Page 75 of Arris, Jayme & Dyani
I got to work cleaning everything up. I took my time wiping all the ink and stuff up before sweeping and wiping everything down. Then I took my chair apart and dragged each part out one by one to the front of the shop and tossed it.
It took me about an hour and a half to work my way through the wreckage and see what I could manage to save.
Then I helped some of the other artists take their inventory and clean up their spots.
By the time I finished, the sun was up and the gang had headed off.
“Ay, let me holla at you before you head out,” Alex called after me.
I turned back around. “What’s up?”
I yawned and stretched as I closed in on him.
“You remember when you told me you were thinking about opening your own spot?”
I lifted an eyebrow.
“Yeah?”
“I’ll sell you this one.”
“What?”
“Look, there’s constant bullshit around here. I’m struggling to make ends meet. I just had two artists tell me they won’t be working out of here until I can get everything taken care of. Even though I would let people work out of the shop, I understand them being apprehensive about not knowing why we were targeted. I’m losing out on their cash, gonna have to pay toget this place fixed up, then pour money into court trying to get the cash back when we find the person? I mean, if,” he corrected, “And that’s a strong if.” He shook his head. “I’m over this shit. I want to tattoo because I love it, but honestly, whether you buy it or not, I’m ducking out and moving on. I’ll work out of someone else’s shit before I keep putting up with this.”
I took a deep breath and nodded.
“Alright. What were you thinking for it?”
“I’m thinking forty grand.”
I whistled. “Alex, I don’t have that kind of money and you know that.”
“I’ll take ten and a payment plan if you have it to put down.”
“Alright.” I shifted on my feet. “Look, don’t shop the offer around for a few weeks. Give me a little bit of time and I’ll see what I can do.”
“I can’t wait too long, Arris.”
“I know. Just give me a few weeks. Look, I’ll talk to Jayme, and if she says it’s cool, I’ll give you two grand to put it on hold for me to get the other eight.”
Alex looked off and paused. I watched while he thought carefully about his answer. He nodded.
“Alright, man. Have that conversation and let me know.”
“Alright. I’ll update you tomorrow.”
“Bet.” Alex ran a hand down his face. “Well the shop is still open to anyone who wants to use it I guess, but I don’t know when that fucking glass will get fixed.”
“I’ll come through in any way I can.” I offered.
He nodded.
Honestly, I was one of the people considering tattooing out of my spot for a little bit. Not only was it around DP, but between my spot, Jayme’s spot, and Dyani’s spot, I didn’t care as much about having people in and out of my place.
If the Bedford Boys were out to get me or make some kind of fucking stance, they were going to have to run that shit back on my home turf.
Regardless, I needed a nap before anything else. I went through my appointments and rescheduled all the early ones then dapped everyone up and headed out.
