Page 23 of Bombshell

Whatever the hell that meant.

It had gotten to the point where I’d told the guys that if the clients didn’t have cash or debit then we couldn’t serve them. The monsters who came into our shop needed to get with the times and by times I meant currency that could be exchanged so that the IRS would stop breathing down my neck every year.

“I see, so should all of Fiero’s invoices that say ‘arm,’ ‘leg,’ and ‘pec’ be updated and more detailed? Some of them don’t even have dollar amounts…” Daphne trailed off, clearly feeling guilty about snitching on the biggest pain in the ass at Monstrous Ink.

I had talked with him about thisseveraltimes after the last IRS agent for the audit had whipped the damn things out like I’d killed his firstborn child.

Fiero was definitely a bureaucrat’s nightmare and I couldn’t even blame them.

A growl left my lips as I turned to yell through the curtained doorway. “Fiero! You better get your furry ass out here with your tablet and fix these damn invoices. You absolutely know better!”

I heard someone, probably Heath, whisper ‘uh-oh,’ but my attention was quickly diverted by the bell over the shop door tinkling with someone coming in.

I turned, pasting a smile on my face as a tall, broad shouldered lion beastman walked through the door. “Hi, do you have an appointment?”

The beastman was dressed in a pair of boardshorts and a tank top that gave off the vibe that the man knew his way around a surfboard, they also showed off his lightly furred arms and legs that were completely free of any ink whatsoever.

No, other than the silver studs lining the man’s furry ears he looked completely clean cut—even if he looked a bit like a beach bum.

“Um, no,” the man said in a surprisingly deep voice as he put his hands in his pockets. His gold, feline eyes took in both me and Daphne as he seemed to be trying to gather his thoughts. “I’m actually here about the job ad for a full time body piercer?”

I blinked with surprise. I’d put that ad out months ago to little avail because, while tattoos were hard to ink into the skin of the various supernatural creatures, piercings were even worse to try to get done.

In all of the craziness of the past year I’d forgotten completely about my desire to have a piercer in-house so that all of the artists at Monstrous Ink could focus on their actual tattoo clients rather than sticking needles into supes at random.

My eyes went to the silver studs lining the man’s ears. “You’re a piercer?”

The man nodded. “My family has passed down their techniques through the generations and I worked at a tattoo shop when I was in Uni.”

Despite his clearly American accent, the way he said the word Uni told me that he’d probably studied abroad.

The man was already a conundrum and he’d only been here for a few minutes.

“What’s your name?” Dallan’s voice came from behind me, nearly making me jump clean out of my skin. I hadn’t heard him come from the back hallway but now he was standing with his arms crossed as he glared at the lion beast man in front of me.

“Byrne Leonidas,” the man said, holding his hand out to me instead of Dallan.

Hearing his last name, apingof recognition sounded off in my mind. The Leonidas beastmen clan was one of the richest, if not the richest of the beastmen clans in the world.

I lifted my hand to shake his but never got the chance because Dallan beat me to it, sliding in between us and grasping the man’s hand.

“Dallan Elder,” Dallan introduced himself, a deep, grumpy frown on his face. “And tell me, why is the heir to one of thebiggest fortunes in the world trying to get a job at a random tattoo shop in Northern California?”

The temperature in the room dropped several degrees and I heard Daphne shift uncomfortably in her seat as her eyes bounced from person to person at the sudden tension.

“Why don’t you give me an interview and find out?” Byrne growled as the two continued their stupid masculinity contest. Men. No matter the species they always seemed to try to find a way to be territorial.

Rolling my eyes, I dropped my hands over their clasped ones.

“Okay!” I said loud enough to make both men jump with surprise. It was as if they’d forgotten anyone else was in the room with them. “We just cleaned the floors in here, so if you two are going to engage in some weird pissing contest, may I suggest you do it in Dallan’s office? He hasn’t cleaned there in years.”

Dallan’s head snapped to me as he turned his frown on me instead. “I do clean, Lass.”

“Using some Lysol wipes and running a Swiffer in there every once in a while does not count as cleaning,” I scolded and turned to head back down the hallway, pausing when I realized that neither of the men had moved. “Are you two coming or not?”

That got Dallan moving as he released his grip on Byrne’s hand and turned to follow me.

I began to walk with a bit more pep in my step because this day was going better than I ever could have imagined. Morning sex followed by actually having someone who could organize our taxes, and now an interview for a full-time piercer?

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