Damage Control

There's me: Micah Owens. Tattoo artist at Damage Control. No parents or siblings. A past that still gives me nightmares. And then there's her: Evangeline, the girl who saved my life and haunts my more pleasant dreams. Only she doesn't know who I really am, and telling her might well send her fleeing for the hills. She deserves better than a loser like me. She's pretty. She's clever. She's goddamn sexy and has a heart of gold. Which is why I can't tell her.

Returning to Madison hurts. I thought I'd left my past behind, but the past goes on living. I carry it inside of me, it's a piece of me. People have marked me in indelible ways, and I drag the shreds of my soul behind me, trying to put my pieces back together. I'm not the Amber I used to be. I fly under the radar, try to be invisible. It doesn't always work. Drawing attention scares me. It always spells trouble. Returning to my hometown is a last-ditch effort to lay my demons to rest and start anew, for good this time.

Life is a b*tch. Keeps screwing me over, and I take blow after blow, sucking it up, giving her the finger. Don't get me wrong: I love women. Especially one woman—Madeline. She's gorgeous, she's sexy, she's goddamn perfect. Plus—minor detail—she has a boyfriend already. Not that she'd want anything to do with the likes of me. Apprentice tattoo artist, former homeless person, covered in ink, without a penny to my name. And sort of cursed.

Once upon a time, my life was good. I had a family, I had a girlfriend, and hopes for the future. That was long ago, but I remember it. A hazy dream of what could have been.That's gone now. I lost it all. Life f--ked me over, and now I'm scared of my own damn shadow.

I thought I was a normal kid once. Do normal kids have to beg door to door for food? Not sure. It wasn't always that bad, I guess - and then it was. Really f--king bad. I tried to protect my younger brother from the fallout. Lied to him about how bad things were. But it wasn't enough. And when the accident happened, he blamed me, like everyone else. I'm guilty of many things. He's right about that, at least. So damn guilty I'm sure everyone knows and will call me out on it. Except they don't. Nobody does, except my brother. Not even Kayla, sexy and sweet and coolest girl ever.