Tattoos and Transformations (17 page)

Move
.

Her legs nearly gave way. She thought about screaming, but not only was there no one around, but her throat had closed up. She turned around and sprinted to the small back room. The unlocked door opened easily. She even was able to close the door, but without a lock, he’d follow in a second.

He jiggled the handle.

Hide!

The exit door was too far away. The room was dark, but she knew her way around. Some of Jade’s old equipment still resided in the corner. The door opened. All she could do was duck and pray he couldn’t find the light switch that was three feet from the doorjamb.

Footsteps sounded in the main room. Someone else was here. She just had to stay alive a few more minutes. Harley flipped on the light.

“Dakota!”

It was Morgan.

“In here.” She yelled as loud as she could.

Harley froze. He looked behind him, cursed, and half stumbled, half ran to the side door. Morgan raced in and sped toward her. The side door slammed shut.

“Get Harley.” She pointed to the door.

Morgan pulled her to his chest. “Are you okay?” He didn’t listen. “Yes. Go after Harley.” He pulled away and studied her. His brows pinched. “You’ve changed.”

“What does that matter? I’m still me.”
Here I thought I wouldn’t
be a victim again
. “Harley admitted he broke the front window and slashed my paintings because he knew I told someone about him

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cheating.”

“I’ll call the police.” He pulled out his phone and contacted them.

He told them about the assault and the identity of the perpetrator. He disconnected. “Damn. I should have called earlier, but I thought Jackson was keeping him at the bar.”

He stabbed a hand through his hair. “Didn’t the alarm work?” She didn’t appreciate his accusatory tone. “I didn’t have a chance to set it. Harley was waiting for me when I got to the store. As soon as I stepped inside, he charged in after me.” He scanned her whole body, but she wasn’t sure if he was looking at her piercings and her clothes, or if he was trying to find some blood.

“Did he hurt you in any way?”

“He grabbed my arm, but I kicked him in the shin with my shoes.

I think he got the worse of it.”

A small smile tugged on his lips. “If you need to get a few things, go pack. You’re coming back home with me.” With Harley on the loose, it made sense that she shouldn’t be alone, but once she set the alarm system, she’d be fine. “I don’t need anyone telling me what I have to do. I’m safe here.”

“Until Harley is caught you can’t stay.”

“I have a state-of-the-art alarm system, remember?”

“It doesn’t work if you don’t close the door or set it.” That was a low blow. “I didn’t have time, goddamn it.” He stilled.

Too fucking bad if he didn’t like her mouth. He’d falsely accused her.

“What?”

“You coming or not?”

“Not.”

Without another word, he leaned his shoulder into her midsection and picked her up in a fireman’s carry. With his hand wrapped around her ass, she couldn’t get loose, but she did wiggle a lot and punch him in the back. The blows seemed to have absolutely no effect on him.

“Let me down.”

“If I do, will you come peacefully?”

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“No. This is my home and I’m staying.”

“It’s not safe.”

The man wouldn’t listen to reason. The police car pulled up just as he was putting her in the car.
So much for packing extra clothes
. Just before he closed the door he told her to stay put. If he hadn’t leaned against the side panel, she would have escaped. Okay, she could have crawled over the console and escaped out the driver’s side door, but her emotions were at their peak and she didn’t want to deal with him chasing her down the street. She wouldn’t put it past Morgan to tackle her in front of everyone.

Damn him
.

She could hear his explanation to the cop through the cracked window.

“We’ll put out an APB on Harley. Don’t worry. We’ll find him.” The officer came over to the window, forcing Morgan to move out of the way. “You okay, Dakota?”

“I’m fine.” She decided not to say that emotionally, she was a basket case.

The officer turned back to Morgan. “I suggest she stay with someone for a few days.”

Morgan nodded. “I’ll keep her until Harley is in jail.”
Great. Just great
. She debated explaining her security system, but she doubted the cop would side with her. One thing she was going to insist on, and that was tattooing her client’s arm on Wednesday.
The
cops better find Harley fast
. If she thought it would be safe, she would have insisted she stay at her dad’s. However, if he came home from work and she’d been kidnapped, he might not notice.

A tall man raced down the street toward them. A cop blocked his path, but Morgan strode over to him. Because of the blocked bodies, she couldn’t tell who it was, but the initial shouts implied the man was upset.

Suddenly, everyone was quiet. Morgan walked over to the driver’s side as the back of the unknown man strode away and got in. “That

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was Jackson. He wanted to apologize for not noticing that Harley was missing. He’d told Jackson he was going to take a leak. When he didn’t come back for a while, he checked out the bathroom. Needless to say, Jackson freaked and came running over to your store.”

“What a nice man.”

“He most definitely is.”

She’d have to send him a thank-you note. If he hadn’t warned them about Harley’s threat, no telling what might have happened.

Shivers made her skin crawl.

“You okay?”

No.
“Just thinking about what might have been.”

“Don’t even go there.”

During the drive back to Morgan’s she only spoke when he asked her a direct question, which wasn’t often. His focus appeared to be on the road, but she bet he was royally pissed about her reverting back to the old Dakota. He never did like it when she wore extra heavy makeup or put in her piercings. Too damned bad. Couldn’t he see she was hurting?

It took forever to get his place. He’d barely come to a stop when she jetted out of her seat. The front door wasn’t locked and she dashed inside. It was only 10:15 p.m., but she went straight to Morgan’s bedroom to get her suitcase. She wondered if he had another room she could sleep in.

She looked into each of the other rooms. Sure enough, there was a spare bedroom at the end of the hall. Without asking, she moved into the other room.

“Dakota?”

There was almost a hint of worry in his tone, but she wasn’t in the mood for anyone. She stepped from the room into the hall. “I’m in here.”

His breaths increased a bit, but his lips pressed together as if he wasn’t sure whether to be angry, indifferent, or caring. “You okay?”

“Yes. I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”

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She turned around to reenter the room, but he didn’t follow her in.

Still, she could feel his heated gaze on her back. The door had a push lock. She debated locking the door but decided against it. When Clint came home, she wouldn’t mind a hug from him. He always was accepting. Hell, she could paint her face green and he’d still want her.

She must have been more tired than she realized because the next time she opened her eyes, it was morning. Voices sounded fairly far away. She got out of bed and headed to the bathroom. Staying here any longer was out of the question. Morgan really didn’t want her.

He’d made that clear last night from his cold tone. Once he found out she wasn’t injured, it was as if he’d emotionally shut her out. She could hope it was that he was scared, but she’d experienced him this way before.

She brushed her teeth and changed back into her dress. Clint must have heard her because she was about to open her door when he came in. He enveloped her in his arms. His strong chest was a balm to her hurt heart. Tears suddenly began to flow. Damn things. She’d been strong last night. She didn’t want to break down now.

Clint leaned back and dragged a thumb over her cheek. He led her to the bed and made her sit. “Tell me about what happened. Morgan filled me in on the attack.”

“I was so scared. I’d just opened the door when Harley barreled in behind me.” She hiccupped. “Morgan thinks I was careless, but I wasn’t.”

“As long as you’re okay that’s all that matters.”

“I want to go back.” She knew she’d have a fight on her hands, but she was ready.

“Okay.”

She leaned back. “Okay?”

He chuckled. “While you were sleeping the Intrigue police were doing their job. They picked up Harley and he confessed to smashing your storefront window and vandalizing your paintings. There was no doubt about him trying to harm you. I’m just thankful Morgan came

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when he did.”

“Me, too. If he hadn’t there was no telling what Harley would have done.”

He kept his gaze on her. She couldn’t look at him in the eye. He touched her shoulder. “Did something else happen?” She didn’t want to get into the discussion about how Morgan had retreated to his old self as soon as he saw the piercings and hair gel.

“Can you drive me home and we can talk about it on the way?”

“Don’t you want something to eat first?” Her stomach still hadn’t settled. “No.”

He shrugged. “I see you’re packed. You don’t want to leave your case here?”

His voice nearly cracked, but that couldn’t be helped. Morgan made it clear that he didn’t want her. Okay, maybe he never said anything, but his look told her a lot. “No.” Clint picked up her case and she followed him out. Morgan was either in the kitchen or perhaps in his bedroom, but she didn’t see him on the way out, which was fine by her.

As soon as they were out the drive, he looked over at her. “Spill it.”

The hurt was too raw to tell him. “There’s nothing to tell.”

“Bullshit. I know that look. What did Morgan say to piss you off?”

Clint always could read her mind. “It wasn’t what he said, it was the way he acted.” Once she said that much, she wanted confirmation that her assessment was right. “After he made sure that Harley hadn’t harmed me, he could barely look at me.”

“Why?”

Men were so dumb. “Because I had in my piercings and had put gel in my hair.”

“Maybe he was too upset to show you how much he cared.”

“You’re wrong. Even when I got back to your house, he gave me the silent treatment. Bottom line is that if I don’t revert back to the
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prim and proper woman that he wants, then he doesn’t want me at all.”

Clint’s jaw tightened. “I think you misunderstood his reaction.” He would say that. “You weren’t there. He hates me.”

“No, he doesn’t.”

She wasn’t in the mood to get into a
he said, she said
conversation, so she dropped the subject. When they got to her building, all she wanted to do was go inside and be by herself.

Clint dropped her off at her store. “You want me to come in?”

“No. I’m sorry.”

“You think being by yourself will help you get over this betrayal?”

“I don’t know. All I know is that I have so much to do, and the sooner I get back to work, the better I’ll be.” She got out of the car and leaned back in. “I’ll be fine. Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For not only driving me home, but for always accepting me for who I am.”

He leaned over the seat and motioned she lean in, too. He kissed her. “Call if you get lonely.” He winked.

Her pussy throbbed.
Traitor
. Dakota went inside and made sure the alarm system was turned off. She wanted the world to know she was open to business. No attack was going to stop her from conducting her business.

Her first chore was to call her client about her daughter’s portrait.

She dreaded explaining what happened, but she needed a few days’

extension to do the painting again.

“Dakota, I heard about the break-in. I’m so sorry. You take all the time you need to paint that portrait. It’s been years since I’ve planned on getting the picture done. A few more weeks won’t matter.”

“Thank you.”

The lack of a deadline helped get her focused. She needed her old routine back, and the best way was to dive in and paint. Good thing

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Harley hadn’t found the original photograph or she’d be in big trouble.

After getting out a new canvas from the back, she pulled up her chair and settled in. The light streaming in the front window bathed the canvas in a soft glow, getting her in the mood.

She inhaled to bring calming thoughts to her brain. This was the best place to paint in part because she loved watching the people walk by while she created her next masterpiece.

With the photo taped to the top of the canvas, she sketched the outline of the girl. This might have been the first time she got a second chance to recreate a portrait. It was almost like giving her own life a second chance.