Chapter Two
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IT WAS GETTING RIDICULOUS.
The problem was that Ethan didn’t know how to stop.
He’d told himself not to think about Liam so many times over the past few days, yet here he was, sketching the man’s face instead of working on the tattoo design he was drawing.
His customer would come in the next day, and he’d only have a handsome face to show her, which would be fine if it was what she’d asked him for.
It wasn’t. She wanted a full sleeve of flowers, and Liam had nothing to do with that, yet here he was, staring at Ethan from his sketchpad.
It was stupid. Ethan didn’t know the guy.
He’d barely met him once. He hadn’t gone to that dinner, but he’d had to listen to Jonathan, Dani, and the others talk about Liam.
They were very taken by him and thought he was sweet, and Ethan was sure he was.
That still wasn’t a reason for him to be drawing the man.
He hadn’t gone to dinner for a reason, and that was because he needed to stay away from Liam.
He didn’t know how the dragon shifter would react to finding out what he was, and he couldn’t risk it.
He hadn’t even really talked to West and Austin about it.
They knew because Ethan had had Caleb and Jonathan tell them, but he’d never wanted to discuss it.
He didn’t see a reason to. The two were still there, friendly with him, which meant that they didn’t care, which was what Ethan had been hoping for.
He didn’t want anyone to make a big thing out of it.
Even more so, he didn’t want anyone to use what he was as a reason to ostracize him.
Austin and West didn’t seem to care, and that was great.
But Ethan didn’t know if Liam cared. He seemed intrigued, and maybe a little sad that Ethan wouldn’t be at dinner.
That was ridiculous, too, although considering the open way Liam had been behaving, maybe it was just the kind of person he was.
He’d seemed eager to get to know West and Austin’s friends, but Ethan hadn’t been there.
He felt like he hadn’t needed to be to get to know Liam.
Everything Jonathan had to say about the new firefighter was great.
Ethan half expected Liam to have cured cancer or something, but no.
He was just a nice guy, and for someone like Jonathan to already be so welcoming of him after just meeting him, that was a lot to say.
Jonathan was even more wary than Ethan when it came to new people.
After what happened with his ex-boyfriend, it was understandable.
But Liam was nothing like Jonathan’s ex, clearly.
He’d made Jonathan comfortable, and that meant that he was in Jonathan’s life to stay, which, in turn, meant he was in Ethan’s life to stay.
That meant that Ethan would have to be in contact with him, and that eventually, he’d probably tell him what he was.
It was anyone’s guess as to how Liam would react.
Ethan prayed it would be well because he didn’t want the group to fracture, but it was anyone’s guess, and he didn’t like that kind of guessing game.
He scowled at the drawing on his sketchpad.
At the moment, he wasn’t quite sure he liked Liam, either.
It had nothing to do with the man and everything to do with Ethan himself, but Ethan quickly turned to a fresh page and picked up his pencil again.
He had work to do, and allowing himself to be distracted by thoughts of a man wouldn’t help.
He sketched out a flower, then another, then luckily got into a rhythm that didn’t include tall, blond shifters.
It got easier to focus, at least until he heard the front door of the shop open.
He was sitting at the counter in the waiting area since Dani was working on someone, and he looked up, a smile already forming on his lips.
The smile froze when Liam stepped in, shuffling his feet and looking around like he didn’t know if he should be there.
He had the expression of a kid caught stealing something, which was both funny and endearing.
This was a public place. Liam had every right to be here, although Ethan was confused.
“Hey,” Liam said as he stepped closer.
Ethan put down his pencil. “Hey. If you’re looking for West and Austin, they’re not here.”
“Oh, I know. I’m not looking for them, though.”
Ethan tensed. Was Liam looking for him?
“I actually wanted to talk to someone about covering up a scar with a tattoo,” Liam said, gesturing at his shoulder.
Ethan blinked. Of course. Why else would Liam be here?
Ethan told himself to stop being ridiculous and to once again focus on work. The fact that work now included Liam was a detail he didn’t want to think about too much. “Well, everyone is busy.”
Liam blinked. “You’re not.” He looked down at his sketchpad. “Well, you are, and those are fantastic, by the way. I guess I was just wondering why you couldn’t talk to me about it? I’m not going to ask you to tattoo me now or give me a friend’s discount or anything. I just want some information.”
Ethan kind of hated that Liam was so wary of him, but he’d been the one to cause that.
He’d kept Liam at a distance the other evening, and he’d refused to go to dinner.
He’d put that space between them, and it was a good thing.
He needed that space to be there. He needed to be sure that Liam wouldn’t create problems with his friends and the people he considered his family when he found out what Ethan was.
“I can take a look if you want,” he offered.
Liam blinked at him, clearly surprised. “Yeah? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
“Why would I be uncomfortable? It’s my job.”
“Right. Of course. Well, if you have a few minutes to spare, I’d love it if you could take a look at the scar and tell me whether or not I can get it tattooed.”
Ethan got up and gestured for Liam to follow him. “I’ll take you to one of the back rooms.”
Liam was silent as he followed Ethan. For some reason, it didn’t feel like him to be silent.
He was told that Liam was much more like Austin, who never seemed to stop talking, than West, who was the silent and strong type.
There was a bounce in Liam’s step, though, and it reassured Ethan.
Maybe he hadn’t ruined everything, after all.
He was glad, but at the same time, he wondered if it mattered. All of this might not work out, anyway. He wouldn’t be sure until he told Liam what he was, though, and he wasn’t ready to do that.
So instead, he guided Liam to a chair and had him sit. He stared at Liam’s covered shoulder for a moment, quietly snorting to himself. “Right, well,” he said. “I’m going to need you to take your shirt off.”
Liam looked over his shoulder with a grin before whipping off his t-shirt as if it was nothing special.
Maybe for him, it wasn’t. Working as a firefighter, he probably saw plenty of nudity when he and the others showered after a call or at the gym.
That wasn’t something Ethan was going to think about, though.
Thinking about Liam naked in the shower was a bad idea, but adding Austin and West to it was even worse.
Ethan couldn’t deny that both of them were hot, but that was where his interest stopped.
Liam bundled his t-shirt and turned back to face the wall. Ethan had a job to do, so he squinted and leaned closer, curious to see what scar they were talking about.
He was surprised when he realized it looked like a burn scar.
Liam was a dragon. He shouldn’t be burned.
Dragons were immune to fire. It was what made Austin and West such formidable firefighters.
They were more easily hurt when they were young, though, so Ethan wondered if this had happened to Liam when he was a child.
The thought made him sad, even though Liam had clearly healed from it.
The scar was extensive but not too bad, so he was positive he’d be able to tattoo on top of it. “I can work with this,” he told Liam.
Liam glanced over his shoulder, still grinning. “Yeah?”
“Well, it depends on what you want. It shouldn’t be too hard.”
“I’d love to work with you on a design.”
Ethan hoped he wasn’t going to regret this. “You have time now? Because I don’t have any other customers for a bit.”
* * * *
LIAM HADN’T EXPECTED Ethan to want to do this right away. In fact, he hadn’t expected Ethan to want to do this at all. He wasn’t about to say no to Ethan’s offer, though. “Yeah, I have time now.”
Ethan nodded. “All right. What do you have in mind?”
“I’m not really sure. I wasn’t sure whether or not you’d be able to cover it, so I didn’t think too much about it.”
Ethan narrowed his eyes. “You came for a consultation without thinking about what you want?”
“Well, no. I was thinking some trees, like a forest.”
“A forest.” Ethan was talking to Liam as if he thought Liam was an idiot, and maybe he wasn’t wrong. He didn’t understand what this forest meant to Liam. Ethan didn’t have to tell him, but part of him wanted to. “The forest is the place where I escaped when I was younger,” he murmured.
There was a beat before Ethan reacted. “I see. You don’t have to tell me anything.”
“It’s fine. It’s not a bad story or anything. When I say escape, I don’t mean that I was escaping from a bad situation. It was just suffocating.”
Liam knew that Ethan was a shifter, but he still couldn’t place what kind of shifter he was.
Ethan smelled of dragon, but at the same time, it wasn’t the right scent.
If he’d been a dragon shifter, Liam would have recognized it, just like he’d recognized Austin and West. No, there was something to Ethan’s scent that told Liam that dragon wasn’t quite right, but at the same time, he couldn’t ignore it. It was confusing.
That wouldn’t stop him from talking to Ethan. “I grew up in a loving family and a loving clan; they’re just very small and isolated.”