It takes him some time to draw up the stencil perfectly and on paper it looks beautiful. I have to take my bra off, but he lets me keep my shirt on because it’s loose fitting and I can just push it up. After thoroughly sanitizing the area, he transfers the script onto my skin.
“Stand up and check it out in the mirror.”
With my left hand, I continue to hold my shirt up and lift my right arm to view what he’s done so far. I’m mesmerized by the way the curls on each letter flow into the next one, almost resembling a beautiful love letter. I could stare at it for hours. I can’t wait to have it permanently etched into my skin.
He lays the chair down flat and gently drapes my right arm over my head. I stick ear buds from my iPod in and flick through my albums for the perfect, relaxing mix. Before I can hit play, he taps me on the hand and I look at him to let him know that I can still hear him.
“The first few lines are pretty close to...your chest,” he says, almost nervously. “I’ll have to pull some areas tight and lean on you a bit at some point. I swear I’m not feeling you up though!” He raises his hands in genuine innocence and in this moment, I feel completely comfortable with his abilities and professionalism.
“Don’t worry about me, just do what you need to do,” I say, trying to make him feel more at ease.
“Alright then, let’s do this,” he says, while pulling on black latex gloves. “It’s gonna hurt at first, but usually it fades to a dull ache after a few minutes. Everyone is different.”
I shrug my shoulders, push play, and close my eyes. Throughout my years growing up, I’ve taught myself how to anticipate pain. When you know it’s coming, you can prepare yourself and refocus your thoughts elsewhere. I’m an expert at this, thanks to my dad.
The second the vibrating needle hits my skin, I love it. This is a good type of pain, the kind I can control, and it slowly becomes a pleasant feeling. I know what true pain is and this isn’t it. The humming noise of the machine can be heard over my music and it relaxes me, even more so than the massage chair from the pedicure.
I make it through one whole album when Max taps my side to let me know he needs to grab some more supplies, but that he’ll be right back. At this point, I hope I can lie in this chair all day. Tattoo to your heart’s content, Max.
JACE -
My workout was exactly what I needed. I was surprised to see that Lane attends the same boxing gym as I do. It was cool to spar with him a few rounds. He’s crazy-ass good though and he got some good hits in on me. I’ll definitely need to learn a few pointers from him.
As I’m heading out, I notice Max’s brand-new pair of gloves lying outside of the ring. His can easily be identified by the tattoo-like drawings on the leather. The right one, in particular, has a pretty ferocious-looking tiger that extends all the way to where his knuckles would be.
Since his shop is right across the street, I decide to run them over to him. I try to sneak past Jinx as I enter the shop, but she spots me before I can get two steps in the door. Her face lights up as she calls out my name.
“Hey Jinx, Max here?”
“He’s with a client. I can help you though,” she says in a low voice. A few more rounds of ‘heys’ call out from some of the guys in the shop and I nod my head to all of them. Max walks out of his workspace, so I excuse myself from Jinx’s predatory gaze.
“Hey man, you left these in the gym.” He continues walking toward the storage room, so I follow behind.
“Shit, thanks. That’s my new pair. It took me forever to draw that damn tiger.”
“Yeah, forget the expensive-ass gloves, it’s the tiger we’re worried about,” I mock.
He smirks while grabbing some ink from the shelves. “Dude, you have to check out this chick I’m working on right now.” He sucks his lip in between his teeth and whistles. “I think I just found my wife.”
“Wow, proposing already? That’s fast, even for you.” He jabs me in the side at my quip. “She covered in tats or something?”
“The exact opposite! Virgin skin. I’m totally poppin’ her cherry. Get this though, she’s completely enjoying it. It’s like it turns her on. She hasn’t flinched at all, and when the needle touches her skin, she gets this almost serene-like look on her face.”
“Damn, that does sound like your kinda girl,” I reply.
“Walk over there and check her out. She’s fucking gorgeous.”
“I think I’m good, man. I got my own girl.”
“What? When did that go down? Ah, forget it, you still need to see my future wife. She’s got legs for days, and I know how you enjoy a good pair of legs.” He pulls me across the shop floor and just to appease him, I peer over the wall at the girl lying flat on her back with her eyes closed and music blasting through her earphones.
“What the fuck?” I say, a bit too loud.
“Nu-uh, back your predatory ass up. I don’t like that look on your face. I already called dibs. You have your own girl, remember?” he quickly says, while walking into his area. Audrey doesn’t budge from her relaxed state, and she still hasn’t opened her eyes to see her audience.
“Back off, Max. That’s my girl!” I point at her. His eyes widen and he looks back and forth between Audrey and me.
“Does she have a necklace on?” I ask.
“Yeah...it’s got a pen-”
“A penny,” I interrupt.
“Noooo,” he whines. “This is my dream girl and you got her first?”
“Damn straight! And you better believe I don’t plan on leaving her alone with you a second longer.” I gaze at the work he’s done so far. “Especially since you’re practically working right on my girl’s chest. Cop a feel and lose a finger. Got me?”
He grumbles and walks to the sink to wash his hands. After he slides new gloves on and sits back down beside her, I pull up a chair on her opposite side. Her milky white skin is now stamped with fresh ink and I’m not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand, it looks pretty damn hot. But on the other hand, I loved her smooth, untouched skin. Mostly, I think it bothers me that she came here by herself.
Before Max begins, I grab her hand and kiss her knuckles lightly. Her whole body locks up and she immediately sits up ramrod straight.
“Max!” she exclaims in anger.
I continue holding her hand while she looks at Max, who has his hands in the air in surrender. “Wasn’t me! I sure as hell wish it was, but it wasn’t me, babe.”
With my empty hand, I reach out and swat at him, “Hey, she’s not your babe, jackass.”
“Jace?” She finally turns to look at where our hands are entwined together. I slowly lay her down while Max prepares the machine. I don’t want her accidently flashing him with her shirt up like it is.
When she’s flat on her back, I take out her ear bud and whisper directly into her ear, “You have me now. No more doing this kind of stuff by yourself, ‘kay? You’re not alone. I want to be there for everything.”
Tears well up in her eyes and she says, “How did you know I was here?”
“I came to see this douchebag. Max has done all my work that I’ve gotten in California. He’s also my friend, but that’s questionable now that I’ve heard how he feels about you.” Her cheeks turn a nice shade of pink, and I kiss her lips lightly while squeezing her hand.
“Carry on, Maxi-pad.” I gesture for him to resume.
“Asshole,” he grumbles. I can sympathize with him, really I can. I know what it’s like to learn that Audrey isn’t actually going to be yours, but now she is mine, and he can just get over his little case of puppy love.
When he starts up the machine and touches it to her skin, I instantly see what he had been talking about. She does get an almost tranquil look on her face. Her music is blaring again and she’s off in another world, giving me the opportunity to freely stare at her, uninterrupted. I’ve seen this look on her face after we’ve both satisfied each other for hours and we lay side-by-side, just trying to catch our breaths.