CHAPTER SEVENTEEN #2
It was a tattoo parlour, one of those bougie ones that offered local anaesthetic while you waited and you usually had to have an original design already prepared.
I wasn’t really a tattoo kind of guy. Not for any particular reason – but I had never felt compelled by anything enough to have it immortalized on my body.
One glance at Jessy, though, and I was all for it.
What better way to make sure I had a part of her forever?
‘Want to go in?’ I asked, already knowing the answer.
Her smile broadened. ‘You read my mind.’
‘Yeah, right. Come on then.’ I took her hand and led us across the street.
The tattoo parlour’s interior was everything I had expected from the outside.
It felt more like a beauty boutique, all clean marble and spot lighting.
There was some incense burning somewhere that was a little too sweet for my liking, but the woman at the desk smiled warmly as her gaze flickered over us.
‘Good evening,’ she said brightly. ‘Please, have a look around.’
The designs were impressively laid out in lightboxes all over the walls. Honestly, if there wasn’t a medical-looking chair and the word ‘tattooist’ emblazoned over the door, I would have guessed that this was a fancy art gallery, not a place where someone got ink layered under their skin.
‘You want to get one?’ Jessy asked quietly, squeezing my hand.
This was mad.
Seriously, people did not just wander into tattoo places and get a tattoo. This was something you thought about for ages, considering the pros and cons, thinking about –
My gaze met Jessy’s, warm and trusting and … something else. Something that left me feeling breathless.
‘Yeah, I think so,’ I said back just as quietly, and found to my surprise that I really meant it.
A tattoo with Jessy … Well, if I couldn’t keep the woman herself …
‘You could always get matching tattoos. Very popular,’ suggested the woman by the desk.
I turned back to Jessy. She was leaning up on her tiptoes to examine a few of the designs.
‘They’re all so gorgeous,’ she murmured, almost to herself. ‘Look at the detail.’
My heart swelled with affection. She was so … so thoughtful. So observant. Always seeing the beauty in the smallest of things.
‘I want to get a tattoo with you,’ I heard myself saying.
Jessy stiffened, just for a moment, then turned to me slowly. ‘You do?’
‘Yeah. Something small,’ I added hastily. ‘Something to remember this by.’
Jessy’s smile was wistful. ‘Something to remember this by.’
My gut twisted.
Something to remember us. Because soon, there wouldn’t be an us any more.
Contract complete. Reputation improved. App successful. On to the next tour.
And she knew that – Jessy knew all that, just like I did.
But still, she wanted something to remember me.
‘What about one of these?’ Jessy grabbed my fingers and pulled me over, and all I could think was that, twenty minutes ago, those fingers were inside her.
Bringing her to climax –
Fuck. Patrick, do not get turned on here, do not –
‘I like the idea of a musical note,’ I said aloud, mostly as a distraction from my own unheeding dick.
Jessy’s nose crinkled. ‘Isn’t that a bit clichéd?’
I couldn’t help but laugh. ‘I guess so. What do you have in mind, then?’
I’d meant for herself, but instead she turned and gave me a careful examination, her gaze tripping up and down. It felt … good.
‘What about an anchor?’ Her voice was soft, lilting, as she made her suggestion. ‘Something that keeps you grounded. Centred.’
‘I love that,’ I said simply, and meant it. It was hard to feel grounded among all the chaos in my life, always had. I took my own chance to run my eyes down the length of Jessy’s body, before suggesting with a cheeky smile, ‘And a seagull for you.’
It had its intended effect. Her laughter rang loudly through the parlour. ‘A seagull? A bird that eats literal trash?’
‘That isn’t why I chose it!’ I protested, laughing with her and spotting the woman by the desk smiling at our antics.
‘I thought – well, a seagull flies wherever it wants, doesn’t it?
It’s happy on land, in the air, on the sea …
it’s a survivor. It can go anywhere. Do anything. That’s how I think of you.’
If Jessy was going to look at me like that much longer, I was going to do something that would get us locked up for public indecency. And Derek really would kill me then.
Jessy had no such qualms. She threw her arms around my shoulders and kissed me. It was passionate, eager and over way too quickly. ‘That’s perfect. Thank you,’ she said as she leaned back.
‘So – so are we doing this?’
Jessy’s smile was almost surprised. ‘I think we are.’
I went first.
‘Just here,’ I said, placing my forefinger just behind my right ear. ‘I don’t want it too obvious – it’s for me, not for anyone else.’
And for Jessy.
But I didn’t say that last part.
‘You are very brave,’ Jessy said, holding my hand on my other side as the woman carefully sterilized her hands.
‘Oh, I don’t know about that,’ the tattooist said as she laughed. ‘Behind the ear there’s almost no nerve endings. It won’t hurt a bit.’
And it didn’t. Honestly, it was over before I could really think about it, and when she held up the mirror to show me her work, I couldn’t help but be impressed.
‘Oh, wow.’
There it was, through my hair, behind my ear, somewhere that almost no one would look … a tangible reminder that Jessy and I had been together.
When I looked over at her, there was a flush of excitement on her cheeks. ‘My turn!’
I had assumed that Jessy would pick a similar place for her tattoo – but apparently not.
Stifling the urge to swear, and forcing myself not to stare, I swallowed hard as Jessy pulled down the strap of her sundress and slipped off her bra.
‘Just here – my ribs under my arm,’ she told the tattooist.
I was doing everything I could not to stare at the swell of her breast. The way her curves became even more perfect with every breath rising and falling.
It was weird, to envy a tattooist, but in that moment as she smoothed an antiseptic wipe over Jessy’s side –
‘Hold my hand,’ Jessy said as she lay back, reaching out a hand.
I responded instinctively, immediately. Her fingers were warm, only a slight tension in them suggesting her nerves.
‘Now this one is going to hurt,’ the tattooist said quietly. ‘This is a painful part of the body.’
‘It’s OK,’ Jessy said quietly, gaze flicking over to me. ‘I’ve got Patrick.’
I lifted her hand to my lips. ‘And I’ve got you. I promise, I’ve got you.’
Her smile burst something in my chest that had been held back for a while – and that was when I realized the obvious truth.
I want to be with Jessy.
Not just now, but after the contract was up.
I wanted to be with her. In the hard moments, in the good moments. When no one else was there and when the world pulled us in different directions. I wanted her by my side, and I wanted to be her person.
And I had no idea what to do about it.