Page 16 of Volatile Obsessions

? Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Lorde ?

“That’s gonna look sick as fuck,” Stryker mused, a devious smirk flitting across his handsome face as he eyed my bare chest.

Well, almost bare chest. Aside from the black tape laid over my nipples in an X, everything else was on display. Not that there was much to see, really. I wasn’t a part of the big ol’ titty committee.

Swatting his arm with a playful hand, I rolled my eyes and sat up right in my seat. “Move out the way! Let me see, dammit!”

“Okay, okay, geez,” he laughed, rolling away on his stool to allow me a look in the mirror.

Even from my vantage point, I found myself gasping, scrambling onto my feet to get a closer look. The design we’d discussed several weeks back literally had nothing on the masterpiece Stryker ended up recreating.

The focal point was the raven laid out on my sternum, its beak parted as though it were croaking its call, wings splayed out amongst two roses on either side. Beneath it, a crown sat surrounded by rose leaves that swept up the sides to tie the entire design together.

It was perfect, and gorgeous, and just—

“It’s you,” Stryker mused, reading my mind. “Flows well with the rest of your ink.”

I might’ve been biased, but he was right. Everything just meshed well, and it wasn’t even permanent yet.

With one last look in the mirror, I melted into the cool leather, regarding my friend with nothing but excitement. You’d think after all the tattoos already adorning my body that I’d be used to this, but each and every piece was a new adventure. A new rush.

It never got old.

“Ready?” he asked, slowly reclining my chair as far possible.

“As always. Let’s do this.”

That familiar, comforting buzz met my ears not ten seconds later. I took a deep breath and shut my eyes, allowing Stryker to work without the stress of my stare. Feeling the needles puncture my skin was instantly therapeutic. The world around me, and all the problems within it gave away to the recesses of my mind, allowing me to fully relax under Stryker’s hand.

“Sooo… How’s Suki?” he quipped after a beat.

The grin in his voice was palpable, and for that, I smirked. He had absolutely no shame in his game, at least not when it came to Suki. The man had been pining after her probably as long as she’d been pining after him. Why they weren’t together yet, I had not a clue.

“She’s good—up to her neck in new students at the studio,” I replied, stifling down a laugh at the reaction I knew was coming.

Stryker groaned, louder than intended. “That girl has some serious moves. Doesn’t surprise me Vybe is thriving.”

Moves she wants to put on you.

“You should come one Friday night. It’s kind of like a weekly showcase for all the advanced routines. By midnight, though, it’s basically another club; drinks, black lights, good music. You get the picture, right?”

“Cover charge?”

“Newbs only,” I conceded. “If you come with me, though, you’re good. Plus, Suki would never charge you anyway, and I know she’d be happy to see you.”

Like a broken record, the buzz of Stryker’s machine stopped as he went completely rigid beside me, and once again, I had to reign myself in from bursting into a fit of laughter.

Intrigued blue eyes bore into me the moment I cracked open my eyelids. “Did she say that?” he questioned.

“No, but—”

Ping!

The abrupt chime of my phone halted the admission right on the tip of my tongue. Without prompting, Stryker reached over his station and passed it to me, studying me with a curious brow. I hoped it was Suki, just to see what his reaction would be, but it wasn’t. It was Vic, and the text message illuminating my screen shot up all types of red flags I couldn’t ignore.

Vic:We’ve got a problem…

Of course we do.

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