She used the back of her hand to brush the dirt off her yoga pants. “I’m fine. No need to make it up to me. Just maybe watch where you’re walking next time. You’re kind of like getting hit by a Mack truck.” She laughed. “Hey, I’m sorry I was such a bitch. Just a bad night and shitty morning and you’re the icing on the cake.”

Tilting my head, I gave her a small smile. “I understand. The last twelve hours haven’t exactly been stellar for me either.”

She fidgeted with her phone but kept her eyes locked on mine.

“Got everything?” I asked. I needed to leave. I didn’t need to complicate my shit any further.

“Yeah, I think so. Thanks for stopping to help.”

“I’m not a dick, well at least not all the time.” I grinned. “How could I not stop and help the beautiful lady that I knocked over? I hope your day gets better from here.” God, I sounded like a total moron, but I couldn’t stop the verbal diarrhea that leaked from my mouth. “Let me get the door for you.” I rushed and pushed it open.

“Thank you,” she said, brushing against my body as she tried to fit through the doorway, my torso blocking the small entrance.

A hint of lilac or some flowery shit filled the air, disappearing with the distance between us.

“Maybe I’ll see you again sometime,” I said, not ready to walk away.

She smiled at me before turning around and walking away.

“Yeah, I’m here every day.”

When did I turn into Mr. fucking Rogers? I couldn’t stop myself.

“Maybe we can work out together or something,” I yelled to her.

I’m officially a pussy.

“Sure.” She didn’t sound too eager, but then again, she didn’t say no. She placed her bag next to the desk and signed in.

I watched her as I walked toward my truck.

My cock was hard last night when I went to Tammy’s and that turned in to a clusterfuck of epic proportions without at least getting off for my troubles.

Seeing the girl that I crashed into wearing a tight hot pink workout tank top and black yoga pants turned my dick into granite.

Obviously I needed my fucking head examined.

I flipped on the lights at Inked as I walked through the door to peace and quiet. An ice cold shower didn’t do much to take my thoughts off the hot piece of ass I ran into at the gym.

As I sat down at the front desk my phone danced across the appointment book. It hadn’t stop vibrating from the non-stop messages.

The girl was fucking clueless.

Last night my exact words to her were, “Don’t ever call me again, you crazy bitch.” I thought it was pretty cut and dry. My words were simple to understand, but apparently she didn’t get the fucking message.

When her car beeped in the parking lot, I braced myself for her bullshit. Izzy would have a fucking field day when she heard about Tammy. I held my breath, tapped the pencil next to my jiggling phone and kept my head down as she breezed through the door chattering on her phone to her asshole flavor of the month.

Izzy isn’t an easy girl – she made the guys earn everything she gave.

Growing up with four brothers hadn’t been easy for her— we didn’t leave her the opportunity to be easy. Most of her boyfriends got chased away when she was younger, but it wasn’t like she couldn’t handle herself, but we made sure to keep her ass out of trouble.

She threw her bag on the floor next to her station before coming to a dead stop in front of me. I snuck a peek at her. She squinted at me, already reading me like an open book, shaking her head.

“I gotta go, John,” she said into her phone, popping her gum and looking at the ceiling. Her hands opened and closed, with her fingertips touching telling me that he was rambling. “Bye, John. I don’t have time for this shit. I’ll talk to you later.” She pressed on the screen before blowing out a puff of air. She leaned over and spit her gum in the trashcan. Classic Izzy.

“Hey, sis.”

“What’s wrong?” Cocking her head, she waited, rubbing her finger across her lips.

“Nothing.” I didn’t want to tell her, but I knew it was inevitable.

“You boys are so bad at hiding shit. I’ve spent a lifetime studying you jackasses. I know you better than you know yourself. I’m guessing woman problems. Just tell me, because I won’t stop asking until you do.”

“Tammy.”

“Ah, the fruitcake,” she said as she giggled.

“What do you know about her?” My phone started to dance across the desk again and I grabbed it to stop the jerky movement.

“I’ve heard stories. We’ve all heard things.” She made air quotes with her fingers.

My sister had been holding out on me. “What didn’t you share with me, Isabella?”

“My formal name. Is someone feeling duped?”

“I swear to Christ, Izzy. Why didn’t you warn me? I mean, I would’ve told you if you were going to date some crazy cocksucker.”

“I tried to warn you, but you reminded me that you’re a ‘big boy’.”

If she used air quotes one more time during this conversation I was going to put her in a headlock and mess up her hair until she screamed uncle.

“You told me to mind my own business. So… I thought I’d let you learn the hard way, big brother.” She couldn’t stop laughing.

I sighed. “Next time slap me, will you?”

“Gladly.” Her fingers tangled in my hair, ruffling it just the right way to make me cringe. “So tell me what happened and why is your phone going crazy without you bothering to look?”

“I don’t even know where to start. I ended shit with Tammy and she’s been blowing it up for twelve hours.”

“Why did you end it? Wait, were you guys really a thing?” She leaned over the desk and rested her chin in her hand.

“We weren’t anything but fuck buddies, or at least that’s what I thought. She, on the other hand, had our future planned out. She made a scrapbook, Izzy. A fucking scrapbook.” I slammed my fist down on the desk and started to laugh. “Shit would be funny if it happened to someone else, but she’s crazy.”

“A scrapbook of what?” Her eyebrows drew together.

“The cover was a wedding photo with our faces glued on the bride and groom. I flipped through the book. It was our entire life planned out and in living color. That shit just isn’t normal, Izzy.”

She doubled over in laughter, smashing her fist against the desk. “No, wait.” She couldn’t catch her breath as tears began to stream down her cheeks. “Did you at least take the scrapbook with you? I mean, I need to see this shit.”

“Fuck. I was so pissed I didn’t even think about grabbing it.” I rubbed my forehead, annoyed with myself for being such a dumbass. “She hasn’t stopped calling and texting me since last night.”

Hunched over gasping for breath, she held her hand out. “Give it to me.”

“What?”

“Gimme your phone, stunad.”

She tapped a few buttons with the tip of her tongue sticking out.

“What are you doing? Please don’t respond to her, Iz.”

She gave me a sour look before turning her attention back to her task.

I sighed, leaning back in my chair and waited.

“Here,” she said, placing it in front of me.

“What did you do?”

“You really need to learn more about your phone, Michael. I blocked her.” She rolled her eyes.

“You can really do that shit?” Stunned, I didn’t know it could be so easy.

I would’ve done it hours ago to avoid the barrage of bullshit.

Izzy just shook her head as she walked away.

Joe and Anthony walked in laughing. They said the usual ‘hey’ walking past me to put their stuff down and prep their areas for customers.

I checked over the schedule while I waited for everyone to finish. Anthony sat first and began to tap out a beat against the plastic chair. Leaning back, he put his head against the wall, and closed his eyes looking lost in the rhythm.

By the time Izzy and Joe made their way to the front of the shop I wanted to rip Anthony’ fingers off and shove them down his throat.