Dash & Dane (18+)

Chapter 1

TWO WEEKS LATER

DASH

I was feeling overworked and irritated as hell. The project me and Dane were working on was going to be the death of me. We had one month to complete a full renovation on an old Victorian house in the heart of Savannah and we hadn't even received the blue prints or final plans yet. Without those, we had no idea where to start.

My brother, Dane, and I have lived in Savannah since we arrived in America when we were both sixteen years old. Coming here from Ireland was a huge culture shock to both of us, but we were settling in nicely. After college, we started a built a home construction company from scratch and were now the most wanted builders in town. Both for our skills and for lonely housewives to have some eye candy while we worked. We didn't complain since the bills were being paid but we derived from being the best builders and not just handsome faces to look at.

With nothing left to do for the day and Dane being gone, I shut up shop and headed out for the night. I was stressed to the max and instead of sitting at the bar, drinking my liver into submission, I headed for my favorite spot: Midnight Ink. There was nothing a new tattoo couldn't fix for me. My body was a testament to that as I consistently inked myself whenever I was stressed out, which was a lot lately. And Bobby knew my soul unlike any other person alive and drew up the best pieces, knowing exactly how I was feeling.

But when I stepped into Midnight Ink and asked if Bobby had an opening, my mood went even darker when Kristina, the shop owner, told me Bobby no longer worked here.

"What do you mean Bobby doesn't work here anymore? Where the hell did he go?" I was even more irritated now and was thinking the bar sounded pretty damn good right about now.

If Bobby was really gone, where am I going to go for my ink now? I only ever let Bobby ink me and if he was gone, there wasn't anybody else that I trusted with my work. What a shit thing to learn at the end of an already shitty day.

Kristina sighed. "He left a week ago, Dash, I'm sorry. His daughter was having a tough time so he headed North to be with her."

I ran my hand over my face and breathed out a steadying breath. "Is he coming back?"

"It didn't sound like it. Besides, he already hired someone to fill his spot." She looked down at her appointment book. "Who has an opening if you're interested in meeting with her and telling her what you want." She kept her eyes cast down as mine followed hers. I saw that the new girl didn't have any clients under her name at all, telling me that she either sucked, or hadn't been her long enough to obtain any clients for herself.

I really did want some new ink today, so why not see what the girl could do. "Does she have a portfolio I can look through? I want to see what kind of work she does."

Kristina flinched. "She actually doesn't right now. She's very new and hasn't settled into the shop just yet, but I can assure you that she is great."

I was not amused or impressed. "So, you're trying to set me up with this new girl who doesn't have a portfolio and is net to tattooing and expect me to just go off your word? Come on, Kristina, you know me better than that."

"To be fair... She isn't new to tattooing and I am giving you my word because she's my cousin and I've seen her work. It's seriously amazing. I haven't seen anyone do work like hers. Just give her a shot."

I was in no mood to give anything a shot right now. I just wanted to sit in Bobby's chair, hear the buzz from the tattoo gun, and forget about work for an hour or two.

"Cousin or not, I'm not letting some chick near my skin without seeing some of her work," I hissed out. My irritation was bubbling to the surface and aimed right at Kristina. "I don't want to be some chicks doodle book that looks like an art project gone bad."