Page 67 of Shifting Gears

“You got my message about what I was thinking, right?” she asked as she slid onto the seat, setting her purse on a table next to it.

“It might be one of my most favorite designs I’ve ever done,” Riku said as he got his equipment set up.

A few minutes later, he stepped into the back, and Sydney turned her attention toward me.

“So, what do you think? Riku’s parlor is one of the best you’ve ever been to, right?” she said as she rolled onto her side to face me.

“It’s pretty all right. Nothing like this in LA that I’ve been to,” I said as I took another quick glance around the space.

“Knew it! Maybe one day, you can get a tattoo from Riku too. He’s the best.”

Sydney settled back as Riku returned with a tablet in hand. He held it out to her. Her eyes lit up, and she swallowed hard.

“Yes,” she choked out. She shoved her shorts down slightly to reveal her thigh and pulled her shirt off, covering her chest with it since she wasn’t wearing a bra.

He got to work, hand-stenciling it onto her thigh and side. I couldn’t see the whole design, but it looked insanely detailed. Then he prepped his needles and ink colors, and there were a whole lot of them.

As soon as the needle touched her skin, I couldn’t look away from her.

She didn’t flinch when the needle pierced her skin. In fact, it was like it put her in a more relaxed state with each stroke. That was, until he started to do the line work along her hip. Then her face turned red, and I swore she moaned softly. My dick hardened as I kept watching her. Her eyes locked with mine as he hit a particularly sensitive spot, and her eyes almost rolled back into her head as she bit her lower lip in ecstasy.

“Easy there,imouto-san. Any more of that, and I’ll have to charge the other clients extra just to be in the same space as you,” he said with a wink and a smirk as he continued to black out the part of a branch he was working on.

She smiled, and after he was above her hip, she about damn near fell asleep as he worked.

A few hours later, he finished the last few swipes with his needle. Setting down the tattoo gun, he nodded over to the mirror.

Sydney slowly rolled over, got up, and walked over to the mirror.

She stood, staring at herself in the mirror, as Riku quietly cleaned up his station. He laid out some Second Skin to cover it up once she was finished checking it over. Her shorts were shoved low on one side, and her top was still clutched in front of her. The tattoo was a branch that twisted and turned up her side, with different flowers blooming along the side of her body. Light-pink cherry blossoms were up by her ribs, the petals floating down around the next bloom. A darker pink camellia bloomed in the center, strong and bold. On her hip, a deep red spider lily flower was spread out, but raven feathers instead of leaves accentuated it.

It was sexy, clean, and detailed work, and judging by the look on Sydney’s face, she was blown away by it.

“Riku, it’s …” Her voice trailed off as emotion overtook her.

“Perfection,” Riku said as he patted the chair, ready to wrap her tattoo.

She lay back down, eyes closed as he worked to cover her tender skin. Once he was done, she excused herself to the bathroom, and I walked over to her artist.

“How much?” I said.

He looked me up and down before answering, “Depends.”

“On what?” I said as I sat on the chair.

“Size and reason. I don’t tattoo anyone off the street. How do you know Sydney?” Riku asked as he finished resetting his station.

“Through her sister, Raven,” I said as I tugged my hoodie off.

His eyes slowly rolled over the ink I already had as I gestured to my back, which was bare.

“Mmm. What do you want?” He pulled out fresh needles and ink holders.

I explained my idea, and he asked if he could take some creative liberty. I nodded. As long as it showed the element I wanted, it didn’t matter how he did it.

Sydney walked out right as he was about to stencil, and her eyes went wide.

“Wow. I’m shocked you won over Riku so fast. It took him two years after Raven told me about this place for him to finally do his first tattoo on me,” she said as she walked over to one of the other chairs and sat down.

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