When I walked in the door, Devi looked at me once then started cursing men and their stupidity before wrapping her arms around me.
“What did that dumb fuck do this time?” she growled.
“Why can’t he trust me?” I sobbed into her shoulder. “Why is it that every time we start to get close he pulls away?”
“Because that man is an asshat,” she spat. “An asshat that’s about to have my foot up his ass.”
I took a step back and wiped my eyes. “No, I don’t want that, I never wanted us to cause problems.”
She snorted. “Yeah, well, when one of my friends gets hurt by an ass sniffing prick, I cause problems.”
Then she smiled at me, and I was scared by that smile. It was the smile Devi got when she had an idea that wasn’t safe for anyone involved. “Don’t worry about Cris.” Then she spun away and walked out the door.
Seth’s head popped around the corner and whispered, “Is it safe now?”
I giggled and nodded. “You’re such a wuss.”
“That woman has lost her fucking mind,” he said.
“I’ve noticed that lately,” I murmured looking at him. “Want to tell me why?”
“Nope.”
I nodded, I had my suspicions and if they were correct I may be one less boss here soon.
“I’m getting to work,” I told Seth and watched him skulk away hiding from his wife.
Cris
I walked into the shop using the back door hoping I could sneak in without anyone noticing I was here yet. I couldn’t deal with any more shit today. I knew I was fucking things up with Ash, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. I went into my office and shut the door before I sat down in the chair behind my desk and put my head in my hands. I don’t know why I lied, but we both know I did. No, things weren’t okay. I was fucking suffocating, and I had managed to fuck up the one bright spot in my life.
I sighed running my fingers through my hair; I didn’t know how to fix this. I didn’t know how to fix any of this, the shop was safe now thanks to Devi. I hated the fact that she had to swoop in and fix everything. I hated that I had become that weak. It didn’t matter to me that she had always planned on buying into the shop, things are different now. When we had discussed that, it was before Seth. It was before I lost the one person I thought I loved, only now I realize I never really loved her. I love her, though not in the way I thought; more as my sister. Ash, though, I love her in a very non-platonic kind of way. I just didn’t know how to open up to her. I didn’t want her to look at me and think I was weak. Needing your best friend to come in and fix your financial problems and keep your business afloat is definitely not something I wanted to talk to her about.
I stood up, or attempted to stand up but the chair came with me pulling at the seat of my jeans. I set down the chair, banging it on the floor then stood up again. “That fucking bitch,” I muttered before yelling, “Devlin Shaye Taylor, get your fucking ass in here.”
I watched as Devi slowly opened the door and sauntered into the room and sat down on one of the guest chairs across the desk from me.
“You bellowed?” she asked so sweetly sugar wouldn’t have melted in her mouth.
“What. The. Fuck?” I growled, she didn’t even bat an eyelash.
She shrugged and looked me over. “Thought you might need some help getting your head out of your ass. Had lots of ideas on how to remedy that, but decided on gluing it to the chair, maybe when you get out of that your head will pop free.”
“You are fucking insane,” I seethed.
“That is a distinct possibility, but you, I know for a fact, are an idiot.”
I growled at her again and she just kept staring at me.
“You made her cry, Cris, and I will not fucking tolerate that,” she growled back. “I put up with a lot of your shit, but I will not sit back and watch you fucking hurt her.”
“I didn’t.”
“You. Are. Not. Allowed. To Speak. Only Listen.” She eyed me again. “You hurt her and I swear to god I will shove your balls so far up your ass you’ll be tasting your own cum, do you understand me?”
I nodded, I knew better than to fuck with Devi when she was like this.
“What I don’t understand is why you’re acting like this?” she murmured. “You two are good together. Hell, she puts up with your dumbass, you should be bowing at her feet. I do know if you don’t start trusting her, and I mean out of your bedroom and away from the whips and chains, you’ll lose her.”
I rubbed my hand over my face. “I don’t know why I can’t.”
She laughed at me. “And Cris, stop lying to her, to me, and most of all to yourself.”
With that, she got up and walked out the door while my ass was still glued to the chair. “Hey, you going to help me?” I called after her.
“Nope, I think you need a time out.” She shut the door behind her.
I ended up having to cut my jeans then rip them to get out of the fucking chair. I am sure that crazy woman threatened my staff to keep them from helping me. Though, that didn’t stop Max from coming in and laughing his ass off when he found me. When I finally made my way into the shop for my first appointment, I was passed pissed off and was borderline homicidal. I glared at Devi but kept my mouth shut out on the floor; I didn’t want to get into a fight with her in front of clients. She just stuck her tongue out at me and continued working.
“You are lucky I keep extra clothes here,” I growled when I walked past her, she just laughed at me. “How is it Seth hasn’t murdered you yet?”
“I give really good head,” she replied then ignored me.
I went to work on my only client of the day; it was a piece we had been working on for six months, and we were nearly finished with. I lost myself in my work, filling in pieces of the sleeve I had designed. When I was tapped on the shoulder by our new shop helper, I nearly jumped.
“Don’t do that,” I snapped at the girl.
“I’m sorry,” she whimpered.
I took a deep breath trying to calm my still raging temper. “What did you need?”
“Uhm, your appointment is here.”
I sighed. I had forgotten I had an interview today. “Tell them I’ll be there in a few.”
“Sway, you okay if we stop for the day?”
He nodded. “Fine with me, we’ve been at it for six hours.”
I nodded and went to work cleaning him up then wrapping his arm. “Any problems, call me,” I told him and left him with Jules at the front desk to take care of the rest. Then I went in search of my interviewee.
I walked around the desk into the waiting room and found Devi sitting with one of the people we were considering for a position as a body modification expert. I was still on the fence about even hiring someone for this, but we had been getting people calling the shop asking for it. It was worth looking into, Haven was highly recommended so I would talk to her and see how it went.
“Ah Cris,” Devi said looking up smiling at me.
“Devi,” I said curtly, still pissed off at her.
“Stop being a baby,” she admonished. “Haven, this is the shop owner, Crispin, Crispin, this is Haven.” She stood up and patted me on the shoulder. “Be nice,” she whispered to me then flounced off to the back room.
I stuck out my hand and Haven reached out, shaking hands I said, “Nice to meet you Haven.”
“You too, Cris.”
“You ready to do this?”
She nodded, reached down, and grabbed her portfolio then stood. I led her back to my office shutting the door and hoping that nothing else went wrong today.
Chapter 6