Marked by the Wolf (A New Adult Urban Fantasy) by Lee Mae

Author:Lee Mae [Mae, Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-04-25T05:00:00+00:00

24

The tattoo shop really wasn’t even a shop. The guy apparently worked out of his house, a tiny wood fronted building wedged between two tall brick buildings, one a grocery store and the other, a quick cash loan place. A neon sign blinked in the front window, one of the letters burned out, flashing ‘Ta too’ to a disinterested and apathetic neighborhood.

Once inside the door Sam instantly realized this guy was probably just a scratcher, a kitchen magician, using the tattoo business as a front for selling drugs. Sam caught a whiff of weed, pungent and skunky, along with the cat-urine smell of meth, and finally, buried beneath those, the legitimate smells of tattoo ink, green soap and the sharp bite of alcohol.

And then, suddenly, above all of that was Taryn’s scent, definitely out of place with the stink of the place.

Sam was standing in what was once probably a living room, a tiny space with myriad doorways, the only window to the street covered with a heavy curtain. A huge sagging couch took up most of one wall, with a scarred coffee table set in front of it. There was barely enough room to maneuver around those pieces of furniture before running into a rectangular kitchen table tight against the other wall.

As a home, this would have been a dismal place. As a tattoo shop it was even worse. What the hell Taryn was doing here? Finding her and dragging her out became a viable option, over his shoulder, if he needed to.

He turned at the sounds of beads rattling. Taryn appeared from a doorway on the right, parting the beaded curtain that covered the opening.

“Hey, hi Sam! Nice surprise to see you. What’s up?”

She crossed the narrow space and he pulled her against him, breathing her in, relishing the feel of her body in his arms.

“I missed you. Wanted to see you, see where you work.” Sam closed his eyes, burying his nose in her hair. Cinnamon and cloves and roses surrounded him and for a minute he was lost in just holding her. Everything was right when he knew she was safe. And the only place he knew she was safe was in his arms.

“So, you’re Taryn’s dude.”

The voice startled Sam. He lifted his head, still holding Taryn.

“Um…yeah. Ryan, this is Sam. Sam…Ryan. My boss, I guess.” Taryn gently extricated herself from Sam’s arms.

Ryan was tall and thin, nondescript lank hair hitting his shoulders, with the twitchy nature of a meth addict. Sam wondered how he managed to hold still long enough to work on anyone. And then he decided he’d rather not know.

“Nice to meet you.” Ryan stuck out his hand and Sam shook it, noting the grimy bitten nails.

“Good to meet yah. Taryn says you’re cool, so, you know, it’s okay that you kick around. I got…um, like work to do though so I’ll see you’s later.”

With a gesture, halfway between a wave and a salute, Ryan sauntered back through the doorway, brushing the beads aside, tangling the strands.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.