Cal
I wake up on a hard surface, dazed and annoyed at Jenny slapping my face. "Stop fucking hitting me." I say, glaring at Sully.
"If you want to take this shit outside Sully, let’s do it. I guarantee there won’t be cheap shots a second time. I'll knock your fucking lights out."
He walks slowly to me eyeing me up and down. "I don’t need to hit you again, I made my point. Watch your mouth and your accusations in my shop and with my staff."
Before I can respond Noah comes in the room after hearing the yelling. "What the fuck is going on in here? I let you and Deja do your thing because I get it, but now you three decide to have some fuckin lovers quarrel in MY shop?" He eyes Sully as he says it, and though they are fifty/fifty partners, Noah still has the upper hand because he paid for this studio to be what it is. Every penny that he deposited into this shop to make it a bad ass ink haven. His fame alone builds the clientele, so yeah, he had every right.
This lovers quarrel shit was a hoax though.
"Well maybe tell your two BFF's to stop fucking with my head then!" I yell and Noah charges me. I move to the door prepared to fight them all preparing for a hit that never came.
"Forget them and come talk to me so you can chill the fuck out. This place is for business." He turns from addressing me and looks to Sully and Jenny. "Not fucking high school cattiness. Fucking feel me?" He yells forcing a flinch from Jen. Sam waves his hand at him and saunters from the room not bothered by Noah’s demands.
Jen went to follow him, stopping in front of me and Noah. "He was telling me about Kace and he looked so broken, I wanted to comfort him." She looks at me then as Noah nods in understanding. "Thatis what you walked in on." She tries to pass me but I block the door with my arm, resting it on the frame.
"Cal, enough!" Noah warns, but he is calm and fully aware I have lost my mind as I taunt her.
"Yeah go chase after him and baby him. Give that love to everyone but the one who wants it." I lick my lips, blow her a kiss before I was shoved from the room by Noah.
"I chased after you the last time I recall." She says to my back and I stop, Noah between us now.
"Oh wanna’ talk about that night? Let’s do. Lay your bullshit bare for your buddy here."
"Get the fuck outside both of you." Noah says through grit teeth, but we ignore him staring one another down. "Now!" He roars and starts pushing me toward the back door that leads to the overhead parking area and roof.
Once outside I shrug his hands off me and roar into the dreary gloomy sky. "Calm,the fuck, down Cal."
Jen walks out the door and I start in at her immediately. "Why him Jen? Why fucking let him be the one you toy with me on? You know God damn well what he allowed when Tayla fucked with my head." I shake my head as she tries to come to me, to rationalize herself, but Noah stops her.
"Give him room right now Jen, for real."
"I know we have a fucked-up pile of bullshit between us right now, but never, fucking never would have thought you would do shit just to spite me." I don’t know who Casey was or if it was some ruse to break me so I would beg her... but there isn’t an excuse to this shit. Not where Sam is involved. He and Tayla caused that rift, not me.
"Bro,Kaceis Sam’s daughter who is dead." Noah says in his blunt, no bullshit way. "She was two."
My hands go to my face and I try to scrub my psycho mistake away, to no avail. So, I do what it seems I always do and just start screaming fuck.
Repeatedly.
By the time I stop roaring like a fucking lunatic... fuck I try to apologize in some way.
"I didn’t know her name or her age. I knew he and his ex-wife lost their kid and it was bad enough. He doesn’t talk about it and I am not the type to pick at scabs. I didn’t know."
I want him to understand that, and I will apologize to Sam to. As if summoned on my personal oath Sully comes down the steps from the roof after having his smoke. "That’s why she hugged me man. I don’t talk about her, it’s too raw and its unresolved. She was abducted and murdered, or presumed murdered because we never recovered her body or know who took her."
Jen takes a tentative step toward me. "He and Deja were fighting in the studio and I had come early to talk to him for lunch before we did technique study on new fads. I am trying to build more clientele so I can leave Skin."
The idea of her never stepping foot in that place again makes me insanely happy.
"Sam, I over-reacted..." I want to find the words but my head is buzzing.
"I get it man. I want to go on record here that all that shit with Tayla, I was doing her a favor and didn’t know what was up with you guys or your past. Once I came to the Sue for that gig you set up for her favorite song... man I told her what she was doing was wrong and it stopped there. I get it though and I never would have done it if I knew that you would never trust me or get to know me."
I nod and look at him, take the few steps with my hand out to shake his. "Not like we ever confronted it either. It's cool and honestly, I deserved that hit man. I didn’t know what I walked in on and I was immediately defensive."
"All's cool man." He says as he shakes my hand.