Fast Burn (Burned Duet 1)

“That’s it,” I told him, liking how quick he was taking the direction I’d given him. Maverick wasn’t my first apprentice, so I already knew how much work went into teaching someone how to be a tattoo artist. There were so many elements to it, elements people didn’t even realize.

“Think I’ll be ready to do human skin soon?”

I grinned, remembering the anticipation of wanting to tattoo an actual person and not pigskin. “Show me you know the depth to go in at once more, and then you can do a small tat.”

Maverick fist-bumped the air and grinned like the cat who got the cream. “Hell to the yeah.” He placed his machine near the skin again, and just as he was about to start following the outline of the stencil he’d applied, my cell rang. He paused, but I tilted my head to signal him to keep going and took a few steps away from him.

I pulled my cell out of the front pocket of my jeans, frowned at the number I didn’t recognize flashing on the screen, then pressed the answer call button. “Hello?” I stared back at Maverick, watching the concentration on his face. He was committed, and that was half of the battle when it came to a tattoo apprentice.

“Hello. Is this Mr. Asher Easton?” My back straightened at the woman’s voice, and my stomach dipped. She sounded formal, and formal always meant trouble.

“It is.” Maverick stopped and turned back to me, and I held my hand up for him to wait.

“I’m calling in regards to your nephew, Leo Ford. We’ve tried to get ahold of his mother and father but haven’t had any luck.”

“Okay.” My head tilted to the side, wondering what was taking this woman so long to explain why she’d called me. It was about Leo, but what about Leo?

“Leo had an accident not long ago, and the nurse suspects he may have a broken nose. Would you be able to come and collect him so he can get checked out at the ER?”

“I’ll be there in ten,” I said, not hesitating. I ended the call and told Maverick, “I need to go. Clean everything up.” His shoulders drooped, but I wouldn’t explain to him why I needed to leave. All I knew was that I had to get there quickly. I walked through the shop, halted next to Lara, who was tattooing a woman, and told her, “I gotta head out for a while. Close up shop if I’m not back by five.”

“Will do,” Lara said, not even looking up at me.

I pulled my car keys out of my pocket and rushed out of the shop, letting the door slam shut behind me. My car was parked a few spots down from the shop, and I cursed at the fact I could never park in front of my own goddamn shop. The lights flashed as I pressed the unlock button, and within seconds I was pulling out onto the road and heading toward the high school. It was the same school I went to, the same school Belle went to, and the same school Cade had gone to as both a student and a teacher, so it was only natural for Leo to go here too. The problem was he shouldn’t have been coming here until next year, and even then, it should have been as a freshman, but he was too smart for his own good sometimes.

The stones on the main parking lot kicked up and clinked against the metal on my truck as I rushed into the first open spot, and then I was darting out of the driver’s door and toward the front of the school. When Belle had put me down as an emergency contact on his school forms all those years ago, I’d never thought I’d actually be called, but now I was here, panicking and hoping he was okay.

I took the main steps two at a time and opened the door to the office. “I’m here for my nephew, Leo,” I told the woman behind the desk.

She pointed at the door with a sign saying Nurse’s Office. “Just through there.”

“Thanks,” I murmured and rushed to the door. I pushed it open and glanced around the room but couldn’t see anyone in the bed in front of me.

“Uncle Asher?” I heard from the left, and I whipped my head around to see Leo sitting on one of the beds behind a half-closed curtain. He had dried blood on his shirt and some crusted under his nose, and an obvious bump on the middle of his nose. I didn’t even need to take him to get it checked out to know it was broken. I’d seen enough of them during my fighting days.

“Hey,” I breathed out, thankful he was at least still breathing. “What happened?” I asked, moving closer to him.

“Got in a fight.”

I halted, my eyes widening. Leo may have gotten his height from the Easton genes, but he was a soft soul, one who wouldn’t hurt a fly.

“You should see your face.” Leo laughed, and it sounded just like Belle’s. He’d gotten his sense of humor from his mother, which meant he was trouble with a capital t. “I fell into a locker.”

“Now, Leo, that wasn’t what your friend said,” the nurse interjected, and I looked over at her. She looked about as young as Leo did. What the hell?

“You have a friend?” I asked, sitting on the edge of the bed and grabbing the straps of his backpack. The thing weighed a ton, and no doubt held books he didn’t even need for his classes. He was always learning some random shit no one else had ever heard of.

“I told you I have a friend,” Leo said, rolling his eyes, then wincing. “Crap. That hurt.”

I chuckled at him and stood. “Come on, tough guy.” The school bell rang out, and I glanced at the clock on the wall, realizing it was the end-of-the-day bell, and we were likely to get crushed by teenagers wanting to get home. “Didn’t time it very well, did I?”

“Nope.” Leo stood and reached for me as he stumbled to the left. “Holy crap, I feel dizzy.”

“Did you bang your head too?” I asked, grabbing him by the shoulders to keep him steady. I looked at the nurse, expecting her to answer, but she simply stood there, her brows raised and her eyes wide. Was she even a real goddamn nurse?

“I think so…” Leo moved left to right, swaying like he wasn’t sure which point he should stay still on. “I fell into a locker with my face, so…yes?”

“Jesus Christ,” I murmured, scrubbing my hand down my face. I wrapped my arm around his shoulder so he could put all of his weight on me.