I took a deep breath before knocking on the apartment door, both bags slung over my shoulder, one with the things he forgot at my place last and one with my things for the week. "Oh, I'm sorry who are you?" a brunette woman asked, a brunette woman who just happened to be naked except for a t-shirt. "I'm Carter" I sighed holding out a hand "OH! Baron's tattoo designer, he's at the gym right now, he should be back around 5 if you want to come back then" she smiled shaking my hand "Alright, thanks" I nodded, I knew exactly where she was talking about, I also wouldn't be coming back later. Spinning on my heel I walked back to my car and got in driving the short distance to the NXT Performance Center. I grabbed Baron's bag and then walked inside smiling when I saw Corey Graves, a mutual friend of mine and Baron. "Hey Carter, what are you doing here?" he asked hugging me tightly before eyeing the bag in my hand "I was supposed to stay with Baron for the week but" I faded off and shrugged as he got a sad look on his face "Do me a favor?" I asked sweetly holding out the bag for him to take "Anything for you Doll" he nodded giving me a small smile. "Give him his bag and tell him he's an asshole and to go to hell." I informed reaching to hug him one more time before I waved goodbye and left, heading for the airport so I could trade in my ticket for a flight out today.

COREY POV

"Corbin" I called loudly getting his attention, and several others, as I walked into the weight room his duffle bag slung over my shoulder. "What's up man?" the 'lone wolf' of NXT asked as we met halfway. "You're an asshole. Here's your shit. And go to hell." I stated not even flinching as I shoved his bag into his chest and watched the emotions play out on his face. Anger, confusion, realization, anger, more confusion and finally horror. "Oh fuck" he muttered dropping his head into his hands "Yeah, at least YOU didn't have to see her face." I spat spinning on my heel and walking away to return to what I was doing prior to Carter's appearance.

END COREY POV

"Hey Carter, you got someone here to see you" our front desk woman Alex called as I was mid tattoo. "Do they have an appointment" I called back never losing focus on the task in front of me, it was a color touch-up but sometimes that was even more stressful than a tattoo from scratch because you had to make sure the colors matched up and you didn't color somewhere you shouldn't have. "No" she stated walking into the backroom with a look of exasperation on her face. "Then tell them to either wait or set up an appointment" I decided looking at her briefly before returning my attention to the tattoo. A little under an hour later I was walking the customer to the front of the shop and checking my schedule to see that I had an appointment with Baron in 10 minutes. "Alex, when he gets here send him back." I sighed, angry with him or not he was a paying customer, and one of the few who refused to go anywhere else for their ink. I walked into my room and took a seat dropping my head in my hands to try and get my head on straight before he came in, it had been nearly 2 weeks since I had talked to him, not that he hadn't tried I just ignored him. "Hey, Alex said you were ready for me" his deep but soft voice filled up the small room sending my heart into overdrive at being so close to him. His scent was invading my nostrils as the door shut quietly behind him and his footsteps approached the bench in front of me. "What do you need done" I asked quietly clearing my throat to try and get rid of the scratchy feeling that accompanies crying. "Just a touch up and a new one, if that's alright" he stated sitting down and removing his long sleeve shirt to reveal the lightly tanned and tattooed skin beneath it.

"What do you want touched up?" I asked knowing I had just done a full body touchup on him not that long ago. "This one" he whispered holding out his left hand to reveal the lion head decorating his ring finger. "Oh. Okay" I nodded prepping the black and grey ink before I scooted closer and grabbed his hand to hold it steady while I worked, trying not to think about the matching lioness on my matching finger. "How are you Carter" he asked after a brief silence, I had to take a deep breathe to calm myself down before I shouted out everything I was feeling, he was still my customer after all. "I'm great." I answered shortly wiping away the excess ink before switching out the needles and prepping for whatever outline he wanted done. "What's next?" I asked moving away from him and over to my drawing station "Here…I want this but the colors a little less pastel and neon" he grunted handing me a printed picture of a butterfly, not much different than the ones adorning my arm. "Where?" I asked quietly tracing the outline with my finger as I finally looked at him, he looked exhausted and worn out. "Here, if it's possible" he stated grabbing my hand and pressing it to his chest right above his heart. "I'm assuming you want it to blend in with the rest of your sleeve?" I asked lightly pressing my hand into the area, the feeling of his warm skin sending flutters through my chest. "I want to have the butterfly right above my heart, if there's any way you can connect it all that'd be great." He smiled slightly moving so he could sit beside me while I drew out the design. "The higher ups are okay with this?" I asked softly finishing up the main part and turning to transfer it to his skin so I could draw in some extra details to connect it to his sleeve.

"Yeah, they were cool with it" he nodded staying still the best he could as I drew. "How does that look?" I asked sweetly holding up a handheld mirror so he could see it. "Looks great." He nodded moving back to the table to lay down as I immediately got started the conversation stopping as I worked. About an hour and a half later the tattoo was complete and I was wiping him up so he could take a look at it. "It's perfect Carter, really I love it" he grinned pulling me into a tight hug of appreciation. "Baron" I called quietly as he went to leave the room "Yeah Carter?" he returned turning to look at me "Why the butterfly?" I asked softly looking up and catching his eyes as he smiled "They leave for a while, but they always come home. Kind of like me. I leave for a few weeks and pretend none of this exists but I'll always come back" he whispered smiling once again before he walked out of my life again, but this time I knew it wouldn't be forever. It never was, true to what he just explained he would leave for a couple weeks but he always came back, it's why I never had the chance to get over him. Every time I thought I was getting over him he popped back up and sent me straight back to square one, it was the circle of our relationship I guess. Rolling my eyes at the revving engine from the front of the store I got to work cleaning up my area before I headed home, wondering when he'd return.