Stories Beneath Our Skin by Veronica Sloane Read Free Book Online

of his t-shirt riding over a lightly furred belly. Liam looked away, then glanced back. The tip of a tattoo, a vicious slash of red and orange, appeared and then winked out again as Ace dropped his arms. Guilt and pleasure went to war under Liam's skin, raising up a flush that Ace could probably see through his sunglasses.
    " For someone who says so much," Ace said gently, "you don't really talk, do you?"
    " I say what needs saying."
    " And not one word more." Ace shrugged, holding the beer again. "I get it."
    The sun baked down, the can passing between them over and over until it was drained dry. Though they were quiet together, Liam didn 't fear the intrusion of unwanted thoughts. Ace was too present even in his silence.

Chapter Four
     
    " Where do you think you're going?" Deb stopped him at the door. In the month he'd been working at Great Sin, Liam thought he'd grasped the ebb and flow of the place. Come in early, chat with Deb, pray for customers, work, work, work, kill time drawing or listening to Goose's theories of everything or Ace's music, work, work, work, leave. Lather, rinse, repeat.
    Apparently not tonight though.
    "Uh, home?"
    " Uh, no," Deb mocked. "It's Goose's birthday. We're going out."
    " It's after midnight."
    " What the hell kind of college student are you? You're supposed to be all about wild parties and drinking until you pass out."
    " I think you've watched too many movies. And I don't exactly go to a party school." He shoved his hands into his pocket. "Where are we going?"
    " Where we always go. Frankie's." Satisfied that he wasn't running out the door, she stomped away calling for Ace to get his ass in gear.
    " I'm going to get fucked up," Goose informed everyone as he looked for his wallet in every corner of the shop. "Seriously. Gonna be hungover for days."
    " If you vomit on my boots again, you're buying my next pair." Ace found the wallet, once black leather and now mostly duct tape, between the couch cushions and handed it over. "Who's driving?"
    " Guess I can." Deb looked a little put out, giving Liam the side eye.
    " I don't mind being DD." He shrugged. "I've got places to be tomorrow, and I'd rather not have a hangover."
    " My man!" Goose clapped him hard on the back. "I will personally buy you as many lame-ass sodas as you want. You a ginger ale kind of fella?"
    Liam couldn 't remember the last time he'd had a full car, certainly never in Gene's ancient Civic. It was a tight fit. Goose called shotgun, jamming himself in with his knees against the dash and Deb piling in the back to kick at his seat. Ace sat behind Liam and the entire ride, he swore he could feel eyes on the back of his neck. Every time he glanced up in the rearview mirror though, Ace was talking to Deb with unwavering attention. Liam was sixteen years old with a hapless crush all over again: imagining the things he wanted to see and mentally murdering the butterflies in his belly. Tightening his hands on the steering wheel, Liam gave himself a silent pep talk while Goose lazily reeled off directions beside him and turned the knob on the radio filling the car with muddy static.
    Frankie 's turned out to be a bar with a white clapboard exterior and a smoke-laden interior. Liam remembered the place vaguely as a wide spot on the road when he was a kid. Had his parents stopped in here once with him when it had a different name? It was the kind of thing they would have done.
    No one inside the bar actually had a lit cigarette, but the place must've marinated in nicotine for countless decades before Johnny Law had intervened. There were booths along one side and a makeshift stage at the back where a second-rate band worked their way through a screechy cover of "Paint it Black". Goose led the way, charging toward the bar like a man on a mission. As soon as the bartender spotted their group, she broke out in a wide grin and waved them all over.
    " If it isn't my favorite boys and girl." She leaned over the bar, showing off some