Lukas #2
“Anyways,” she says, wiping the dust from her hands on Theo's shirt. “I'm bored. And I decided I want a tattoo today. I called the shop, and they could fit us in later this evening, before closing time. So, I thought I’d come down here and see if you fools wanted to get tattoos with me.”
All three of us turn to face her. Harper has dyed her hair funky colors since she was in high school, basically as soon as my mom let her. She got her nose pierced the day she turned eighteen, but she has never once talked about tattoos, not with me, anyway.
“A tattoo?” Grayson finally says, and Harper points her finger at him.
“Come on, Gray. Let’s lose our tattoo virginities together.”
Theo and I look at each other and laugh.
Theo has two full sleeves already. His arms are a colorful mix of everything you could think of—some geometric shapes similar to mine.
A line of fire that wraps around his wrist and curls up his forearm to represent his career with the department.
A clock sits on his upper arm, his biggest piece by far.
The hands are broken, and part of the clock looks like it’s melting from the band of flames that travel up his arm.
He says it’s supposed to represent life, that nothing is guaranteed, and it’s a reminder of him to live every day to the fullest.
I have admired his tattoos since I was a teenager, and the day I turned eighteen, he took me to the tattoo shop and bought me my first tattoo.
It was the start of my sleeve on my right arm, and I’ve filled it in throughout the years with various geometric designs.
The Blackwater Crows emblem still sits on my bicep.
What was once a painful reminder of what I’ve lost is now just a memory.
I’ve kept everything black, even the ones I let Davis tattoo on me during our time in the Marines with his shitty little tattoo gun.
We went back and forth, practicing giving each other single line tats, and now when I look down at my arms, I have a couple of smiley faces, a peace sign, and Collins’s sad attempt at a dog with the words “Devil Dog” written underneath them.
It was supposed to be fun for us, and it was at the time.
We’d joke that we’d be old men, getting together to shoot the shit over coffee, and we could compare tats on our sagging skin.
I’m the only one left now, and I’m grateful to have a piece of those guys, something I can carry with me forever.
“What kind of tattoo do you want?” Theo asks, and Harper shrugs.
“I don't know. Something small. Just one, I think, or maybe I'll get something pierced, or both.” She shrugs again, tossing her arms in the air. “I honestly haven’t decided that part, but I know I want a tattoo…” she trails off, looking around at all of us with a cheesy smile.
“What do we say, matching sibling tattoos?”
Grayson shakes his head. “Count me out, sorry. After we’re done here, I was going to run home and shower. Taking Holly out to dinner in the city tonight.”
We would normally tease him for bailing on us, but we all love Holly. She's joined our family as an honorary sister, and I'm happy that Grayson finally has someone he shares his quiet thoughts with.
Now we're all just waiting for him to propose.
“You're off the hook this time, Gray,” Harper says, pointing a finger in his direction. “But mark my words, someday, we’re going to get matching sibling tattoos, and I’m gonna choose the one we all get.”
He nods at that, blushing a little. He can deny it all he wants, but when his baby sister asks him for something, Grayson has always given in.
“What about you?” she asks, looking at Theo. “There has to be an inch of space somewhere on your arms that I can desecrate.”
“Sorry, sis, I have a date tonight, too.”
Harper crinkles her nose at him. “Let me guess, one of your regulars. Julie or Stacie?”
“Don’t look at me like that. They’re nice girls.”
While Grayson was single his entire adult life until he fell in love with Holly, Theo has taken the opposite approach.
He’s never had a committed relationship that’s lasted more than a few weeks, but he’s also rarely single.
There are a handful of girls he dates on and off, making sure to keep things casual.
He claims he likes his freedom, and he likes to flirt, but those are two things that don’t work well when a woman wants to settle down. He swears he’s never settling down, not until he hits his fifties, at least.
Harper gives him another disappointed look before turning to me. She brings her hands together, clasping them against her chest, giving me the saddest puppy dog eyes ever. “Please, Lukas. Don’t make me go by myself. How sad would that be for my first tattoo experience?”
When I cock my head to the side, guilt flooding my chest, she takes a step forward. “We need to bond, to reconnect, you were gone for so long. We need to—”
I shut her up by tossing my work gloves in her direction. “Yes, I’ll go with you, Harps. We’re pretty much done here for the day. Just let me run to the main house and shower first.”
She squeals, jumping up and down and clapping her hands, her squeals echoing throughout the room.
“What are you going to get? Something for the military? Let me guess, something black again?” She reaches out to snag my wrist, twisting my arm side to side.
“I think this arm is about done.” She drops my wrist, reaching over to grab my other arm.
“Let’s start a new one. Maybe something on your wrist? Your bicep? What do you want?”
I shrug. “I didn’t know I was getting a tattoo today, so I’ll have to talk to the shop and see what they think.”
Harper blinks once, slow and mischievous, before looking up at me with a smile. “You should let me pick it out.”