“Who’s Kale?” Ava wonders, picking up the glass again.
I open my mouth to reply, but I see headlights pull into the Gregory’s driveway and turn to my mother. “Ayden’s home. Can I go over and see how everything turned out?”
She glances at Ava and her husband then starts to protest, but Ava interrupts.
“Don’t keep her here on our part.” She winks at me, reminding me so much of my dad it’s weird. “We have plenty of time to catch up.”
“Fine. Go.” My mom gets up to gather the dishes as I push back from the table. “You should tell Lila and Ethan to come over later and chat for a while.” Chat is code for drink wine and reminisce about the good ol’ days.
Nodding, I take my dishes to the sink and rinse them off then hurry for the back door.
“Don’t stay too late,” my mom calls out as I step outside. “And make sure to keep Ayden’s door open.”
“Okay!” I roll my eyes then shut the door and jump the fence.
I walk in without knocking, a bad habit of mine. Aunt Lila and Uncle Ethan are in the kitchen, chatting about something.
“Hey,” Aunt Lila greets me when I close the back door. “How’d everything go with the family dinner?”
“It seems to be going okay, but that’s usually the case when wine is involved.” I slip my sandals off and walk into the kitchen. “They said you two should go over and chat for a while.”
“I think we could do that for a bit, right?” Lila says to Ethan. “It is the weekend, and no one has practice or anything.”
He shrugs as he moves for the cupboard. “It’s fine by me. I’m not working this weekend.”
“Is Ayden upstairs?” I ask, walking backwards for the stairway.
“He is.” Lila eyes me warily from across the kitchen. “If you go up there, you better make sure you keep that door open.”
“My mother said the exact same thing.” I pause at the bottom step. “How’d his tattoo go?”
“He seems okay,” Ethan answers, opening the fridge. “I think he handled it better when you were there, but he still did pretty okay today.”
Ethan’s version of okay can be a little iffy since he’s fine with almost everything.
Without saying anything else, I turn around and trot up the stairs. When I reach Ayden’s closed bedroom door, I knock as I walk in, something I’ve done since the day we met.
He’s sitting on his bed, writing in his journal with his leg stretched out and his back propped against the headboard.
“Hey,” he says, smiling at me.
“Whatcha doing?” I plop down on the bed beside him, roll on my side, and prop up on my elbow.
“Just writing about what happened today.” He closes the journal, tosses it on the nightstand, and lies down facing me. “About how good it felt to get that damn mark all covered up.”
“Hey, we’re going over to your house for a little while.” Lila pokes her head in, suspicion crossing her face as she eyes Ayden and me on the bed. “Would you two mind sitting on the floor?”
Ayden sighs but climbs off the bed, and I begrudgingly follow. He takes a seat in his computer chair, and I sit down on the trunk near the foot of his bed.
“Everson and Kale are sleeping over at a friend’s house,” she informs us. “And Fiona is downstairs in the den watching some weird documentary about psychics. Keep an eye on her, please, and keep this door open at all times.”
She pushes the door open all the way before backing toward the hall. “I’m going to set the alarm, but if you need anything at all, we’re right next door. We shouldn’t be long.” She steps back, pushing on the door again, even though it’s already open to the wall.
“They’ll be gone for more than a while,” I say once I hear the front door shut. “Ava and her husband are there, and you know how chatty Lila is with new people. Plus, they have the wine out.”
Ayden chuckles as he spins the chair from side to side. “That’s okay. They should enjoy themselves. I think I put a lot of stress on them today.”
“So, how did today go?” I ask, leaning back on my hands.
“Okay.” He rakes his fingers through his hair. “I mean, it would have been better if you were there, but I made it through it and feel pretty good right now.”
“Can I . . . ?” I bite down on my lip, wondering if I should ask.
“Can you what?” he wonders with his forehead creased.
I let my lip pop free. “Can I see the tattoo?”
He hesitates before his fingers drift toward the bottom of his dark grey T-shirt. “Yeah, sure.”
“Are you sure?” I double check. “You don’t have to show me if you don’t want to.”
“No . . . I want to.” He grips the fabric. “Besides, you should get to see your artwork.” Summoning a deep inhale, he lifts the shirt up and slips one arm out of the sleeve.
Bright red and gold ink splatters up his side along with intricate shades that contrast with the dark lines of the feathers and cover the mark.
“It’s gorgeous.” You’re gorgeous. “Cole did an amazing job.” I climb off the trunk and move in front of Ayden to get a better look. “Man, I so need to get a tattoo.” Instinctively, I reach forward to touch him, but realize he’s probably not going to like that, so I pull back.