“Wait. Let me get this straight.” Lacey tucked a piece of blonde hair behind her ear. Unlike her friend, Lacey was not pierced multiple times. She had two holes in each ear and a nose piercing. That was it…but she did have a couple of tattoos—one on her ankle and the other on her back, and she had plans for more in the future. “You got a tragus? Why? You’re taking the title metalhead a little too far, don’t you think?”
Tina giggled and pulled her light brown hair back over her shoulders. “She’s not doing it for the piercing, Lacey. You of all people should know that.”
Lacey furrowed her brow and shot a glare out of her blue eye at her friend. “I’m beginning to seriously worry about her.” She turned to look at Kory again. “I get wanting to be pierced. I get it. I really do. But this obsession’s starting to worry me.”
Kory rolled her eyes. Tina was right—Lacey didn’t get it. “I’m not obsessed with getting pierced, Lacey, but I will get more piercings. I was calculating it last night. I can still get pierced at least seven times—eleven or twelve if I’m creative—before I have to get pierced underneath my clothes.”
Tina said, “Wait. Don’t you have your bellybutton pierced?”
“Well, yeah, but I’m talking about having to take my bra off.”
Tina snorted. “You haven’t progressed that far in the relationship.” Lacey was fuming. Kory was ready to put her out of her misery when Tina beat her to it. “Oh, come on, Lacey. Where the hell have you been? Kory doesn’t give a shit about being pierced. She’s only going there so she can spend time with that hot tattoo artist.”
“Tattoo artist?”
Kory grinned. “Yeah. Stone Bowman.”
Tina was more like Lacey in that she didn’t have many piercings but she had four small tattoos, and they were all visible, depending upon what she wore for the day. She’d gone to The Iron Maiden for her last tattoo but had been tatted by the other guy in the shop, a guy who went by the nickname Six-pack, but Kory was pretty sure his real name was Russ.
And, for the time being, Tina appeared to be the brightest girl in the group. She furrowed her brows and shook her head, a look of incredulity plastered on her face. “Where the hell have you been, Lace?”
Lacey didn’t like feeling as though she were in the dark, so her quick temper flared. “What?”
“Jesus. Seriously?”
Kory smiled again. She knew why Lacey didn’t know. She didn’t know, because Kory had never actually said anything. Tina tended to be perceptive; Lacey, however, needed a press announcement—and apparently that time had come. Lacey looked pissed, but Kory took one of her hands in both of her own. It got her friend’s attention and took her mind off Tina’s jabs. “I have a lady boner for Stone.” She hated the term, but she knew that would grab her friend’s attention.
Lacey blinked and then tilted her head. She glanced back at Tina and the brown-haired young woman nodded as if to say Told you so. She returned her attention to Kory. “Wait a minute. So you’re telling me you keep getting pierced only because you have the hots for some guy?”
Kory let go of her friend’s hand, but she was laughing. “You make it sound so stupid when you put it that way.”
Lacey picked up her iced tea. “That’s because it is.”
“Lacey Fuhrman! That’s only easy for you to say because you always have men falling all over you.”
“No, that’s not it at all. Seriously, answer me this. Do you think it’s normal to undergo body modifications just because you want to be around a guy?”
Kory frowned. “Have I ever struck you as the kind of person who is normal, who cares to be normal?”
Tina nodded. “That’s true. We’re lucky we’re her friends.” Lacey rolled her eyes.
Kory inhaled. “Yeah. That is true.” And, she knew that when Lacey gave some thought to what she knew about Kory’s background, she would have to agree. Kory was surprised she wasn’t in need of permanent therapy either, but her therapist had once called her resilient. Yeah, if nothing else, she was that.
The waitress brought their food—cheeseburgers and fries—and took their glasses to fill their drinks. Kory squirted mustard on the underside of the top bun and decided not to say anymore about it. She didn’t need more grief from Lacey.
Except Lacey had other ideas. “Okay…so tell me what’s so special about this guy.”
Kory couldn’t help the smile that spread over her face. All she had to do was think about Stone and she felt better. She mashed the bun onto her sandwich and then grabbed the ketchup, squirting a blob of it on the side of her plate. “I don’t know that you’d understand.”
“Try me.”
Tina said, “He’s hot—I’ll give you that.”
“That’s not it, though. There’s something about the guy. I’m drawn to him. I don’t know why. I sometimes wonder if maybe there was something that made me feel connected to him the first time I met him.”
She could tell that Lacey was trying to be respectful, even though her friend’s skepticism was at war with herself. “Like what?”
Kory took a deep breath and dipped a fry in ketchup. She let her mind wander while she chewed on it, thinking back to the first time she had ever been under the needle with Stone Bowman. “I don’t know. It’s like he’s a kindred spirit…like there’s something we have in common, but I don’t know what it is. I’ve asked myself over and over and over—what could it possibly be? Was there a message hidden in one of his tattoos that my subconscious mind latched onto or was it something he said? Did he have something hanging on his wall at The Iron Maiden that spoke to me? The times I’ve gone in there, it’s not like we’ve had huge, long, drawn-out conversations. It’s not like I’ve asked him about his past or his hopes and dreams. I really don’t know much about him, but it feels like I should. It feels like there’s something between us…and I want to know what it is.”
Lacey shrugged. “Okay, so I guess I can kind of understand that.”
“Thanks.” Kory ate another fry and then said, “On top of that, though? There’s also something super mysterious about him.”
Tina said, “Well, you kind of already said that—you know, you want to know what your connection is.” She wiped her fingers on her napkin. “Makes you wonder about past lives.”
Lacey cut her burger in half with the table knife that had been rolled in her napkin with the other silverware. “Okay, now if we’re going to start talking about reincarnation bullshit, I’m out.”
“I was just sayin’.”
The waitress brought their filled drinks back and asked how the food was. They all dismissed her, letting her know their meals were fine.
Kory set her burger back on her plate, unwilling to drop it just because there had been a halt to what they’d been discussing. “No, that’s not what I mean at all. It just feels like there’s some weird connection.”
Tina giggled. “Or maybe he’s just hot.”
“Yeah, maybe. Oh, no, he definitely is. Holy shit. Lacey, you need to see him sometime.”
“Why haven’t you ever snuck a pic with your phone?”
She frowned. “Good question. Um, maybe because I’m afraid I’ll get caught, and then he’ll think I’m some perv, and I’ll never have a chance with him.”
“Oh, my God. You really do like him.”
“Yeah. Duh.” Kory dragged a fry through the ketchup but her mind’s eye had latched onto the visage of Stone in her mind. “He’s tattooed—all fucking over. Both arms are fully sleeved. And he’s tattooed on his chest and they go up his neck almost to his face. I don’t know about the rest of him, but I imagine him tattooed all over his damn body. Oh, his hands and fingers too. And then he has longish dark hair and his eyes are almost black. Beautiful white teeth. And he usually has a few days’ growth on his face—never a full beard, but a dark shadow. His arms seem so strong, so firm, and…well, you’re just gonna have to see him.”
Lacey smiled, her bad mood behind her. “Well, I guess you’re
just going to have to start dating him.”
“I don’t think he even notices me as a woman. He seems to recognize me as a customer, but that’s about it.”
Tina set her Diet Coke down. “You can change that.”
“Oh, don’t expect me to go in there acting all slutty. Not gonna happen.”
“No.” She leaned over the table. “I didn’t say you had to be outrageous and force his attention.” She took a deep breath. “Does he have a girlfriend?”
“I don’t know.”
Lacey said, “You don’t know? You’re lusting after this guy and, for all you know, he might have a wife and two kids at home.”
“I don’t think so.”
Tina gave Lacey a look and then moved her eyes back to Kory. “There’s one way to find out.” Kory raised her eyebrows. “You ask him out on a date.”
“Uh…no.”
“Why not? Are you crazy?”
“Yeah, but not that crazy.”
Tina put her hands on the table. “Kory McCallister. Seriously? You’ve been carrying a torch for this guy for what—a year or longer?—and you’re not willing to ask him out for a drink or something?”
“A drink? Are you kidding? I’m not old enough yet.”
“Oh, shit. I forget that. Sorry, Kory.”
Kory hadn’t. Tina had turned twenty-one in March and Lacey in January. Kory had to wait until August. It wasn’t too big a deal, because the three girls drank at private parties anyway, but her friends had started venturing into the bar scene once in a while, and Kory had tried twice and, having been carded both times and rejected because of her age, decided to wait until she was legal and wouldn’t have to sneak around. She just frowned and ate another fry, wishing they would change the subject.
Tina wasn’t going to drop it, though. “Why not pizza, then? Or a concert or something?” Kory shrugged. “What are his interests?”
“I don’t know.”
“So a date would be your way to find out. Just…just do it, girl. I know you want to. And what have you got to lose?”
Kory took a deep breath, ready to resist, but she heard Lacey’s next words, and they struck hard. “Or are you dying to be pierced from head to toe?”
“All right. I’ll do it.”
Tina smiled. “Yeah?”
Kory nodded. “Yeah. I just have to work up the nerve.”
“Fuck that. Don’t think about it. I’ll go with you. I got your back, girl.”
Well…Kory didn’t know that she wanted the in-person support, but she appreciated the sentiment. If Stone turned her down, she’d need a drinking buddy—and Tina could buy the beer for it. But she had to ask first.
Chapter Three
KORY SUCKED DOWN a long, slow gulp of air. She’d been planning this for days, picturing it in her mind. Yes, she had even imagined every possible scenario—Stone saying yes, Stone saying no, Stone laughing at her, Stone looking flattered but ultimately rebuffing her. She’d envisioned him giving her excuses and reasons why he wouldn’t. She was ready for anything and felt like she could handle the rejection that she was convinced was coming.
Surely, he had a girlfriend or he had a type that Kory wouldn’t fit. She just knew it.
That was okay, though, because she was ready for anything. And she’d never been a crier, so it wasn’t like she’d make an ass of herself when he turned her down.
Tina had the night off from work, so she drove Kory over to The Iron Maiden. Lacey had finally offered her love and support and hugged Kory before heading to her night class. Tina cranked some Gemini Syndrome in her car and drove like a maniac over to the downtown area where Stone’s shop was. It was Wednesday night, one week later, and Kory knew he worked Wednesday nights. She came near the end of the day as well, because if they’d come any earlier, she knew he would have been immersed in an involved tattoo project. She could wait but she knew that would seem…well, she needed to call a spade a spade. It would seem stalkerish.
She took another deep breath and looked down at her clothing. Lacey had tried to convince her to wear a dress or something frilly…something clearly not Kory. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to look nice or desirable to Stone, but she didn’t want to look like someone she wasn’t. If by some weird twist of fate he said yes, she wanted him saying it to her, Kory, not same fake version of herself.
So no dress. No frills. No curly hair (another Lacey idea). She was going to wear jeans, a Five Finger Death Punch t-shirt, and her suede black boots. Nothing fancy. Totally metal. Completely bad ass.
Herself.
Part of her wanted to ask Tina if she looked all right, but she knew she looked okay. She looked normal—not beautiful, not pretty, but normal. Not ugly or scary, but just her usual self.
She could hear her psych prof in her head saying something about self-sabotage, but she refused to believe that. And, deep down, she realized that maybe she didn’t want to put a lot of effort into the whole ordeal, because then, when he said no, she could blame it on the fact that she hadn’t done much to win his affections.
She knew she could live with that.
Tina parked in a space that was fairly close to the shop and then looked at Kory. “All set?”
Kory nodded. “Yeah.”
“Nervous?”
“Hell, yes.”
Tina smiled. “You be okay?”
“Yep. I can do this.”
“Good luck. Remember, he might actually say yes.”
Kory shook her head, hardly able to believe she was doing it, but it was like she’d told herself earlier that day: the worst he could do would be to say no. And what would that hurt? It wouldn’t hurt anything. It wasn’t like she’d invested herself into a relationship or as though she’d spent countless hours fantasizing about him.
Well, maybe she had…but this might be the perfect way to get over him.
Shit or get off the pot. She’d had an aunt who used to say that. She could barely remember that woman, only that she had been missing one of her canine teeth and she would say that stupid phrase a lot.
Of course, Kory might have been misremembering. It had been far too long since she’d seen the woman, and her memory might have been faulty.
She shook her head, trying to focus. “Okay, see you in a bit.” She smiled at Tina and got out of the car. Once she stood, she ran her hands along the front of her t-shirt, smoothing it out, and then she took another deep breath.
It was still warm outside, even though the sun had disappeared behind the mountain a while ago. She walked the few feet to the front of The Iron Maiden and pulled on the glass door. She felt the cool air rush out of the building as she walked in and her eyes adjusted to the semi-dark of the huge front area of the shop.
Richie was at the counter, cleaning the glass top with a window cleaner. He looked up when he heard the tinkle of the bell that indicated he had a customer. She could see the look on his face. Oh. Her again. But then he forced a smile as Kory made her way toward the cash register. “Hi. What can I do for you?” He shook his head to the side to force his long black bangs out of his eyes.
Kory tried to smile at Richie. He acted like he expected her to buy some new jewelry, which wouldn’t have been unusual, but she knew he knew better. She’d been in this shop no fewer than seven times since Christmas, and only once was that to buy jewelry. The other times were for a piercing. What would make this time odd, though, would be that she’d just been there the week before. And that fact registered with him, because he then said, “Having problems with your newest site?”
She shook her head. “Oh, no. I just, uh, wondered if I could talk to Stone.”
There was that look on his face again. “He’s with a customer.”
“Right. But after?”
Richie almost sighed out loud, and that made Kory realize that Stone probably had lots of women who came in just “to talk.” She wondered if she should make something up about wanting to ask him about a career in tattooing or maybe about a new place t
o pierce on her body, but before she could, Richie said, “Yeah, I guess. Have a seat, and I’ll let him know you’re here.”
She peeked in the rear of the shop and saw that he was tattooing some guy’s back. It looked like he was doing an outline, so it could take a while. She got on her phone and texted Tina. Looks like he’s busy. Could be a while. Want to do this some other time?
She chewed on her bottom lip, feeling nervous. She had so much pent-up energy and she just wanted to get this over with. It wasn’t like she could march in there and ask Stone if he could take a break for a few minutes so she could chat with him.
Tina answered her back. No. I will gladly wait. Ur just nervous. Want me to come in there and wait with you?
Kory felt her blood pressure rise. Hell, NOOOOO!!!
Okay, just checking. She followed it up with a smiley face emoticon.
Kory sat on the couch another five minutes and texted Tina again. If you wanted to hang somewhere, I can let you know when I’m done.
She heard the door swing open, because the music got louder. She was almost afraid to look, because she felt out of place. Oh, she looked like she belonged, but she was sure her eyes would be a dead giveaway. She was nervous as hell.
But she did look—couldn’t help herself. Stone was walking the guy out and he approached the counter. She couldn’t hear all of the conversation, but she gathered that the guy was going to be coming back several times—at least once for more outlining and then for color, but the guy was a busy man.
Kory wondered if it was because of the pain—maybe he could only handle so much. She knew that would be her problem…if and when she ever got the guts to be tattooed.
She felt her phone vibrate and she looked down at the screen. Ur not chickening out, are you?
That stupid little text was flashing at her when she looked up to see Stone standing right in front of her. Oh, God, the man was jaw-dropping gorgeous. “Didn’t I just see you a few days ago? Did your last piercing get infected?”
She stood up, moving on instinct, and he tilted his head, trying to see the tragus he’d given her the week before. As though it were in slow motion, she watched him raise his hand and pull back her hair a little on the right side so he could see her ear. She felt as though she were on the verge of collapse, feeling the warmth of his hand right up against her face. “It looks okay to me,” he said.
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