Chapter 16 Milton #2
Sitting for long periods of time could make me restless, but I usually did well when I was getting tattooed. I figured it was because I had something like a needle piercing my skin over and over again to keep my mind preoccupied from being stationary for too long.
My black briefs underneath covered everything, but I’d forgotten how tight they were.
At least they seemed like they were as I sat under a bright light in front of Hazel.
I probably should’ve worn some gym shorts, but it was a bit chillier today, and I hadn’t thought about it when I ran out the door.
Quickly placing my hands over my cotton-wrapped dick, I looked down at Hazel just in time to see the flushed apples of her cheeks before she spun her stool around to the bench behind her. And just in time for her to miss mine.
Did I just fucking blush?
It wasn’t just my face that’d heated either. One look from this girl had every inch of my skin ablaze.
I pulled at the hem of my T-shirt, and it luckily fell over most of the bulge between my legs in my seated position. I rested my hands there too, just to be safe.
Hazel turned and sighed with what I thought was relief, and then she snapped her pink rubber gloves into place.
After placing the stencil, she gave me a questionable raise of her brow with a thumbs-up to make sure I liked where it was at, and I nodded back.
“All set. Stick me, beautiful.”
She giggled, gracing my ears with her joy once more. When she flipped her braid off her shoulder, I caught her scent again, and my dick betrayed me, twitching at the memory of her mouth on mine, which returned with just one whiff of her perfume.
This might be one of the smallest tattoos I’d gotten, but it was about to be the longest.
She dipped her chin down to focus, using her one hand to hold my thigh and the other to bring the needle down on my skin. I intentionally twitched my thigh muscle as soon as she pierced the first layer. She halted, pulling back slightly to look up at me.
“Ouch.” I twisted my face, hoping she wouldn’t see the smile in my eyes.
When the laughter began to bubble out of me, she narrowed her gaze and gently smacked the top of my leg while stifling a smile.
“You know, I’ve never seen a tattoo artist without any tattoos,” I said, loving the way her eyes fell to my lips to make out my words. The side of my mouth lifted up, shifting my smile into a crooked grin. “That doesn’t sound very trustworthy now, does it?”
“Who said she doesn’t have any tattoos?” Brian chimed in from across the room, where he was halfway through a neck tattoo of a raven. He paused to wipe the inked skin and looked up, his eyes bouncing from me to Hazel and then back down at his work.
He hadn’t smiled, so I couldn’t tell if he was serious or not.
I was still trying to figure him out, if he liked me or not, but I was sure that would come with time.
I was far more interested in figuring out everything there was to know about Hazel.
The things that made her tick. Her favorite …
well, everything. What made her smile—besides me, of course.
And whether or not she indeed had any tattoos.
Curiosity ate away at me, making my gaze fall over her body and any exposed skin. Her pale yellow top draped off her shoulders, exposing the skin from the soft curves of her neck to her collarbone.
No tattoos there.
I continued to take note of every other part of her body that was exposed, which lacked the familiar artwork my own had.
Her hands were covered with pink gloves, but I would’ve noticed by now if she had any hand tattoos.
Sure, she hadn’t been tattooing as long as some of the guys back in my hometown I saw now and then, but from what I’d seen so far, she was ten times better than most artists who’d been doing it for twenty years or more. How could she not have anything?
Plenty of artists tattooed themselves just out of sheer boredom.
Hell, I had even done it a time or two with my buddy’s tattoo gun when he took bathroom breaks during our all-day sessions.
I wanted to know if it would hurt any less.
It hadn’t, and I had a jagged black line hidden between the koi fish on my forearm to prove it.
She smirked and arched a brow, noticing my lingering eyes.
“Sorry,” I said, looking down at my hands.
Her tattoo gun was still buzzing, but she hadn’t touched me with it again. Feeling her eyes on me, I looked back up at her to see if she wanted to tell me something.
There was a moment where she just stared at me.
It was a pleasant and almost-heated expression, but still unreadable.
Her gun stopped as she set it down, and then she reached her arm up, lifting the side of her shirt with the other, exposing a hidden tattoo.
It was a small sunflower, placed perfectly on the side of her rib cage.
A golden-yellow hue with soft lines and green leaves that surrounded it.
Dainty and pretty and soft, just like her.
I smiled, glancing up at her. “I love it.”
There was something content and agreeable yet sad in her eyes when she fixed her shirt back into place.
“Thanks for showing me. Do you just have the one?” I asked. “Not that you have to show me if there are others.”
She held up her index finger and nodded.
“Yeah, that fucking asshole wouldn’t let her have any more,” Brian’s voice bellowed from across the room when Hazel dipped her head back down to work.
I tried not to jerk my head sideways to look at him.
There was anger in his tone, but he’d waited until she was looking away to tell me.
I was torn between wanting to learn more about her past and leaving her out of the conversation in the process.
But I also believed Brian had Hazel’s best interest at heart, so if he wanted me to know something, I wanted to listen.
“Her ex?” I clarified, watching Hazel draw another line on my thigh.
He nodded, dipping his tattoo gun in some color.
I cocked my head slightly. “He wouldn’t let her?” I asked, repeating the absurd words back. “What the hell does that mean?”
“He made it clear he wasn’t a fan of tattoos and told her he’d be upset if she ever came home with more.”
“That’s her job though,” I said in disbelief. “What she wanted to do with her body didn’t matter?”
He scoffed. “To Devan? Not one bit.”
I chewed on that for a moment, growing angrier with every new thought, like I was arguing with the man. That’d be like having a partner tell me I wasn’t allowed to listen to or play music once I left the studio. Which would be insane.
Devan. Ugh. Hated him already.
“Why not let him be upset? Say fuck it and do it anyway? It’s her choice, not his.”
He looked up from his client, and I could see his jaw tic, even from here. “He could be very … convincing.”
Well, I didn’t like the way that sounded.
“Nash said her car was still here when you guys arrived?” Brian asked.
I swallowed before I nodded.
He lifted his hands and raised his brows, saying everything I’d already begun piecing together without actually saying the words.
“No,” I muttered under my breath, staring down at the blonde ray of sunlight in front of me.
Brian exhaled loudly. “We don’t know for sure.”
“But you know.” My jaw worked.
“Let’s just say, we’re all very glad she got out of that marriage.”
Hazel glanced up as she wiped my thigh, her innocent and kind eyes looking at me like she’d never experienced the horrors Brian just alluded to.
A knot tightened in my throat. I knew some of the images in my mind could be far more drastic than the truth. But also, what if they weren’t?
I offered her a small smile because it was all I could manage at the moment, then reminded myself there wasn’t anything I could do about it now.
As Brian had said, she had gotten out. She’d left the man.
That was what mattered. I just wished I could have helped her somehow, shielded her from it sooner. All I could do now was wait for her.
Wait for her to accept my offer.
For her to heal.
For her to feel ready to let someone new in.
And I was a patient man.