Barber Shop Ink - Book 3: Riverworth Read online

  Barber Shop Ink Series

  Book 3

  I was an innocent. A daughter. A sister. An orphan.

  I became Morningstar. A punisher. An assassin. Broken.

  Now I am Hedge. Whole. Worthy. His.

  I thought I managed to escape my past, but the past always catches up with you.

  I tried to make them understand, I told them to leave me and my family alone.

  They didn’t listen.

  They threatened my family. They tried to kill Memphis. I will do anything to protect the ones I love.

  They should have walked away.

  Now, I’m coming for them and I plan on finishing this.

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2018 by Penny Blush Books.

  All rights reserved. This work is under copyright. No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means. Including but not limited to photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except with brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. While, as in all fiction, the literary perceptions, and insights are based on life experiences and conclusions drawn from research, all names, characters, places, and specific instances are products of the author’s imagination and used. Any references to historical events, real people, or places are used fictitiously. No actual reference to any real person, living or dead, is intended or inferred and is entirely coincidental.

  Cover Details

  Cover Design © Designed With Grace

  https://www.facebook.com/DesignedGrace/

  Cover Images © Adobe Stock & Penny Blush Books

  Photographer: Alison Flood

  Cover Model: Josh Cotter

  https://www.facebook.com/BetterYOUHealthandFitness/

  https://www.instagram.com/betteryoupt/

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Prologue

  Chapter 1 Hedge

  Chapter 2 Hedge

  Chapter 3 Memphis

  Chapter 4 Memphis

  Chapter 5 Memphis

  Chapter 6 Hedge

  Chapter 7 Hedge

  Chapter 8 Hedge

  Chapter 9 Hedge

  Chapter 10 Hedge

  Chapter 11 Charlie

  Chapter 12 Hedge

  Chapter 13 Hedge

  Chapter 14 Hedge

  Chapter 15 Memphis

  Chapter 16 Hedge

  Chapter 17 Vex

  Chapter 18 Memphis

  Chapter 19 Hedge

  Chap£ter 20 Memphis

  Chapter 21 Jupiter

  Chapter 22 Memphis

  Chapter 23 Morningstar

  Chapter 24 Charlie

  Chapter 25 Vex

  Chapter 26 Apollo

  Chapter 27 Morningstar

  Chapter 28 Apollo

  Chapter 29 Morningstar

  Chapter 30 Apollo

  Chapter 31 Morningstar

  Chapter 32 Jupiter

  Chapter 33 Jupiter

  Chapter 34 Morningstar

  Chapter 35 Vex

  Chapter 36 Apollo

  Chapter 37 Morningstar

  Chapter 38 Charlie

  Chapter 39 Apollo

  Chapter 40 Morningstar

  Chapter 41 Vex

  Chapter 42 Apollo

  Chapter 43 Morningstar

  Chapter 44 Apollo

  Chapter 45 Vex

  Chapter 46 Apollo

  Chapter 47 Vex

  Chapter 48 Jupiter

  Chapter 49 Jupiter

  Chapter 50 Jupiter

  Chapter 51 Jupiter

  Chapter 52 Jupiter

  Chapter 53 Memphis

  Chapter 54 Jupiter

  Chapter 55 Memphis

  Chapter 56 Jupiter

  Chapter 57 Memphis

  Chapter 58 Jupiter

  Chapter 59 Jax

  Chapter 60 Memphis

  Chapter 61 Jupiter

  Chapter 62 Jupiter

  Chapter 63 Jupiter

  Chapter 64 Davan

  Chapter 65 Jupiter

  Books By Penny Blush

  About The Author and Links

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to my brother who thinks I write about vampires and junk.

  Acknowledgements

  Memphis and Hedge’s story had come to an end, but the Barber Shop Ink universe has a few more stories to tell. Because this is the ending of Memphis and Hedge I feel like the thank you should somehow be bigger.

  When I started writing the first Barber Shop Ink book I didn’t realise how many people are involved in producing a book and trust me there are a lot! I will try to make sure that I thank everyone but if I forget someone it is completely unintentional but please know that I am very grateful for everything you have done for me.

  Again, I will try to keep it short …. But as it is me it probably won’t be.

  Thank you to the Ladies from my reader groups The Elite Squad and Critics Corner. Thank you for encouraging me to keep going, to make the story better and for setting me back on the right path when I wondered off.

  The Lady with The Red Pen I don’t think I will ever, ever be able to thank you enough for kicking my butt and making me start writing. The Barber Shop Ink series would not even exist without you. Your encouragement, guidance, and words of wisdom help to keep me grounded. The notes that you left for me in the margins of the draft pages make me think, made me laugh and ultimately made the story better.

  There’s a very special place in my heart with our matching tattoos on it.

  London Lady you are amazing. Thank you, a million times, for everything you have done for me. Thank you for all our late-night chats, random thoughts and drunk messages. BFF since 1924.

  To Miss Hollie Collatt, thank you for your amazing eagle eyes and picking up all the editing errors. Without you I would be lost.

  To my readers, I sincerely cannot thank you enough. Thank you for taking a chance on me and picking up my books. When I first started writing I didn’t think that anyone would want to read my work. I was just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, but then you started reading. Then you started contacting me and telling me how much you love my story and characters. Your encouragement has been overwhelming and I love you all for it.

  Thank you to my family for all your encouragement.

  A massive thank you to my brother who tells people I write book-books about vampire and junk. You may not know what I write about, but you are always supportive of me, thanks bro.

  To my amazing baby sister Alison who took my amazing cover photos and my profile photos. You made time for me in your busy mum/wife/student/teacher schedule. I love you forever and ever and ever. You are a spectacularly talented photographer and someday I wanna be like you.

  And last but not least Josh Cotter, love ya.

  I can’t thank you enough for agreeing to be my cover model. I still can’t believe that you said yes and even after three book covers I keep thinking that you are going to say no anytime I bring up the subject of the next photoshoot. Thank you for always being awesome to work with, for not batting an eyelid when I asked you to do something silly like ‘look down but up to look at me but don’t look at me’. I’m glad someone knows what I’m talking about.

  Thanks for letting me cry my eyes out like a crazy person and for helping me through it with my sanity intact. Thank you for always being encouraging and listening when I need to ‘think out loud’ to work things out in my head. Thank y
ou for not letting me quit.

  Thank you for making me believe that I am an not crazy, I’m unique.

  I know I say it all the time, but you truly are an amazing human with a big heart and I love you almost as much as I love hugging you.

  Prologue

  I was an innocent. A daughter. A sister. An orphan.

  I became Morningstar. A punisher. An assassin. Broken.

  Now I am Whole. Worthy. Loved. His.

  Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you can’t outrun your past. I thought I had. I thought I had escaped mine, but the past catches up with you. I will do anything to protect the ones I love. Even if that meant tapping into a part of myself buried long ago.

  In the quiet of our bedroom, I studied Memphis. My love. My heart. My everything.

  There was a purpose to my studying him. I was taking a mental picture of every nuance of his features; I wanted to remember everything. The different colour shades in his hair and beard, the way his eyelashes brushed his cheeks as he slept. How his lips curled in a slight smile like he was privy to a joke that no one else was. The way his skin smoothed, the worry lines around his eyes dissolving as he rested. His soft snore purring in contented slumber.

  We had made love for hours, worshiping each other’s bodies, loving each other. It was my way of saying I love you, I’ll miss you, I’m sorry. It was my way of saying goodbye.

  While he slipped into an exhausted slumber, believing he would wake, and everything would be right with the world, I studied him. My eyes catalogued the intimate details of every single one of his tattoos. The colours, the designs, the way they followed the contours of his muscles, committing each detail to memory so when I closed my eyes he would be there. I could take him with me.

  I brushed my fingers over his full bottom lip, leaning in to kiss him.

  “I love you Memphis Blue, with all I am,” I whispered kissing him one last time before slipping from the warm comfort of our bed.

  I tiptoed into the bathroom down the hall as to not disturb Memphis. I didn’t want to wake him. I showered and dressed in silence, while locking down my feelings, switching off my emotions.

  To get through what I was about to do; I needed to be emotionless. Turn my heart to stone. I had to become, Morningstar.

  I walked back into the bedroom silent as a ghost. My gaze drifted towards our bed and my breath caught in my throat at the image of my man sleeping. Memphis was asleep, his naked form scarcely covered by a white sheet, making his colourful tattoos stand out in stark contrast. I slipped my phone out of my back pocket snapping a picture – how could I not?

  I slid my phone back into my pocket and I placed the handwritten note I spent hours agonising over, on the bedside table beside his phone and watch. A single tear slid down my cheek as I brushed one last feather-light kiss on his lips, whispering in his ear how much I love him.

  Taking one last look at the love of my life, my future husband, my world, I slipped off my engagement ring placing it on top of the letter and stole away into the night.

  Chapter 1 Hedge

  “Is everything ready?” I asked staring out into the pre-dawn light.

  “Yes,” Henry replied looking over at me with concern evident on his face. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  “No. But it has to be done,” I acknowledged.

  If I don’t - my family won’t be safe. We will spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders. That was no way to live. That was no way for Memphis and I to start our lives together.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Finish this.”

  Those words kept rolling around in my head. I tried to sleep in my uncomfortable seat on a cargo plane that was taking me away from my man, my family, my home.

  “Memphis, please forgive me. Please don’t be mad at me,” I whispered into the low light of the plane, once again wishing I had flown commercial.

  My Uncle Charlie had secured my transport through a contact of his. So, here I am stuck in the belly of a noisy, cold, dimly lit plane somewhere over the ocean heading back to London. As much as I loved London, I never wanted to return to while my uncle was still alive. I didn’t want to get sucked back into the life I had fought so hard to get away from.

  No matter how well thought out you think you have planned your life, sometimes the universe has other ideas. You may have planned a different life for yourself other than the one laid out before you but no matter how hard you try to deviate from the plan, the universe, fate, whoever just keeps picking you up and dumping you straight back on that path.

  You can’t outrun your past. I thought I had.

  I thought I had achieved the impossible. I thought my past remained in that concrete room along with my blood, sweat and tears. The universe had decided otherwise and put my past directly in front of me with no hope of avoiding the inevitable crash.

  I didn’t just crash into my past - I hit it - head on and with such force my family was being hit with shrapnel.

  Because of who I was, what I did, two beautiful innocent souls now gone. Murdered in retaliation, all because Vex didn’t like being told to back off by a girl.

  Nicholas-Nicky-Vex AKA the Grim Reaper, loan shark for the Marino family is a small man, full of his own self-importance, who didn’t like being put in his place. He took offence to a conversation had in church one Sunday morning.

  Vex - the weasel - told Gianni, the son of Georgiou Marino the head of the Marino family that my alter ego Morningstar was gunning for them.

  A little over six years ago I packed Morningstar away in a box never to come out again. Or, so I thought.

  Vex should have honoured the agreement made in church, in front of God and all his followers.

  “Here is what I am willing to do Nicholas,” Morningstar had said while sitting next to Vex in the church pew. “I will walk out of this church, and you will never see me again if you agree to my conditions.” The look Morningstar gave Vex let him know the only choice he had was to accept the deal. “You will forgive the farce of the outstanding debt you have been forcing Memphis to pay. And, if there is any money owing to the family from the original debt, you will pay it out of your own pocket. You do this Nicholas, and we won’t have to have another conversation. Now, tell me you agree.”

  “You… you can’t walk in here making these demands. This is an insult to the family” Vex said.

  “The only insult to the family Nicholas is the one you continue to deliver by disrespecting their business through not agreeing to this deal.”

  “The Marino Family…” Vex started, but he was cut off before he could continue.

  “Nicholas, you are trying my patience. Do not try to hide behind the family, they won’t like it. This deal is inevitable. Your agreement is a mere formality. Say the words, Nicholas.”

  “Fine,” Vex huffed. “Yes, I agree.”

  Except, he didn’t. Vex, went back on his word.

  I should have known Vex wouldn’t honour our deal. I thought he was smarter than that. I was wrong. Not only did he break a deal with Morningstar, but his idiocy knew no bounds, he thought he could lie to the family and get away with it. He thought he was Teflon, that nothing would stick to him.

  The only acceptable outcome of this shit-storm was Vex no longer breathing. As soon as he fabricated the lie he triggered Gianni Marino’s reaction and ensured mine along with it becoming the architect of his demise.

  The only question left to answer was how intact I would be at the end.

  Vex and the fabricated threat that Morningstar was coming for them forced Gianni Marino to act. Gianni had been very disappointed when I left my uncles employment not only because I was the ‘go-between’ for the family and my uncle, but Gianni was sweet on me.

  Yes, we had hooked up, once, one night after one too many celebratory drinks. Gianni wanted more but I shut it down just as fast as it started. One night was all he had and was all he would ever get.

  Gianni, eleven years olde
r than me, helped scratch an itch that is all. It didn’t stop him from trying to make it something more than it was - a drunken mistake.

  Gianni had taken my alleged threat to heart, taking something personal from me in return, Stella and Brian. Two innocent people who had nothing to do with the life aside from letting my uncle use the basement room of Brian’s pub for meetings requiring neutral ground.

  Gianni had them murdered to send a message. Threats against the family would not be taken lightly and will be met with action. Violent action.

  I loved Stella like a sister and Brian just as much, they were my family when I lived in London. I hated myself for thinking this way, but I am so glad that Gianni knew nothing about my current life. It makes my blood run cold imagining what could have happened to Jaxon, Cassidy, the boys, Memphis.

  It would seem Vex had spectacularly elaborated events adding a little spice to the telling of the story. Vex had told Gianni who advised Georgiou that our civil conversation held in the middle of a packed church was far more sinister. Vex the shit said Morningstar accosted him, assaulted him ensuring the message would be taken seriously. The alleged message being that Morningstar has declared war on the Marino Family.

  Georgiou Marino requested a sit-down. A request, if I wanted to end this war before it began ensuring it ended peacefully, I couldn’t refuse.

  Georgiou had requested, through my uncle, a brief phone call to personally secure my agreement to the meeting. He called the phone I kept that was once the only direct line to Morningstar.

  I had kept it all this time, stored in parts. I knew there was no way it could traced or hacked, I had made sure of that. But, needless to say, when I first came home after leaving my uncles, I was a little paranoid. The phone was dismantled each component kept in hack proof casing. Once again, I went to The Box, a huge black trunk-style box that kept everything Morningstar and retrieved the phone components reassembling it.

  A small part of me wished that I had let Jax get rid of it after I turned up on his doorstep bloody and broken. But, if I had, I wouldn’t have had the means to save Memphis when Vex had his goons almost beat him to death. I also wouldn’t have had the clothing and wig required to transform myself into Morningstar when I confronted Vex or the phone to speak with Georgiou.