Divorced and Falling for the Tattoo Master

Gavin Kessler

~ GAVIN ~

I pulled into the brick paver driveway of Edward’s luxurious mansion. It was the kind of house that appeared in magazines — the kind average earners liked to critique, as if they would ever come close to owning one. His security would recognize my Maybach Exelero from a mile away, not just because it was the only one ever built, but also because I visited my younger brother every other week.

With just a year and a few months between us, Edward and I were nearly twins and we grew up doing pretty much everything together. Now our paths were two parallel lines that would never meet — at least not in the open.

He was the CEO of our family’s multigenerational company, married to a good woman, blessed with the cutest daughter and another baby on the way. He was the responsible man multiplying our family fortune and carrying on the prestigious Kessler name.

And I was… the other brother.

The night breeze tousled my hair as I stepped out of the vehicle, its revving engine a low hum in the silence. I gave the supercar a one over before turning off the engine and sauntering to the house.

“Uncle Gavi!” Taylor’s excited squeal welcomed me into the grand foyer. My favourite niece had long decided the n at the end of my name was either too difficult or unimportant for her to pronounce. At four, she was already wise beyond her years, one of those children you knew would leave a mark on this world — you just had to hope it was a positive one.

“Hey princess,” I lifted her and with practiced ease, she wrapped her short legs around my loins. “Where’s everybody?”

“Mommy’s in her room sleeping. Daddy’s by the pool working.”

Sounds like just another day in the Edward Kessler household when you have a mother who is pregnant and a father who understands he cannot afford to drop the ball.

Growing up a Kessler, you learn early on that the name comes with a lot of privileges. But even before that, you learn there are responsibilities too. Most important among them is doing whatever it takes to keep the family name respected and scandal-free. So far, only Edward had managed to do that. And if he was working into the night like Taylor said, that meant more money for the family company and in turn, more respect for the family name, thanks to him.

“And you, my dainty little princess, what are you doing?”

“I’m just playing with my toys. Would you play with me?” she asked, gesturing to a spread of dolls and teddies and… well, lots of pink.

“You know I’d love to, princess. But I need to discuss something important with daddy first. By the time we’re done, I’m sure you’d be fast asleep. So some other time, huh?”

Even though her eyes said she was unhappy about my decline of her invitation, she nodded. I set her down and crossed the large room to the door that led to the backyard where the pool sat. Once outside, I could see my brother’s familiar frame as he lounged in a chair by the pool, a cloud of smoke rising from his lips. I walked up to him, finding an open laptop on the table in front of him, along with an ashtray and a bottle of whiskey.

“Keeping warm, I see,” I said as I took the chair opposite him, attempting to draw in the night’s fresh air but ending up with Edward’s cigar smoke in my lungs.

“Good to see you, brother,” he drawled, uncrossing his legs and taking on a more attentive position.

I got straight to business.

“You didn’t leave mom flowers today. It’s her birthday,” I commented, my eyes fixed on his face.

“I had a bad day at the office today and didn’t want to go see her in a foul mood. I’m sure she had enough of angry Edward when she was alive.”

“How bad was your day? Did it involve having a revolver shot at you?” I asked.

It definitely didn’t.

“No, but it involved learning that I lost yet another contract I have been working on for months to a competitor. I literally had to cancel all the meetings on my schedule today because I was in such a foul mood.”

“Well, my day involved nearly being assassinated but I still went to the cemetery to leave mom flowers. I saw no flowers there which means neither you nor father visited.”

“What are you now, Gavin? The gravesite visit police?” Edward asked, irritation evident in his tone.

“Just a man who knows he should honour his late mother, especially on her birthday,” I replied, unperturbed.

“No, you’re a man who still carries guilt from his mother’s death and is doing everything he can to make up for it.”

His words hit me like a punch to my jugular, probably because I knew they were true. Stalling for time, I poured myself a shot of whiskey from the open bottle and downed it in one gulp, revering the feeling of the liquid as it burned down my throat and settled in the pit of my stomach.

I could reply with the words that were already at the tip of my tongue and escalate the situation, which would result in me speeding home in a few minutes and not speaking to my brother for the next few weeks because neither of our egos would let us apologize first. Or I could make my therapist proud.

I chose to make Dr. Sid proud. “All I’m saying is it would have been nice to celebrate with her today. She would have been fifty-five.”

It worked. Edward’s tone softened and he offered me a cigar. “I know, Gavin. I just had a really bad day. I’ll visit her tomorrow. Now tell me, who tried to kill my beloved big brother?”

I lit the cigar and drew a long puff. “Take a guess.”

“Unfortunately, I would like to get some shut-eye tonight.”

I chuckled lightly. “Hushwolf sent one of his boys to my studio with a gun.”

“Whoa! Hushwolf, your business rival? Are we at the stage of gunshots already? I thought he was just bluffing.”

“I thought so too. I was wrong.”

When I started GK Tattoos six years ago, Hushwolf’s tattoo shop was already four years old and undisputedly the biggest tattoo shop in Boston, and the whole of Massachusetts. All the wealthy and popular people got their tattoos at his place and he was living the life.

Until I entered the picture. With every year of grit, talent and aggressive marketing, GK Tattoos rose while Hushwolf ran on old glory. He still liked to pretend he hadn’t noticed me, even after I won all three awards he was nominated for last year and my name was on every lip in the tattoo community. Everyone that mattered wanted to get inked out by the Tattoo Master.

Now, I had conquered Massachusetts and wanted to expand into other states, starting with the hub of commerce, California. Luckily, I found the perfect building for my business but the agent said another buyer was already interested in it. The only place I took no for an answer was in the bedroom so I made a higher bid for the lease and paid.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that the other person interested in this property was none other than Hushwolf himself. He was convinced I knew he was the interested buyer and acquired it just to spite him.

Last month, I received a message from him to release the building or ‘face the consequences’. Today, I found out what one of those consequences was supposed to be but thankfully, I was prepared. I am always prepared.

“So what are you going to do now?” Edward asked.

“Keep amputating the fingers of the people he sends to shoot me.”

“That’s… graphic,” he winced.

“Graceful actually. He gets some grace because he is a father. The príck’s got a daughter not much older than Taylor and I can’t imagine being the reason a little girl grows up without her father. But I hope with all the secret digging he has done on me, he’s learnt that my compassion wears thin faster than snow melting in the Phoenix sun.”

“You need to be careful, Gavin. Most of these people are really crazy.”

“You’re advising the wrong person, Eddy.”

“That’s what all the tough guys say until their faces end up on a shirt with a dove beside their name-“

“Let’s talk about other things,” I interrupted, already tired of the Hushwolf topic. There was someone else on my mind — the curvy brunette I wanted to taste.

Edward eyed me suspiciously. “You look like you have some specific ‘other thing’ you want to talk about.”

“I do. Guess who walked into the shop to get a tattoo today?”

“Easy. Aunt Roseline.”

I threw my head back as my chest heaved in laughter. Aunt Roseline was our mother’s older sister who had pretty much assumed our mother’s position in our lives after she died. She was kind, bubbly and full of life, but easily the most judgemental person you would ever meet; always giving her unsolicited opinions about one thing or the other. If I wasn’t her nephew, she would definitely have already cut me out of her life for owning a tattoo shop and ‘leading people to sin’. Hell would freeze over before she gets a tattoo.

I puffed a column of smoke. “That would be nice but no, it’s the girl we placed a bet on five years ago.”