Page 6 of Flash

“That dog needs Adderall or something,” Hero says with a chuckle, pulling off his helmet and dragging his fingers through his hair. As he swings his leg over his bike, his jeans ride up just enough that I catch a flash of the pink unicorn socks he has on under his shit-kicking boots.

“Don’t listen to him, he’s not a real doctor,” Piston whispers conspiratorially to Gregory, scooping him up and laughing as my dog wiggles and squirms to be put back down.

I shrug off my jacket and hang it on the handlebar of my bike, and then the three of us, plus Gregory, head inside through the back door. It’s a Sunday, which means Ink Slingers is appointment only. If I remember, Jaguar should be here working on a back piece. The sound of the Barbie soundtrack blaring through the speakers confirms that before I even step out of the back room to see my favorite chaos gremlin hard at work.

I stride over to where his phone is docked and tap the volume button to turn it down to a more reasonable level.

“Hey, fucker,” Jag yelps, lifting his needle off the customer’s skin and whipping around in his chair to glare at me. “Oh, it’s just you.”

I cock my head and smirk. “Who the fuck else would it be?”

“Oh, don’t make Jag-off give you a full list of the people who might come around to fuck with him. That could take all day,” Hero teases.

“People love me.” Jag sniffs and all three of us laugh. “Fuck each and every one of you.”

Piston snorts. “Harboring a gang bang fantasy?”

“Oh no, sweetness, I meant that I would be the one doing the fucking.” Jag puckers up and sends a taunting kiss in our direction.

The topless woman straddling his chair barks out a laugh. “There’s a reason I keep coming back to Ink Slingers again and again.”

“Because we do the best ink in the Midwest?” Jag guesses, returning his attention to the colorful pair of wings he’s spent three sessions on already.

“Well, yeah, but also the way you guys shit-talk each other. It makes me feel like I’m back home with my annoying siblings,” she explains, and all three of us nod in understanding.

“So, seriously, who did you think was coming in to fuck with your music?” I ask again while I go in search of my misplaced sketch pad. I could have sworn I left it right on the counter, but someone must have tidied up and fucked up my entire system.

“Our new neighbor.” He stops tattooing again to swivel around in his chair. “You would not believe this guy. He had the nerve to march in here this morning and yell at me.”

His tone makes it clear that he’s utterly scandalized by the turn of events, but even without knowing a single thing about the new neighbor, I’m positive he was justified.

“Why?” Piston asks, coming over to the counter to flip through the appointment book for the upcoming week.

Jaguar rolls his eyes. “Something about the music being too loud.” He waves his hand dismissively. “If you ask me, he needs an immediate intervention to pry the stick out of his ass before it becomes a permanent fixture.”

I grin and arch my eyebrow. “You planning to help him with that?”

“Hell no.” He scoffs and spins back around to his customer again. “He’s not my type. Nothing wrong with a little twink on twink action, but I prefer to take down bears. He looked like a sweet little china doll, which is way too breakable if you ask me.”

I finally find my sketchpad under a stack of signed consent forms under the desk and tuck it under my arm. A pretty little china doll of a twink? Sounds a lot like Lewis. I bite back the wistful sigh that threatens to escape. It’s not like this town is all that big—I’m sure I could track him down if I really set my mind to it. Hell, I could drive over to Big Bull right now and ask Henry about him. But I gave him my number and he didn’t call. I know how to take a hint, even when the hint sucks balls.

“Speaking of which, how did your date go last night?” Hero asks, pulling up a chair right next to where Jag is working and spinning it around to straddle it.

Jaguar lets out a little hiss and bristles. “Dude, if I weren’t working right now, I would kick you in the dick for setting me up with that asshole. I’ve never met anyone so fucking infuriating in my life. It’s like he’s going for the world record of putting his foot in his mouth every time he speaks. And I’ve met him before, by the way. So, more confirmation that the gay dating pool in this town is getting way too damn small.”

“Well, shit.” Hero scratches his bushy beard and shrugs. “I thought you’d be into him. You’re on your own, I guess.”

Jag grunts. “You know what we should do? We should do a little good old-fashioned hazing.”

“Who? Your blind date?” Piston asks, furrowing his brow.

“No.” Jag huffs. “The new neighbor.”

“Jag,” I growl his name.

“What? I’m not talking about anything illegal, just a harmless prank or two to welcome him to our friendly strip mall.”

“Don’t make me pull rank,” I say, and Jag just laughs.

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