Page 4 of Three Little Words

Chapter Two

Benny

Five Years Ago

It was a slow afternoon.

Slow afternoons still made me nervous. Bradley and I had only owned the shop for a year; we were still in the make-or-break era.

We usually did pretty good, but I couldn’t help getting nervous when the shop was empty.

At least everyone was on board to clean when the shop was quiet. I wanted it to look professional all the time. Neatly organized and stocked shelves, artwork displayed in frames, surfaces clean enough to eat off of.

I wasn’t going to let us get a bad review for cleanliness, that was for sure.

I was taking my turn at the front counter, wiping it down and making sure the display cases of piercing jewelry were tidy; we didn’t have a piercer on staff yet, but the jewelry still sold well.

Bradley was in the middle of sweeping the floor, even though there wasn’t much dust to get up. We were cousins, but didn’t look much like each other; Bradley was a little shorter than me, blond and blue-eyed (the only trait we really shared.) He dressed in all black, his jeans always tight. It was kinda funny to watch him sweeping, hunched over the cheap dollar-store broom we’d bought.

Ryker and Logan were in the back of the shop, where the cabinets of inks were. Organizing them was a never-ending process. We were slowly buying up little bins to sort the colors in to, but they were expensive and it was going to take time. I could hear the two of them laughing, even though I wasn’t sure what was being said. Ryker had his head tilted back, with his long blond hair hanging down his back.

Beside him, Logan was hunched forward, leaning on a shelf in the cabinet. One tan hand was clutching the cabinet door, the other undoubtedly pressed to his stomach as he laughed.

It was good to see everybody having some fun, even if we were still busy working.

I couldn’t help but smile as I polished the counter again. Ryker was new, but settling in well, and he was a hell of an artist. All of us were damn good at what we did.

We just needed to keep the business going strong.

I heard the door open and my head snapped up.

The girl who walked in was stunning—a petite brunette with dark eyes. She was dressed casually, a small messenger bag thrown over her shoulder.

“Hey.” She sounded confident.

It was hot.

“Hey. Welcome to No Regrets.” I smiled. “What can we do for you?”

She opened her purse, pulling out a wallet and a rolled-up sheet of paper. She rifled through the wallet first.

“I have a hundred and fifty dollars and a design.” She placed the rolled-up paper on the counter. “And I’d love to walk out of here with that tattooed on my ribs.”

I nodded. “We can do that. Just gotta ask some questions first. Can I check out the design, see who’s going to be the best for it?”

She nodded. “Sure.”

I unrolled the paper and looked at it.

Well within my abilities.

I smiled. “I’ll do it. I’m Benny. Co-owner of the shop.” I held my hand out to shake hers.

“Bryn. Tattoo newbie.”

“Really?”

With designs this good, I figured she’d gotten ink before, or maybe even wanted to learn how to do it herself.

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