Page 19 of Breaking the Rules
I fill two cups with water. Chloe and Dean look up from whatever they're doing at the front desk to watch me.
They whisper like best friends trading gossip.
Or lovers.
Hard to tell.
I'm not sure what they know.
Brendon is a quiet guy. I trust him to keep secrets. But it's not hard to put the pieces together.
Last time they saw me, I was drunk and wild.
Now…
I'm not sure what the hell I am, but I'm not that guy.
My fingers brush Stephanie's.
She looks up at me with a smile. It's somewhere betweenI'm so excited about thisandI want to fuck you senseless.
It's the mix of adrenaline and dopamine that comes with ink.
It's that I'm a hot tattoo artist about to mark her body.
It's not aboutme.
She finishes her water in three gulps, then hands the cup back to me. "Am I supposed to be ready?"
"I still get nervous too."
"Really?" Her eyes go wide as she studies the sleeve on my left arm. "After all that?"
Sometimes. But it's not the needle on my skin that scares me. It's having my hands on the gun.
I've done this buzzed a lot more than I've done this sober.
I need this job.
I need to be as good as I was.
"That's part of the thrill." I finish my water. "The rush is addicting."
She nodstrueand looks to the tattoo on her forearm—the lyrics to a song. I don't recognize them, but they're familiar. Something I've seen before. And not just on her Instagram.
"You ready?"
She nodsyeah.
"Then let's start." I wash my hands. Don gloves. Play with a few temporary tattoos until we find the perfect placement.
It's all normal. Easy. Familiar.
Then I clean her up.
Get her in the chair, facedown—this is going on her shoulder blade—and tape the stencil to her skin.
My heart thuds against my chest.
