Page 58 of Beautiful Lies
“I’m taking a leap of faith,” Connor said, winking at me. “Ready?” he asked, the machine buzzing in his hand.
I took a few deep breaths and nodded. “Go for it.” I grimaced before the needles even touched my skin.
“Babe.”
“Ignore my facial expressions.”
He chuckled as I attempted to smooth out my features without success. “It’s kind of hard.”
“I’m ready. Just do it.” I closed my eyes and took deep, calming breaths as the needles dug into my skin. It would be over before I knew it. This wouldn’t take long. After a few minutes, I got used to it. Sort of.
Enough to open my eyes, at least. I focused on the opposite wall—moody grey with a concrete paint effect. Connor had painted it for Jared last year, or so I’d heard from Eden, my font of information when Connor and I hadn’t been speaking. My gaze wandered to the windows facing the street, lit up with neon Forever Ink signs. I couldn’t believe Connor owned this place now. I remember the first time we came in here. After visiting a dozen other shops all over Brooklyn, Connor said this was the one as soon as we’d walked in the door. He loved that it was artist-run and that the designs were original. He loved the feel of the place. Cool, but not sterile, with plenty of character. It wasn’t gritty or seedy like some of the other places we’d visited.
“Is it turning out okay?” I asked.
“We’ll see.”
“That doesn’t sound very promising.”
He grunted. Again, not very promising.
“I have inker’s remorse.”
“It happens.”
“I was too hasty. I mean, why punish those beautiful birds?”
No answer. It was a rhetorical question anyway.
“Will you be able to cover the barbed wire without ruining the bird design?”
“Nope.”
Maybe I’d suspected that, and it was why I’d chosen not to look at the new design. I tapped out the beat of Led Zeppelin’s “Going to California” with my free hand. Such a wistful ballad. “You used to love Led Zeppelin.”
“Still do.”
“I could picture you in a rock band,” I said. “You’d be the drummer.”
“Sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll. Perfect lifestyle for me.”
“I would have been one of your groupies.”
“You would have been the lead singer.”
We fell silent again. “This seems to be taking a long time.”
“I’m using more real estate.”
“You’re making my tattoo bigger? Ugh. No wonder.”
“Maybe you should have looked at the design.”
“That’s women for you,” Gavin chimed in. “Always bitching about something.” I glanced over at him. All the customers were gone now, the shop was closed, and Gavin and AJ were cleaning their stations.
“And you wonder why you don’t have a girlfriend,” AJ said.
“When you gonna invite me and Connor over to check out the girl on girl action with you and your girlfriend?” Gavin asked.
