Gray by Shaw Hart

Seven

Gray

God,I’m an idiot.

I’ve been thinking that same thought over and over again ever since I almost kissed Nora in our hotel room.

Things had been a little awkward since that night and I know it’s because I couldn’t control myself. I almost ruined everything because I couldn’t keep my hands to myself.

We’re back in Pittsburgh now and things are a little strained but I’m hoping that we can both forget about this soon. We picked the dogs up from Rooney and Harvey’s place yesterday afternoon. Rooney and Harvey had surprised us by going to the puppy training class in our place but I don’t think that it really helped. They were still as crazy last night as ever. It ended up being a good distraction though, so for once, I didn’t mind them trying to lick my face.

Jasper had texted me to say that his doctor appointment had gone well and that he forgot to tell me that there had been some flowers at the funeral from Ender, Banks, Ames, Maxine, Rooney, and Harvey. It was nice of them to send anything, so I don’t bother telling them that the funeral had been a bit of a joke and definitely more of a duty.

“Hey,” Ender grunts out as he comes into the shop the next morning.

Out of everyone at Eye Candy Ink, I’m probably closest to Ender. We started on the same day, our rooms are right next to each other, and he’s always been a great sounding board. He’s almost twenty years older than me and some days I wish that I had someone like him as my real dad.

“Hey, thanks for the flowers,” I say as I finish up the last of the tattoos that I’ll be doing today.

“Sure. It was Maxine’s idea,” he says and I smile.

That sounds about right.

“Still. Thanks.”

He nods, leaning against my doorframe and I turn to look at him.

“Everything alright? Did I miss anything around here?”

“No, not really. Just wanted to make sure that you’re alright. You seem a little off. I’m sorry for your loss. Were you and your dad close?” he asks and I can’t hold in the laugh.

“No, not even close. He was an alcoholic asshole who liked to smack us around when he was drunk, which was pretty much every night.”

My words come out bitter and I see Harvey and Rooney have stopped in the doorway and are staring at me wide-eyed.

Ender doesn’t seem at all surprised by my words and I wonder if he suspected something.

Banks comes into the shop then, stopping outside of my door too.

“Hey, Gray. Welcome back,” he says distractedly and I nod. “Sorry for your loss, man.”

“Doesn’t sound like it was much of a loss,” Rooney says, anger clear in his voice and I see Harvey elbow him.

“It wasn’t,” I promise him.

“Was it nice to see your brother at least?” Harvey asks and I shrug.

“We have kind of a complicated relationship.”

“Are any of you guys working?” Mischa asks as he comes up behind everyone else. “Gray, hey, heard about your dad. Sorry for your loss.”

I know that he’s just being nice but if I hear those four words one more time today, I’m going to scream.

“Wasn’t a loss,” Rooney and I say at the same time and Mischa frowns.

“I see. Well still, it’s good to have you back here.”

“What are you doing here, Dad?” Rooney asks and Mischa smiles at him.

“I’m here to invite everyone over for Sunday brunch. It just occurred to us that we’ve been neglecting half of you, so I expect to see all of you at Zeke’s house this Sunday.”

“Nora and I have puppy training classes in the morning.”

“Come after! Bring the puppies and your girl.”

“She’s not his girl,” Rooney says, a devilish twinkle in his eyes and I glare at him.

“We can help with that too,” Mischa says and I know for sure that I can’t be bringing Nora around any of these guys. Not if I want to keep our friendship intact anyway.

Mischa and Rooney head down the hall toward his room and I sigh.

“Drinks tonight?” Banks suggests. “We can hit up Seven.”

“I’m in,” Ender says right away and I know exactly why the war veteran who hates loud noises and crowds is so eager to go to the club.

Cat.

“Yeah, I’m in too,” I say.

“Me too,” Harvey says and Banks nods, heading back to his own room with Harvey on his heels.

“Did anything else happen on the trip?” Ender asks, curiosity in his dark green eyes.

“Like what?”

“Like maybe you confessed to Nora that you’re in love with her and can’t live without her?”

“Do you really want to do this? Should I tell everyone why you love Seven so much?”

He crosses his arms over his chest and I bite back a curse.

“No, okay. Nothing happened, but I did almost kiss her.”

“You should have.”

“It would have ruined everything.”

“No. It really wouldn’t have,” he says before he turns and heads across the hall to his own room.

I mull over his words all day and by the time that we are locking up later that night, I still wonder if maybe he’s right.

I’m at the end of my rope here and something has to give. Either I tell her how I feel or I have to pretend to be happy for her when she finally brings around whoever she’s been crushing on.

My hands tighten into fists as I think about how we had talked about settling down and how she had said that she had someone in mind.

“Gray.”

I look up as Finn heads my way down the dark street.

“What are you doing here, Finn? Looking to get some more ink?” I ask Nora’s brother and he shakes his head.

“No, not today anyway.”

I’ve done all of Finn’s ink. He was actually one of the first people to let me work on him. He knew that I needed to practice and let me use him as a guinea pig.

“What can I do for you then?” I ask as Ender locks up the shop behind me.

Harvey and Rooney are already joking around over by their car and I wonder what Finn could need.

“When are you going to tell Nora how you feel about her? I thought something would happen when we were all back in Rosewood,” he admits and my stomach cramps.

“Aren’t brothers supposed to warn guys away from their sisters?” I try to joke and he sighs.

“Not with you.”

“Why not?”

“Because… because you’re the only other person on the planet who loves Nora as much as I do. I know that she’ll be safe with you.”

I don’t have a response to that. He’s right, I am the only person who loves her as much as him, although mine is in a different way.

“Stop wasting time. You’re going to regret it one day.”

With that, Finn heads down the dark street, disappearing around the corner.

“You alright?” Ender asks and I forgot that he was even there.

“Yeah, I’m fine. You riding with me?”

“Yeah.”

We head across the street in silence. Harvey, Rooney, and Banks are all in their car already, so Ender and I hurry up and climb into mine.

“Are you going to finally tell her? Seems like a sign if even her brother wants you too,” Ender points out as we drive the few blocks to Se7en.

“You going to get on my case too, man?” I complain and he shrugs.

“You going to ask Cat out tonight?” I ask him and he shrugs again.

I sigh as I pull into the parking lot and we head across the street to the club. We follow after Rooney and Harvey as they breeze inside and over to the bar. Ender passes me a beer and I grunt out a thanks that I’m sure he can’t hear over the music.

“Come on,” Banks says and I follow them as we head over to a booth on the far wall.

“Do you want to talk about anything?” Harvey asks me as we sit down and I shake my head.

“Alright, well we’re here for you if you do.”

I give him a grateful smile. I haven’t had many close relationships in my life. Nora is the closest by far but it’s nice to know that these guys will have my back.

“Did you and Nora share a hotel room?” Rooney asks, wiggling his dark eyebrows at me.

“Yep.”

He almost chokes on his beer and I grin.

“We just slept.”

“Dude, what is wrong with you?”

I laugh, taking another sip of my beer.

“He chickened out,” Ender says and I elbow him. “It’s true.” He glares.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Why don’t you just tell her? She’s into you too, man,” Banks says.

My heart soars at that but what does Banks know about girls. He’s the most single out of all of us.

“She’s been my family since we were kids. I can’t ruin that. I don’t even want to jeopardize it.”

“But if she feels that same way...” Harvey starts.

“If I were to go home and she gave me some sign, then I would go for it. But she hasn’t, so I’m not going to risk it.”

No one seems happy with that answer, not even me, but what choice do I have?

I spot Cat up on the second-floor landing and I nudge Ender but of course, he’s already spotted her. She disappears back into her office and Ender turns to study me for a minute before he comes to a decision.

“I’ll be back,” he says and I watch in astonishment as he heads over to the stairs and glares at the bouncers who both immediately get out of his way. He climbs the stairs and I watch him head into Cat’s office.

If he can go after who he wants, could I maybe do the same?