Chapter Four
Altan
Two hours earlier…
“You ready?”
“I don’t leave until tomorrow.”
Brent had come over with his suitcase, ready for his two weeks as cat daddy to Bunny Foo-Foo. The silly ball of fur was already enjoying having him here, perched on his favorite seat, Brent’s shoulders.
“Well, obviously, we have to get your tattoo today.”
“Please explain to me what is obvious about that.” I was still hungover and not in the mood.
“Because it takes two weeks to heal, and this way, when you come back, it’ll be perfect.”
Two weeks to heal? This was what I got for making bets when I was drunk. Why did I think tattoos took pretty much the time in the chair to heal? It wasn’t as if there was an open wound… Although, there probably were thousands of open wounds. Oww.
“Ugh, fine. But I’m putting conditions on it.” I needed to feel an ounce of control in this.
“Nope. No conditions. You have the proof.” He glanced at my phone sitting on the coffee table.
“Can you at least promise to pick something not terrifying?” He wasn’t a jerk who would make a cruel choice, but as the reality that this was happening today hit, I couldn’t help but freak out a little bit.
“Describe ‘terrifying’?” He was having too much fun with this.
“I don’t know. Like clowns, for instance.”
“Clowns aren’t terrifying.” He was lying. He had to be. Nobody looked at a clown and thought there’s a snuggle buddy.
“They are if they’re on your forehead.”
“Come on, how long have you known me?”
“Forever?”
“Exactly. And am I a dick?”
“Not really.”
“Not at all. I’ll make sure it’s decent. But you need to break out of your shell. Live a little.”
I tried to think of examples of how I was already living a little and came up with exactly none. He was right. I’d grown into a bore since I got my big-boy job. Not that he would come straight out and say that, but still. “How many tattoos do you have?” None. He had no tattoos or piercings.
“No, you’re not going to win this with facts.” Brent stood up, the cat staying firmly in place. “Come on, Bunny Foo-Foo, let’s give you some treats, and then your dad and I are gonna go get some ink.”
“You’re getting some too?” If so, that would explain the weird bet. He wanted a tattoo buddy.
“No. Yes. Maybe.” Yep, that was 100 percent we were doing this. Oddly, that had me more on board.
“You’re going to need to put the cat down to leave.”
“Ignore him, Bunny Foo-Foo. You are getting down for treats and treats only.” He side-eyed me something fierce. He was so silly with the cat. I kinda loved it. “We’re gonna have such a fun two weeks.”
Twenty minutes later, I was at a tattoo shop I’d never heard of, standing in front of what looked like those gumball machines from when I was a kid, the kind that had crappy toys inside instead of gum.
“And this is where you’re gonna get your tattoo.” He tapped the red top.
Thank gods he was talking about a temporary one. I was worked up for nothing. Perfect. I could have it on and off before I reached the airport.
I went to the counter where a woman with teal hair, a bunch of cool piercings, and glittery glasses pulled an earbud out of her ear and looked up at me.
“Oh, sorry. When you guys came in, I thought you were just window-shopping and didn’t want to bug you.
” I didn’t correct her that window-shopping was done outside.
“Nah. I want one of those tattoos from the machine,” I said. “But I don’t have any change.”
“Cool. That’ll be fifty.”
“No, I mean, I don’t have any change. I don’t have twenty-five cents, much less fifty.”
“Fifty cents? It’s fifty dollars.” She wasn’t mean about it, and I half wondered if she thought it was my attempt at humor. Not that fifty dollars for a glorified sticker was funny.
I scowled at Brent. A deal was a deal, but I could be pissy about it. I took out my card and tapped it. A few seconds later, she handed me a quarter.
“Okay, go see what you’ve got, and we’ll get you in the book. The deposit is nonrefundable, so I hope you like it.”
Now, I was really confused. I plopped the quarter in, turned the knob, and pulled out the capsule.
I popped it open, and inside was a bear tattoo.
And as much as I hadn’t been into this whole tattoo thing, there was something about this bear.
I didn’t want it as a tattoo… I needed it.
Every part of me suddenly wished it was a real bear.
“This one.” I handed it to her.
“Ah, Sothea’s bear… I mean, some of Sothea’s best work. And just your luck, my brother-in-law is upstairs. I’ll give him a call. You can do it now.”
“Wait, wait, your brother-in-law?”
“Yeah, my ma— My husband and his brother and I own the shop. Hold on.”
And that’s how she went from ignoring me to walking into the other room with the phone in her hand.
She was gone for ten minutes, and I was surprised when she said he’d be right down and how lucky I was to have a piece done by him.
Apparently, it was the only one in the machine.
The rest were her partner’s, with the hopes of bringing in first-time tattooees.
Was that what you called them? Tattooees? Tattoo getters? Tattoo virgins?
No matter the proper name for it, if this tattoo hadn’t been a bet, and I wanted a first tattoo, it wouldn’t be from a luck-of-the-draw machine.
I’d have looked through books and books and books to find the perfect one.
Though, the end result probably would’ve been the same, because this one was perfect.
I filled out paperwork, and she led me to a chair. Brent promised me he’d be right back and then left me. Jackass.
Ten minutes later, a guy came barreling in, very visibly livid, not at me but at who I now realized was his sister-in-law.
“How dare you—” That’s all I heard as he went on and on with his sister just out of sight. But, midsentence, he stopped yelling and walked straight to me, no longer visibly angry. “So, you picked my flash.”
I nodded, not wanting to ruin what appeared to be a positive shift in his mood.
“Where were you thinking you wanted it?”
So much for small talk. I’d take it. It was better to have this big sexy tattooed man who looked like he could give the world’s best hugs, happy with me being there while he permanently altered my body than it would be to have him still fuming.
“At first, I thought I was going to get it somewhere I could hide it. But it’s so beautiful, I don’t know. I kind of want it where everyone can see.”
And that was when I saw it for the first time. His smile, one that felt like it was only for me.
“You look like you’re in office work.”
“Yeah. I am.” How boring that must seem to someone like him.
“Then you want it where everybody can see only when you want them to. Not like you can have it on the back of your hand or on your face for office work. Not for most companies, anyway.”
I shivered, not having had a single thought that being visible all the time was limited to those few, and what I would guess were very painful places.
“Close your eyes. Think about why you’d want it. Would you want to be able to see it, or do you want others to see it? Do you want it up high, or do you want it down low?”
I had my answer before I realized I did, my hand going to my chest, right above my heart. “Here.” I opened my eyes. “I want it here.”
“Perfect.”