5 Words

The stencil is already on his skin when the memory hits—tiny brown curls, a gummy grin, a laugh that used to echo through his kitchen. Sully blinks hard, swallows it down, and fires up the needle.

By day, Sam “Sully” Sullivan runs one of the busiest tattoo shops in Gig Harbor. The machines buzz, the ink stains his fingers, his crew has his back. He jokes, he works late, he goes home to a quiet house where a little girl’s bedroom door stays shut.

Kace Deja Sullivan was almost three when she disappeared. Since then, every ringing phone could be the call that changes everything. So he never turns it off. He never leaves town for long. He never lets himself plan a future that stretches beyond the hope that she might somehow come back.

Love doesn’t fit in that narrow life. At least that’s what he keeps telling himself… and Mya.

One night years ago, he nearly let her in—soft skin, sharp tongue, eyes that see too much. He tasted what it might be like to want something for himself again, then slammed the door on it. Now Mya is done with half-truths and almosts. She wants real answers, real promises, a man who doesn’t hide behind ink and sarcasm.

Sully is certain he has nothing left to give but loyalty to a missing child and a heart held together with scar tissue. If he reaches for Mya, he risks tearing open everything he’s managed to keep barely intact—and some losses, he knows too well, never stop burning once they’re exposed to the light.