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If I have my way, I’ll find any and every way possible to forget that time gap ever existed.

“Can we just…nottoday?” I ask when he gets behind the wheel and turns the engine over.

“Not what?”

“Not get all shitty when I don’t answer the way you want. Not fight over stupid shit. Can we just…pretend we’re normal?”

He huffs what almost sounds like a laugh but never so much as cracks the smallest smile.

“Yep. We canpretendwe’re normal.” I don’t like the way he repeats my words back to me, the way he emphasizes the word pretend.

And I have a sneaky suspicion the next few hours aren’t going to go much more smoothly than they did the last time I was dragged to sit in Nico’s chair.

Chapter 22

Brixton

Nico is waiting for us in the alley when we pull up. A cigarette dangles from his fingers as he smiles at us through the windshield before taking a long drag, then dropping the half-smoked stick on the ground and putting it out with the toe of his combat boot.

“How’s it looking?” he asks Everest as I help her from my raised truck. I’m sure she could get in and out on her own – though she might struggle a little – but I’ll take any excuse I can to touch her.

“Like an outline of a tattoo,” she says with a shrug.

“Any pain?”

“Not really. It itches, though.”

“Yeah. That’ll happen while it heals. You ready to get finished up today? And have you considered my offer to pierce those pretty nipples of yours?”

I should have told him ahead of time shit has changed, and I sure as fuck don’t want him ogling her tits the whole time he’s finishing her ink.

“No piercings,” I grunt, shaking my head at Nico while walking behind Everest with a hand pressed to her back.

His brows pinch together but he shrugs and opens the door for us, waiting until we’re through before closing and locking the back entrance.

Shit. I hadn’t even bothered asking whether she was wearing a bra under her sweater before we left. I just wanted to get her to the parlor to get the design finished so it would be healed up before the wedding. I want it on full display when she walks down the aisle in front of all of society. I want the whole world to see she isn’t just marrying Kato Antoniou, but also belongs to me and Madd.

And fuck if we don’t belong to her.

Shit. Maybe we need to do something bigger than the lingering scars on our chests. I don’t have much space left on my body to tattoo, at least not that would show. I have the design on my back, but that’s only visible with my shirt off.

And if I end up taking my shirt off while working, it’s not so you can get a view of my ink…it’s to avoid ruining my shirt with your blood.

Nico’s private studio is already set up, all the tools and sterile needles ready.

When Everest reaches for the hem of her sweater before sitting, I stop her, taking her hand and pulling the shirt back into place.

“You got a towel or cape or some shit to cover her while you’re working?”

Another of those frowns from Nico. Then he shrugs again and rummages through a cabinet before emerging with a sheet. “Here. You can drape this over the parts where I’m not working.That work?” he asks me, that confused look still in his eyes and the crease between his brows.

I’ve never felt as though I owed anyone shit, but not only had Nico filled some of my lonelier nights with his presence – and cock – he’d become a close friend.

Not that I’ll spill everything now. I’ll just call or text him later, fill him in on the shit he wasn’t privy to the last time we were here. Hell, maybe I’ll even invite him to the engagement party and wedding.

Everest is watching me with a confused look matching Nico’s.

“Now you’re worried about him seeing me?” she asks, and it’s not a tease.