Page 47 of Love on the Waiver Wire

Her brows furrow even more as she looks at me. “I’m sorry,” I tell her.

“We’ll pay for two nipples,” Isla assures her.

“Two full nipples,” I say as I hold up two fingers, my vision starting to get a little hazy. Isla notices, snapping her fingers in front of my eyes.

“Why did you get it done in the first place?” the woman asks.

“We were contractually obligated to for a,” Isla pauses, her eyes shooting up as she thinks of a good excuse. “a thing,” she says, unable to come up with anything.

“Yeah, we just had to get a photo of it.”

“You got your whole nipple pierced just for a photo? You know there’s fake piercings out there, right?”

We freeze, my eyes slowly, very slowly, making their way to Isla, who’s looking anywhere but me. “I actually didn’t know about that at all,” she says, fidgeting.

“Yeah,” the woman nods, her lips thin.

“Hmm,” Isla doesn’t meet my eyes, but instead looks at my nipple. A second later, her eyes lazily move up to finally find mine.

I do think it’s cute,” she cocks her head to the side, examining it.

I’m a big man, and I’m not sure how a nipple piercing could possibly look on me.

Isla brings her phone up to her face once more, and I can see her taking another photo of me from further away.

“Okay, well if you’re still paying for it I’ll take it out,” the woman says, hovering over me once more. “It may hurt a bit coming out though. And you’re still going to have to make sure it closes up well. Though it won’t take long.”

I nod, holding my breath as she undoes the ball, sliding the piercing out.

“Is it done?” I ask, opening one eye. Isla grins, holding two thumbs up. I scowl at her.

“You ready to check out?” the piercer asks.

Instead of saying yes right away, Isla looks at me for a moment before turning her attention back to the woman. “I think I actually want to get mine pierced. For real. I’ll pay for four nipples.”

I feel the blood rush from my brain.

* * *

“Are you telling me that you made me get my precious nipples pierced for no reason?” I ask her as we drive back to her place.

“No, I still wasn’t about to send a photo of my boobs to mybrother,Owen.”

I roll my eyes. “But you acted like the thought of even doing that was horrible.”

She shakes her head. “No I didn’t. The thought is okay. I’m fine with getting them done. In fact, I’ve wanted to for a long time now. They’re cute. The perfect accessory to any outfit, really. But I still wasn’t about to send a photo of them to my brother. And then from my brother to a group chat of ten other men.

Okay, she has a point, no matter how much I don’t want to see it.

“Fine.” I say, not as annoyed as I should be.

Damn her.

“Listen. I know that was a little traumatizing, and I really appreciate you helping me. I owe you owe, Crosby.”

“Yeah, you do.”

Isla took her piercings like a champ. Not that I saw it go down. I’m not sure I could watch, but I wasn’t about to make her feel uncomfortable watching her get topless in the middle of the tattoo and piercing shop.

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