TAT Box Set

by Emjay Soren

  I smiled, my own buzz making me look like a goofy bastard I’m sure. “Always babe.”

  I felt like an ass calling her that, it was natural though and the way she smiled I couldn’t change my words.

  “I mean it.” She had whispered and leaned in closer as she wrapped her hand in mine. I looked down, excited and hopeful as fuck at just that one action. Then I felt it. A tangled up metal chain. I knew without looking what she had, but looked anyway because I needed to know she kept it. As I looked down she opened her palm.

  In it was a charm bracelet I gave her on her eighteenth birthday. A small token really, a simple chain with a little guitar on it.

  “Always, Babe.” She said back and I melted. Noah came back to the table then and she moved away from me, the moment gone and I could have killed him.

  Tonight as I lay here I wish like fuck I had manned up and dropped the charade.

  When I left that night I hugged her and wished her happy birthday again. She looked up at me with a little slur and glossy red eyes, “Like the Capulets and the Montagues, you n’ me.” She hiccupped and like a ghost Noah grabbed her and carried her to bed.

  I left and to this day I wonder if she remembers that. One day, I hope I can ask her. Knowing there is no sleep coming my way I reach for my lamp and flip it on. I look at the bandana on my dresser, thinking of her eyeing me when I wore it and decide it’s good inspiration.

  I grab my guitar and try to find the tune to the old Dire Straits song Romeo and Juliet. After destroying the rendition in my head I pull up the song on you tube, and like that I fall into the lyrics as I remember Gramps old Dire Straits albums as a kid.

  I slowed it down, let it moan from me as I sang with a yearning for my Juliet.

  Chapter Four

  Chad

  I was slammed at work with back to back clients and currently stuck with a female that was on my last nerve. The entire time I was working on her she would moan even though I knew she was in pain. Normally that shit would get me playful and I would work her up and get her in bed by the end of the night. But suddenly the appeal was gone. I think of getting laid now and it is only Carrie I see. She invades every damn thing these days and its got me irritable.

  “You need to get laid.” Shame says to me after I bit his head off for calling me three times in a row. Clearly I was busy. I told the chick on my table to take a break so I could take a call and left before she could reply or offer a quickie.

  Trust me, she would have offered.

  “What do you want?” I say by way of ignoring his remark.

  “Bonfire at the cabin tonight. Tell the herd.”

  I make a sound of disgust. “Seriously? Another rager? Cant we just chill our crew? I’m sick of the hype, I need a break.”

  “No, you’re sick of the dry spell. Get some pussy and lighten the fuck up.” He says, knowing damn well its been months, since September since I have fucked anyone other than myself.

  “I don’t want pussy.” I snarl, at my limit with this whole thing. I need it to come to a head before I go insane.

  “You’re right, you want Miss Beckett and too big of a pussy to go for it.” Well… there it was.

  “I gotta get back to work.” I say avoiding the truth.

  “You know I’m right.”

  I didn’t say a word.

  “One thing Chad, and Ill let it go I swear.”

  Again I said nothing.

  “Noah will get over it. He might hate it, might try to kill you, but he will get over it. He just needs to see she is different.”

  “Yeah…” I agree with a sigh. “Look ill see you tonight.”

  I go back to my client and half heartedly finish up her tattoo as I try to mentally get Carrie out of my head. To get that damn memory out of my head. To get that song out of my head. Fuck, maybe the celibacy thing was getting to me. I look up to the willing woman on my table and the affect she has on me is the same one when a random girl puked on my dick as she was giving me head.

  In other words, a seriously diminished libido.

  Then she appeared, laughing and hugging Bobby when our eyes met. And like a prayer in the middle of the night, she finally gave me hope. Her eyes on me told me more than words ever have and I knew then that Shame was right.

  All in.

  Carrie

  I was scheduled to work tonight, but swung into Slave to the Needle for a piece Noah was giving me on my ribs. It was a surprise and I couldn’t wait to tell him what I was getting. It was an extremely personal tattoo that I would cherish forever… but I was also making a request.

  I dressed in a black sports bra and a pair of tight fitting hot pink yoga pants with some two dollar flip-flops. I walked into the shop and stopped short when I saw Chad sitting in a chair on the other side of the shop. A woman with blonde hair, fake I might add, not natural like mine, was lying on the bed in front of him. The tattoo was being placed, of course, on her lower back. So typical. Perhaps I was being catty, but at least I was big enough to admit it.

  “There she is.” Bobby said from behind the front desk. Bobby was six foot six and probably three hundred pounds of pure muscle. He rode a Harley, he owned the shop and looked every bit your stereotypical biker/tattoo dude. Noah had been trained under Bobby, and in return Bobby had become like family. He was nothing like his appearance. I’d learned long ago to trust my instincts, and with Bobby I felt as safe as I did with Noah.

  “Noah has been going on about this piece all day. Tell me for fuck’s sake, what is it?”

  I wrap my arms around him in return of the tight hug he’s giving me and whisper the idea in his ear. I hear Bobby laughing and saying something, but I am not checked into the conversation at all. Chad looked up from his client and his eyes were on me, every inch of me, and he wasn’t hiding what he wanted.

  I wished like hell Noah wasn’t there, because with a look like that I would have charged over there, knocked the hussy off the bed and laid myself out like a buffet. Instead, I smiled and pulled back from Bobby who was looking at me like I was checked out. Which I was.

  I cleared my throat. “Sorry, what sweetie?”

  “I asked if you thought of adding anything to it.”

  Oh duh… the tattoo. “No, just basic and simple.”

  “Classic. It suits you.”

  I smiled and walked away when the phone started ringing and Bobby stepped back behind the enormous desk. I passed Chad’s space and smiled before drawing my brows in silent assessment of the tatterfly on his table. Look at that, there is a girl for each day of the week, I wanted to say. Instead I just smirked to myself and walked over to Noah.

  “Okay, spill it.” Noah said loudly. For a split second I thought I was busted for flirting with Chad. “What are we doing?”

  I took a deep breath and felt the relief that he still doesn’t know. He might suspect, but I’m clear for now. All he cares about this instant is the secret behind my tat.

  I reached in my purse and opened an envelope that contains the words I want across my ribs. Words that symbolize it all.

  You were always so far away

  I know that pain, so don't you run away

  Like I used to do

  The minute Noah reads the lyrics, I can see they’ve touched him deeply. They’re from an Alice in Chains song called ‘Brother’. After our move to Gig Harbor I saw the effects of the abuse in Noah, so I started singing it to him. Now I sang it whenever he was in a mood.

  “Damn, sissy. You gut me sometimes.” He said in a soft voice.

  I explained where I want the tat and Noah got to work on my piece. When he was about halfway through, he’s dialed into what he’s doing, and I know his focus is on my skin and the meaning behind it. Right now he thinks his little sister is sweet and awesome and special, so it’s the perfect time to ask, demand really, that he back off a little.

  “Bubba?” I asked in my gentle, do-not-disturb voice using my childhood name for him.

  “Hmm?”

 
; “I’m coming to your next gig.”

  I bit my lip and waited for his reaction; it’s like he hasn’t even heard me. But he paused slightly and I heard him take a deep breath when I asked, so I know he did. Right now though, he looks like there ain’t a care in his world.

  I see Chad from the corner of my eye, his eyes are on me waiting for Noah’s response. Now he knows that I’m making my move. I can’t breathe with the look on his face.

  When Noah speaks it doesn’t shock me one bit.

  “No. You’re not.” His tone and the rigidness of his shoulders tell me I have lost the battle, but not the war.

  The damn war hasn’t even started yet.

  Noah seemed to be tuned out the rest of the session and I let him focus and think, hoping he would come around. He’d seemed shut off lately, and though he was like that a lot, he was never like that with me. Lately though, he was never around and when he was, he was either sleeping or being a complete jerk. It hurt that he acted like that, but in the end it was going to make it a lot easier to seduce me some Chad.

  Chad

  "Ah, dish duty." I say as I come in the back doors of The Joint looking for my girl. I see her startles and rub a hand over her ribs that Noah tattooed today. “How’s it feel?” I ask because it shouldn’t be near dish water right now and no matter how deep I am into her, I wont let her risk infection or destroy what I guarantee is a perfect tattoo.

  “Fine, I was just worried if it was staying dry.”

  “Dishes probably weren’t the best job tonight. Want me to look?” I had to play everything cool here because I was about to raise serious hell.

  She shakes her head no and goes back to work and it pisses me off. I hate how much she works and by God I hope I am about to change that. “Let me guess you picked up the shift?”

  She shrugs. "I wanted it. It’s slow tonight and it’s easy money."

  The fucking pier is empty because of the rain and with six other employee’s here she could definitely close early. "Think you'll be out soon?"

  My stomach dropped before a horde of butterflies started jumping and fluttering about in my She paused washing and I watched as she took a deep breath before looking at me. "Yeah. We’re waiting till eight. If we don’t get anything by then, we’ll close up shop."

  I take my hat off to shake the water off it, to prove how dead it is on the pier tonight. "The pier is empty, not a soul in sight, same with Main."

  "Good." She muttered and I knew she was tired by the way she relaxed knowing she was off soon. I wanted to help her get out too so I took off my jacket, grabbed the hose and rinsed as she washed. "You don’t need to help, Chad. That’s what nights off are for."

  "Yeah, but if I help, you get out of here faster, then maybe we can hang out." Fuuuuuuuck me… I did it. I asked her.

  She seemed to think about that for a fucking year, I swear to God.

  "Hang out?" She finally asked and I knew it was a test. Old player in the same old ass game. I knew what she was getting at and I was gonna make it damn clear.

  "Yeah, a date I guess, even though it’s short notice. No big deal if you don’t want to, I just thought maybe we could see what it was like to raise hell against your brother?" I wink at her and smile knowing she wants to. She wants me just as much. I’m her Romeo, and unlike the pussy from the story I would stick around. “You down?”

  She licks her lips, nervous or excited didn’t matter, both were good signs. “What did you have in mind?"

  "The band’s gonna hang out and drink some beers over at Shamus James cabin on Sammamish. Nothing too exciting, I know, but I figured if you were free...." I let the words hang in the air and watch her. This was where I had to go all in and give her what she doesn’t think I can.

  “You said I had to separate you from the fangirls and tatterflie’s, so I figured this was the best way. I’ve never taken a date to a party… with the band… and all the other artists… and whatever.” I shrug my shoulders and wait. She wanted real, well there it is. That was the truth. I never bring a date to anything. Even my prom. I went solo and out with Chetney Brown. This was game changing and I prayed she knew that.

  Finally, she looked at me and smiled.

  "Sure, can I change first?"

  Be cool you fuck, be cool.

  "Yeah, I can pick you up in an hour?"

  She bit her lip with a smile and nodded.

  “I’ll text Noah and let him know that I’ll be there to get you guys by nine.” I have my phone out and text Noah.

  Picking you and Carrie up at 9. She is my date tonight and you better suck it up. Shit just got real big brother.

  “Where is your phone, Carrie?”

  “In my purse. Why?” I grabbed her phone and started putting my number in her phone like I have wanted to forever. My phone started ringing as I hit send on my text to Carrie. I hit the answer button and held my phone to my side so he could hear.

  “All in, Carrie. If we do this we’re both all in, agreed?” I said loud and clear with all seriousness in hopes Noah heard me.

  “Yeah, of course.”

  I hear a muffled ‘Fuck!’ from my phone and smile knowing Noah heard every word. I lean in feeling like I am the king of the world and kiss her cheek and whisper in her ear to check her phone and I will see her in an hour.

  *

  “Are you fucking high?” Noah roared through the phone.

  “Dude, it is happening. Get over it.” I say as I hop in my truck and put him on my Bluetooth speaker while my windshield wipers get to work on the rain.

  “Think the fire is still a go in this rain?” I ask, just because it feels good to fuck with him.

  “You are not taking my sister to a fucking pussy party Chad.”

  “I mean, it is really coming down out here.” I continue as he rages. Best to let him get it out.

  He says silent for a few minutes uttering a curse here and there while he fights with himself over it. “You don’t know her man. You don’t know her favorite flower, or song… you know what we let you know. You cant take that and run. She is layered, Chad and not a whore!”

  “Let me start off saying a loud, I fuckin know. I will learn as I go and never in a million years would I treat her-

  “I know. I know you wouldn’t. She’s…fuck she is nowhere near ready for you, feel me?”

  “I do.” I say and realize she is a virgin and as scary as that is, it is fucking awesome because that guy named after a car from last year didn’t get close.

  “Good.”

  “It will be okay Noah. It is just a date.”

  “Chad Blake doesn’t fuckin’ date!” He yells and as understanding as I can be knowing he wants to protect her, he needs to understand where I am coming from too.

  “And now he fuckin’ does. You are gonna accept this Noah. It’s happening. Dig real deep and remember who the fuck I am and if I would play her dirty, the real me?”

  “Knowing it’s you is the problem.” He says without an ounce of cruelty and only fear.

  “Well, sit back and watch then. Ill prove you wrong. You decide you want to get on board this moving train I’ll see ya at nine.” I say and end the call. I didn’t have time for this drama. I had flowers to find and a date to get ready for.

  Chapter Five

  Carrie

  The storms that had moved through the area earlier in the evening had caused a widespread power outage. I figured the night would be a bust, but in no time at all the guys had a fire going and a few of the trucks had flipped on their lights as we all exited the cabin. The rain had stopped but the air was thick with humidity. The whole band had shown up and the rowdy boys from the tattoo shop were all there as well, in true form, with a woman on one arm and a beer in the other.

  Shamus lived in the small cottage on the biggest lake outside of Gig Harbor. His dad was a wealthy crabber and his mom had died two years before from breast cancer. The cottage had become the secondary summer hangout for all the bad boys in our little town. Sha
mus spent as much time here as possible, away from the rest of his family, the result of a failed and empty parent child bond between he and his dad. Shame wanted music and Jerry wanted him to follow in the family business.

  The shining point in Shame’s world was his girlfriend Cassa. They were inseparable and she was the only girl who was around on a regular basis to see all the shit that happened at these parties. She was a close friend of mine, but when summer came, we only saw each other when Shame was around. Cassa went to UW with me and Candy for photojournalism. You never saw her without a camera in her hand.

  “Hey, Sass.” I said with a smile, using the nickname that Shame had given her when they first got together.

  “Hey, Carrie. How’s the summer going so far?” Jesus, her, and Shame were practically undressing each other while she tried talking to me.

  “Good.” I was uncomfortable watching them eye fuck each other.

  “How did you talk Noah into letting you come?” She asked and eyeballed Shame. I could tell she was trying to be polite and carry on a conversation, but Shamus had other ideas.

  “Chad just told him I was coming.”

  Both Shamus and Cassa laughed and Shame swooped Cassa up and headed for the cabin, yelling “Good luck, fucker” over his shoulder to Chad, who just laughed.

  Chad was the biggest and baddest of them all, with a reputation that I’m sure even married women still whispered about when their husbands weren’t paying attention. The fact that he’d asked me to join him tonight, as his date, was both terrifying and exciting. But I had a feeling his reputation was why Noah was having such a big issue with it.

  I sat on the back of Chad’s truck with a cheap can of Pabst in one hand and Chad’s hand in my other. He’d taken my hand the instant we sat down on the tailgate of his Ford. I could feel the burn of the blush on my cheeks and the butterflies inside were on a full tilt spin, but I didn’t care. He had done all the first date stuff.