I take another sip of beer and grab my sketchbook off the table, pulling the pencil I keep tucked in the metal rings. If anyone ever saw this book, I’d be mortified. Page after page of drawings, all of them her. A clear and visual documentation of every part of her. Her lips, her big, marbled eyes—so expressive and longing.
Touching the pencil to the paper, I relax as the rough scrape of lead moves along the textured white, my mind frantically trying to remember more of what I saw today. Her soft shoulders, her timid expression, her round breasts tucked out of sight. My skin turns hot and my cock presses against the zipper of my slacks. She’s an obsession that’s possessed me in the most delightful of ways. I can’t get enough. The pencil moves back and forth as I shade in the curve of her collarbone and the twist of the sheet at her waist. I’m lost in a world of my own, living inside a fantasy I have no business in, until the phone rings, startling me back into the light.
“Gage here,” I say, pulling back another sip of beer.
“Hey, Gage. This is Maddox down at Rugged Mountain Ink. How are you?” Maddox co-owns a tattoo shop with another guy named Henry in a place called Rugged Mountain. I met Maddox a month or so back when I was interviewing for an artist position at the shop.
“Pretty good. I wasn’t expecting to hear from you all for another week or so.”
“Yeah, I hope it’s not a bother calling early, but we’ve been getting requests for you based on your drawings. We were curious if you’d be interested in starting sooner rather than later.”
The thought of separating from Raven at the end of the semester is hard enough, let alone knowing I’ll be far away, but I knew I needed a change from teaching the second I met her. And a lifetime ago, I used to draw tattoos in a shop right here in town. The work helped me pay for college. I never thought I’d go back, but there’s something about using ink as a medium that connects you to a community that I admire. That, and this shop specifically, has offered me a large compensation package.
“The soonest I can start is three weeks from Friday, and I’ll need a day or two to get moved into my cabin. Does that work?”
“That’s perfect,” Maddox says. “I’ll have Henry send you all the paperwork you need to get started.”
Pleasantries finish the call and I hang up, excited about the new path. I grew up in the mountains of Alaska, so I know what it’s like to live in a small-town community. Most of the time, I miss it. Then, there're nights like tonight, where I’m lost in sketching, thinking about a girl I know I’ll never have. Maybe this is for the best. She’s young, she’s sweet, she’s talented, she’s got her whole life ahead of her without a guy like me dragging her down.This is for the best.I tell myself again as I stare down at the outline of her pretty face.
In three weeks, school is over. In three weeks, I’m free of temptation, the pull, the obsession I have with Raven Baxter… whether I like it or not.
Chapter Three
Raven
My parents have been calling all week and I know deep down, I need to call them back. But ever since I left Rugged Mountain, there’s been distance between us. I know they didn’t like that I came to the city. When you grow up in a small mountain town, everything outside of the forest is like glitter. Shiny, sparkly glitter. Some people like the bright gleam of new things, others despise it. Glitter is the unknown. Glitter is the torrent that drives people to do bad things. Things they’d never do if they’d only stayed in their small town. I thought they were full of it until this semester when I met Professor Hill, and his keen ability to soak my panties a room away.
I pick up the phone and dial my parents’ number, holding my breath as my heart slams against my chest. We’re close, so they’re going to pick up on my weirdness. They’re going to know I’m having indecent thoughts about a man much too old for me.
“Raven Elizabeth,” my mother, Cami, announces. She’s got a tone of aggravation in her speech. I’ve been familiar with this voice since I was a kid. Usually, it was because I’d forgotten to take the clothes off the line before the rain came in, or I let my siblings get away with an extra cookie after dinner. I know she’s not really mad, but the tone is obligatory for mothers to deter bad habits.
“Hey, Mom. Sorry it took so long to get back to you. Life has been crazy with school.”
“Your dad is here too, honey.”
“Hi, Dad.”
I expect him to lecture me on timeliness, but he doesn’t. He sounds happy to hear from me as he says, “Hey, kiddo. How’s school? We miss you here.”
“I know. I miss you guys, too.”
“Your sister and your cousin both said they talked to you last week, so we knew you were fine. Enjoying your college life, I assume. Tell us what’s new?”
Considering the most intriguing thing I currently have going on is posing naked for my art class, and the torrid affair I want to have with the professor, I decide to make something up.
“Oh, I’m just excited to graduate.” I guess that’s not a lie. “I have an interview lined up for a job in the city next week. It’s something that—”
My father audibly huffs. “You’re really going to stay in the city? Why don’t you come work at the shop? I need good artists. You’ve always been exceptional. You didn’t need college to prove that.” My father is a firm believer in talent being inherent. You either have it, or you don’t. To him, college is a waste of time and money.
I don’t love the thought of being away from home. I do miss the country, my family, friends, the horses, the quiet, and really everything about Rugged Mountain.
“Ink isn’t my medium, Dad. I’m a pencil girl, and there’s a big calling for freelance work in the city. People love wedding sketches and there’s a studio downtown that hires artists full time to sketch buildings for major companies. I have an interview this week.”
Awkward silence burns my ears until I change the subject. “How are things there? Addie said that Uncle Maddox is having surgery next week?”
“Knee surgery. He tripped on a misplaced saddle down at the ranch and needs to have it reset. He’ll be off his feet for the next eight weeks or so. Which means I’ll be doing everything at the shop. How is Addie? I ran into her the other day at the diner, and she said she was coming up to visit you soon?”
Addie is my cousin and we’re the closest in age compared to the rest of the kids in the family, so we’ve always been the best of friends, but I can’t imagine if she came to visit right now. She’s loud and isn’t nearly as shy as me. In fact, she’s the opposite of shy… she’s uninhibited. I should call her and see what her plans are. The last thing I need is her showing up unexpectedly… which she’s a fan of doing. Normally, I don’t mind. But lately, I’ve been in my head and I think I want to stay that way for the time being until I get whatever hormones are raging under control. I can’t imagine what would happen if it got out that I was having the hots for my professor.