Undeniable (Haven Falls 5)

“Fuck, that’s hot,” Noah grins, handing my phone to Tiny to look at.

I can’t help but feel proud. I’ve loved this tattoo ever since I first saw it. The wing will be a metaphor for rising above which seems like the slogan of my life right now. Everything is trying to bring me down but no matter what, I continue to rise above it all.

The wing is so artistic that if I didn’t have the picture on my phone, there’s no way I would been able to describe it to her, but when Tiny hands the phone back to me with a smile and says, “I can work with this,” I’ve never been happier.

“Really?” I ask, suddenly feeling excited about the possibility of getting it done. I mean, this is going to look incredible during summer in my bikini.

“Sure thing,” she tells me, walking over to her schedule and opening it to today’s date. “I have a client due to come in soon for a tattoo laser removal, but if you’re really serious, I can work on a design while you guys grab lunch and you can meet me back here in…let’s see, maybe two hours. This would take maybe two sessions though.”

I look to Noah. “You sure about this?” he asks. “It’s not the same as getting a piercing. It’s permanent.”

“Yeah,” I tell him with a wide grin. “I’m sure.”

“Alright,” he says, glancing back at Tiny. “I guess we’ll meet you back here in a few hours.”

She beams excitedly, instantly grabbing her sketchbook and walking out to the front of the shop with us in tow. She opens the door for us while reminding Noah to take it easy and before we’ve even walked away, she’s already sitting down at the front desk, getting started on my design.

Noah takes my hand and leads me down the street towards my car with a bit of a limp that has me smothering a grin. “You know,” he says, digging into his pocket and pulling out my car keys before handing them to me. “I think you should drive.”

I take the keys and laugh. “Yeah, that might be a good idea,” I tell him, unlocking the car for us to drop down into. “I can’t believe you went through with that! I thought for sure you were going to pussy out, though, I can’t say I’m disappointed. Tully says being with someone with a piercing is-”

“The fuck?” Noah shrieks in a tone I never imagined could come out of a guy like him. I slam my mouth shut. That really wasn’t meant to come out. “Who the fuck has she been with that has a piercing?”

I shake my head, focusing every little piece of me on the road as I pull out of my parking space. “No one, just something she read in a magazine.”

“Spitfire, you know one of the good things about being able to read you like a map is that I can tell when you’re lying,” he says. “Now, you have three seconds to spill it before I take it up with her, and trust me, the way she’s been hating on me lately, it’s not going to be pretty.”

“Shit. Can you just pretend I didn’t say anything?” I beg. “Pretty, pretty please?”

“Not a snowball’s chance in hell.” He looks across at me. “It’s Rivers, isn’t it?”

I squish my lips together as hard as I can, desperately trying not to say anything, only in doing that, I completely give it away.

Noah howls with laughter. “Are you fucking kidding? We have matching dicks?”

A grin rips across my face, splitting it in two. “Yeah,” I laugh. “I guess you do.”

“Shit,” he says, shaking his head. “How could you let this happen?”

I somehow manage to get my laughter under control and not wet my pants before pulling up outside my favorite salad bar, despite Noah’s objections that ‘you don’t make friends with salad.’ Though, he’s being a smartass; he absolutely loves salad no matter how much he denies it. I mean, you don’t get a body like his from eating shit all the time.

We go in and order before walking down to the park with our food to sit down. The park is practically empty as the sun is shining bright and most people have probably gone down to the beach. To be honest, I’m kind of pleased as Noah can’t go anywhere without someone coming and chatting to him, so having an empty park is great, especially considering that Noah has snapped at anyone who has tried talking to him lately.

It’s only been a few days since his mom threw him out. Having her do that tore him to shreds. He knew she’d be upset when she discovered that he worked for Anton, but he never dreamed she’d take it that far.