And If All Fail: Last Chance For Love

By T.B. THORNE

It felt like Kore Rowen had ruined him. She stepped into his life and stepped back at her own will, without thinking of the devastation that might follow. She had walked into his tattoo parlor, and for that hour, Omar could focus on nothing else. Just one tattoo out of a hundred, impossible to pick out from the growing scene that creeped up her arm. Omar Waters was just one out of a hundred.

And then she is brought back. A mutual friend brings them together for a night out at a bar, and Omar finds her just as mysterious as before. Just as unreachable, even when he reaches out to take her hand, even when he discovers her favorite color, even when he wakes up in the same bed as her.

And she strikes a deal with him.

He would have his chance to convince her that he wasn't just one of a hundred. Not just another wonderstruck stalker. And if all fails, they will go back to being strangers again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: T.B. THORNE
• Release date: Apr 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393548126

Book preview

Chapter 1

Her love for him was Nuclear.

His lust for her was Unnatural.

And they met in such unassuming circumstances.

And they grew to love each other.

Chapter 2

It was a sweltering summer day, and Omar Waters and his coworkers were debating closing up shop early. Even though the tattoo parlor they worked at was air conditioned, it didn’t seem to make any difference and no one in their right mind would want to sit in a leather chair for a few hours in this heat to get a tattoo. They had spent most of their day lounging around complaining and trying to find new ways to cool down, but none of them actually brought up their shared thoughts of closing the shop. There was no point, anyway. They would go home and just end up trying to fight the heat alone and that would make them sweaty and miserable.

I’m going to jump into the ocean. Medusa sighed. Omar looked up from his chair to survey the shop. Medusa sat, tying up her box braids into a ponytail, on the tiled floor which provided a bit of relief from the heat. Tanya was holding a cold water bottle up to her neck, and Hasan was fanning himself. All of them had stripped down to their undershirts, which they had gotten into the habit of wearing during the summer.

His lifelong friends. They had all met in college, and all somehow ended up setting up this tattoo shop by themselves. It was just Tanya and Omar at first. They were both miserable in college, trying to convince themselves that the next four years of studying would be anywhere near worthwhile when they struck a deal. They would both drop out of school and take up apprenticeships as tattoo artists. It was the biggest risk either of them had taken in their entire lives, and their promise to each other forged a friendship that would never break.

Then Medusa, who hadn’t actually attended their college at all, but she went to enough of the parties that they knew her, and finally became friends when they ended up apprenticing at the tattoo shop that she worked at. She was cold and short tempered and guided them through their new chapter of their adult lives with a compassion that they would never forget and would rarely see again.

Hasan joined their group last. He was friends with Medusa, however unlikely it seemed. He was the only one of them to graduate, and he was something like an unofficial employee of the shop. He didn’t actually do any art, but he kept them entertained while he worked at his actual job, freelance programming.

This was his family now. His strange ragtag bunch of friends all from such different backgrounds. They had all met by such slim chances that it seemed to make them cling to each other only more, the fear that they might never have met fueling their friendship in a strange way. Medusa once let Omar live at her apartment for two weeks after a particularly difficult breakup and all of them knew that Hasan secretly had a thing for Medusa, and they were completely inseparable. They worked together, relaxed together, and they would spend the rest of their lives together.

You guys are a bunch of babies. You would have died if you lived in Afghanistan. Hasan teased, snapping Omar out of his thoughts. Medusa glared at him, leaning back on the front desk in that intimidating way that would make most men crumble. It made Hasan smile, for some odd reason.

You came here when you were five, you don’t remember jack shit about Afghanistan, and you know it. she snapped with a weak anger.

How does she have the energy? Omar wondered, watching with mild interest. Hasan was the only one that could actually get away with teasing Medusa like that. She had a quick temper and an absolutely devastating right hook, and it was how she earned her nickname. It was a bit annoying sometimes, but her temper paid off, since they didn’t have to hire security for their shop at all. Medusa had that area covered and she would rip apart whoever had wasted the extra money.

I know that you would have died, though. he said, his smile never wavering. They carried on bickering back and forth, and it was only interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

And she stepped in.

And that was how they met.

So unremarkable.

Chapter 3

Their first customer of the day walked in and all of them turned to look at the front door. Omar’s heart stopped for a beat, and then stumbled over the rest.

She was gorgeous. Olive skin and black hair that was so black you could squint and see blue. A sharp, analytical gaze that seemed to weigh on his body. She wasn’t very tall, and she had a slim build, but there was an intimidating air around her that rivaled Medusa’s. Perhaps it was because she was the only one in the city wearing a leather jacket in this weather. Or maybe it was the way that she hadn’t broken into a sweat at all. Or maybe... it was just how she seemed to wick away every atom of air and ray of light in the room to draw attention to herself.

Oh hey! Tanya put down her water bottle and waved at the mystery woman, the only one out of all of them to not be completely stunned by her presence. You actually came!

The woman didn’t say anything, but she nodded. Her silence didn’t seem to faze Tanya at all, but everyone else was a bit on edge by this silent woman’s appearance. They hadn’t really been expecting anyone to come