Page 107 of Not So Goode

He let out short, piercing whistle. “Yo, Ink!”

A truly gargantuan man ambled out—bigger than Jupiter, broad as a barn door, covered in native-style tattoos, with a long beard and long black hair, barefoot, shirtless, wearing nothing but a pair of gym shorts. “Yeah.” His voice was the deepest thing I’d ever heard.

“Charlie tell you about expecting anyone?”

The giant with the tats shook his head. “Naw. But I know she was dealing with some shit, and wasn’t ready to talk about it, least not with me. She may’ve told Cass about it, but not me.”

The bouncer eyed me. “You got the look of trouble, friend. Just being careful, cause she’s family, and new to it.”

I was used to looking like trouble, so I got it. “Family?”

“Of a sort, the way it is around here.” He extended his hand. “Baxter Badd.”

I shook his hand. “Crow.”

“Just Crow?”

“Just Crow.”

He nodded. “How about I call Livvie and see what she knows. I ain’t gonna go giving out her daughter’s location till I know you’re safe.”

I nodded. “I understand. I’d do the same.”

He dialed a number. Waited as it rang. “Yo, Livvie, it’s Bax. I got a fella named Crow at the bar, askin’ to see Charlie.” He waited, listened. “Oh, okay, cool. Just bein’ sure. Cool. Where is she? Okay, I’ll send him.” He hung up, glanced at me. “She’ll see you. She’s at Cassie and Ink’s.”

I glanced at the big fella. “Well? Mind showin’ me?”

Ink stared at me, assessing me. “Why’re you here, man?”

“I love her. I let her go, and now I need to get her back.”

He nodded. “Good enough for me.” He shuffled across the road. “Come on.”

“I have my truck and trailer.”

He waved a paw in dismissal. “Nah. Walkin’s easier. Ain’t far. Plus, you ain’t gonna find many spots to park your rig.”

So I followed a tattooed giant named Ink several blocks across Ketchikan, through a closed and dark tattoo parlor, which he moved through as if he owned the place, to a tiny home built among the trees behind the strip of buildings.

I could see her, in the window. Talking to another girl who looked like her, but blond.

Ink led me in through a side door. “Cass, Charlie? Got a visitor. Cass, can I get you to come over to the shop…like, now?”

A second later, the blond woman—Cass, I assumed—squeezed past me and left with Ink.

I stopped in the doorway. More unsure of anything than I’d ever been, except that I loved this woman. “Hey, darlin’.”

She looked up. Saw me. She had a coffee cup in her hands, and it started shaking. “Crow,” she breathed. “You’re here.”

She set the mug down, carefully, and moved toward me. Stopped inches from me. “I…Crow, I should never have left. Not the way I did.”

I cupped her chin. “You did what you had to. I get it. I just…I can’t live without you.”

She blinked hard. “You rode all the way here?”

I shook my head. “Nah. I got River Dog and Mammy’s truck and trailer. I drove.”

She palmed my chest. “You’re wearing a shirt.”