Inky by JB Hartnett Read Free Book Online

from her.
    “I’m sorry I snapped at you, Lisa. You’re beautiful, you know? You could have any man that walked into the bar, or anywhere. You have that thing about you that most girls would kill for. The brain, the body, the legs. If you weren’t my friend, I’d hate you for how beautiful you are with no effort on your part at all. Do you not know that?”
    “I guess. But that’s not what I want.” She said, still gazing beyond me.
    “What do you want?” I asked.
    “I’m working on that. We’ll see if it works out.”
    “Well, if you need me, I’m not going anywhere and neither is Aimes. Unless you’re not cool with Evan and me being here. But, just tell me, okay? I don’t want that tension between us.” I suddenly remembered I needed to say something in support of Aimes too. “And do you think you could give Aimes a break? It’s different with Gus. I have a feeling we’re going to see a lot more of him around here.”
    “No probs.”
    “I better get ready. I have to be at work in an hour. See you there?”
    “See you there, Ink. And sorry about before. Just forget I said anything at all. I misunderstood.” This time she looked me in the face.
    “You don’t need to apologize, Lisa. I get it. I’ll see you there.”
    “See you soon, Inky.” She called as I made my way once more to my room. I closed the door behind me and looked around. I was looking forward to drawing today. I purposefully told Evan to hang out with his roommates so I could have some time to myself. Now I felt a weight on my shoulders. I didn’t feel any better since Lisa and I spoke and my alone time had been fruitless in the creativity department. Unfortunately I didn’t have the luxury of wasting any more time or I’d be late for work.

Chapter 5
    A couple of hours later, I was stocking extra bottles of beer into the ice. With the weather warming up, we drew in the tourists now too. The locals, the tourists and the Marines all made for an interesting mix. It certainly made the night go faster. I told Jesus I was going out back for a few minutes and made my way toward the break room.
    I grabbed my purse and went into the bathroom, reapplying lipstick and smoothing my hair back into a tidy ponytail.
    “Inky, you in there?” I heard Evan from the hallway.
    “Be right out.” I shouted and smiled into the mirror at the sound of his voice.
    I opened the door to his smiling face as he leaned against the brick wall of the hallway. “Hey, beautiful. How was everything after I left?”
    “Oh, well…” I hesitated.
    “What did you do, Inky?” He asked with a small smile.
    “I decided not to let it go. Sorry, baby. Lisa and I had a chat.”
    His brows knitted together. “What did you talk about?”
    “My bad fiancé behavior. She thought it was weird I didn’t freak out when that customer tried to help me. She was really pissed about it.”
    “Did she explain why?” He asked.
    I didn’t want to talk about this before I started my shift, especially if he reacted the same way as Lisa. I would have to spend the next seven hours or so watching him brood about it.
    “Well…” I hesitated.
    “Just spit it out, Ink.” He wasn’t mad, not yet anyway so I decided to rip off the Band-Aid and just tell him.
    “She was pissed because that customer left me his card. That combined with him holding my hands and singing to calm me down, well, she had a problem with that. It’s not the first time a male customer has left their card for me. I think she thought there was more to it than that but I assured her there wasn’t. I hope you don’t think I would ever encourage another guy, Evan. I waited too long for the love of my life to love me back. I can’t believe she would even think that about me knowing our history.”
    I kept my eyes fixed on his shirt while I explained.
    He took my hand and lifted it to his lips. “Inky.” I heard the smile in his voice as he kissed my fingers. “I would never think that, baby. Don’t