Chapter Fifteen
Then
Avery
It’s my eighteenth birthday today.
“Keep your eyes closed.” With his hands on my shoulders, Jasper guides me up a few steps.
“I have a blindfold on.” I giggle, covering my eyes with my hands anyway. Never imagining spending my birthday this way, I buzz with excitement from the day I’ve had.
After celebrating dinner with Helen and Duke, Jasper was quick to whisk me away. The only information he gave me was to pack a bag for one night. We’re spending the night away, just Jasper and me.
I’ve had that just got off a roller coaster feeling since he told me his plans. When I tried to ask where we were going, he kissed my forehead and told me not to worry. I did the exact opposite and have been thinking about it ever since.
“Is this where we’re staying for the night?” I ask. He leads me through a set of double doors.
“It’s not. I told you we had one stop before that,” he tells me, just as a bell on a door chimes. We’re at a store?
Suddenly, the scent of ink fills my nostrils while a low buzz tickles my ears. I recognize both, but I can’t place our location. My mind scrambles to put the pieces together.
“Can I take off the blindfold now?” I ask, my heart pounding against my rib cage.
“Yes.” Jasper’s voice is full of excitement.
Wasting no time, I rip off the black silk. Shock forces me to suck in a break. A tattoo shop. “Am I getting a tattoo?”
“We.” Jasper hooks an arm around my shoulders, playfully yanking me into him. He presses a soft kiss on my temple. “We’re getting tattoos together.”
Oh my god. I’ve never gotten a tattoo before. I don’t think I’ve ever thought about getting one either.
I drag my eyes across the walls covered with polaroids of happy customers and hand-drawn examples of the type of work they do. It’s all beautiful.
My hands sweat with adrenaline. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, Arizona. Let’s do it.” He flashes an encouraging smile.
“I don’t know if I can do this.”
Jasper angles his head toward me. “I think you can if you want to.”
Biting my lip, I slowly back away. “I’m scared.”
“Don’t be. It’s an amazing experience.”
My eyes bounce from the chairs in the back to the artwork on the walls.
“Look, if you really don’t want you, we don’t have to,” he assures me softly.
“I do. I think I do.” I suck in a heavy breath. “But I’m nervous.”
“We’re getting one together.” He rubs my arm in a soothing motion. “I’ll be right there with you.”
“I don’t even know what I’d get,” I say, glancing down at his arms covered in ink. “Do you even have room for more?”
His chest rumbles with a chuckle. “Of course I do. My body is a canvas just waiting to be covered.”
“Hey, Jasper.” One of the artists comes over to greet us at the front. “Is this your girl?”
“Yeah.” His eyes flicker. “This is Arizona.”
The amount of pride I feel being referred to as Jasper’s girl is not healthy for my feminism.
“Cool.” He extends his hand to me. “I’m Tripp.”
I shake it, noticing the elaborate snake coiling around his forearm and down to his wrist. The details are incredible, but look painful. “Good to meet you.”
“Do you have a book we can look through for her?” Jasper asks.
“Sure.” Tripp slides a thick binder from underneath the glass countertop and lays it in front of me.
I stare at the shop logo printed on the cover. A beat passes before an idea forms. I know what I should get. The image of an infinity symbol is all I can see—the representation of endless nights with Jasper, living in a fantasy under the sun without a care.
“I know,” I say gently, pushing away the binder. “An infinity symbol.”
Jasper smiles. “I’m going to get one too.”
My chest tightens. “Really?”
He nods. “Hell yes. I don’t want to ever forget these summer nights.”
“Matching tattoos, it is!” Tripp exclaims, clasping his hands together.
I can’t explain the surge of adrenaline that takes over my limbs as my bare legs touch the black leather on the chair. Jasper takes the seat to my left.
My entire body is humming. I can barely keep my arm straight.
“Nervous?” Tripp smirks.
I shake my head, then turn my wrist to face upward, my eyes blaze into the fine tip point of the needle. The black sketch now holds the place where a permanent infinity symbol will be. Holding my breath, bile creeps up my throat. Oh my god, can I do this? How bad is it going to hurt?
Tripp leans in, hovering his large body over my extended arm.
The second the needle pierces my skin, Jasper’s hand slides into my opposite hand.
I whip my head around to see his warm, comforting eyes staring at me with a fire I’ve yet to see from him.
The powerful flames sear right through me, and suddenly, everything makes sense.
Maybe it’s the excitement of doing something new? Perhaps it’s the feeling of being alive. Or maybe it’s discovering a part of myself I never knew existed.
In my eighteen years, I have never felt more clear about what is happening in my mind and with my body. This isn’t just some summer fling. Jasper is unique and different. He looks at me like no one has ever done—not even my own parents.
Jasper got a matching infinity on the inside of his arm, no longer than my pinky finger, and entirely black ink like mine.
“I can’t believe I did that.” I praise myself for my bravery.
He glances at me from the driver’s seat, one hand on the wheel and the other holding mine on top of the center console. “I know. I’m so proud of you. You did amazing.”
I stare at the small white bandage covering the tattoo. “It didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would.”
“Once the initial touch of the needle passes, the rest of it turns into a dull ache.”
“Yeah, similar to a sunburn,” I say.
“Exactly.” He smiles.
We pull onto a dirt road. The only things around me are the darkness of night and the tall trees lining the bumpy drive.
“Where are we?” I ask.
“I want to show you something.” His smile is wide, while his eyes fill with excitement. This must be important.
“In the middle of nowhere?” I tease, chuckling. Then, before my eyes, the trees clear, opening up a small house on the edge of a cliff. There’s no cloud in sight, allowing each star to shine to its brightest.
“Here we are.” He shuts off the engine and twists in the seat to face me.
I scan the area. It’s pitch-black outside except for the glow of a porch light. “An abandoned beach house?”
Jasper runs the back of his knuckles across my cheek. “I’m buying it.”
My mouth drops. I quickly glance at the faded blue paint on the panels of the house and the tiny white picket fence needing more than a few repairs. “You’re buying this?”
He nods proudly. “You want to see the inside?”
“Yes.”
Jasper jumps out of the car, then sprints to open my door.
I step out. With a warm nighttime breeze dusting across my shoulders, I breathe in deeply.
The energy between us has shifted, and it is no more apparent than on the car ride to my next surprise destination.
The typical playful exchanges are absent.
I feel alert, clear-minded, and calm all at once.
Jasper grabs both bags from the back seat.
“Are we staying here?” I swirl my finger in the air.
“Yeah.” Again, with a proud smile.
“Is there furniture?” I ask cheekily as he grabs my hand.
Jasper guides me up the short steps and to the white front door. “No.” He pauses. “But it will be fine.”
When he told me to pack an overnight bag, I knew we’d spend tonight together. And at first, I didn’t think much of it. He spends the night with me at Helen’s at least three times a week, but this is different.
Confused, my heart is pounding in my chest, but not from nerves. It’s pounding from excitement. “Okay.”
Jasper swings open the door. The small beach house consists of an empty room with wooden floors and a pile of padding and blankets in the middle. Pillows surround the makeshift bed, and tall white candles line the walls. The sight takes my breath away.
“Jasper,” I whisper, taking it all in. Two double doors on the back wall are cracked open, with the crisp breeze from the ocean flowing through.
Jasper places our bags in the corner of the room.
“This place is going to be mine.”
“Oh my gosh.” Dragging my eyes across each space in this little area, I instantly fall in love. The home is cozy even with all the repairs to be done. To the left, I can barely make out a short hallway with a bedroom and bathroom. Behind us is a small eat-in kitchen. “I love it so much.”
“Joe’s parents used it as a summer beach house growing up.
Then it became a rental, but now that his parents are older and haven’t been able to keep up with it, Joe offered to sell it to me.
” He rushes out like he’s been keeping this bottled up for too long.
“I plan to live in it while renovating, then use it as a rental later.”
“You are incredible, Jasper Collins.” I slowly walk over to him and slide my hands around his waist. “Do you know that?”
He cups my face, his deep brown eyes bounce between mine. “Happy birthday, Arizona.”
“Thank you,” I say quietly.
“Will you stay here with me tonight?” He leans in and kisses the corner of my mouth but doesn’t pull back right away.
My eyelids fall closed. I melt into him, letting my front become flush with his. “Of course.”