Ink Reunited by Carrie Ann Ryan Page A

standing out and making her want to
vomit.
    They’d found out about Rafe
too.
    Strong hands pulled her around
and she looked into Shep’s eyes, unseeing.
    “Sassy? What’s wrong, honey?
Talk to me. Austin, get her some water.”
    Sassy had forgotten Shep’s
cousin Austin was back in town. She’d have to make sure she teased him about
his ink like she always did. That was, if she could ever think again…or face
these people again.
    Oh God, what would they do
when they found out she’d lied to them all this time?
    “Oh my God, Sassy,” Shea
gasped beside her and Sassy closed her eyes.
    Damn it. She’d seen the
article.
    “Oh honey, that stupid bitch
Vivian is such a fucking asshole when she writes in the gossip column. They put
me and Shep in there when we were first dating because of my dad, but it blew
over.”
    Sassy felt Shea’s hands on her
back but she couldn’t speak. She could only think of what she needed to do and
who she’d have to protect. That was her job.
    She was The Sassy.
    She’d have to give it all up
to make sure Rafe’s family, Ian’s people, her crew, all of them, would be okay.
    There was no other choice open
to her.
    Because no matter how
scandalous it was for Shea, the golden girl, to date an inked tattoo artist, it
was nothing like being the lost Bordeaux princess who found herself in a
threesome with one of the most eligible men in the United States and another
man with no breeding according to her parents’ society circles.
    That’s what they’d tear them
down to. It didn’t matter that she loved Ian and Rafe or that they were both
more than a label. Nothing mattered in the world where she’d grown up, that same
world she still fought so hard to leave behind.
    The public face was the only
thing that mattered in that world.
    Living the ultimate sin in
their eyes would only harm Ian and Rafe.
    She couldn’t do that.
    No matter what she thought of
herself, she wouldn’t hurt the men she loved.
    Damn it.
    Tears threatened, but she
fought them back. She wouldn’t break down in front of her friends—the family
she’d made with ties she hoped to God were stronger than blood.
    “Shit, Sassy, there’s a crew
out here with a camera saying they want to talk to you,” Austin said from
behind her and Sassy held back a shudder. “I locked the doors. This is private
property and they can go fuck themselves.”
    “I need to get out of here,”
she whispered, her voice broken.
    Her everything broken.
    Shep ran a hand through her
hair, but she barely felt it.
    Barely felt anything.
    “Okay, honey, we’ll get you
out of here.”
    She shook her head and pulled
away. She could feel the stares of everyone in the room. People she loved
walking toward her, trying to help, but she couldn’t do it, couldn’t take it.
    “I need to be alone. I’m going
to go out the back, but I don’t have my car.”
    Austin threw his keys at her
and she caught them without thinking. “It’s my rental. Take it. I can hitch a
ride with Shep, easy.”
    “Austin, I don’t think she
should be driving right now,” Shea admonished.
    “I think she’s stronger than
any of us. If she needs to get the fuck away, we need to let her,” Austin
countered.
    God, even a man she’d only
known for a couple months thought she was stronger than she really was. She
hoped she could live up to it because she was about to do something that would
take everything out of her.
    “Sassy,” Shep snapped and she
blinked out of whatever daze she was in. “Get it together. I know you can do
this. You need to leave? Okay, we can do that for you. But you don’t get to
drive out there and hurt yourself because you’re locked in your head. Get me?”
    She nodded, grateful for her
family. “I’m going to be okay,” she lied.
    She’d never be okay with what
she had to do, but she’d do it anyway. Strength didn’t come from the easy choices,
but from the very difficult ones that she was being forced to make now.
    “We’ll