Page 41 of Grown Folks Confessions: Black Lush

She took her phone out of her purse. “Hold on, I’m getting a call.”

“I didn’t hear your phone ring.”

“It’s on vibrate,” she implied, before answering what I was sure was a fake call and walking away from us.

Ares shook his head. “Jade is full of shit. This place is practically ready to open. I barely see any final details needed.”

I laughed. “Yeah, it’s even more together than it was during my last visit, so I can only assume that she had others come in to assist instead.”

We both looked at each other and in unison said, “Ivy and Theseus,” as the culprits since Ivy worked for Black Lush and was pretty good at designing, too. And Ares’ brother, Theseus, was arguably more talented at running a tattoo show than Ares since that’s how he’d gotten involved with it in the first place. In my opinion, Ares was the best artist though.

“I’m so sorry, guys,” she apologized, walking back to us. “There is an urgent matter that needs my immediate attention. How about you two walk around and see what still needs to be done and we’ll touch base tomorrow?” She handed me a walkie-talkie. “When you both are ready to leave, just inform one of my guards and they’ll escort you out. Ares, I trust that you can get Layla home safely?”

“Of course,” he said.

I wasn’t even sure Jade heard him since she was already out the door. We stood there for a few seconds, not so much looking at each other, but truly checking out the tattoo section.

The lights were dim with a soft blue glow to the room. Graffiti was on the walls, and I noticed a few designs that Ares had obviously done since I was familiar with his work and I assumed the others were done by some of his cousins or brothers.

The black and blue leather furniture I’d chosen looked perfect for the place, and if I didn’t know that dirty things would go down in this part of the lounge, one could mistake it for an actual tattoo shop.

“It looks damn good in here,” Ares stated, echoing my thoughts. “My cousins are hype for this shit to launch, but I gotta say, I never imagined tattooing, then fucking clients.”

“So, you do plan on actually having sex with the women?” I tried to ask it nonchalantly, but even I could hear the anxiousness in my voice.

“It’s what Jade approached us to do.” He pinned me with an intense stare, stepping closer into my personal space. “Unless there’s a certain woman I know who wants this dick all to herself and shield me from the others.”

Oh, pick me! Me, me, me, me, me! I volunteer to protect that dick!“I guess, if you already signed the contract with Jade, who am I to interfere,” I said instead, causing him to just nod his head and smile as if he had a secret that I didn’t know.

Glancing to his left, he motioned for me to follow him. “The other day, I decided this would be my tattoo room.”

I went past the small door and dark velvet curtain and into the space I would know he claimed even if he hadn’t told me. I’d been keeping up with Ares’ social pages just like I always had, and lately, he’d been getting into the watercolor effect, intertwined with script and lettering. The way he designed it was something I hadn’t seen many artists do, so to see his latest designs on canvas hung on the walls of his room was even more breathtaking than looking at the small IG dimensions on my phone.

“It’s so you,” I uttered, running my fingers over the blue leather tattoo chair. “Women will be lining up.”

He grinned, opening a drawer and pulling out a few items. “Do you remember when we were at First Class Fantasy in New York?” he asked.

I nodded. “Of course.”How could I forget?“Jade had been on my ass to visit her lounge, but I never expected you to be there when I arrived.”

“Same.” He took out even more, before tying a black apron around his waist. “The sex that day was off the chain, but what I loved the most was the truth or dare game we had going on.”

“Yeah, I remember that game, too.” I swallowed, my mind reeling at what he was thinking.

“You never did let me collect on my dare that day,” he reminded. “By the time our friends started hanging out, I figured the gentlemanly thing to do would be to ignore our agreement.”

“Oh,” I muttered, not finding anymore words.

Next, he pulled out a pair of black gloves and put them on.

“You know, today I wasn’t sure if I’d get the chance to make a fantasy of mine come true,” he revealed, stepping closer to me. “Yet, here we are. Without any outside noise or friends to hide behind.”

“What’s your fantasy?” I asked, my heart beating profusely.

He raised an eyebrow. “You don’t remember?”

“No.”

“Then sit down so I can remind you,” he demanded, which I promptly disobeyed as I stayed put. “Now,” he added, his voice indicating he meant business.

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