Page 21 of Derek
“Just stand there for a second,” Fox says as he walks over with his printed design. I grab some tape, and Fox and I wrap the paper around her thigh. I place the tape between her thighs on the stencil’s edge like I’ve done on clients a hundred thousand times before. But this time, it feels different. This time, I dropped the tape twice and had to wipe the sweat off my palms. Taking a breath, I grab a sharpie and a pencil before tossing a pillow on the floor and sitting on it.
“Alright, come here,” I say to her, then motioning for Fox to come over. “Pull up the sketch on the tablet.” I watch Fox pull his glasses from his head and tap his screen until he pulls the image back up.
“Indy, if you start feeling–”
“I’ll be fine, Derek,” she giggles. “You can’t break me.” I nod before looking at her body and the tattoo’s placement. As hard of a time as I’m having, I finally seem to be able to switch off the broken part of my brain that acts like a damn idiot every time she’s around and go into professional tattoo artist mode, no longer seeing her as Indiana Johnson with her curly hair, sing-song voice, and dimples, but a human body with angles and shapes.
“So your client is proportional to Indy, right? Thinner, petite all over?” Fox nods.
“Yeah, she might be a little taller, but Indy’s legs are longer.” I grab Indy’s arm.
“Put that over your chest, Darlin’. I would fade the wings a little more towards the sides and bottom.” I state as I start shading the area on her thigh. I feel her tense slightly, but I don’t say anything.
“For you to get the most out of the angel’s face, you’re gonna want her to be in the light due to the size of the head. But I’d move the light source. You have it straight on, and I get why, you have her eyes looking down. But,” I take the sharpie and draw the eyes looking upwards. “If you make them look up with the same pained expression, you can move the light source. So imagine the light is coming down from her chest, over her hip. Then it flows well, the shading and highlights will have a better life-like effect, and the shading won’t do anything weird and cause her ass to look off.”
“Dude!” Ash yells from his station. “That’s my fucking sister.” I blink in confusion before I realize what the fuck I just said.
“Not that your ass could look off,” I say as I look up at Indy. “Not that I’ve noticed,” Goddamn it. I’m suddenly very aware of the fact that I am wrapped around her, gripping part of her thigh to hold the paper steady while I am sketching.
Deciding I’ve talked and helped out enough for the day, I move away and stand up. “But it’s your tattoo, do what you want,” I mutter as I start cleaning my station up before grabbing my bag and quickly heading out the door.
I make it down the steps before Indy’s voice halts my progression. “Derek, wait!” I see her at the top of the steps and watch as she grips the handrail with both her hands while trying to take a step down. My eyes widen, and fear fills me at the thought of her falling.
“Woah, woah, Darlin’!” I say as I rush up the stairs to stop her descent. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Tattoo me.” She says firmly, and I furrow my brow.
“Do…what?”
“I want a tattoo, Ash refuses to do it, and the guys won’t either. Please? I’ll pay you double.” I laugh as I turn around and start heading back down the steps.
“Sure thing! As soon as hell freezes over.”
“Uh!” She scoffs, and I turn to see her take a step.
“Little Darlin’, you keep coming down them steps and watch what happens,” I warn as I point at the back door of Hel’s. “Now get your ass back on in there.”
“You know what,” she huffs as she heads to the door. “I can see why everyone calls you grumpy!” She states before walking back inside. I chuckle lightly to myself as I head to my vehicle.
The ride home is uneventful, minus the four missed phone calls I received. One from each of my brothers and the fourth from our kind of sister, Theo. I am not going back to Virginia. I care about my mama, and I care for her as the oldest son should. But I have limits, and going back to the place where my ex-wife is still running around ain’t something I’m willing to do. It’s a small town. Word would get around that I was there, and she would make her way onto Rowe Ranch just to burn my ass. So no, I will help pay for anything my parents need because they are good people, but that is it.
Walking into my house, I’m annoyed instantly, and I don’t know why. I look around the living room. Everything is in its place. I walk to the kitchen, pull out my meal for the night, and preheat the oven. I then walk down the hall to the laundry room, where my pajamas from last night sit in the washer. I strip off my clothes and throw them in the washer and go to throw my detergent pod in there when I see I’m out. Out? I’m not out. I’mneverout. Yet, here I stand, buck naked, staring down at my empty container of detergent pods. I should’ve had five left, which would’ve been fine because I would go to the store tomorrow before the trip to the convention.
Setting the container down, I walk back to my kitchen to put my meal in the oven while I shower. But as I open the oven door, there’s no heat. I frown and stare at the oven before rolling my eyes. I didn’t turn the oven on. Groaning in frustration, I press the preheat button with more force than necessary before walking to my room to shower.
I stand in the shower and think about the one thing I would give anything not to think about. Fucking Indy Johnson. It’s amazing how much space that tiny woman occupies in my brain. My mind goes back to gripping her thigh. I can’t really remember how it felt, and it annoys me. I was in professional mode and had everything else switched off.
Still, that doesn’t stop my cock from hardening as I think about being that close to her.
“Really fucker,” I grumble at the thing as he continues to harden. In annoyance, I grip my cock and force myself not to think about Indy as I begin to stroke my shaft. I focus on the white tile ahead of me as I let out a small groan.
“Derek...”Indy’s sweet voice fills my ears, and my breath stutters.
“Damn it,” I whisper as I try to refocus, but the memory of touching her in the break room comes to my mind, then of her bent over in my living room in her underwear.
“Fuckkk.” I groan out. Nearly in pain from the pressure building. My fucking brain will not cooperate with me and stop putting flashes of Indy in my head.
“Derek...”I feel my balls tighten, and I brace myself against the shower wall as a guttural noise escapes me as I feel myself release. I watch while I come on the shower floor. As I come back down, I run my hand over my face while the shame I’m becoming all too familiar with recently.
