Page 36 of His Custody

Keyne expected Jasper’s face to darken—drugs were something he was super strict about—but he sat on a stool he’d pulled up beside her, expression as neutral as if he were eating a sandwich. Actually more neutral than that: Jasper liked sandwiches. She didn’t have other questions so she sat back and half listened while Jasper asked questions about the ink, the equipment, and how to take care of the tattoo once she had it.

Once Leisl had everything set up, she slid her wheeled stool up to Keyne’s side and put on some gloves. “Ready?”

“Yes.”

“Sure?”

“Yes.”

“Really? Because—”

“Did Jasper ask you to talk me out of this?”

Leisl shook her head, sending the strands of her pigtails flying. “Absolutely not. He wouldn’t do that. If he was going to say no, he would’ve told you no himself. He wouldn’t have dragged you down here, wasted my time, and had someone else do his dirty work. It’s something you can’t change and I don’t want you to hate me forever because you regret it.”

“I would never hate you.” Leisl was super cool and Keyne wished she could come hang out at her half-tattoo parlor/half-doctor’s office all the time.

“Fine, but you also can’t blame me if all you can think of after we do this is getting another tat.” Her white teeth shone from between her dark red lips as she grinned. It faded as quickly as it had come and she turned to Jasper. “That goes for you, too.”

Jasper held up a hand. “Yes, ma’am. She’ll have to wait until she turns eighteen for her next one, but I’ll bring her back if she wants.”

***

Keyne had picked a good spot for her first ink, padded with as much muscle as she had anywhere on her skinny frame. He’d tried to get her to eat more, but she’d always tended toward being thin like her mother. Little pixies, the both of them. Whenever he got too focused on how much she was eating, he tried to remind himself of that and it served well enough to shut him up. He didn’t want to make her feel like there was anything wrong with her body. There wasn’t.

She didn’t fidget as she reclined in the chair and for a flash of a second, an image of Leisl strapped down to a similar chair and being tormented by two of her partners came to mind. Leisl was a switch and he’d seen her both Domme and sub, but that was by far his most vivid memory of her.

Josh had stroked her hair and kissed her, soothing her as Mistress Alice threaded needles around her nipples. Leisl had whimpered and implored Josh with those big golden brown eyes.

Both of them had murmured encouragement and praise to her and when Mistress Alice had finished, a pretty gleaming five-pointed star adorning the tips of each of Leisl’s breasts, Josh had spread Leisl’s legs as Alice pleasured her girl with her mouth. Leisl had come so hard she screamed and Jasper had had to drag his play partner into the other room and put her to good use before his head exploded.

It would not do to have those thoughts anywhere near Keyne, especially when Leisl was instructing him to hold her hand. He did, Keyne’s hand small and smooth in his. Cool, but not clammy. “Are you cold?”

“No. Nervous.”

“That’s okay. It’s scary isn’t it? You know you can change your mind anytime. Or if you need to take a break, say so. We’ve got plenty of time.”

He’d asked Leisl to clear her schedule this morning and paid for the privilege. He’d made a good choice bringing Keyne here. Leisl did good work and she liked kids, hadn’t blinked an eye when Jasper had told her about Keyne.

A strand of hair escaped Keyne’s messy bun and he brushed it aside as she turned toward him and closed her eyes. The tender touch sent thoughts he really shouldn’t have been having through his head. Keyne underneath him while he pressed inside her, sighing, and her delicate lids falling closed as he did, because pleasure. He was giving herpleasure. It took everything he had to not shake the image from his head but instead just shut a mental door on it. So very not okay.

When the needle touched her skin, she flinched and her eyes flew open, but she didn’t say to stop. On the contrary, her lips parted, her pupils dilated and she closed her eyes again on a sigh. A thought nagged at the back of his mind but he didn’t want to reel it in. All he needed to know was that Keyne was fine. She was fine.

Leisl raised her eyebrows at him over Keyne’s prone form.

“She’s okay. You can keep going.” Keyne’s fingers tightened around his in confirmation, and her breath came slow and even.

The work didn’t take long; it was simple and small. When she was done, Leisl brought Keyne a mirror so she could see the words curling below the uneven skin of her scar. The angry red had faded, but if you didn’t know how it had looked before, it still looked pretty bad. Pink and raw.

“What do you think?”

“I love it. It’s beautiful. Exactly what I thought it would be like. Do you like it, Jasper?”

Truthfully, yes. He did. More than he ought to, even.

He knew it was supposed to remind her that what had happened wasn’t her fault, but it reminded him of how strong she was to be able to make her way through this world when everything that had been so certain in her short life had been taken from her. He’d do his best to be there for her, ease her through being alive when it sometimes hurt so badly, but in the end, it was up to her. There was only so much he could do. And the stubborn girl he’d known was still stubborn; she’d fight tooth and nail. He was just a contrivance responsible for setting up the best conditions he could to let her do it. One of those conditions was letting her find her own way.

“I’m glad you’re happy with it.”

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