruz had all their Christmas gifts for Erin made, and Cruz had gotten a call Saturday evening that the final one was ready. Paetyn volunteered to pick them up since he also needed to pick up his gift for his father. All their other shopping was complete, and presents were wrapped for their upcoming gathering.
He wasn’t sure if the supplies Erin ordered had been delivered yet. There was still time in the delivery window, but he didn’t mind waiting with her if they hadn’t. Afterward, he would allow her to choose a place for them to have lunch.
Paetyn found the closest parking spot, pulled his coat closer against him as he stepped out of the vehicle, and slid his hands into his pockets as he walked the block and a half to Ashes to Ink .
When he arrived at the shop, the scene he saw through the door’s window instantly put him on high alert. Some man in Erin’s face, and from her body language, he knew it wasn’t a pleasant conversation, and his proximity was too close to his girlfriend for his liking.
As Paetyn opened the door, the man grabbed her, and he eliminated the distance, ripping the man from her, his fist colliding with his nose. The other man hit the floor, and Paetyn looked back at Erin to ensure she was okay. He stepped on shattered glass as he approached her and found that it was a frame that held a picture of the three of them, one of the pictures that had gone missing from her apartment.
“Are you okay?” he asked Erin. He didn’t give two shits about the man on the ground.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.”
“Where did you find this?” he inquired, gesturing to the picture.
“If it isn’t the boyfriend,” the man behind him stated, and Paetyn looked over his shoulder to find him sitting, holding his nose.
“He brought it,” Erin responded, but Paetyn had assumed as much. There was no other reason for it to be there when they knew it’d been taken. He only wanted to hear the words. “And he’s been the one calling.”
This man had called his girlfriend nonstop, made her uncomfortable, showed up where they were, and broken into her apartment for whatever reason. He didn’t know who he was, and he didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was keeping his word, and here the man was, front and center. He removed his coat and handed it to Erin.
“Paetyn?” she questioned.
“Take a seat for me, baby,” he responded, heading towards the door.
“Too bad you aren’t the other one. He looks far scarier,” the man said as he pushed himself to his feet.
Paetyn locked the door, pulled the curtain in front of the window, and turned back to him. “People often say that,” he replied, unbuttoning his left sleeve and rolling it up. “But,” he started, doing the same to the other. “Looks can be deceiving. I’m not normally one for violence; I don’t get upset because when I do, there’s no telling what could happen.” He approached the other man. “Unfortunately for you, you made the mistake of messing with the wrong woman. Our woman. And after you broke into her apartment, I told myself if we ever came face to face, I would beat you until you couldn’t stand. I’m a man of my word if I’m nothing else.”
There was nothing else said as Paetyn threw a left, and the man stumbled back, unprepared, but he should have been. Paetyn had given him time to be. At this point, whatever damage he inflicted on him was his own fault. He should have seen this shit coming. The constant calls, even after she continually blocked numbers, unnerved Erin, and since all they had was an email address, there hadn’t been anything they could do, and Erin had been right regarding the police. They hadn’t taken it as seriously as he would have liked them to.
When her apartment was broken into, the person had been smart enough to stay off the camera in the middle of the door. He was smart, that had been the thought, but he was utterly stupid if he thought coming to her place of business, getting in her face, and putting his hands on her was smart. Paetyn would make him regret it.
It’d been a while since he’d been this angry. Since he’d fallen into violence. In the past, it was like his best friend, his second skin. He was sure his father and Lena got tired of him getting into trouble because he was fighting. He used to say it was because kids were picking on Cruz; the other man used to be smaller than him, but he’d also enjoyed it. He hadn’t realized until later it was him acting out because of the loss of his mother. It wasn’t until he’d started college that his outlet shifted to more carnal activities before then turning to food.
Paetyn could hear Erin’s gasps in the background, and as the other man swung back wildly, landing a blow on Paetyn’s chin, a sharp call of his name. He barely felt it. Barely felt any of the few that landed, his adrenaline running high. It wasn’t until the other man fell to the ground and curled in on himself that the assault came to an end.
“Angel,” he said as he began to roll his sleeves back down. “Call the police.”
Erin did as requested, and Paetyn kept his eyes on the man. Today was not his lucky day, but when you played stupid games, you won stupid prizes.
“Do you know him?” he asked once Erin was off the phone.
“His name is Stu. He was a regular in Florida. He told me he’s been stalking me.” At those words, Paetyn was tempted to start round two.
Stu coughed where he lay before trying to roll over and groaning. Stalking was a serious offense, and if he’d told Erin that, then the two cameras in the central area of the shop would have caught it, and he’d find himself behind bars.
T he police came, and after viewing the video from the cameras and listening to the conversation Stu and Erin had, they had enough to arrest him for stalking, breaking and entering, and harassment. Once statements were taken and charges were pressed, they were left alone.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Erin asked as she held the cold can to his face. She didn’t have any ice, and even though he’d insisted it was fine, they’d ended up on the couch.
“I’m fine, Angel. I promise.” He ran his thumb along her cheek before giving her a soft kiss.
“I would have never guessed it was Stu,” she stated. “It makes sense, but I didn’t think I’d see him again when I left Florida. Until the rose petal incident, I’d thought the whole thing was some teenager or college student taking a prank too far.”
“Was he a problem when you were there?”
“He was bothersome, but nothing like this.”
Paetyn listened to her fill him in on how she met Stu and their interactions before and after she’d turned him down when he asked her out. He watched the camera footage with the police, and he knew the other man was mad because he considered Paetyn, a client, and Erin was now dating him.
Paetyn didn’t remember seeing Stu the day he’d gotten his tattoo. There hadn’t been too many people in the shop since he’d gone close to closing after the expo. He thought he would have remembered seeing him if he were there. It made him wonder if Stu had been stalking Erin before she left, but then, if he were, he would have known as soon as she had.
“You don’t have to worry about him anymore, and if jail doesn’t teach him a lesson, I’m willing to put him in his place again. He might not be so lucky and run into both of us next time.”
The bell went off, but Paetyn knew who it was. He’d locked the door after the police left, and only the three of them and the two other artists had keys. A few seconds later, Cruz rounded the wall, and Paetyn took the can from Erin as she was pulled into his arms.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” Erin responded.
Paetyn called him after Erin had phoned the police.
“And you, Paet?”
He shrugged. “It probably won’t even bruise.”
Cruz pulled his phone out, and after a minute, the audio from the video filtered into the room as he watched it. Once he finished, he chuckled, shaking his head.
“The situation isn’t funny, but you locked this man inside so he couldn’t escape while you beat his ass,” he said. “It reminds me of when we were younger.”
“I feel like there’s stories I need to hear about that,” Erin stated.
Paetyn stood. “We’ll tell you some over lunch.” He took her hand and led them out of the shop. Cruz locked the door and set the alarm behind them.