Page 29 of Three Little Words

Bryn raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. It’s a moneymaker. I’ve had a lot of college kids complain about us being on the other side of the river.”

“It’s not that far.”

“I know. I know. But they bitch about it all the time.”

She laughed.

I’d missed that sound.

I missed this—drinking with her, talking about whatever was on our minds.

But damn. She’d really messed me up.

I wasn’t sure she even knew how badly.

“So you want to make it more convenient for the college kids,” she mused. “I guess that’s fair. They make up most of my business, too.”

“I think there’s plenty of dumb college kids to go around. And, I mean, they change their minds about tattoos all the time. They’ll get one from one shop, go to the other for a coverup when they get tired of the ink.” I laughed. “I’ve had a lot of people come in wanting names covered up.”

“Because the work is bad?”

“Nah, because these dumb frat boys get their girlfriends’ names tattooed on them and then they break up.”

Bryn smiled.

“And anyway.” I shrugged. “Your work is good. It’s always a shame to cover it up.”

She blushed.

That didn’t happen often, and I always felt a little swell of pride when I did it.

We ordered another round of drinks, and a basket of wings to share. Bryn told me a little about her shop; she tried to prioritize hiring female artists, and had a lot of clients that were women. It was a great angle; I knew that some girls didn’t feel comfortable coming into No Regrets.

I didn’t say it to Bryn, but I did make a mental note to recommend her shop to any girls who seemed nervous, especially if their tattoos would require some undressing.

I told her a little about our shop, too—mostly about Garrett, who’d come from California and fit perfectly with the rest of us, and Zoe, who showed a lot of promise as an artist but was really killing it as our receptionist.

“Oh, yeah, her hair is really cool.” Bryn smiled, picking up a wing and eating it.

“Come in next week. It’ll look totally different.”

“Oh yeah? She’s one of those punky girls, huh?”

“Definitely. She changes her hair all the time. It’s pretty amazing that she hasn’t fried it out of her head.”

Bryn laughed again, shaking her head.

God, that laugh. I’d missed Bryn. So much more than I could ever tell her.

I shifted, glancing her over. She was wearing a skirt, and the side slit had opened just a little from the way she was sitting.

There was another tattoo there.

I thought about the lotus on her ribs, and wondered what this one was.

I shifted my chair just a little closer to her.

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