Page 3 of Sins and Secrets

We start to discuss Grae, the human angel, and his phoenix tattoo, when Izzy asks, “Who else is in your flick the bean rotation? Hot song writer guy and who are the other two?”

“Well, the actor who plays the Pirate King fromTheKnights of the Night,and someone who I probably shouldn’t be thinking about.”

She looks at me like I’m crazy. “You never think about your boyfriend to help finish the job.”

“Why?” Fantasy is always better than reality.

“Um, yeah, I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to.”

“I guess the downside to dating your best friend’s brother is it makes it hard to break up with him.” Oops, I said the quiet part out loud.

My phone buzzes again and my heart drops to the basement. “No.” Blinking at the screen in disbelief, I’m vaguely aware Izzy is waiting for an answer. “Angie picked out the bridesmaids’ dresses.” The dress is beautiful, but it’s the back of it that scares me. It’s low, really low. There’s no way to hide the inked monstrosity on my lower back.

Logical Izzy asks the problem-solving question. “Is there any time to get it removed?”

I already researched it. It’s twenty-four weekly treatments, and the wedding is in two months.

“No.” I hang my head. “What am I going to do?”

My phone bings.

Angie: Hey Girlie. Thoughts?

Me: What did I do to deserve this punishment? More importantly, what the hell happened to the dress you picked out and we paid for already?

Angie: You didn’t do anything wrong. The first set of dresses were on a cargo carrier that was raided by pirates and sunk.

Me: How are pirates STILL a fucking thing.

Angie: Thievery never dies.

Angie: What are you worried about?

Me: My tattoo will give your family and God nightmares at your wedding

.

Three dots appear on my screen and vanish.

By the time I look up, Izzy’s gone and Uri’s staring at me from across the room. “You okay?” he mouths. He doesn’t wait for me to answer andhe’s by my side as I watch the little dots dance again. He scrolls up and sees the dress and then the rest of the texts. “How bad can it be?”

I sigh in defeat and lift my long sweater, exposing only the top of it.

Uri pulls away and gasps.“Wave, I’ve seen truly awful things, but … shit… How? You know what, how doesn’t matter, why?”

“I was drunk.”

“Obviously.”

My phone chimes again.

Angie: Bad news--there’s not enough time for laser treatment.

Me: I am well aware.

Angie: But I’m cashing in a favor with a tattoo artist.

Me: Really?

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