Clipped Wings Read online

  “What’s the damage?” Chris asked as they approached the counter.

  “I’d hardly call it damage.” Lisa stepped to the side, bringing Tenley into view.

  Chris let out a low whistle. “Very sexy.”

  I wanted to punch him. Which made no sense. Chris flirted with everything that had boobs. It didn’t mean a damn thing, but I still had the irrational urge to lay the beats on him. I slid between Chris and Tenley, cutting off his view to get one of my own. “Let’s have a look.”

  Tenley appeared startled by my interest, so I gave her my best nonthreatening smile. She inhaled sharply as I put a finger under her chin. Sliding my thumb along the edge of her jaw, I turned her head to the side. It felt like there was a current buzzing just beneath the surface of her skin. An electric jolt zipped through my veins and headed south, ending right behind my fly. It took all my reserve to block out the barrage of perverse images invading my mind.

  While reveling in the intensity of benign contact, I studied the contours of her face. The tiny diamond stud was artfully placed on the right side of her nose. Her full lips were slightly parted, eyes downcast, making her look particularly subdued. The rapid thud of her pulse told me otherwise.

  I was being a dick. She was uncomfortable and I was the cause, but I didn’t want to stop touching her. It was fucking weird.

  “She picked the one you liked,” Lisa said, elbowing me in the ribs.

  It was a not-so-covert way of telling me to back off. I ignored her. I swept Tenley’s hair over her shoulder. It was as soft as her skin and silky as it slipped through my fingers. The kind of hair I’d like to bury my face in or wrap around my hand. I tucked it behind her ear, exposing a ladder of rings traveling the shell. A minor show of rebellion, which denoted a hidden predilection. Interesting. Maybe she was a closet deviant.

  She met my curious stare with a timid one. The uncertainty there flared to life and she took a step back, severing our contact. A slight tremor passed through her. If I hadn’t been paying such close attention, I never would have caught it. Tenley brought her fingers to the place mine had been, confusion marring her otherwise flawless features. I’d made an impact. It made her all the more intriguing.

  “I should probably get back.”

  “Already?” That was a disappointment. I tapped the books sitting in a neat pile on the counter. “Tell Cassie I appreciate her letting you bring these by for me.”

  I would personally thank Cassie the next time I saw her and dig for more information on this girl. There was something about her I liked, beyond the fact that she was gorgeous and clearly into steel.

  “It’s not a problem.” Tenley edged toward the door and away from me. “What do I owe you?” she asked Lisa.

  Before Lisa could reply, I cut in, “Don’t worry about it. This one’s on the house as long as you promise to come by again.”

  Chris coughed.

  “But it wasn’t just the—”

  Lisa cut her off. “It’s cool. We can work it out next time. I’ll stop by Serendipity tomorrow.”

  “Okay.” Tenley nodded, her face fiery as she looked anywhere but at me.

  That sucked. Apparently I’d overstepped my boundaries more than usual. She said a hasty good-bye and rushed out of the shop, almost tripping on the curb when she crossed the street. We all stood there, staring at the door after she left. Well, I stood there staring at the door while everyone else stared at me.

  Lisa was the first one to break the silence. She punched me in the shoulder.

  “Ow. What was that for?”

  “Are you serious? What the hell is wrong with you?”

  I gave her my best bewildered look. I probably came off a little too . . . me. But Tenley was hot and I found her intriguing. Maybe it was because she seemed so damn uncomfortable around me and completely at ease with Chris and Lisa. Maybe it was the hint of rebellion hidden beneath that hair. I still planned to corner her again and attempt a real conversation. One that consisted of more than a couple of sentences.

  “Dude. You have a problem.” Chris scoffed and hid a grin with his fist. I wanted to knock it off his face.

  “What’s the deal?” I asked, looking back and forth between him and Lisa. I understood I might have breached the whole personal space continuum, but other than that I couldn’t see a horrific social faux pas.

  Chris pointed at my crotch and snickered. I looked down. Huh. My brain wasn’t the only part of me that found Tenley enthralling. I seriously hoped she hadn’t noticed, because my shirt didn’t come close to camouflaging the issue.

  “That’s just disturbing.” Lisa covered her eyes with her hands. “You need to get a handle on yourself.”

  “It’s probably better if I wait until I get home.” The masturbation joke wasn’t appropriate, but I was deflecting.

  Lisa ignored my attempt at juvenile humor. “She wants a tattoo, you know.”

  “Oh? Where? What kind of design?” Chris was way too interested.

  I pointed a finger right in his face. “You’re not touching her. So don’t even think about it.”

  My territorialism was unwarranted. We took clients based on our skill sets. Chris specialized in lettering and tribal art, Jamie had a talent for portrait pieces, and I ran the gamut from dark and sinister to light and feminine. Whatever body art Tenley wanted could fit any one of our strengths.

  “Have you seen the design?” I asked.

  “No. But I almost convinced her to bring it by so you could have a look. Then you ruined it when you got all up in her space and tried to dry hump her.”

  “I didn’t try to dry hump her.”

  “You would have if there hadn’t been witnesses present.”

  It was hard to argue, given my current issue. “I wasn’t intentionally a dick.”

  “I’ll see Tenley tomorrow and do damage control. If I can get her to agree to bring the design over, you have to promise you’ll keep your hands to yourself.”

  “You do realize that won’t be possible if I’m putting ink on her, right?”

  “I’m serious.”

  “So am I.”

  Lisa shook her head. “I don’t know why I even bother with you. It’s like herding a cat.”

  I laughed. She wasn’t wrong. When it came to walking the line, I didn’t have much patience. People stuck to social codes because they worried about what other people might think. I didn’t give a shit. Mostly. There were a select few whose opinions impacted my decisions. Aunt Cassie’s was one, and Lisa’s was another. For that reason I would try to be on my best behavior where Tenley was concerned, but I couldn’t guarantee I’d be successful.

  2

  TENLEY

  I pushed through the door to Serendipity, the bell above my head jingling. “Sorry I took so long. Hayden asked me to wait, and the jewelry Lisa ordered came in.” I touched the side of my nose, which had been a breeze in comparison to the other two. I made no mention of those.

  “Oooh! Pretty!” Cassie said with genuine enthusiasm. “So you talked to Hayden?”

  “A little.” I was still reeling. Hayden was dangerously beautiful. Every encounter with him affected me in a visceral way.

  “And?” Cassie pressed.

  “And what?”

  “How’d it go?”

  “He’s uh . . .” My cheeks puffed out and I expelled a long breath. I tried to think of an adjective to adequately describe him, but nothing that came to mind seemed suitable.

  “He left that good of an impression?”

  “It wasn’t . . . He’s not . . . It was interesting.” What else could I say about a tattoo artist who read the likes of Nietzsche in his spare time? Besides, I was afraid to verbalize the intensity of our interaction. If left unspoken, I could pretend I’d imagined his reaction to me and mine to him.

  “ ‘Interesting’?” she said with disbelief.

  “Mm-hm.”

  “Really? That’s all you have to say?”

  “Were you looking for a
better descriptor?” I covered my unease with sarcasm.

  “You read eleventh-century literature for fun, and the best you can do is ‘interesting’?” she teased.

  I threw up my hands in exasperation. “You were right, okay? He’s completely overwhelming. And gorgeous, like off the charts, a raging inferno of hotness. Satisfied?”

  Cassie burst into laughter. She even snorted. “Well that’s much more accurate than ‘interesting.’ ”

  “Oh my God, I can’t believe I said that. You’re his aunt.” Mortification made my face hot. “You can’t tell him.”

  “Why not? I think he’d be flattered.” She smiled serenely.

  “I highly doubt that.” Hayden didn’t strike me as the kind of man who responded to flattery.

  She lifted one shoulder and let it fall, picking up the deposit bag. “You know he comes in here looking for you all the time.”

  “He does not.”

  “Oh yes he does,” she said. “Maybe he thinks you’re a ‘raging inferno of hotness.’ ”

  “You’re not going to let that one go, are you?” I refused to entertain the idea that Hayden might find me attractive. It seemed ludicrous.

  She shook her head and gave me a mischievous grin. “Probably not, no.”

  The banter reminded me of high school days and fawning over cute boys with my girlfriends. I remembered the butterflies in my stomach, the hope I might be noticed, the excitement when I was. I longed for that innocence again; the simplicity of a schoolgirl crush. My life was so different now. Hayden had definitely noticed me. I just wasn’t sure if it was a good thing.

  “Please don’t tell him. I don’t think I could deal with the embarrassment.”

  Cassie surprised me when she pulled me into a tight hug. When she released me, she smoothed her hands over my hair. It made me miss my mother.

  “I won’t say anything,” she said with sincerity.

  “Thanks,” I replied, trying not to get caught up in the sudden rush of sadness.

  * * *

  After we locked the store, there was nothing to do but return to the prison of my apartment. I paced the worn hardwood floors, too wired to find comfort in the banality of TV. While I had grown accustomed to being alone, tonight the solitude proved a challenge.

  Hayden was, in part, responsible for my inability to find solace. No matter how many times I spoke to him, the intensity of my reaction didn’t wane. From a single glance it was clear that he was fearless, unchained and unfettered by the confines of what society deemed acceptable; Hayden embodied everything I wasn’t but wanted to be. I spent my entire life trying to color inside the lines, only to wind up restrained by them. Hayden obliterated social constructs. His presence alone made a statement. I found him mesmerizing, which was why I attempted to keep a safe distance.

  Regardless, I took inventory of his piercings when he inspected mine. Viper bites accented the left side of his mouth, an industrial slanted through the cartilage in his right ear, and a curved black barbell sliced through his right eyebrow. His hair was a dark riot; short on the sides and longer on top. It looked like a modified Mohawk, although he never wore it that way. His short-sleeved shirt revealed a canvas of ink covering his arms, his story laid bare. Beyond the tattoos and piercings, or because of them—I couldn’t decide which—he was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.

  The concept of instant chemistry had seemed absurd until Hayden’s recent appearance. I’d always thought it was a myth, a way to explain why people sometimes allowed their baser needs to dominate their actions. Now I got it. Every part of my body responded to the brief, innocent contact when he lifted my chin, intent on getting a better look at my nose ring.

  The residual effects created a slight vibration under my skin, like the aftershock of an earthquake. It was best to ignore the attraction Cassie implied might be reciprocal. My world was already chaotic enough.

  As I looked at the clock, I realized that I would turn twenty-one in an hour, but I couldn’t see any reason to celebrate. I wanted a way to drown the ache in my chest, but there was nothing in my cupboards to facilitate that kind of reprieve. Raiding my parents’ liquor cabinet had been a priority when I’d packed my belongings and moved from Arden Hills to Chicago last month, but the few bottles I’d brought with me were long gone now.

  Unopened mail from the past few days lay on the counter. Sifting through it, I paused at the large envelope with the familiar writing scrawled across the front. Trey hadn’t made contact since I moved—why bother now?

  With shaky hands I slid my finger under the flap and tore through the heavy paper. Inside was a card with a cheerful design wishing me a “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” Trey’s messy signature took up the space beneath the stock prose. I turned the envelope upside down and papers fell out, along with a stapled package. The card was a ruse. A handwritten note was fixed to the first page.

  Tenley,

  I hope this day finds you well. As you are now entitled to the full breadth of your inheritance, I would entreat you to review the legal documentation herein. Should you agree to the generous offer outlined, the ownership of the property which has been passed onto you through Connor’s will would transfer to me. As you have decided to leave Arden Hills to pursue other ambitions, I believe it is reasonable to request my brother’s property be relinquished. Since I am the sole living heir of the Hoffman legacy, it only makes sense that I assume responsibility for the estate in its entirety. Think of this as a way to simplify the matter. Once you have signed the document, please return it to my lawyer at the address provided and restitution shall be made in the full amount.

  Regards,

  Trey

  I read the letter half a dozen times, unable to understand how Trey could rationalize such an unreasonable demand. His insensitivity astounded me. Numbed by a state of shock I thought had worn off months ago, I flipped through the legal papers. While the jargon made little sense, the intent was clear. Trey wanted possession of the house meant for Connor and me. It had been a gift from Connor’s parents. Had our flight made it to Hawaii, we would have been married.

  Trey’s ill-timed letter served as a reminder that I was still here, putting the pieces of my fractured life back together while the world continued to turn.

  I paced the perimeter of my living room, debating whether or not to call Trey and confront him. In my current state I would likely say something regrettable, and he would throw it back at me. How two men raised by the same loving parents could be so different was beyond comprehension. Connor had been gentle and patient, whereas Trey was coarse and unforgiving. Even at the funeral he showed only apathy, his eulogy bereft of emotion. At first I attributed it to the magnitude of the loss, but in the weeks that followed he never gave any signs of grieving. And now he wanted to claim the one thing that signified what should have been my present rather than a fragment of my past.

  I felt a familiar stab of guilt as I pictured the house. If only I had made a different decision so many months ago, I wouldn’t be alone now.

  The confines of my apartment were suffocating; I needed out. I changed my clothes and checked my reflection in the vanity mirror. Lack of sleep took its toll. No amount of makeup could mask the dark circles under my eyes. I rummaged around in the medicine cabinet for the concealer and tried to ignore the mostly full pill bottles. A vial of antianxiety meds fell out and dropped into the sink. I picked it up and rolled the plastic cylinder between my palms. It had been a long while since I’d indulged in the artificial calm they provided.

  The first few months after the crash had been a downward spiral. Prescriptions to manage pain and control the endless anxiety had made the world hazy. As the physical and emotional pain had become more manageable, the medication had become less necessary. Things had improved further with the move to Chicago.

  But tonight, I was on edge. And if I fell apart, there was no one around to help me pick up the pieces.

  With trembling fingers I lined up the arrows and popped th
e cap, shaking out a tiny white pill. Regardless of whether or not I deserved the peace it would bring, I placed the tablet under my tongue. The bitter tang of chemicals provided almost instantaneous relief, the promise of serenity no longer out of reach as it dissolved.

  Despite my initial attempts to keep to myself, the solitude was proving more of a challenge to maintain than I anticipated. I hadn’t been able to keep Lisa at arm’s length, as I’d intended. She came into Serendipity almost every time I worked, and she always stopped to chat. At first it was just pleasantries and introductions, but eventually it turned into discussions about books, piercing, and sometimes even Hayden. She was easy to talk to.

  Beyond that, I went across the hall to my neighbor Sarah’s apartment when she invited me in for drinks a few days ago. I told myself it was because I didn’t want to be rude, but in truth I was lonely.

  I rummaged through my purse; along with money and identification, I found a black card in my wallet. Ian, one of the few people I spoke to in my program at Northwestern, gave it to me earlier in the week. If not for group work in my seminar class, peer interaction would be nonexistent. Ian’s email address was scrawled on the back of the card advertising The Elbo Room, a bar a few blocks away. The name seemed familiar, and I recognized it as the same bar Lisa had invited me to in passing last week. I’d declined, concerned about getting too comfortable around her. Although that seemed to have happened already, considering the piercings I’d indulged in this evening.

  Tonight The Elbo Room seemed as good a destination as any to down a few shots and wait for oblivion to take hold. I closed the door behind me and glanced across the hall at apartment B. Considering the hours Sarah kept, I assumed she bartended somewhere close by, but I hadn’t thought to ask. I knocked anyway on the off chance she might be home. When there was no answer, I headed out.