Dante's Way (10 page)

Suddenly, Amara’s stomach growled making her remember the reason she sat down on the bench in the first place. She was starving, so getting a hot meal in her belly was her main focus now.

Taking the backpack off her shoulder, Amara laid it to the side and she dug inside of her pocket pulling out the handful of money along with the card Mr. Lee gave to her. She laid the paper to the side then quickly counted the money in her hands. She was stunned to find almost sixty dollars there.

Mr. Lee didn’t have to do this for her. This money would keep her fed for a while, if she didn’t buy anything too expensive from the food trucks around town.

Yet, money wasn’t the only thing he had given to her. He had slipped something inside of the money. Picking up the business card, Amara read it frowning when she saw it was information for Pastor Allen’s outreach. She thought about tearing it up and tossing it into the nearest trashcan; however, she folded it back up and shoved it back into her jeans.

Why wouldn’t Mr. Lee stop trying to make her go there?

How did he know the homeless shelter was safe? Well, she wasn’t ready to go there and find out anytime soon either. Right now, she would rather take her chances out here than being closed inside a strange place.

For a split second, Amara wavered, wondering if she was making the right decision. Could something be pushing her towards the outreach shelter and she was fighting
too
hard not to go there? She shook the wandering thought from her head. She wasn’t wrong about her decision to keep trying to pull herself up from the mistakes she had made

She was the one who had to find a way to get everything she cherished the most back. Although, Amara just wasn’t quite sure how to do it, but something would come to her.

One of the things she remembered her father telling her was no matter how hard things got for her never give up...because something good or better could be right around the corner waiting for her.

Blowing out a breath, Amara got herself back together determined not to get down today because this was the first time in a very, very long while that she actually had enough cash in her pocket to keep herself fed for a while. Not taking the gift she was given today would be a sin, so why was she still sitting here complaining?

Grabbing the backpack, Amara placed it back on her shoulder and got up from the bench. She couldn’t even think back to the last time she ate a taco therefore she was going to treat herself by getting two.

However, she only wished Liam and Theresa were here with her. Somehow after she got herself out of this environment, she would help both of her best friends find a better existence too.

Chapter Twelve

Parking his bike in front of
Inked
, Dante got off pushing his sunglasses to the top of his head. From the corner of his eye, he noticed two hot women wearing short skirts and hot pink bikini tops stop walking and stare at him.

There would have been a time, instead of going inside the shop, he would have started up a conversation with them, but he wasn’t going down that same path anymore. He was almost forty-three years old and he needed to focus his attention on having something more stable and long-lasting in his life.

Ignoring their hungry and lingering looks in his direction, Dante continued going into his old shop. Once he finally made it inside he noticed the amount of clients being worked on by Griffin and the rest of the staff. Business was still hot and heavy at the shop which was a good thing since his name was still on the lease for the place.

Walking up to the front desk, Dante folded his arms on the top grinning at the aggravated person sitting behind it glaring at him. “So, did you lose the coin toss this time and that’s why you’re sitting here instead of Griffin?”

“Funny, I’m glad you have jokes,” Caleb snapped. “I would rather be tattooing than sitting here. Do you know when Griffin is going to hire someone to take over this job?”

“We talked about it the other day when he was at the bar,” Dante answered. “He told me he was working on it.”

“I thought he was going to place an ad for a replacement for Katie,” Caleb complained, leaning back in his chair. “I’ve spent the last two mornings answering the telephone and I’m tired of it. I want to be working on someone to show off my own personal designs.”

For as long as Dante had known him, Caleb wasn’t a complainer. He was pretty easy going allowing most things to roll off of his back easily. So, the situation at the tattoo shop must be getting out of hand for Caleb to bring it up to him like this.

“All right, since I need to place an ad for a new waitress, I’ll go ahead and place one for the shop too while I’m at it,” Dante said. “I’ll probably put them on Tanners list since it will get me a faster response.”

“Who quit?”

“Bambi...She got pissed off because I didn’t want to do things her way. I’m so glad I dodged that bullet with her. She was getting way too crazy for me. She had plans in her head about becoming a bigger part of my life, but when she thought she could help me run the bar I knew I had to get rid of her. Thankfully, she quit before I fired her crazy ass.”

His jaw clenched; his eyes slightly narrowed. Caleb sat up straighter in his seat. “Are you fucking kidding me? Why would Bambi get that idiotic idea in her head? I swear she is the pain in the ass I always thought she was.”

Dante had to admit Bambi did a good job of covering her real personality from him. He should have fired her that night when she insulted Jim and Keira on their first date at his business, but back then he needed her help too much to be an employee short. Today was a different story and he wasn’t going to let her come back even if she begged him to give her old job back.

“You’re right. Bambi was good at being very deceitful, but now she’s out of my life and away from the bar. Enough about her, how are things going at the shop? Are we getting more walk-ins now?”

“Walk-ins are getting better since Griffin decided to do the promotion last month,” Caleb told him.

He wanted to make sure his customer ratio stayed the same at the tattoo shop. Despite the fact he didn’t work here full time anymore, this place still held a huge part of his heart. Failure wasn’t an option when it came to
Inked
. He wanted everything he touched to be golden because he still felt like he had a lot to prove to himself.

“Dante, you didn’t come all the way here to discuss the ins and outs of what’s going on down on the end of town. So why are you here?” Caleb asked, watching him closely. “Is there something wrong Griffin or I should know about? Are things going slow at the bar?”

What was going on with him? Dante wondered. The thought barely crossed him mind before another followed. Something was going on with him, but he couldn’t quite figure out actually what it was which meant he couldn’t tell Caleb anything.

“I don’t know what it is,” he answered, honestly. “It just seems like I’m searching for something but I can’t get a read on the void I’m trying to fill.”

Tapping his fingers on the arm of the leather chair, Caleb studied him for a few minutes. “Do you think you have too much going on and you aren’t able to handle it? I mean you have two businesses that are doing quite well for you in this economy.”

Dante impatiently pulled his drifting thoughts together. Could Caleb be telling him the truth? Did he have too much and not know how to appreciate his good luck? Quickly, he banished the thought. He was grateful for the gifts he had been given especially after the hard time he had getting to this point in his life.

“I’ve thought about the same points you brought up, but I don’t think that’s it,” he admitted.

Looking around the shop, Dante noticed how more people were starting to filter out. He hadn’t realized he had spent so much time at
Inked
. He still had too much to get done before heading back to work.

“I better head out of here and let you get back to work. I know how much you love answering the phone,” he teased. “I think you need one of those sliver name tags with your name on it so you’ll look more professional. I might need to bring that up to Griffin the next time we talk.”

“Shut up, Dante or I’ll find Bambi and tell her how much you want her back at your side in and out of the restaurant.”

He believed Caleb was teasing him, but he wasn’t about to take any chances because his buddy had a wicked sense of humor and might actually go through with his threat, so it was time for him to hit the road.

“Fine, I’m out of here. Tell Griffin I came by to see him but I’ll call him later. I need to take care of a few more things while I’m still out. Don’t work too hard.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” Caleb replied.

Spinning around, Dante headed back towards the front door. He wanted to make a quick trip to the beach and hopefully his favorite taco truck was still there. He had been craving one of them for the past two weeks, but his schedule had been too busy for him to go and get one.

Outside, he got back on his motorcycle and pushed his sunglasses back over his eyes before starting his bike and taking off. He didn’t have much free time on his hands and for the next two hours he was going to enjoy the hell out of what he had.

Chapter Thirteen

Shoving the last bite of the savory taco between her lips, Amara wiped the corner of her mouth then her hands before tossing the tissue into the trashcan. She had been walking around the beach for more than an hour hoping to spot Liam in some of his usual spots, but he wasn’t anywhere to be found. Her concern for him was growing more and deeper with each passing day.

At least thinking about Liam had gotten her mind off Dante. Her memories of the sexy biker were pure and clear, and for that brief moment their eyes had connected she felt something more than fear. She couldn’t forget a single detail of his handsome face. Sometimes, if she closed her eyes and really focused she still could feel the warm grip of Dante’s hand on her arm. She was beginning to wonder if she had a screw loose or something. She couldn’t stop herself from wondering if Dante would take a second look at her if she wasn’t covered in dirt and old clothing.

Laughing to herself, she shook the idiotic thought from her head.
Why was she even going down that road
? She needed to stay in the present and not get lost in some fantasy that wasn’t
ever
going to come to life.

Continuing on down the trail surrounding the beach, Amara allowed herself to get lost in the noise of people playing in the sand. The sounds of their laughter mingled in with the lapping waves of the beautiful clear blue ocean. It was times like this that she almost forgot that she didn’t have a safe place to sleep every night when she went to bed.

A deep, unaccustomed pain gripped its hands around her heart. As her spirits sank even lower at the thought that no matter how hard she tried to get away from this endless torture day after day, this could be the rest of her days. Amara bowed her head, her body slumped in despair as she made her way back towards the park bench where Liam found her the first time they had met each other.

“Amara, wait! Where are you going?” someone yelled behind her.

Surprised to hear her name, Amara turned around smiling when she spotted Theresa coming towards her, but it slowly slid from her face when she spotted Ike walking next to her friend. She couldn’t stop her intense dislike for Theresa’s ‘boyfriend’ as it built up inside of her waiting to boil over. If he said one word out of place to her...

“Hi Theresa, what are you doing here?” she asked, looking at her friend then back over at Ike whose stare drilled into her.

“We were having a fun date at the beach and when I saw you I had to come over here,” Theresa said. “How are things since we last talked? Have you see Liam? I’m worried about him.”

“Who cares about that dirty little low life?” Ike’s harsh voice cut in. “I hope that little bastard is gone. I’m so tired of him getting involved in my business.”

Amara’s temper flared. Of course, Ike didn’t care if Liam was missing or not because he was the only one besides her that called him out on his treatment of Theresa.

She spat out the words. “Why should you care that our friend is missing? Weren’t you the coward who gave him that black eye he was sporting?”

His expression clouded over with anger. “Yes, I hit him and I’ll do it again if I lay eyes on his skinny ass. A boy should know better than to confront a man,” he answered, sharply.

“You bastard,” Amara shouted, stepping towards Ike. “Maybe I should give you some of what you gave to Liam.”

“I know that I didn’t hear you correctly,” Ike said, his ice blue eyes blazing as he took a menacing step towards her. “I warned you before how your mouth is going to get you in all kinds of trouble.”

“Ike, I’m not scared of you unlike Theresa. I know you’re a lot of talk. You aren’t about to do anything to me.”

He glared at her with hard eyes. The look almost made Amara take a step back, but she held her ground. She wasn’t about to let this asshole get the better of her. Ike had to know he couldn’t run over everyone any time he felt like it.

“Theresa, go get me something to eat at one of the vendors parked around here. I want to have a few minutes with your outspoken friend. We need to get some things straight between us.”

Theresa’s eyes caught and held hers before she looked back over at Ike. “I think I should stay here with you,” she answered.

Amara saw how his face grew even darker with anger. He wasn’t going to stand for Theresa questioning him and especially in front of her. She couldn’t let her friend get hurt because of her. Ike was vicious enough to do it without a second thought.

“Go ahead and leave,” she said, looking away from Ike over to her girlfriend. “Nothing is going to happen while you’re gone.”

Her best friend looked at her like she didn’t quite believe it, but she turned around and walked back in the direction she had come from earlier with Ike. Once Theresa was out of ear shot Ike finally spoke to her.