Chapter 32
32
brYCE
Maybe I should have warned her that we’d be taking a bit of a road trip, but then I’d have missed out on seeing her nearly climbing the window for a glimpse of where we’re going.
I’m fucking greedy with her time. I already know that. After a day at work, she should be home relaxing instead of trapped in a car with me. Knowing that doesn’t mean a damn thing to me, though. I’m taking as much time with her as I can possibly get.
“I’m seriously so excited right now. Are you sure you can’t give me a hint about where we’re going?” she asks, smacking her knees in quick procession.
When I make the final turn and spot the shop up ahead, I decide it’s safe to tell her.
“My found family expands a bit outside of Cherry Peak. I don’t remember what fucked-up decision drove me to this place, but it . . . It’s where I found myself. Shade was the one who shoved my first tattoo gun in my hand when I was eighteen and told me to ink him up. I think the stupid asshole enjoyed the sloppy work. Didn’t even wince when I gouged too deep and had him bleeding all over himself.”
Her head flies in my direction. “Wait, we’re going to a tattoo shop? Is this the same place you got your first tattoo? ”
“No. Shade would have kicked my ass out on the street with Wade’s signature ripped at my feet. This place is the real deal. One of the most popular tattoo studios in the province.”
Into The Shade is the only proper tattoo shop for hours. People drive up to eight hours just to get his work on their skin. I’d drive even further. Apart from my very first tattoo, he’s the only artist other than myself who’s ever put a needle to my skin.
Daisy gawks out the windshield as we pull up outside the shop. The neon sign is off, but he’s inside. For a thirty-two-year-old guy, he’s got the most boring fucking life. No wife or kids or pets. Just him, this studio, and his otherworldly talent.
“I wouldn’t have thought this place would have been here. Where even are we?”
“Oak Point.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“Nobody has. Not unless you were born here.” I turn off the car and palm the keys. “Come on. I want to introduce you to him.”
She quickly unclicks her seat belt and, before I can do the same, leans over and grabs my face. I’m not expecting the peck she lays on my lips. It leaves me tingling and craving more when she flops back into her seat and opens the door.
“What was that for?” I call as she steps out.
Her eyes are twinkling with happiness when she says, “For taking me here. I can’t wait to meet him and learn more about your life, Frosty.”
In a blink, she’s on the sidewalk, and the car door is shut. I want to both squeeze her and spank the fuck out of her ass. Maybe even both at the same time. This woman is my wildest dream.
I meet her on the sidewalk and struggle and fail to keep my hands to myself. The roads are empty the way they always are here, and I take advantage of it.
Daisy squeals when I spin and back her into the brick wall of the shop, her eyes wide, blue-edged with black. Her back arches, pushing her chest up and against mine. Satisfaction thrums beneath my skin, and I pinch her chin with my thumb and forefinger before lifting it.
“If you’re going to kiss me, baby, do it properly,” I murmur.
For someone so innocent, Daisy has a devious streak that I can’t seem to get enough of. It’s such a turn-on coaxing it out of her and seeing just how brave she’s willing to be to get what she wants.
“It was supposed to be a peck. A thankful gesture,” she explains coyly, enjoying every moment of getting under my skin.
“Not good enough. I have a minimum of at least three minutes per kiss.”
“Exactly three minutes? How do you expect that to work in public?”
I lean in, and our lips almost touch. “Do you have a problem with kissing me in public, Daisy? Because we’ll have to work on that.”
“Did you ever consider that maybe I just like making you work for my public kisses?” she coos, inching closer.
“Have I earned one yet?”
Her mouth slanting over mine in a full, hard kiss answers my question. This time, I don’t hesitate to tease the seam of her soft lips with my tongue, coaxing them open before delving deep and tasting her without restrictions.
My hand cups the back of her head, guiding it back as I push forward and slip the control from her hands to mine. She might be too aware of how deep her claws go inside of me, but when it comes to these moments, I’m more than ready to sink mine into her.
Daisy keeps her touch light, a tease when I want something harder. Her fingers glide down my neck and throat, then sneak down to trace the neckline of my shirt, a nail dipping beneath the material like she’s about to?—
“Public indecency is a crime, you know? ”
Daisy freezes, eyes opening wide in panic. I massage the back of her head and turn mine in the direction of the voice.
“If this town cared about shit like that, they’d have locked you up years ago, Shade. You’ve already scared my girl, and she hasn’t even seen your ugly mug yet.”
My mentor and friend tips his head back and laughs loud enough for it to echo down the street. It’s the kind of roared belly laugh that makes you jump the first time you hear it because your brain hasn’t quite recognized it as a happy sound.
It’s been a couple of months since I’ve been back here, and he’s let his hair grow out since then. It’s as black as mine, long enough to curl at his neck and behind his ears, and has been swooped back out of his face with gel-slicked fingers.
There’s a new piece on the side of his throat, the skin still raised and raw: a spiderweb tucked behind his ear with a fat, round spider dangling from it.
Hands tucked into his black jeans, he leans a giant shoulder against the brick wall and smirks. “Don’t be cruel. I’d bet that Daisy here doesn’t think I’m ugly, do you, baby girl?”
I glare at him, ready to tell him to fuck off, when Daisy urges me back a step with a hand on my arm. She gives him an obvious up-and-down examination.
“I’ve seen worse, Shane .”
I slide an arm around her shoulder and plant a kiss on the side of her head as my laugh slips out. Shade lifts both of his eyebrows and pushes off the wall, stretching to his full height of six-four.
“Bryce sold you short. I’m impressed. How about you two come inside so I can give the gorgeous girl a tour of my space?”
“Stop with the fucking compliments,” I warn.
Daisy reaches up to cover the hand I’ve got holding her shoulder and flashes him a sympathetic smile. “Playboys don’t do anything for me, I’m afraid.”
“I’d be more than willing to let you try me out first before coming to that conclusion. ”
He falls directly into the trap she’s laid for him. I’ve told him about Daisy more than a few times over the course of our friendship, but I’ve never mentioned her sexuality before. He knows I’m bisexual, but Daisy wasn’t his business.
She was right to call him a playboy, but I prefer fuckboy. He’s an ass the majority of the time, a guy who believes he’s larger than life and has the good looks and talent to prove it. I always enjoy knocking him down a few pegs.
He eyes Daisy with interest, but I know it’s just to piss me off. Maybe as payback for not coming to visit more or ignoring his last few phone calls. Poor guy had a tough time with that, I’d bet.
“Do you have a vagina in those tight black jeans, Shade?” she asks bluntly, almost sympathetically.
He only looks surprised by her question for half a second before that startling laugh makes another appearance, and Daisy giggles along with him.
“Got it, little devil.” With a wink in my direction, he gestures around the corner of the brick building. “Come in. I’ve been looking forward to this all day.”
“Looking forward to what exactly?” Daisy asks while we follow him to the front of Into The Shade.
“Bryce’s surprise, of course.”
He opens the door for us and trails in behind me. A soft calmness blankets me at the familiar space.
The smell of burnt coffee, antiseptic, and expensive cologne. Years’ worth of memories come flooding back at the sight of the two leather tables in the open space behind the front desk. A frustrating yearning sensation builds behind my ribs at the reminder that I won’t ever have anything close to this. Not living where I do now.
No station of my own, let alone an entire studio. I’ll never have the life Shade does, and while that didn’t upset me back when I first started tattooing, it does now. The older I get, the harder it becomes to pretend it all doesn’t matter .
Shade steps around me to stand in front of us, an arm propped on the desk.
“Welcome to Into The Shade, Daisy. And welcome back , Bryce.”
“This is amazing,” Daisy praises.
His grin is pure male satisfaction. “You haven’t seen anything yet. Follow me.”
We do, and I waste no time taking in every inch of the space, from the neon blue sign with Shade’s name hung above the first of the two stations to the wall of backlit mirrors on the opposite wall. The walls are a cool white with grey wood floors and black light fixtures. Three massive art pieces are hung around the studio, all of which are his own creations. They’re similar to the ones I have in my bedroom because I learned how to be proud of my work from this arrogant ass.
The piece closest to his tattoo station is a shot of a woman on the same black felt couch that’s only a few feet from the wall of mirrors. She’s naked besides a black G-string that’s been pulled up high on her hips and has her knees on the cushion with her chest pressed to the back of the couch. The photo was taken of her entire back, showcasing the breathtaking fire-breathing dragon piece that spans the length of it and onto the backs of her arms.
He’s Shade for a reason. There’s nobody out there better than him when it comes to filling in the elaborate pieces that are brought to him. Whether you want colour or straight black, he will create something incomparable.
“This is where the magic happens. It’s also where Bryce here learned everything she knows now,” he says, guiding Daisy to the first leather table.
If she’s noticed the way it’s already prepped and ready to go, she doesn’t let on. But considering she hasn’t been in a tattoo studio before, I’m confident in her not noticing yet.
The headrest has been wrapped, and the same gun I use at home is sitting on the table beside the black and yellow ink I asked for.
“Was she a good student?” Daisy asks, flicking her eyes between us.
Shade folds his arms across his chest and pretends to think about his answer. “She was eager to learn but had the same scowl on her face every day she was here that she does right now. Am I bugging you, Bryce?”
“You always bug me,” I mutter, intensifying my expression.
He moves to stand at the end of the leather table and sets his hands on it. “Yet, here you are, about to give your girlfriend her first tattoo in my studio. Clearly, you don’t hate me too much.”
I could never hate him, but I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of hearing that. I’m too focused on the shock that travels across Daisy’s flushing features to give a shit about him right now, anyway.
“What? I’m getting a tattoo?” she shrieks, running anxious hands over her hair.
“Not unless you’re okay with it,” I add quickly.
Shade pats the table. “It’s the first thing Bryce told me when she called yesterday. Please let me bring my girlfriend to your studio, Shade. I would never, ever bring her anywhere else for her tattoo. Please, I beg you, Oh Mighty One .”
His attempt at sounding like me is pitiful. It makes Daisy laugh, though, so I let it slide.
She moves toward the table with only a hint of hesitation. Eying the supplies on the table, it’s obvious to tell when she starts putting everything together.
“I’d never force you to do this. I wanted to take you here to show you something personal to me, not just for this,” I add carefully.
She looks over at me where I stand a few feet away, the only one not surrounding the table. The corners of her lips fall slightly, and I jerk forward a step.
“It’ll be you tattooing me?” she asks .
Shade’s smirk makes my palm tingle with the urge to slap him. “Unless you want me, little devil.”
“I’d prefer Bryce. No offense.”
His smirk transforms into a genuine smile, and my heart expands. “Good answer.”
Arching a brow, I watch as he gives me a thumbs-up and strides to my side. He has to drop his head to speak into my ear.
“I’ll be back in an hour.”
“It’ll take me half that time,” I mutter, my focus on Daisy and only Daisy.
She sucks on her cheek and examines the supplies on the table. Stray auburn waves droop from over her shoulder to tickle her cheeks before she pushes them back and looks at me. Her shy smile threatens to yank my legs from beneath me.
“An hour,” Shade repeats himself. “I’ll lock the door behind me and grab dinner.”
Emotion catches in my throat. “Thank you, Shade.”
For everything , I hope he can read in my expression.
His lips touch my temple for half a second. “It’s good to see you happy.”
Then he’s gone, leaving me and Daisy alone in the one place I always kept just for me, a hidden paradise I feared would get snatched from me.
Yet, with the woman smiling at me from across the room, I’ve never felt more confident or secure sharing anything in my entire life.