Ink (The Haven Series) Read Free

sight momentarily robbed her of her breath – until she heard the urgent demand for Sketch to open the fuck up.
    Recognising the voice, she clambered to her feet and jogged to unlock the door and throw it open with a scowl. “Are you trying to kill me?” she demanded, without thinking. “You scared the absolute shit outta me!”
    But the unexpected caller simply cut her dead. “Where’s Sketch?”
    “Well, he’s not fucking here--” she started, seeing a flicker of something like doubt pass over his face as he glanced over his shoulder into the night. “What’s wrong?”
    She should have known better than ask. He may have allowed her to tattoo him, even been impressed by the results, but she was still a hell of a lot lower down his scant chain of trust than Sketch. And yet, with obvious reluctance, he conceded.
    “Needed a favour,” he sighed, lifting the arm she hadn’t noticed he’d kept clamped around his stomach. His fingers came away from his t-shirt covered side slick with blood.
    “Oh my god, Colton!” Callie gasped, instinctively trying to cover the wound with her own fingers in a bid to stem the bleeding. “We gotta--”
    But she was cut off sharply when he roughly pushed her further inside and to the side of the glass door. “Shut up and don’t move,” he ordered, flicking off the lights and plunging them into darkness, even as he fumbled for the keys in the door and locked it behind them.
    “What the hell’s going on ?” she demanded, in a low hiss. He might not like questions, but she figured having her workplace invaded in the middle of the night and his blood staining her skin entitled her to some sort of answer at least. And it seemed even Colton had to agree.
    “Trouble,” he bit out, wincing as he reached to pull his gun from where he’d tucked it into the back of his jeans. “Got fucking jumped outside Reno. Thought I could out-run the bastards, but ...”
    “You were on your own?”
    “You think I’d hole up in here like a chicken-shit little bitch and leave one of my boys out there?”
    She didn’t need to be able to see him to know he was glaring at her through the deep shadows. “Of course not, I just meant ...” But she trailed off with a sigh. Now was hardly the time. “Don’t move - we’ve got a first aid kit in the office.”
    She was quick to return, but he’d already slumped to the floor by the door and she frowned in concern. His head was tilted back against the wall, even though the grip on his gun never let up.
    “Let me look,” she said, dropping to her knees beside him and gently pushing the hem of his t-shirt up under his cut. Her hand slid over his chiselled abdomen until she found the source of the bleeding. “Fuck, Colt ... Here, put pressure on this for a second.”
    His large fingers brushed over hers as he held the gauze pad to his side while she searched for something to secure it with, before settling for taping it in place. “That’ll have to do for now,” she said, meeting his dark gaze as they both heard the roar of an engine right outside. “Shit, what do we do?”
    “Fuck all we can do ‘cept sit tight and call for back-up,” Colton said, obviously furious he’d been backed into taking a defensive approach. He pulled out his cell phone out only to find the battery dead and glanced over at her, each of them just making the other out in the darkness.
    Callie could see his face harden and they both knew if it came to the worst, she would be nothing but collateral damage to the bastards who’d already made a good attempt at killing him. And if they thought she had some connection to him, who knew what they might do just for kicks.
    “Shit! Never shoulda fucking brought this here!”
    Seeing his fist clench around the offending phone, Callie recovered enough presence of mind to reach into her own pocket and hand over hers. “Always keep it charged,” she said, keeping one eye on the activity outside. “Go on – you can thank me