He ignored the car behind him that honked for him to pull away and looked after Ava until she made her way safely into the school. The horn honked again and with a smile he pulled away from the school.
Friday’s were usually a day full of routines for Luke, who was he kidding, his whole life was one big routine. There wasn’t a day of the week he didn’t have mapped out. However, Friday’s was the day he went to his late brother’s tattoo shop. He had been delegated the responsibility so, once a week he made his way over to the shop and checked on everything. He was certain the shop would be up to par, it always was. When Jake had died, his good friend and right hand at Riverdale Ink, Pete DeSantis had agreed to run the tattoo parlor for the Lanza’s. Everyone in the family agreed that Pete was best suited for the job. He worked beside Jake for years watching him grow his business. It was the right decision because Pete was undyingly loyal to Riverdale Ink and even with its owners passing the business was still striving.
Luke pulled up into the spot in front of Riverdale Ink. It was still early and the shop didn’t open until noon, but Pete would be there for Luke’s and his weekly meeting. He stepped inside the place and like every time before something inside of him ached. The bell chimed letting his presence be known as he glanced around, noticing everything was just as Jake had wanted. Not a thing was altered, except he wasn’t in the first booth wiggling his eyebrows at the first person who walked through the door. He made his way towards Jake’s station, it was clear to see no one had used any of his equipment. On the counter sat some of the sketches that Jake had been working on, and on top of the pile sat the drawing Jake had tattooed to his chest. There was no mistaking the beautiful women staring back at him in the form of black and white. She was the woman who haunted his dreams. Luke lifted the piece of paper, realizing he was probably the first person to ever touch anything in his brother’s area since his passing. How fitting, he thought, as he stared down at the drawing of Cara.
“He was one talented son of a bitch.” Luke heard Pete say from behind and quickly placed the sketch back in its rightful spot. “I still can remember how he pleaded with me to make sure when I inked him I captured her just as he drew her.”
Luke turned around to face Pete, who stood just outside of the cubicle. “My brother was a perfectionist when it came to his work.”
Pete nodded in agreement as Luke stepped out of Jake’s station and they walked towards the lounge area in the front of the shop. There was no office in the shop because there was no need for formalities Jake had figured. They each took a seat on the black leather couches.
“We had a decent week.” Pete said, handing Luke a manila envelope. “The spreadsheets are all in there, along with the credit card receipts.” He handed him another envelope. “There should be two thousand there. Everyone’s been paid, but there are a few bills that came in, those are in the manila envelope.” Pete said as he leaned back against the sofa, his tattooed arms sprawling out along the back of the couch.
Luke placed the envelopes on top of one another and then looked up at him. “So everything’s good.”
“Yeah, we’re all good.” Pete paused and then ran one of his hands along his shaved head. “There’s just one thing.”
Luke arched an eyebrow and peered at Pete.
“I fired Spike.” Pete said flatly and waited for Luke to respond.
Luke drew his eyebrows together as he tried to put a face to the name. “The guy who does the piercing?” Pete nodded. “What did he do?”
Pete blew out a breath and leaned forward as he looked across at Luke. “He’s been selling pills and I’m not a hundred percent certain, but he could’ve been selling them out of here a few times.” He paused and let Luke digest his news then continued cautiously. “To Cara.”
Luke tore his eyes away from Pete and looked down at the floor. “He was selling pills to Cara?”
“She came here a few times. She wasn’t herself man, she was strung out on something.” Pete said remorsefully. “Spike has been dealing for a few months now. He calls himself the Street Pharmacist so my guess is she’s killing the pain with prescription pills. Last night she came in her like a bat out of hell and went straight towards him. I was inking someone so I couldn’t just stop, but I saw the exchange and by the time I was able to check out what was going on, she had already left out the back door.”
Luke swiped his hands down his face and let out a breath. Cara was spiraling out of control and he blamed himself. He blamed himself because he knew about this for months and it was still going on, and now it was probably worse. He should’ve put an end to it already; he vowed to himself right then and there, that he would now. It didn’t matter what it took, he wouldn’t fail her or his brother even though he felt as if he already had failed his brother in more ways than one.
“I’m sorry Luke. I didn’t know what else to do. I had to tell someone, she needs to get help.”