Page 51 of Until the Ink Dries

“It’s the least I can do. If nobody else is going to help our people, we have to. Not to mention, it’s not like I have anyone besides myself to spend much of my money on. I try to help where I’m needed. You know I say this all the time, if I got it, so do you.”

Jordan was a lot of things, but selfish or greedy wasn’t one of them. So many people around here thought that I should have so many things on account of him. But, we were brothers. I wasn’t looking to take anything that he earned, not to mention, I was far from struggling.

“I appreciate that, and it’s the same thing here. Did Duke call you?” I asked.

“Hell yeah, right after I had the money wired over. He was trying to give some back, but you know I wasn’t going for that. I had to tell his ass he wasn’t getting in the way of my damn tax write off!”

I cracked up because this man didn’t have any sense, but I felt him on that. If you were well off and not giving back, you were definitely going to be beat upside the head come tax time.

“I’m sure he got a kick out of that,” I replied.

“Hell yeah. But what you getting into today?” he asked.

Before I could reply, the bell that alerted me someone had come into the shop went off. I placed my broom to the side and walked to the front to greet whoever it was. The moment I walked around the corner, Willow was standing there in a pair of jean shorts that showed off her tattoo that covered a good portion of her right thigh. Her hair was in a ponytail today, showing off her high cheekbones.

“You taking any customers today?” she asked with a smile.

I almost forgot that Jordan was on the phone until he cleared his throat.

“Aye yo’, can you hear me? Is that Willow?” Jordan asked.

I reached into my back pocket and pulled my phone out.

“I’m gone get at you later.”

I didn’t give him a chance to say anything else before I hung up. I slipped my phone back into my pocket and looked her over one more time.

“What did you have in mind?” I asked, while strolling over to her.

She reached into her pocket, then pulled out her phone. I waited a moment until she turned her phone to face me. She had a picture of a woman holding a mask but slightly pulled away from her face. A zodiac Gemini sign was over her head and I think a few flowers. I nodded, impressed by her choice.

“I can definitely do that. Where do you want it?” I asked, moving a little closer.

I just wanted to be in her space and it didn’t help that I now knew what her lips felt like and how she felt in my arms. I needed a taste, but I wasn’t sure if that was just a spur-of-the-moment thing that happened between us, so I kept my distance.

She held her wrist out, then turned it over to show me where she wanted it. I reached out and traced the place the tattoo would go with my fingertips.

“Alright, hold up.” I told her.

I walked around her then changed the light in the window that said open to closed. I was the only one at the shop right now and would be until tomorrow. I locked the door, then placed my hand on the small of her back to lead her to my studio. The moment we were inside, I grabbed the broom to bring into the storage closet.

“Have a seat. I’m going to put up this broom real quick,” I told her.

I quickly brought the broom back to the storage closet and stood outside the door for a moment to take a deep breath. I don’t know why the hell I was so nervous when I did this all the time. This is what I got paid to do, but by the way my heart was beating out of control, it felt like the first time.

I walked back into the room with pen and paper so I could sketch her design and we could get started. I asked her to pull up the picture once more and took a seat beside her. The sweet aroma of her perfume was filling the room, and I couldn’t say I minded it.

“I’m so intrigued, watching you look at a picture and just draw it. Have you been drawing all your life?” Willow asked.

I smiled. It was nice to hear someone truly interested in the process.

“Yeah, before I found myself helping out here. I used to draw all types of things back then. I wasn’t as into sports as my pops, so I would bring my pen and paper to chill with him. He would be going on about sports and I would draw but we still got to kick it.”

I smiled, thinking back on those days. At first, my dad used to be confused as hell. He just knew because he had a son, we would do all kinds of sports and things, but it was never my thing. When I finally told him, I just knew he was going to flip out. But, he respected that I came to him as a man and spoke up for myself. After that, he took an interest in some things I did, and I gave him sports Sundays on the couch – even though I didn’t care what was happening.

“I love to hear that. Most dads feel slighted if their sons or children don’t like some things they do. Kudos to pops,” she said and clapped her hands.

I shook my head and continued to draw out the design.

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