Chapter 4 #2
“Bitch.” I elbowed her and a second later we both started laughing.
“Let’s get this check and head to the tattoo shop then.” Illiana clapped her hands then lifted one to try and get the attention of our waiter.
It didn’t take her long to get them. We paid then called an iDrive to pick us up and take us to the address Arris sent.
When we got there, I felt even better than I had before and Illiana and I stumbled out of the back of the car a giggling mess. The shop was in a nice part of town which for some reason shocked me.
Illiana walked in first and I damn near jumped out of my skin when it was Arris who held the door open for us.
“What’s up?” His eyes trailed over me, from my feet on up and settled on my eyes.
“Hey!” I responded a little too loudly. Arris’s eyebrows knitted together. “This is my friend, Illiana. Illiana, this is my brother’s friend, Arris.”
“Nice to meet you.” He offered her a hand and I noted the way she raked her eyes over him, up and down twice, before grinning and shaking his hand.
This time it was my eyebrows fiddling together.
I mean, I’d said Arris was fine and I meant that.
He was average height, but he was also dark skinned with deep brown eyes and some of the best lashes I’d ever seen.
He had a sleeve of tattoos going up his right arm, a brand on the left arm that I knew was a signal to the outside world that he was an official member of DP, and a bird on the left side of his throat with a small, cursive J inside one of the wings.
I did my best not to stare but that wasn’t hard to do when he smiled and gave me a full view of his pearly white teeth and partial gold grill at the top.
It was covering four of his teeth, two on each side.
He slipped a hand into the pocket of his sweatpants.
“Come on. Let me take y’all to the back.” He nudged his head to the side and we just nodded like two dumb, groupie bitches before trailing him.
He led us to a nice-sized room toward the back of the shop and gestured for us to enter first.
“Dyani, Illiana.” He said our names as he gestured toward where he wanted us to sit.
Then he collapsed on a third chair and grabbed a sketchpad from the actual tattoo chair. He asked Illiana a series of questions, like what size she was thinking about and if she had a certain butterfly in mind.
I looked around the room while they discussed it. There were a lot of beautiful drawings on the wall. A television was mounted on the wall right across from the tattooing chair and had soft music playing from it.
I let my eyes travel back to Arris. He was sketching away on his pad. He licked his lips and adjusted the way he was sitting. Illian moved closer to him to look at the drawing and I slid closer to her so I could see it too.
“That’s really pretty,” Illiana muttered.
“Thank you, sweetheart.” He grinned without looking up at us.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
We’d come here because Illiana had been trying to get me fucked and now I was getting screwed. I didn’t comment though. Illiana and I just sat quietly while he drew, and when he finished, he showed the sketch to both of us.
“What are you thinking?” he asked. “And be brutally honest. This shit is going to be on you for the foreseeable future. Whatever you don’t love, we need to fix.”
“I think it looks amazing.” Illiana looked over at me. “What do you think, Dyani?”
“It looks good.” I nodded.
“You sure this is it?” Arris asked. “I don’t want you to just like it. I want you to love it, and if my art style isn’t for you, that’s cool. I’m not going to be offended, baby. I can recommend someone else to you easily. I don’t want no bullshit branded on your body.”
“No. It’s beautiful,” she assured him.
“Alright.” He exhaled and sat up. “So, I have good news and some bad news. Which do you want first?”
“The good news.” Illiana didn’t hesitate.
“We have something you like that we can tattoo at any time.”
“And the bad news?”
“Tonight ain’t the night.” He tossed the pad on the tattooing chair. “You’re slurring a lil bit, sweetheart, and I don’t tattoo drunk people. It’s not a good look for multiple reasons.”
“I’m not that drunk,” Illiana argued.
“Even buzzed is too much for me. So I’m going to opt out, but I’ll do this shit for you any time later.”
He rolled his chair back and popped open a little black box. He grabbed a business card and offered it to her.
She pouted. He gave her a lil smile.
“Don’t look at me like that.” He hit her lightly on the outside of her leg with the back of his hand. “I’ve got you next time. I promise. Let me know when you want to get in the chair, and if I have to move shit around, I will.”
“You promise?” Illiana blinked at him.
“Cross my heart.” He put a hand to his chest.
“Fine. Alright.” She sighed but climbed up. “Thanks for drawing something up for me.”
“No problem.”
Arris stood and I followed suit.
“I’m sorry if we wasted your time,” I offered.
“You didn’t.” He stretched. “So, what’s up? Y’all called an iDrive to get out here?”
“Yep.”
He turned toward Illiana “You want me to call you one?”
“You ready, Dyani?” she asked me.
“I—”
Arris cut me off. “I’m taking you home.”
“What?” I blinked at him.
“I’m taking you home,” he repeated. “I was calling it a night anyway.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.” He tapped his phone. “So, what’s up? You want me to call you an iDrive or what?”
“Uh, I can call it.”
Illiana pulled out her own phone and booked her ride.
The three of us gravitated toward the front of the shop. Arris excused himself to go talk to the other artists. I was already looking at them when they looked at me. I averted my eyes immediately.
“Want to stand outside with me so I can smoke?” Illiana asked. I nodded and we headed outside. She grinned like a maniac as soon as the door shut behind us. “He wants to take you home alone. Girl, you are in there.”
She nudged me lightly before digging around in her purse for a cigarette and a lighter.
“I doubt it.” I laughed. “Thanks for the belief and encouragement though, and helping me seal that deal earlier, and for the amazing drinks.” I exhaled. “It was nice hanging out with you and I’m glad I know someone who isn’t my brother out here.”
“Well, if you ever want to hang out again, let me know. And if I have any art business I think can benefit us both, I’ll keep you in mind.”
“Deal.” I offered her my hand and we shook.
Illiana smiled as she lifted her cigarette to her mouth.
We stood in silence until her iDrive pulled up.
“Have a good night,” she sang and gave me a quick hug.
I sucked my teeth.
“Bye, Illiana.”
She shimmied and giggled then hopped in her ride and I headed back inside.
Arris was leaning over another artist’s sketch and pointing at something. His head lifted at the sound of the door.
“You ready?”
“Whenever you are.”
“Alright.” He stood up straight. “Let’s go.”
He grabbed his keys from the counter, dapped up the artists behind the counter with him, and came around to meet me.
As soon as I sat in his car, I felt my entire body relax and a yawn pushed its way out of my mouth.
“You good?” Arris asked.
“Yeah.” I looked over at him and another yawn slipped out. “Arris?” I said quietly.
“Hm?” He cast a quick look at me.
“How bad did your brand hurt?” I reached over and touched it without even thinking about it.
He looked at where my hand was and back at the road.
“I mean, I guess a little bit less than it hurt for Darryl considering where that nigga’s pain tolerance is.”
“Which is where when comparing it to a tattoo?”
“A tattoo is an annoying consistent scratching over your skin. It’s more irritating than anything else.” He switched lanes. “You ever touch a too hot stove, jerk back, then feel the pain?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“Branding is a burn. It feels like that but hotter and you have to hold it for a while for it to stick.” He licked his lips. “It fucking sucked.”
“I bet it did.” I let my hand fall from his skin. “Was it worth it?”
“What?”
“The brand. Was getting branded to be in DP worth it?”
“Well, you don’t get branded to be in DP. You join DP then you get branded as a sign of respect and dedication. It wasn’t some shit that was forced on me, Dyani. It was more like an honor I was excited for.” He stopped at a red light and looked at me. “It was worth it though,” he added.
I nodded.
“Darryl doesn’t talk about it much.”
“He doesn’t want you being a part of that life and I don’t blame him.”
“Even though you’re a part of it?”
"It's complicated." He looked back at the road. “Darryl has his reasons.”
“Of course you’d say that.”
“And what’s that mean?”
“That’s where your loyalty lies so of course you’re going to side with him.”
“There ain’t no sides, sweetheart. There's just what is and what ain’t and you ain’t meant to be too deep in this shit. Nothing is wrong with that.”
“Please don’t piss me off, Arris.”
He laughed immediately, almost choking in the process.
“Well, damn. Fuck me then, huh?”
This time it was my turn to laugh.
“I didn’t say all that,” I clarified. “I’m just saying maybe your loyalty should lie with me.”
“Oh. Word?”
“Word.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I’m sure I could probably convince you.”
“You think so?”
“Yep.” I wondered briefly if Arris still thought I was drunk enough for me to flirt unashamedly and not get judged too harshly for it later if it didn’t go well. “Illiana wasn’t lying,” I admitted.
“About what?”
“That I think you’re attractive and we were calling because I’d love to sleep with you.”
Arris did a double take. “What?”
I laughed and turned toward the window. I didn’t repeat myself. I just shrugged and crossed my arms over my chest.
We didn’t talk for the rest of the drive. I texted Illiana who had made it home safely. Arris played music.
After we got to my spot, he cut his lights off but left the car on. I reached for the door handle but froze when Arris’s hand closed around the back of my neck.