I pinched her side and brushed a kiss across her cheek. “I was six, give me a break. Come on, let’s get the rest of this night over with.”

With a soft kiss to my lips, Kennedy slowly backed away from me. “Like I said, I’m not the one who’s going to be embarrassed tonight. I’m excited about what I’ll find out next.”

“Meeting your parents will be the sweetest payback I’ve ever received.”

“Who said I’d ever let you near my parents?” she asked teasingly. With a wink, she turned around and went to join my family in the kitchen, and for long moments all I could do was stand there and watch her as I realized Brian was right.

For the first time in my life, I knew I was falling in love. And it was with a girl who was terrified by the idea of relationships. But nothing about the challenge was scaring me at the moment.

12

October 23

Kennedy

“ARE YOU READY for this?” I asked Kira, and was beyond happy to see her eyes immediately light up as she nodded her head.

“As long as you are.”

For a moment, my chest constricted with a years-old panic that was hard to break, but the feeling passed within seconds. “I’m ready.”

Grabbing the door to the tattoo parlor, I swung it open and followed Kira inside.

“Good afternoon, ladies, wha—” The man greeting us did a double take, and his mouth stretched into a wide grin as he raised his arms in the air. “Oh yeah! Twinsies! Double the fun for me. What can I do for you two today?”

I eyed the massive head of long, curly dark hair on the guy standing in front of us, and guessed, “Brian?”

His face immediately fell and he cocked his head to the side. “Trip. Such a trip. I don’t remember twins.”

I laughed and pointed to Kira, then at myself. “Kira and Kennedy. We’re friends of Liam’s.”

“Ah! Little Chachi’s girlfriend and her equally hot sister! Welcome, welcome!”

I decided to let the “girlfriend” slide this time. “We want small matching tattoos, nothing crazy today. Shouldn’t take long; do you have time?”

“Do I have time for you? Of course I do, you’re practically family already. Dudes, Riss is gonna hate me for meeting you before she gets to.”

“Riss?” Kira whispered to me.

“His wife,” I whispered back, and held up the bag I was holding toward Brian. “Liam said you like tacos.”

“Oh, sweet sustenance. Where have you been all my life?” he asked as he gently took the bag from my hand—like it was precious and would break if he moved any faster. “Liam tell you that Riss starves me?”

My mouth curved up when I eyed his beer gut. “You look like you’re doing okay to me.”

Brian’s face lost all emotion, but his eyes look horrified. “No. Dude number one, you don’t understand. She’s on a plant-food-only kick. She. Starves. Me.”

“Eww.”

He looked at Kira and nodded. “Tell me about it, dude number two. Okay. Now that I’ve gotten my payment, what matchy-matchy do you want today, and where do you want it?”

Kira immediately pulled out her phone to show Brian the tattoo and talk placement with him.

It had been five months since our quick and unexpected move to California, and while there were still things we hated about this place—like the fact that we were still in motherfucking California—I’d been right all those months ago. This move had been good for both Kira and me.

In the last three months, Kira had slowly but surely gotten better, and gotten over the whole Zane thing. It didn’t take long for her to admit just how messed up their relationship had been—once she stopped torturing herself by stalking Zane’s social media accounts. It was after that that she’d been able to realize the reason she’d tried so hard to continue to make it work between Zane and her was that she’d wanted a perfect marriage like our parents have, but wanted to be able to say that she’d married her high school sweetheart on top of it. I could understand that to an extent. It was hard not to want the kind of marriage our parents had, but Kira’s would have been anything but perfect with Zane, so I was glad she was moving on from that dream and him. And to be honest, I think the guys at the gym had a lot to do with it too. There were a handful of men who talked specifically to her whenever they came in, and although she had yet to give it over, she’d been asked for her number more times than I could count.

As for me? I was doing better all the time in dealing with my past and the fears that came with it. I knew what had happened to me had happened for a reason, just like I knew I needed to let the past stay in the past without letting it keep me there; but letting go had been harder than I’d ever imagined. It wasn’t until Kira had brought it up last week that I’d realized how little of a hold it still had on me. And it was because of the progress of us both that we were meeting Brian today.

Kira and I didn’t get matching tattoos often. Our tastes were too different, just like our polar opposite personalities. But our deep love for art on our bodies was something we’d always shared with Dad, and every now and then something in our lives called for “matchy-matchy,” as Brian had called it. This was definitely one of those times.

Because of the relationships that had been life consuming and life altering for both of us, we were getting “free hearts” tattoos to show how we felt like we’d finally been released from the past. A tattoo of a small red heart with free in black inked across it, as if the word had been stamped on top.

After Kira was done and Brian was set up again, I was lying next to him with the outline on my left collarbone, and the familiar buzzing started up. Nothing was more soothing to me than the buzzing of these machines, and I couldn’t help but smile as I waited for the process to start.

“You in love with my boy yet?”

And there went my smile.

A short laugh bubbled past my lips, and my eyebrows pulled down as I looked over at Brian. “Uh, what?”

“Have you finally figured out you’re in love with him?”

“No,” I responded, slowly drawing out the word. “Why?”

“Because it’s gonna happen,” Brian said, like the fact that I didn’t already know this was blowing his mind.

After a few minutes passed with him focused only on what he was doing, he moved his head so it was directly above my face. “He loves you, you know.”

“Really?” When Brian nodded, I laughed again—but this time there was no humor behind it. “Liam Taylor loves me,” I stated blankly. “I think you might be high, Brian.”

“Not today,” he boasted proudly, and sat back to mess with the ink before he started tattooing again.

I’d been joking, but his response had my forehead pinching. “Liam said you don’t do drugs . . .”

“No, ma’am, not for thirty years. No drinkage or druggage. Not since the night I almost lost my lady love when I was twenty-three. She gave me an ultimatum, and that was it for me. Doesn’t mean I don’t feel like I’m high most days. This job and my life give me all the high I need, dude number one. What else did LC tell you about me?”

“Your hair,” I replied immediately with a smile.