Jay Crownover - Nash

I called the girl Phil had insisted I give a shot. It was a weird conversation. She was undeniably sharp and quick-witted. When I asked her if she had any experience working in a tattoo shop, she had laughed heartily and told me there was nothing she couldn’t do. She actually didn’t sound that interested in the opportunity to come out and interview with us until I mentioned the shop was in Denver. I told her what Phil said about looking the shop up online and letting me know. She hung up laughing and I thought I was going to end up writing her off as nothing more than a flighty model.

I was headed across town; I wanted to make a stop before going into work for the day. I needed some advice about getting around the ties and bonds that held a person to the past, and the only person I could think of that might be able to help me get some real answers, some real clarity, was Asa. He was a man who had lived a terrible life—a user and abuser—until almost losing not only his life but his sister as well. He had been forced to reevaluate what he was doing, who he was. Now he was making strides, trying to make amends, and while his relationship with Ayden was still rocky and often strained, there wasn’t a day that went by that they didn’t try and move on in their new relationship together. Asa was a man trying not to be defined by his past.

I was pulling the Charger into the parking lot when my cell went off and showed the Vegas number I had just dialed. Curious, I answered the call.

“Yeah?”

“Is all your shop info up-to-date on your website?”

Where she had sounded bored and slightly amused earlier, she sounded intrigued and almost breathless now. Anticipation crawled like a living thing across the phone line.

“It is.”

“Like all the same artists are at the shop?” Man, she was insistent.

I made a face at my phone.

“Yep. We’re all still here and getting ready to add a whole new crew in the next few months.”

“Phil is maniacal. That guy just loves to mess with people’s lives.” She laughed a little and I wondered what Phil had been thinking with this chick. She seemed a little off-kilter to me, but the old man was a softy for a killer face—always had been.

“Listen, Salem, I have to get someone in and on top of shit fast. The new shop is opening at the end of May, the old shop is swamped. Either you’re interested or you’re not, but I don’t have time to screw around if you’re not into it. This was Phil’s great idea, not mine.” And I wouldn’t tell her I would do anything to make him happy and make him smile while he was still here to see it.

“Oh, I’m way more into it now. Look, I have some stuff lined up until the end of April. I have to do Viva Las Vegas over Easter weekend, I have a photo shoot for a tattoo magazine in New York the weekend after that, and I have to give the shop here notice that I’m bailing. It snows in Colorado, right?”

I was having a hard time following her rapid change in conversation. I was still stuck on Viva. Being a car guy, I knew all about the weekend hot-rod show that drew bands and old-car lovers from all over the world. I was starting to think Phil had sold this girl’s qualifications short.

“Yeah, it gets cold here when the seasons change.”

“Well then, I need to add shopping to the list as well. Let’s plan for the first week in May. I’ll be there with bells on.”

She was talking like the job was already hers.

“You have to do an interview. I have a business partner and a business manager that you need to talk to before this is a done deal.”

She laughed and it sounded husky and rich. Even over the phone, I could tell this lady was something else.

“I’m perfect for the job and I’ve never been to Colorado. It’ll be an adventure.”

“Why the sudden interest? You sounded bored earlier when I called you.” I was curious and had to ask.

“Tattoo shops are a dime a dozen, but you guys are doing amazing work, and I like the idea of getting in on the ground floor of a place with a solid reputation that’s looking into expansion. And my interest”—her voice changed to something I didn’t understand—“is anything but sudden. I’ll see you in May, Nash Donovan.”

She hung up on me and I was left looking down at my phone trying to figure out what in the hell had just happened. I wasn’t kidding about her having to interview, and I could see her and Cora going rounds. It would be entertaining, to say the least.

I put my phone in my back pocket and pushed through the nondescript doors of the Bar and let my eyes adjust to the dimly lit interior. Since it was before eleven in the morning, the bar was quiet and the only customers lined up at the actual bar top were the grizzled old veterans that had called the Bar home long before Rome and Asa had taken over. No one looked up at me but Asa caught sight of me as he rounded the outside corner of the bar, arms loaded full of cases of beer.

He lifted a sandy-blond brow at me as I walked over and took some of his burden from him. Asa didn’t really jibe with the rest of the group. His motivations were suspect, his personality was a little too smooth, a tad too polished for the rest of us to really dig into, but Ayden loved him and Rome had developed an odd fondness for the southern charmer, so even though he was slippery and slick, he was integrating his way firmly into our merry band of misfits. Jet watched him like a hawk and I was more of the mind that until he proved otherwise, he was an okay guy to be around.

Plus he pulled hot tail like I had never seen before. I didn’t know if it was the southern twang, the golden eyes, or that “aw shucks” attitude he artfully played with, but he was a certified babe snake charmer and before Saint had become my sole focus his talents with the opposite sex had been much admired.

“What are you doing here so early?”

I helped him shove the beer on the end of the bar and he walked around the long wooden surface that Rome had just recently refinished, and faced me from the other side. Rome might be the technical owner of the bar, but with the new baby and the bar being open practically all day and night, Asa was the one often making the day-to-day operation run. He was also a million and one times more personable than the gruff ex-soldier, so they made a pretty good team.

“I wanted to ask you some stuff before I have to be at the shop. Do you have a minute?”

He cocked his head to the side and regarded me silently. It was no secret Asa’s choices in the recent past had almost gotten him killed—and nearly had his sister disowning him—so it wasn’t like anyone was rushing to him for words of wisdom.

“Yeah, I got some time; this is the last of the liquor order and I’m just waiting on Brite. He called and told me he would be in later and he had a huge favor he needed to ask me. Want me to have Darcey feed you lunch?”

I shook my head. “Maybe on my way out. I’ll take something back to the shop for everyone.”

He nodded and tilted his head to the back of the bar, where the pool tables were located.

“Let me stick my head in the kitchen and tell Darcey to keep an eye on the front.”

I wandered to the back room and hopped up so I could perch on the edge of one of the pool tables. I folded my hands together and watched as Asa came toward me rubbing his hands on a bar towel.

“She’s gonna throw a bunch of sandwiches together for you.” I nodded. Darcey was Brite’s ex-wife—well, one of them—and she ran the bar kitchen. She was a nice, older lady and her BLT was close to heaven as far as I was concerned. “So what’s up, Nash?”

I sighed and winced a little. “This is sort of awkward, but you were the only one I could think of to ask.”