Page 12 of Riding Savage
If I’m lucky, Raven will be in today. Her husband, Gage, took over the shop a while back and she hangs out with him whenever she’s free. I used to think it was because she loved her guy so much, but I quickly realized it was a combination of loving him and hearing all the gossip around town. Turns out, the tattoo shop is the place to go for town news… and I could really use some right now.
“Raven!” She’s standing at the front desk in a black and white dress with her dark hair tied up in a red ribbon. I’ve known her father, Henry, for ages and I swear the girl could be his twin…minus the beard.
“Hey, Doc! What’s up? You here for an appointment? We’re pretty booked up, but I can talk to Gage and see—”
“No. Not today. I came to talk to you, actually.”
She grins. “Me? Of course you did! Everyone comes to talk to me!” Her grin gets wider. It’s hard to believe she’s old enough to have her own kids and family now. Where does time go? “What’s up?”
I glance toward the new girl behind the counter. I don’t know what her situation is or who she talks to, but I’m not interested in making more drama than need be. “Is there somewhere we can talk?”
Raven’s face goes from happy to concern. “Yeah, sure. Follow me to the back.”
The tattoo shop is packed. I see my buddy Brick over with Gage getting what looks to be an anchor tattoo and a few other locals all adding to their sleeves or shoulder pieces. This shop is the reason Rugged Mountain is on the map. The talent here is exceptional and people come from all over to get inked.
Raven opens the black door to the break room and invites me in. “So, what’s up? Is everyone okay?”
I nod and suck in a heavy breath. I don’t know how to ask her what I’m about to ask, but I’m hoping she has some details for me. “You know Nora, right? The woman that started the Mail Order Marriage app? She used to be a—”
“Realtor, yeah. Is she okay?”
“Yeah, great. Well, not great exactly. She fell off her bike last night out on the outskirts, but… that’s not why I’m here. Do you remember when she dated a guy—”
“Your brother?”
“Half-brother.” My chest tightens. “What do you remember about that?”
“Why?” She crosses her legs and leans in toward me. “What’s going on, Doc?”
I drag in a deep breath, holding it for a moment before finally releasing. “I need Nora in my life. When she smiles, everything in my world makes sense.Everything.I was out in Arizona doing work on a few projects we had while Nora and Mike were together, so I missed the whole thing. She told me something happened between them, and I’m hoping you heard what.”
Raven’s brows lift and her lips pinch together. “I only know what happened at her mom’s funeral.”
My throat closes at the mere thought of what Raven might say next.“Her mom’s funeral?”
“Yeah,” Raven’s tone lowers, “Mike showed up drunk and totally humiliated her. He stood up during the eulogy and called Nora a selfish bitch, then threatened to tell everyone what a terrible person she is.”
“What the fuck?” My heart is tight, and my fists are coiled. I’m going to fucking kill him.
“Yeah, Nora is like the sweetest woman alive. She grows all those vegetables and shares them with everyone. Hell, even when she was showing houses, she was trying to hook people up because all she wanted was for folks to be happy. Mike tells people she tried to‘change’him.” Raven’s brows lower. “None of my business, and I know he’s your… half-brother, but the man needs changing.” She blows out a breath. “Anyway, she told everyone what a drunk he is after that. I think it was a warning to all other women who hadn’t heard what he did to her. When Mike found out she was telling everyone, he threatened to have a buddy hack into her dating app and ruin everything.”
“Who the fuck does he know that could do something like that?”
Raven draws a deep breath. “Seriously? He gets a lot of folks up at that tactical shop. I bet someone he knows could do some damage if he really wanted them to. Nora stopped talking about him after that and sunk herself into work. I mean I know the Mail Order Marriage app is her dream, but she used to dream about more. A family, a ranch, a life of her own, you know? I think Mike took that from her in a way. She couldn’t trust anyone after that.”
Kin or not, I’m going to kill the man. I’m going to drag him up to the quarry and I’m going to bury him in heaps of heavy rock.
My jaw tightens and my teeth grind against one another.
“I’m sorry, Doc.” Raven stands from her chair and glances up at the clock. “I can’t leave the new girl up front for much longer. She was nervous as hell about starting today.”
“Of course. Thank you.”
She nods and heads toward the door as Brick walks in. He’s got his arm postured like he’s showing off his new ink.
“Looks great!” Raven smiles on her way past him. “Of course, I’m partial to the guy drawing all over you.”
Brick gives her a nod and grin combo before heading toward me. “You hear about this damn bachelor auction shit?”