Fast Burn (Burned Duet 1)

“Oh shit, you getting tatted?” a new voice asked, and I whipped my head around. I hadn’t heard anyone come in the shop, but I’d been so consumed with watching Maverick that I hadn’t been paying attention to what was around me.

“Jesus, Jax. You scared the shit out of me.” My heart pounded in my chest, and I was glad Maverick hadn’t had the needle to my skin because I had no doubt it would have made him jump too.

“Soz, bro.” He sat on the edge of the bed and watched as Maverick started shading. “Can’t remember the last time I saw you getting a tat.”

“That’s because I give them more.” I turned away from Jax and watched the needle. “Bit darker toward the edges,” I told Maverick. “You want to make the whitespace of the A where you’re not tattooing pop, and to do that, you need a higher contrast between the inked parts.”

“Got it,” Maverick replied, dipping the needle into the ink again and then pressing it against my skin. He was in the zone, concentrating as hard as he could.

Both Jax and I stayed silent as Maverick continued, and when Jez had finished his client, he joined in watching him too. Then finally, after an hour, Maverick downed his machine and wiped where he’d tattooed, applying petroleum jelly to keep it hydrated.

“Well done,” I told him, turning my arm left and right to look at all angles. His shading would probably need to be gone over more, but for a first tattoo, it was pretty fuckin’ great.

“Nice,” Jez commented, and took a step back. He planted his hands on his hips and looked at me, his eyes swirling. He continued to stare at me while not saying a word, and I could tell he wanted to say something.

“You good?” I asked, holding my arm out for Maverick to wrap it up.

“Yeah.” He huffed out a breath and ran his hand through his hair, making it stick up. “Just wondered if you’d heard how that girl is from last week?”

My stomach dipped at his words, and I opened my mouth, about to give him some bullshit answer because there was no way we could talk about it here. I’d spent the rest of Saturday at my parents’ house, and so had Leo, although he’d messaged with Elodie for most of that. And then yesterday, I worked in my backyard to keep my mind occupied. But now it was Monday, and I couldn’t help but wonder if Elodie had gone to school today. I’d told Leo to message me if there were any problems, but my cell hadn’t gone off, and they were about to be let out for the day.

“What girl?” Jax asked, and I silently cursed myself for not distracting Jez quicker.

“Oh man, you should have seen it,” Jez started, and widened his stance. “This guy was beating the crap outta a girl over by the dance studio. Got her real good.” His cheeks reddened, a sure sign he was angry. “I chased after the bastard, but he jumped in his car before I got the chance to grab him.”

“Holy shit.” Jax slid off the client bed and stood, and I couldn’t bring myself to say or do anything. I was stumped, not knowing what to do or how to react. Jax knew Elodie more than I did at this point, and if he found out I’d known what happened and hadn’t told him—

“Yep.” Lara joined in, and I whipped my head around, not realizing she’d joined us. “Kid can’t be more than eighteen. Her face was a damn mess.” Lara glanced at me and then back at Jax and Jez. “She dances for Aleste. She has some weird cool name…Effie?” My nostrils flared, and my skin went hot as Lara clicked her fingers and pointed. “Elodie! That’s her name.”

“Elodie?” Jax whispered, and I could feel his stare burning a hole through the side of my face. Luckily, Maverick finished wrapping up my arm so I could get the hell away from them all.

“Clean the station up,” I told Maverick, and moved toward the front of

the shop, but footsteps followed me, heavy footsteps which could only be Jax’s.

“Asher?” he asked, but I didn’t turn to face him. It wasn’t my place to explain it to him. “Are they talking about who I think they’re talking about? 'Cause I only know one person named Elodie, and I’m sure as shit she dances at Aleste’s studio.”

“Not my place, bro,” I told him, rifling through some papers under the desk. It really wasn’t my place to explain it to him, but there was no way he was going to let this go, and even though I’d promised Elodie I wouldn’t tell anyone, I wasn’t sure I could keep it a secret from Jax at this point.

“The fuck it isn’t!” He slammed his palm on the wooden surface, and the shop went silent. “Explain.” I flicked my gaze to his and saw the raging fire burning behind his eyes. “Now.”

I dipped my head back and blew out a breath. Deep down, I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep this from Jax. He was my brother, the man I trusted with my life, but this wasn’t mine to tell him. But I also knew Elodie wouldn’t tell him. She’d keep it to herself, and she’d push through, because that was the kind of person she was.

“I was tattooing a client, and when she left, she ran back in to tell us someone was beating a girl up.” My pulse thrummed in my ears as I kept deathly still, my focus only on Jax. “We all ran out there, and we found Elodie’s boyfriend on top of her, punching her in the face—”

“Motherfucker!” Jax pounded his fist on the desk and spun around. He stormed out of the shop, and I didn’t second-guess chasing after him. There was no way I was letting him leave when he was like this.

“Jax!” I followed him to his bike, but he was throwing his leg over it before I could get to him. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ, Jax. Will you just stop!”

“What?” He placed his helmet on his head and did the strap up under his chin. “You’ve been sitting on this for a week and didn’t think to goddamn tell me? She’s eighteen, Asher. She don’t got anyone but me and Al.”

I wanted to tell him that wasn’t true because she had me too, but I couldn’t voice it. I couldn’t explain why I felt the way I did. We’d kissed once—once—but it was the kind of kiss you never forgot. The kind of kiss that branded your soul. “I fixed her up and gave her my number. And Leo has been messaging her too—”

“Leo? How the hell does she know Leo?”

“They go to high school together.” I blew out a tired breath. “They’re friends.”

Jax was silent for a beat, and then his shoulders drooped. “She was at work last night. She didn’t say a word to me.”