by Hope Stone
“You can’t just come back here like that,” Brie told the skinny blonde.
“She’s really not here?” The girl sounded confused as she looked in the direction of Kat’s workspace.
“I told you that,” Brie said, crossing her arms across her chest.
“But she has to do something,” Blondie said, her voice took on an unappealing whining quality. “The tattoo doesn’t look right anymore. She must have messed it up.”
“Maybe I can help you,” I offered. I barely knew Kat, but I bet that she wouldn’t take kindly to the suggestion that she had messed up. If I could diffuse whatever this situation was before she arrived, that might be for the best.
“Do you do tattoos?” she asked as her eyes flickered over me. I could see the interest in her expression as her gaze took in my muscular arms.
“Yep. So, why don’t you take a seat and show me the problem, Miss…”
“Ashlynn,” she beamed as she walked into my work area. “Call me Ashlynn.”
“Okay, Ashlynn, take a seat.”
Brie mouthed a thank you to me before walking back to the front of the shop. It looked like I’d just earned a few brownie points from the boss.
Ashlynn didn’t say another word before she reached down to the hem of her shirt and whipped it off over her head. My eyes darted to her chest—I was only human, after all—and I saw a hot pink bra, but I quickly returned my attention to her face.
“It’s on my shoulder,” she explained, turning to show me the words Live, Laugh, Love on her shoulder blade in big, curvy letters with a pink ribbon woven through them. It wasn’t exactly the most complex tattoo I’d ever seen, but Kat did a good job with it. It was nice, clean work.
“Do you see how faded it is?” Ashlynn asked, looking at me over her shoulder. She had abandoned the whining and was acting like a damsel in distress now. I had a feeling that she thought it was seductive. Maybe that worked on other guys, but not me.
“I see a little color fading, but this looks fresh,” I said as my eyes traced the edge of the tattoo, where the ink met her untouched skin. It was reddened and a little swollen. “Make that very fresh.”
“She did it yesterday.”
“Yes, I did. What’s the problem?” Kat asked as she walked through the curtain with two styrofoam coffee cups in her hands.
There was a polite mask on her face when she looked at Ashlynn, and I bit back a chuckle. Kat did not like this girl.
“It’s nothing,” I answered before Ashlynn could. “Just a little normal color fade.”
Ashlynn turned around to face me, also moving closer. Her breasts were only inches from my chest. I took a small step backward, trying not to be too obvious about putting distance between us. The last thing I wanted was for Kat to get the wrong idea. Not that I should care about that. Hadn’t she just ridden off into the sunset with some guy right in front of me yesterday?
“Is this your first tattoo?” I asked Ashlynn.
“Yeah. Isn’t it great? It’s about how I try to live my life.”
You and about a billion other people.
“New tattoos will look slightly faded while they’re healing. It’s because the top layer of skin peels off. It’ll look better when it’s completely healed.”
“You’re sure?”
I nodded. “Absolutely. If it still looks faded in a couple of weeks, come back, and we can fix it.”
“I can fix it,” Kat corrected. “It’s my work.”
“Of course.” I couldn’t help smiling. I liked it when she was worked up. Something about it made my skin feel tight.
“Okay, then,” Ashlynn said, somewhat reluctantly. She grabbed her shirt off the black chair and tugged it on. “I didn’t catch your name.”
“I’m Blade,” I said, holding my hand out for her to shake. Instead, she grabbed me by the wrist and picked up a pen from the counter beside me. I watched as she wrote down her phone number on the palm of my hand.
“Call me,” she said, giving me a wink before turning around and sauntering out through the curtain.
Wow.
She was bold, I’d give her that. Too bad that she wasn’t my type.
Kat made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat that drew my attention to her. Today, her shirt was a corset-style top that showed off her breasts so thoroughly that I couldn’t help but stare.
“You know, when a client takes off their clothing, we usually close the curtains around our workspace,” Kat said, pointing to the track that ran in a circle above my head.
“She ripped the shirt off without warning,” I shrugged. “I take it she’s not exactly the shy type.”
“Good news for you, I guess,” she muttered as she tucked her purse away in a cabinet and set the coffees on the counter.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“Nothing at all,” her polite smile was back, and I didn’t find it nearly as amusing when it was directed at me. “But here’s some friendly advice—don’t fuck the clients. It’s bad for business.”
I smirked. “What about the coworkers?”
Kat’s eyes widened, but before she could form a response, the curtain was opened once again. Piper had arrived. She paused as she entered, staring between the two of us.
“Am I interrupting something?”
“Nope,” Kat answered, a little too quickly.
I just smiled before pulling out an alcohol wipe from one of my drawers and deliberately wiping the phone number off my hand. I could see Kat watching me out of the corner of my eye.
“One of those coffees for me?” Piper asked, and Kat jolted.
“Oh…yeah. Here.”
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that I was distracting her. She handed over one of the coffees to Piper, and I walked over to the little half-wall that separated us.
“Thanks for the advice. But it’s not necessary. I have a type. Barbie isn’t it.”
“Really? And why would I care?” she challenged, but I could see the spark of interest in her eyes.
“Just making friendly conversation,” I said. I could tell that Piper was listening, so I didn’t say any of the filthy things that were running through my mind as I peeked down the front of her top. “Personally, I like a woman with a wild side.”
“You think you can handle that?”
I wasn’t too sure anymore as I looked into her blue eyes. It looked like I might have met my match. But I was determined to find out, one way or the other.
Seven
Kat
Jealousy was an unfamiliar and ugly emotion. I wanted nothing to do with it.
But when I walked into the shop this morning and saw Blade with a topless Ashlynn, I had felt it. I knew it was crazy since we’d just met, but all I could figure was that I wanted to sleep with him. It made sense. He was my type. Confident. Sexy. Biker. Tattooed.
He checked all the boxes, and he seemed interested in me, too.
I was sure it was going to happen sooner or later. Why not? We’d have a few rounds between the sheets, and I’d get him out of my system.
I thought about it all morning. Then, a man came in just after my lunch break, interested in a full sleeve. He wanted me to design one that would look like he had a robot arm under his flesh. We spent the better part of an hour just working on the design. I drew it out on a sketchpad that I kept on hand for just this kind of thing. Once he was happy with it, I drew the outline on his skin, until he had pen marks from shoulder to wrist.
For an intricate piece like this, I didn’t want any distractions, so I selected my punk rock playlist on my iPhone and plugged in my earbuds. One song after another played as I went over the marks I’d made with the tattoo gun, working steadily. The client was my favorite kind to have in my chair, just content to relax and let me work without chattering or needing a lot of breaks. When he took his shirt off, I spotted several other tattoos on his body, so I figured this was just another, bigger one for him.
Time flew
as I worked, and by the time I finished the outline, it was closing time. I scheduled him to come back tomorrow to finish the piece, rubbing my stiff hand from holding the tattoo gun for so long. It looked great, and I was excited to complete it with shading tomorrow.
“Wow. You were in the zone today,” Blade said as we did our end of the day clean-up. It was the first time he spoke without coming across as cocky or teasing.
I smiled. “I love working on a nice piece like that.”
“You mean the guy?” he asked. The teasing tone was back in his voice, but I could see something darker flash in his eyes.
“I mean the tattoo, doofus.”
“Ouch.” He placed a hand on his chest and pouted.
“Are you ever serious?”
“I try to keep things light,” he shrugged.
I was finished with my clean-up, so I grabbed my purse out of the cabinet and walked over to the divider separating our sections.
“You know,” I leaned forward on my elbows as he finished his own cleaning, “I have a feeling that you’ve got an edgier side, just beneath the surface.”
Blade closed the distance between us and used the tip of his finger to tilt my chin up until I was looking into his eyes.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he asked.
I felt a shiver run down my spine. Yes, I wanted to know what made him tick, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. That wouldn’t be nearly as fun.
So, I straightened and took a step back. “Good night, Blade.”
I winked at him before turning and walking over to Piper, who was waiting for me by the curtain with an amused expression on her face. She waited until we were outside to call me out on it.
“So, you want Blade, huh?”
“Maybe.” There was no point in denying it. She worked right there with us.
Now that I thought about it, she’d been quieter than usual today. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye.
“You’re not upset, are you?” I asked. “I mean, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
“Girl, I’m just enjoying the show,” she laughed. “The little game you two are playing is amusing as hell.”
“Game?” I asked as we walked across the parking lot together, where our cars were parked side-by-side.
“The will-they-won’t-they thing. The sexual tension between the two of you is gonna snap like a rubber band.”
I laughed, but she was probably right.
“If that happens at work, I’m outta there,” she declared.
I put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. I wanted to tell her that I would never do that at the shop, but I had a feeling that when it came to Blade, all bets were off.
I was getting into my car when I heard the distinct rumble of a motorcycle engine coming to life. Turning with my body halfway inside of my vehicle, I saw Blade mounting his bike.
I’d love to ride on the back of it, my body pressing against his in all the right places, my thighs spread wide. The thought sent a wave of desire through my core. I figured that Piper was right about the sexual tension. I could only take so much before I snapped.
I looked up from the cards in my hand to see Veronica walk into the room with a tray in her hands loaded up with a pitcher of frozen margaritas and salt-rimmed glasses. I was more of a beer drinker myself, but I’d never say no to a free drink.
“I made margaritas!”
Not that it was really free. I’d already lost about fifty bucks at this table in the last two hours. I was a shitty poker player, even though I played with these women often.
Piper was even worse than me. Sitting to my right, she had a small little half-smile that I knew meant she had a good hand. One-by-one, the other two women at the table folded. I did the same, and Piper pouted.
“I’ve told you, you have a tell,” I said apologetically.
“Don’t worry, Piper, you’ll learn to hide it,” Veronica said as she handed over a glass full of the alcoholic drink. We were at Veronica’s house, enjoying a ladies’ night poker game. Veronica was an old friend of mine from high school. We’d kept in touch over the years and started getting together occasionally for drinks after her divorce. That had evolved into a weekly poker night with Piper and Veronica’s sister, Tammy.
It couldn’t have come at a better time. I needed the girl time.
“But will I learn to hide it before I go broke?” Piper asked.
I snickered.
There was a bowl of chips sitting between Tammy and me, and I kept snacking on it. I shouldn’t have skipped dinner, but at least Veronica always provided snacks. Every time we met at my place, I was lucky to have a six-pack on hand. I’d endured endless teasing over the years for not being a good host.
“So, what’s new in your world?” Tammy asked, shuffling to deal another hand.
“Same shit,” I shrugged, but Piper nudged my side with a teasing grin.
“Don’t lie,” she said. Then, she addressed Tammy. “We have a new co-worker, and he’s hitting it off with Kat already.”
“Is love in the air?” Veronica asked, throwing five dollars worth of chips into the middle of the table.
“Hardly,” I rolled my eyes. “He’s hot, but I don’t really know him yet.”
“Speaking of love,” Veronica looked at Tamy, “do you want to share your news?’’
With the biggest smile I’d ever seem, Tammy held up her left hand, where a square-cut diamond sparkled on her finger.
“Bill finally popped the question?” Piper asked, leaning forward to get a better look at the rock.
“Yep.” Tammy was glowing as she confirmed it.
“Congrats,” I said. I was happy for her, but I didn’t understand what the big deal was about getting married. These days, with divorce rates being as high as they were, it seemed like setting yourself up for failure to me.
I never wanted to do it.
As Tammy talked about her plans for the wedding, which wasn’t even going to take place until next year, I tried to look interested. I just couldn’t wrap my head around spending so much money on one party that didn’t really mean anything in the end. It was just a piece of paper that represented a promise that could easily be broken. Marriage didn’t mean forever. The only way that was going to happen was if you wanted it.
Personally, I’d rather spend that kind of big money on a new bike or a vacation, something like that.
I thought about my empty house. It would be nice to have someone there, someone to come home to every day, but I didn’t need a wedding band to know that I had that. I believed in a man showing his intentions with actions, not words and promises.
Eight
Blade
The warehouse was full of people once again. The turnout for these street fights was huge, much larger than I would have guessed before I started coming. I figured that a secret, illegal activity like this would have to have a limited number of participants to keep it under wraps. It turned out that we were all at risk of incarceration just by being here, so no one was likely to rat out the location for fear of getting busted themselves. It was kind of beautiful.
“I can’t believe you talked me into coming back here,” Alex said from my side. He was in a shitty mood tonight.
The frustrating thing was that Alex probably would have been more willing to tag along and watch my back if he knew that I was trying to gather information about a killer to avenge a man and protect that man’s wife and kid. But that was club business, and I couldn’t talk about it.
“Lighten up. The guy I’m going up against tonight isn’t nearly as big as the Beast.”
“I still don’t like it.”
“Drink your beer and stick with me,” I said, handing over a bottle with the cap already twisted off.
Alex took it without comment, and I tipped back my own drink. Usually, when I came here, I registered to fight, then stayed out of the way. I spent the time observing the fights, taking mental notes on my potential futu
re opponents, and getting hyped up for my own round. I wasn’t interested in making friends.
But tonight, I had to work the crowd.
I could feel the weight of Alex’s gaze as I led us around the edge of the group of observers. Closer to the fighting ring, the crowd was rowdy, as the gamblers got worked up over the fight, but further back, I could have a conversation.
I spotted a man that I’d seen at Luca’s side in the past. If I remembered correctly, he went by the name Kane. Approaching, I took note of his bloodshot eyes as he polished off a bottle of Bud, tossing the empty to the side, where it broke on the concrete along with a small pile of others. If they were all his, luck was on my side. In my experience, drunk men had loose lips.
“Who do you favor in the next fight?” I asked, stopping beside him and leaning against a concrete pillar.
If he was surprised that I was talking to him, he didn’t show it.
“You planning to place another bet? It sure as hell worked out well for you last time.” Kane remarked.
I shrugged. “Not sure. It’s easy to bet on myself, but I can’t predict what others will do.”
“I’ll admit, you surprised the hell out of me last week. The Beast is...well, a beast. I’m not sure if you’re a hero around here or a villain for taking him down.”
“I’m not here to make friends either way.”
“So, why are you talking to me?”
Damn, he had me there. Maybe he wasn’t as drunk as I’d hoped.
“Looking to score some blow,” I said on a whim. In reality, I didn’t touch that shit, but it would do well to hide my real motives. I saw Alex freeze out of the corner of my eye and hoped that he wouldn’t interrupt unless I needed backup for some reason.
“Really?” Kane leveled me with a speculative gaze, which I met head-on. I wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but I made sure that my eyes didn’t waver.
“Yep. My friend and I are hoping to have a good time later tonight.”
