Hard Ink 1 - Hard as It Gets - Laura Kaye,
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
//-->DedicationTo Jenn, who started it all.To my peeps in the vault, who are the best friends a girl could ever have.To Brian, whose incredible devotion made it possible.To Christi, who went way, way above and beyond.Thank you from the bottom of my heart.ContentsDedicationChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14Chapter 15Chapter 16Chapter 17Chapter 18Chapter 19Chapter 20Chapter 21Chapter 22Chapter 23AcknowledgmentsAnnouncement Page toHard As You CanAbout the AuthorBy Laura KayeCopyrightAbout the PublisherChapter 1Becca Merritt stepped through the heavy industrial door and into another world. A buzzer screechedabove her head, sending her heart into quick palpitations somewhere in the neighborhood of herthroat. Compared to the late April warmth, the indoor air was like a meat locker, thick and intenselycold—or maybe that was just the draining weight of her anxiety these past days. She hugged herselfand rubbed her arms.“Be with you in a minute,” a gruff voice called from the back. The driving bass beat of a hard-edged rock song echoed from the same direction.Gripping her purse more tightly under her arm, Becca’s gaze scanned the colorful images coveringevery inch of wall space. Tribal birds, winged hearts, dagger-eyed skulls, full-faced roses, crosses,and cartoon characters were some of the designs she noticed at first glance. Playful, gory, beautiful,haunting, many of the images were objectively artistic and oddly compelling.Becca found tattoos intriguing, and she saw a lot of them on patients that came through theemergency department. She’d never really considered getting one for herself, though. Her fatherwould’ve flipped out, and she’d always valued his opinion too much to rock the boat. With her dadgone now, she supposed there was nothing stopping her besides not knowing what image she’d wantpermanently drawn on her skin.Like nails on a chalkboard, the buzzer sounded again and the door banged shut behind her. Beccawhirled, expecting . . . she didn’t even know what. Strange as the past few days had been, anythingseemed possible right now. But it was just a woman. A totally fascinating woman. Despite wearingall black, she was a riot of color, from the dark red highlights in her shoulder-length black hair, heldback in sloppy-but-cute pigtails, to the dramatic eye makeup, to the colorful ink running the length ofboth arms. She was the Goth yin to Becca’s Plain Jane yang.The woman juggled a stack of huge pizza boxes and a plastic grocery bag of canned sodas. “Sorryif you’ve been waiting a while.”“Oh, no.” Becca rushed to her. “Can I help you with that?”“Aw, you’re a doll. Yes, please, before my wrist breaks off.” The woman twisted her hand out.Becca unlooped the plastic handle from her arm, revealing angry red grooves in her skin from bearingthe weight of it. “It’s a good thing I like these guys so much.” A quick grin as she dropped the twopizza boxes on the counter, which nearly reached to her chest she was so short. She heaved a deepbreath and braced her hands on her hips. “Now, how can I help you?”Becca’s stomach flip-flopped. Would she finally start getting some answers today? “I’m lookingfor a Mr. Rixey.”The woman arched a pierced brow. “Mr. Rixey? Don’t hear him called that often.” She chuckledand winked. Between her vibrancy and the mischievous sparkle in her dark eyes, she gave off such
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]