The first thing I’d done was take off my suit jacket when I’d gotten into the car, but the leather seat was unforgiving after the car had sat in the baking sun for the two hours I’d been with Lincoln.
As if I’d lost the ability to think about anything other than Lincoln, the time I’d spent with him replayed over in my mind. The image of him standing in the doorway, his commanding presence, and fuck-the-world attitude weren’t things to easily shift from my head.
The music playing from the speakers stopped as my phone rang and I clicked the answer button on the steering wheel. Before I could say hello my eldest brother’s, Luis, voice boomed through the speakers.
“Where are you? You should have been at the gym ten minutes ago.” Luis continued to bitch at me, not giving me a chance to respond. “I’ve got everything set up. It’s taken me half-an-hour, you better not be canceling on me again.”
Shit!
“I’m sorry. Blame Dad, he gave me a case—”
“It’s always about a case. When was the last time you took any time for yourself?” Luis’s genuine concern was the only reason I kept my cool while he pointed out my flaws as he saw them. He’d left the Army Special Forces the year before and worked from home. His CPA business had several big clients that meant he could pretty much dictate how he managed his own time.
I hoped that when I could afford to branch out on my own, that it would give me more time to do the things I secretly dreamed of. The guilt I’d held about not following family tradition and joining the military meant I’d started on the bottom rung of the law firm my father co-owned. I’d gotten to the point that I could pick and choose my cases, but it hadn’t lessened the need to prove I’d made the right choice of career for me.
“I can practically hear your mind ticking. It’s alright, I get it. When Dad asks, you feel the need to jump to attention. We’ve all been there. But you’re thirty years old, at some point you need to stop letting the guilt get to you.”
That was the thing with older brothers. They’d already been there so could pass on their words of wisdom. Only thing was, all four of them had done what Dad wanted. “It’s easy for you to say it, you didn’t disappoint him,” I ground out through my frustration.
“He might have been disappointed for, like, a minute, but he got over it. You need to as well.” He sighed and there was the sound of someone calling his name.
“Go on, we’ll rearrange for next week.” I quickly said goodbye before he could start again.
Using the directions I’d looked up, I drove down Mission Drive thinking I might have taken a wrong turn. Was the tattoo shop in this urban suburb?
As I pulled up in front of the address I had for River’s Tattoo shop, I shook my head and drove my car up the large driveway in front of the modern looking three-story building. My eyes widened at the reality that the hard ass biker owned this place. Lincoln, it would seem, was full of surprises.
The sand colored brick was sedate and boring. The wrap around porch on the first and second floors was well maintained. The place was nothing like I’d expected. Tucked away in a residential area, I’d bet my last dollar that Lincoln wasn’t popular with his neighbors. When I’d searched the internet for the shop, River’s was the only one with hundreds of rave reviews in the whole of Bell County. Lincoln’s name was mentioned in most of them.
Again, my father’s words ran through my head. This man was a conundrum. Appearing to the world as one thing, but he seemed to have hidden depth. Depth that was more intriguing than I wanted it to be. Client and possibly straight!
The muggy evening air made the decision for me after I debated for all of two seconds about putting my suit jacket back on when I exited the car. I locked my car and walked up the drive to the front door.
There was no traditional sign to indicate it was a shop. Instead, Lincoln had River’s Tattoo etched into the front glass windows. As I mounted the steps to the front porch, I noted the rainbow painted wooden table and chair small enough for a child. A smile tugged at my lips as I walked to the front door. The top pane of the glass door caught my attention and I read the inscription, Spirit Run Free.
What did that mean? I frowned as I searched for a bell to press. Finding two, I pressed them both, hoping Nutty, whoever she was, would be in.
It took a few minutes before I heard the sound of childish laughter and a female voice shouting from inside. The next thing, the door opened to reveal a small child. Long, deep brown hair that gleamed with health hung around a tiny elfin face that held eyes identical to Lincoln’s, only these were full of curiosity. Her face had smudges of dirt over the bridge of an upturned nose. There was also dirt smeared over the front of the colorful playsuit she wore. Her tanned legs and feet were bare. The wooden floor she stood on gleamed in the sunlight, showing it had been well cared for.
“Hello.” She gave me a polite smile.
“I’ll tan your backside, missy. What have I told you about opening the door to strangers?” came a voice from inside, then a slightly harassed looking woman in her thirties appeared. Her face was also smudged with something that looked like flour. It appeared at some point she must have run her hands through her short black spiky hair as it was tipped with white powder, along with both hands. She was as dainty as a flower and hardly reached the middle of my chest. She wore a T-shirt and a pair of shorts that revealed slender legs.
Was this what Lincoln liked?
“How can I help you?” Nutty asked, her voice sounding anything but friendly.
I gave her my most winning smile and offered her my hand before I remembered the state of them. “I’m Mr. Davenport, the lawyer—”
“Oh, yeah, right. Come in,” she said, then mouthed over River’s head ‘Not in front of River.’
“Thank you.” I kept the smile in place and dropped my hand as I was ushered inside. River glanced between me and Nutty, clearly understanding something was amiss but not sure quite what.
“U’s hiding somethin’, Nutty. I’s can tell. Is this about where my Poppy went?”
My brows arched. Poppy? Was she talking about Lincoln?
Nutty gave a heartfelt sigh and crouched down in front of River, looking more than a little resigned. “Your Poppy is in a little bit of trouble and Mr. Davenport is going to help us sort it all out.”
River turned those big brown and gold eyes on me, and my heart went out to her when she stuck her thumb between her teeth for a few seconds. “My Poppy is good, he is. Folks are just plain mean, sayin’ bad tings abouts him.”
She sounded so serious, I could only nod in agreement.
She stepped around the still crouching Nutty and took hold of my hand with what turned out to be her sticky one. She tugged on it until I crouched in front of her, finding it impossible to resist those big eyes.
“What is it, River?” I asked in a soft voice.
Her other hand came up and touched my cheek as her gaze held mine. She gave me the same assessing look Lincoln had.
“Folks around here sometimes are bad.” Her fingers traced over my bristly cheek. “You not bad, you have kind eyes, they looks like the green sea. Will you bring my Poppy home? I’s need him ‘cause I’s don’t have a Mommy, she died. So is important to me, I’s love Nutty but she’s not my Poppy.”