Chapter 18
Elsie
“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” I say for the fifth time in as many minutes.
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” Grace says, waving me off. “You were going to get it done anyway.”
“Not on a lunch break,” I point out. “It’s the middle of my work day.”
“Elsie, honey, you’re not going to need the rest of the afternoon off for getting your ear pierced. I promise, you’ll be okay.”
I roll my eyes, but she’s too busy flipping through a book of tattoos to notice.
Grace and I had been in the middle of having lunch on a bench near the water when I offhandedly mentioned that I want to get a helix piercing.
I’ve thought about it in the past, but never really felt strongly enough about it to find somewhere to get it done.
Now, with a tattoo and piercing studio right next door, there’s no real reason not to.
“Yes,” Grace had said excitedly, clapping her hands. “Let’s go get pierced!”
I hadn’t meant now, but she ignored that part. The next thing I knew, she was dragging me into Immortal Ink to get piercings together. She’s going for a third hole in each of her lobes. We’d been fifteen or sixteen when we got the second ones done together, along with Olivia.
“I just meant it might take a while,” I tell her now. “I don’t normally take such a long lunch.”
“Noah can handle things until you get back,” she assures me. I know she’s right. It’s only been a week and a half, but he’s learning the ropes quicker than I expected. It probably helps that I’m brand new at this whole thing, too, so there are a lot of things we’re learning together.
“I think I want to get a tattoo,” Grace announces.
“Now?”
“No, not now, silly. Maybe I’ll make an appointment, though.”
“You ladies ready?” Eddie calls out. He’s been prepping his station and the jewelry we picked out for the last few minutes. We lucked out; his previous appointment was just leaving as we arrived, so he had the time to fit in a couple walk-ins.
I’d be lying if I said my eyes hadn’t immediately swept the shop, looking for a certain tattooer when we first walked in. And, okay, maybe seven or eight times since. He’s not here, though.
“We’re ready,” Grace tells Eddie. “Elsie, you want to go first? Just in case anything comes up next door and you need to get back.”
“Sure.” I make my way over to Eddie’s chair, but I stop short when a hand snakes around my wrist. A familiar hand, because these same tattooed fingers have been wrapped around my wrist before. Apparently, he’s making a habit of it.
“What’s going on?” Declan asks, his voice low and, for some reason, a little bit lethal.
“Hey, man,” Eddie says. “Elsie and Grace are getting some ear piercings. Want to watch?”
“Fucking hell,” Declan mutters, so low that I don’t think Grace or Eddie can hear it.
Electricity pulses in the places where his fingers meet my skin. I should tell him to let go of me, but I don’t.
“You want to get your ears pierced?” he asks me, his voice still low.
“Just one,” I correct him. “I’m getting a helix in my right ear.”
Declan’s eyes sweep over my face and my ears, as if analyzing whether or not this is a good idea. My hair is tucked back into its usual braid and I’ve got two simple, faux diamond studs in each ear.
While he’s scanning me over, I glance down to where his tattooed fingers are still locked around my wrist. I raise an eyebrow pointedly at Declan and he drops his hand, but he takes a step closer.
“I’ll do Elsie’s piercing while Eddie does Grace’s,” he announces.
Eddie’s brow furrows and his eyes dart between Declan and I. “I really don’t mind doing both, man. I’m not busy right now.”
“I’ll do Elsie’s,” Declan insists. “I don’t pierce much these days, but I am still licensed,” he reminds his coworker.
“Hey, no problem,” Eddie says, holding his hands up. “As long as Elsie’s cool with it, go right ahead.”
Three sets of eyes swing my way. My gaze catches Grace’s first.
“Oh my god, he’s so hot,” she mouths silently, her eyes bugging wide. I ignore her.
“Sure,” I tell Declan and Eddie, shrugging. “I don’t care who does it.”
I’m lying. The thought of Declan’s hands on me again, even if just to pierce my ear, makes my stomach roil.
Eddie hands him the earring I picked out and Declan grabs a set of packaged tools from the supply closet.
“Come on,” he says, tipping his head toward the other side of the room where his station is. He places a hand on my lower back and I swear, my insides melt into the toes of the brand new Keds Grace helped me pick out.
Get it together, Elsie.
Declan guides me to his station, which he assures me has just been sanitized. We pass by Maya, who’s hunched over her client’s back and doesn’t acknowledge us. She looks focused, so I don’t interrupt by saying hi.
I settle onto Declan’s chair and watch as he washes up in the sink at the back of the shop, then settles onto his stool to start prepping everything.
I haven’t a single idea what the process entails, because I’m too focused on the way his biceps flex beneath the sleeves of his black T-shirt.
When he snaps on a pair of gloves, my eyes zero in on his corded forearms and the way his tattoos dance with the motion.
We’re inevitable, Elsie.
His bold declaration has been rattling around in my head for days. Part of me wants to demand how dare he make such a brazen claim?
But the other part of me – the much, much bigger part – wants him to show me exactly what he means by inevitable.
That part of me, the part I should really start ignoring, wants to find out just how electric it might be to have his hands on my body.
And not just a hand around my wrist, or on the small of my back. I want his hands –
“Sit back and get comfortable,” Declan orders.
I jolt, my face flushing. I silently thank whatever gods might be listening that Declan is too busy setting up his station to notice.
When I’m comfortably sitting with my head against the back of the chair, Declan scoots closer on his wheeled stool.
“I’m going to sanitize the area first, then use a marker to put a small dot where the piercing will go. ”
I nod, unable to find the words as he sets to work doing exactly what he just described.
It’s hotter than it should be, watching him work.
Being his client. Something about the whole thing is just so intimate.
He’s tucked in close at my side, fully blocking my view of Sean’s station behind him.
His gloved hands are gentle on my skin, and even though it’s only my ear, my body reacts as if he’s run a hand down my back, or maybe a thigh.
It doesn’t seem to know the difference when Declan is touching me.
I try to keep my breathing steady, because I’ve already embarrassed myself enough where Declan is concerned. No need to start panting after him.
I’m so distracted by the way his forearm presses against my shoulder as he works that I don’t realize he’s talking to me until I hear a low, measured, “Elsie.” I can tell by his tone it’s not the first time he’s tried to get my attention.
“Hmmm?” I mumble, because per usual, I’m a wordsmith extraordinaire when Declan is around.
He reaches to the wheeled cart beside him and picks up a needle that is much larger than I was expecting. My eyes snap to his so I don’t have to look at it, and there’s an intensity there I wasn’t expecting.
“Next time you want something pierced or tattooed, you come to me,” he says, his voice low and just a little bit gravelly.
“Okay,” I agree with absolutely no hesitation. My body and my brain are both traitors, and neither seems to remember how to function when Declan is involved. “How come?”
“Because I said so,” he grumbles. He looks away, examining the needle in his hand as if it’s the most fascinating thing he’s seen all day.
“Tell me why,” I insist.
Declan’s eyes flit back to mine, his nearly black irises glinting in the overhead light. “I don’t want to sit back and watch while someone else has their hands on you,” he grits out.
“Oh.” I open my mouth, unsure what else to say, then snap it closed again. Because what do I even respond to that?
Declan chuckles and scoots closer. He runs his left forefinger along the shell of my ear, sending a shiver down my spine that I know he notices. That infuriating cocky smirk of his gives him away.
“Are you ready?”
“Sure,” I tell him. “I mean, yes.”
He grips my ear in one hand and holds the needle in the other. When he hovers over my upper ear with the needle, my whole body goes taut.
“Just relax,” he says, his voice low and gentle in my ear. He’s so close I can feel his breath skate across my cheek. “One quick pinch and then it’ll be over.”
I take a deep breath and try to let some of the tension out of my body. Declan gives me a few moments, then nods.
“Perfect,” he murmurs. “Here we go.”
I let out a long, slow breath and keep my eyes trained on the parts of Declan I can see from this angle – his stubble-covered cheek, his ear that’s surprisingly free of any piercings, his shoulder.
When the needle pokes through my cartilage, I try my hardest not to flinch.
It hurts, but I remain still while Declan removes the needle and replaces it with a simple stud earring to match my others.
“That’s it, baby,” Declan murmurs. “You did good.”
Baby. The word echoes around my head like a ping-pong ball. He probably hadn’t meant anything by it; I’m sure it just slipped out.
Still, I can feel my cheeks flushing once again, against my will.
Declan hands me a mirror and I inspect his handiwork, turning my head to get a good look at the new jewelry in my ear. I smile, pleased with the result. I make a mental note to thank Grace for dragging me in here.
“I love it,” I tell Declan. “Thank you.”
I look up to find him staring down at me with a look I can’t decipher. His eyes dart between mine and my new piercing, and for some odd reason, his Adam’s apple bobs on a hard swallow.
“Declan?”
He shakes his head as if to clear his thoughts. “Sorry,” he mutters. “Glad you like it.”
“Let me see!” Grace calls out, hurrying across the shop with Eddie in tow. I climb out of the chair and show off my new jewelry while she does the same.
Sean, who I hadn’t even realized wasn’t at his station, emerges from the back of the shop and wanders over to us.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
“Elsie and Grace were getting piercings,” Maya chimes in. Her gaze swings toward Declan and she grins. “Declan did Elsie’s piercing.”
Sean’s head snaps over to the man who’s studiously ignoring them both. We all watch while Declan wipes down the seat I just vacated. I’m probably the only one ogling the way his arms flex while he does it, though.
Scratch that – Grace is definitely ogling, too.
“You pierced Elsie?” Sean asks him, incredulous. I shift on my feet, uncomfortable with the way it’s turning into a whole thing.
“Not a big deal,” Declan says, shrugging. “I had the time and I haven’t done one in a while. Don’t want to get too rusty.”
I don’t want to sit back and watch while someone else has their hands on you.
I don’t let on that I know the real reason, and that the BS he just fed Sean isn’t it.
“In-ter-es-ting,” Sean says, drawing out each syllable in a way that suggests he knows exactly what Declan is up to.
“I’d better get back to work,” I say, desperate to be anywhere but here. “Thanks again, Declan. I’ll catch you guys later.” I throw a quick wave over my shoulder and grab Grace’s hand.
“Thanks a million, Eddie!” she calls out as I drag her toward the door joining our shops. “Holy shit,” she exclaims the second the door clicks shut behind us. Never mind that there are customers within earshot. “That was so fucking hot.”
“What was?” Noah asks, sidling up beside us and tucking his head in close. He, at least, has the wherewithal to try and keep our conversation private.
“We went to get ear piercings during our lunch, and when Declan found out Elsie was going to get one done, he was all, ‘That’s my woman. I’ll do it myself.’”
“He did not,” Noah gasps.
“He didn’t,” I assure him.
“He basically did,” Grace argues. “Eddie tried to insist that he could do it, but Declan wouldn’t let him.”
Noah’s eyes go wide as he scrutinizes my face. “How do we feel about this?”
I shrug, feigning indifference. Inside, though, I’m reeling.
Every interaction with Declan just leaves me feeling more confused than the time before.
Much as I’ve tried to deny it, there’s obviously something there between us.
Some irrational, all-consuming attraction that neither one of us seems to be very good at ignoring.
Noah leans in closer to Grace. “You know,” he says conspiratorially, “he was in here the other day and I thought he was going to rip my hand clean off my body just for touching Elsie.”
Grace groans. “You guys are killing me. Can you please just jump him already so I can live vicariously through you?”
A clattering noise across the shop snags my attention. Jodie, my favorite cashier at the grocery store in town, is fixing a chalkboard sign that fell off a shelf. I’d set it up just this morning to advertise a deal on potted calla lilies.
“Sorry,” she says sheepishly. “Bumped it with my purse.”
“Hi, Jodie. What brings you in today?”
“I’m looking for something to bring to my sister,” she explains. “She just got transferred to a rehab facility after her hip surgery, and the place is downright depressing. I’m hoping some flowers might help brighten up her room a bit.
“I’ve got just the thing,” I assure her, thinking about the arrangements I worked on yesterday with carnations and marigolds. To Noah and Grace I add, my voice low, “Nobody will be jumping anybody, okay? He and I are… friends.”
The words leave a bad taste in my mouth, like lies always do.
Whatever Declan and I are, friends isn’t the word for it.
There’s nothing friendly about the way my skin heats at his touch, or the predatory gleam in his eyes as they rake over me.
There’s definitely nothing friendly about the way he all but told me that at some point, something is going to happen between us.
We’re on a collision course I don’t know how to – or even know if I want to – escape.
We’re inevitable, Elsie.
“Sure,” Noah chuckles.
“Riiight,” Grace says with an exaggerated wink and a thumbs up.
As soon as I start to walk away, I hear one of them mutter, “Five bucks says they don’t last until the end of the month.”