Brand Me (Imagine Ink Book 2) (25 page)

Michael didn’t need to defend himself, but he did need her to understand the terms. “You’ll have your check and you’re out. But don’t forget the other terms I’ve set. If you break one, then you won’t like the end result. I expect the letter as soon as possible.” Michael tucked himself back in, all but ignoring her. “Hit the lights on the way out, will you?”

The sound her angry heels made as she stormed down the hallway to his bedroom offered a small measure of satisfaction. Two bangs in rapid succession followed the slamming door, but preceded her muffled scream. He could almost picture it, she stormed down the hall in a huff, threw her three hundred dollar heels against the wall before falling onto the bed face-first and screaming into the pillow.

Michael knew she wasn’t defeated, but he had won the battle. She had retreated to formulate a new plan of attack, but she was coming back. He just hoped he had the strength to halt her war machine until he could pay her and get her out of his life. Then, and only then, could he formulate a plan to woo Tori the way she deserved.

Deciding a course of action was enough to lull him back to Tori’s arms, if only in his dreams, for now.

V
isiting
Melanie’s grave was a horrible idea. Not that Tori didn’t want to pay her respects to one of her best friends, but it felt wrong in so many ways. For one, Melanie was way too young to not be out there dancing like a spaz to the techno she loved so much or misquoting movies just to get under Tori’s skin. It was wrong that she wouldn’t see her dream of the retail store come to pass and wrong that her death gave them the money they needed without investors.

And it was especially wrong that Tori couldn’t have prevented it somehow, and wrong that she wasn’t there. Frank and Francis, her parents, made the call not to bring her home or interrupt her trip with the news. It hurt a little, but she completely understood and inside, she agreed.
Who am I kidding? It hurt a lot.
She was pissed at her parents, like she’d never been before. Even though there was nothing she could have done by being here, she was having a hard time reconciling the fact that her parents made that choice
for
her.

Admittedly, with her away, and Mel gone, Erika had no choice but to rely on Walker, which brought them closer together. Not to mention, she would have missed out on Michael.

No matter how it ended with him, if that was the final end, she would still never regret one single kiss. It was worth the pain, and somehow, her mom had known.
The mom voodoo is real, at least in the Reid family.
Her mom knew this trip would be important to Tori and that was the understatement of the century. That trip had changed her life. But sadly, her parent’s choice had changed her relationship with them, too, and regardless of the end result, it should have been her choice to make, not theirs.

Even though everything in Florida had changed while she was away, and not all for the better, she understood change was a part of life. Kneeling by the cold, grey stone bearing her friend’s name, she traced the carved letters and let the tears flow. Not all were for Melanie, but if anyone understood the power of a therapeutic bawling, it was Mel. She spoke her apologies and regrets aloud. Then came the
I Miss You
list.

“I will miss you every second of every day. I already miss you irritating Erika and me by messing up movie quotes and list-making on purpose. I miss you dancing like Elaine Benes, and not having a clue why we were cracking up, because that was just how you danced. I miss your lyrical voice singing off-key on purpose just to make me feel better when I sang along to the radio. I miss that you couldn’t keep a secret but tried so hard. I miss my Ned Nederlander. How can we be the Three Amigos without you? You were so much more than a friend, you were my sister by choice, but you will forever be our little rebel. I will never forget you.”

After the tears dried, she spoke to Melanie about Michael, as if her best friend were sitting across from her at their regular coffee stop, sipping a chai tea latte. Pausing for her friend’s input seemed perfectly natural, however, hearing her friend respond in her mind was probably over the top.

After an hour, Tori walked away feeling better than expected. Melanie was gone, but she’d never be
gone
gone. She was a part of each one of them, and that would never change. The headstone was for them, not Mel. Mel was cremated and as soon as Erika was up for travel and leaving little Willow, they would take Melanie where they always promised they would go together, and they all still would. That thought made her smile.

The lawyer’s office was quicker than anticipated. Erika was Mel’s executor, so Tori’s papers mostly pertained to business and funding. Tori thought if she stayed busy, Michael would stay out of her mind, but she was wrong. He was ever-present. With both Mel and Michael tagging along, her Jeep was full. Next stop was to get her hands on her dogs and niece. She couldn’t wait to see Willow, but she knew if she didn’t get business stuff out of the way, her emotions would take over and she’d be stressing.

Tori was hanging on by a thread as it was, wondering how Michael was, if he was okay. It took everything she had not to call John and jump on the plane back to Tennessee and throw herself on his mercy. Beg for…well, everything. Everything she wanted with him. She meant what she wrote in the letter, that she wasn’t healthy for him right now, but that didn’t stop her from wanting him.

Pulling up in front of her brother’s gave her a sense of homecoming, as it always did, more so with Erika and her niece here, but also one of displacement. It was weird and inexplicable. A low woof and paws on the soft-side passenger door interrupted her thoughts.
Where there’s Sixx, there’s Mars,
and sure enough, by the time she got her door open, Mars was in her lap. When would the behemoth learn that 160 pounds does not a lap dog make?

Jostling his ears back and forth and kissing his wet nose, Tori greeted her over-grown companion. “Oh, I missed you too, boy. Were you a good boy for Uncle Walker? Were you? Oh, I love you, you big galoot, but let me greet your brother.” She walked the Great Dane off her lap as she exited the vehicle and Sixx made his way around for his greeting, too. After doling out equal pats, kisses, and scratches, she looked toward the house, noticing her brother for the first time.
God, he looked good. Happy.
The tears came again at the sight of a healthy Walker.

After she guided the dogs through the gate, she practically ran into her brother’s open arms. “Ah, there’s my favorite sister.” Walker gave her their traditional greeting, bear-hugging her until her bones cracked.

“I’m your only sister, doofus, now put me down.” He did as instructed, but Tori didn’t let go when her feet touched down or for quite a while after that. Hugging her brother grounded her. He may be her little brother by age, but he was larger than life to her. Before she could ask the millions of questions on her mind, she was distracted by new ink, Willow Erin’s name in Viking-style lettering down the left side of his neck, disappearing into his shirt, heading straight for is heart.

Just as a comment was poised on her lips, she heard a cry from inside the house. Shoving her brother aside like last week’s garbage, she followed her ears to the living room and an angel in a playpen. It just hit her in the gut this was her niece, the child of her brother and the best friend who she’d always thought of as a sister, except in terms of parentage.
Well, we are from the south, but not that part.

“Careful, Lucky Day, it takes her a bit to warm up to new people, but I’m sure she’ll have you wrapped around her finger in no time, assuming there’s room left on that little pinkie of hers.” Tori heard Erika’s voice from the hall, but couldn’t look away from the amazing little cherub dressed in a…

“Holy shit, E, is that a Motörhead
onesie? Where the Hell did Dubya even find such a thing?” Tori tore her eyes from Willow and sought out her friend, gasping when she finally saw her. Erika had a fresh scar tracking down the length of her face, and some of her hair had been shaved. She was using some sort of walker contraption, fresh scars on one leg extended above the boot, and there was a different boot on the other leg.

“I know, I look a fright, but it looks worse than it actually is now. The bones are mostly healed and I just need to get the muscles back. As far as the hair, it’ll grow. Don’t look so worried, Tor, it could have been so much worse.” The same haunted shadow she saw on Erika’s face probably crossed Tori’s too. The sight of Erika drove another wedge between her and her parents, and that hurt.

“Don’t just stand there, Lucky, give me a hug, I won’t break.” Tori approached her with caution and gingerly wrapped her arms around her best friend and tears flowed. It was clear Erika wasn’t going to be treated with kid gloves as she held Tori tight, in spite of the wrap around one arm.

Tori melted into her best friend and spoke with a saddened voice, “Don’t call me that anymore, there are only the two of us, no more ‘Three Amigos.’” Erika’s injuries misrepresented her strength as she thrust Tori arms-length away to look into her eyes.

“Bullshit, crap. I mean bullcrap, just because Mel is gone, doesn’t change our history, she’ll always be with us. Not to mention, she’ll always be our Ned Nederlander, you got it? She wouldn’t want you to erase everything she was, except a painful memory. You know that, and she was so excited about the business and the baby. She spilled you know, about bringing me in as partner? If you don’t mind, I want to keep her dream alive, with you. Open 3 Thick Chicks, although that will
never
be the name, and see her dream come to life.”

“I knew she’d spill, I never expected her to keep her big mouth shut. I just went along with her idea to surprise you because she liked to think she could keep a secret.” Sharing a laugh about Melanie, they made their way to the couch, where Tori finally got to hold her niece.

“So tell me, E, what happened, and I don’t mean the wreck, I mean after you left here and ran off to North Dakota?” Interested in the answer, but fascinated with her niece, she listened intently as Erika chronicled her ups and downs, highs and lows. Tori interrupted at the part where she left Walker’s house after being greeted by a towel-clad Augusta.

“I’m calling bullshit, E…”

“Shhh, crap, Tor, bullcrap, we are trying to watch our language around Willow.” Tori did look away from her adorable niece then, to give Erika side eye.

“Yeah, and how’s that working for you? You can make a sailor blush, E, and we both know telling Walker not to curse is like telling the wind not to blow, so get over yourself. It won’t damage the child to hear a bad word here or there, especially when it’s called for. So, I say again, I’m calling bullshit, E. There is no way in Hell you were that accepting of Gus. Not then, anyway. Not without knowing who she was or what she was doing naked at Walker’s. You can’t possibly convince anyone you were just willing to open your arms to her, drop your kid off on weekends, and grin and bear it, not even yourself.”

“You’re right, Tor. I tried though, I really did, the whole flight back to North Dakota. I was in a bad place mentally, and I was so focused on being a good person and doing the right thing for my daughter that I overlooked everything else, even actually doing the right thing and just talking to Walker. I ignored what I was really feeling. I acted like a fourteen year old and I’m ashamed. About Gus? Well, now that I know the truth, I owe her so much. We would’ve lost him without her, Tori, for that reason alone, I can, and will, make a place for her in our lives, but you’re right, I wasn’t ready then. It’s a rocky road, even now, but we are making progress. She has been a huge help without you or Mel here.”

“I’m here now, E, and I’ll devote all my time to you guys. I want to be here every minute…”

“No, Tor, as much as I love you, and that is the most generous offer ever, you have the store to open and I have a relationship to build with Gus, based on reality, not assumption. I have to devote time to make it work, because inside I know it’s the right thing. Not gonna lie, there is still a lot of hurt there simply because of my own conjured ideas. I can’t explain it, but I do have a connection to her, whether it’s born of her ability to help Walker, or something else. Plus, I think she and Dax would be fabulous together, what do…”

“Erika, no. Just no. You are not a matchmaker, besides you just expressed your need to get straight with her. Well, you can’t build a lasting relationship with other motives at the fore. You know that. Look at the giant clusterfuck you just came through.”

“Okay, okay. You win, but if they happen to be invited to the same barbeque, and end up being left alone to converse, then I can’t be faulted. However,” Tori knew what was coming the minute Erika placed her hand on her knee and softened her tone, “I think there is another relationship we need to be talking about, am I right?”

Tori placed her sleeping niece in her bed before she returned to the couch and spilled her guts to her best friend—from dropping Sixx and Mars at Walker’s before she went shopping, right up to pulling up at the curb outside, and everything in between. It felt great to tell all, especially the feelings, the fear, the
I-don’t-know-if-it’s-love
love, and the anguish over what he went through. Tori knew it wasn’t her secret to tell, and if he ever entered their social circle for good, she would have to ask forgiveness, but she needed to share it, speak it aloud, to process it all.