Page 1 of Room Eighteen: My Pain, Their Pleasure

CHAPTER 1

JESSA

I’m tapping my pen against the front desk of Misfit Tattoos as nervousness fills me. It’s silly. I know it is, yet giant moths have taken up residence in my gut and won’t let me rest.

Maybe I shouldn’t be doing this. I know what’s going to happen. I have no control over it, but it just can’t happen. Not here. Not where I work.

I love it here and I’m afraid this tattoo session is going to ruin everything. Aiden, Brooks, and Cameron won’t be able to look at me the same way again. Cameron is tattooing me, so he has to stay, but I really wish the other two would go. From the looks of things, I don’t think that’s going to happen.

The only saving grace is there aren’t other clients in the shop. Just me. Or maybe that’s the worst thing because there won’t be anyone to distract them.

But then again, I’d rather my secret not come out in front of other clients. Especially a regular who I’d have to see again. Talk about embarrassing; I wouldn’t be able to face them.

A land hands on my shoulder and I let out a yelp as I jump from my chair. I spin around, my chest heaving as I take in Aiden’s surprised eyes. He’s looking at me like he’s never seen me before.

That’s not good.

“You okay, Jessa?” Aiden’s eyebrows pull together and concern is not something I’m used to seeing on his face. He’s more likely to leer jokingly or smile. His concern makes me want to curl into a little ball. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Yeah, the floor could open up and swallow me whole right now. That would be great.

You’re going to ruin the good thing you have going here.

“I’m fine,” I force the words past my lips, but they don’t sound believable, even to me.

His brown eyes eye me carefully. I hate it. His scrutiny is not doing anything to help the situation. I’ve been attracted to Aiden since I started working here a year ago.

That would be all fine and good, but he’s not the only one I’m attracted to. Brooks and Cameron are also hot as hell. The three of them are just my type with varying personalities. A tattooed guy with an edge really does it for me. Then multiply it by three? I’m toast.

Aiden is the funny one, the comic relief who will always find a way to crack a joke and break the tension in the room. His brown eyes are warm, but they’re also assessing. There are hidden depths in him which I’m just itching to explore.

Cameron is quiet and brooding, my fucking catnip of a man wrapped up in a giant red flag. His cold blue eyes sometimes stare right through me. It only makes me want him more.

Brooks is thoughtful and sees way too much. Hell, he probably already knows about my little crush. He’s also not the type to say anything, but damn if his hazel eyes haven’t looked me over a time or two with consideration.

Consideration I absolutely can’t give into. Well, I thought I couldn’t at least.

Killian, the owner of Misfit Tattoos and our boss, even though he doesn’t act like it, is one of those ‘don’t mix business with pleasure’ kind of guys. It’s a good rule and I totally support it. That means no dating clients, but the unspoken part of the rule, even though I desperately wanted to break it, was the line between the employees, sexual tension be damned.

Today he admitted that he’s been seeing a client, someone he tattooed months ago. It wasn’t even someone one of the other guys worked on. She was his client, and he didn’t give a fuck about his alleged rules.

The news hit me like a damn sledgehammer, and I couldn’t even listen to the rest of the conversation. I had to sit down and tune it out because all I could hear was the creaking of a door opening on rusty hinges. As if I needed more of a reason to want the men I work with.

They had been forbidden fruit and I was so damn good about not taking even a small nibble. They don’t seem all that forbidden now.

That should turn me off. I mean, it has before, but now it only makes me want them more. And it is all of them. There’s no way I could choose between them, and it has nothing to do with them being friends.

Having all of them? I barely stop myself from a full-body shudder at the thought of being at the mercy of the three of them together. My brain would probably short circuit with that much tattooed man on display. It would be a small price to pay.

“You sure you still want this tattoo?” Aiden eyes at me as if I’ve lost it, no doubt remembering the tattoos which are already inked on my skin. Leaning in, as if he has to tell me a secret, his subtle amber scent makes my pussy clench. “You aren’t afraid of needles, are you?”

I snort out a laugh and push him back a little bit. Not because I’m offended, but because he’s too fucking close to me. Killian practically changed the red light to green earlier today and I’m right on the edge of throwing myself at him. Or Brooks. Or Cameron.

“I’m not afraid of needles,” my voice tells him exactly how ridiculous he is for even suggesting it.

“Then you’re just a scaredy cat?” Aiden grins at me, a challenge in his brown eyes as if he knows exactly what I’m hiding. Which he doesn’t. It would be impossible for him to know. He teases me, “I didn’t know you were a chicken, Jessa.”

“I’m not a chicken,” I murmur, more than likely giving into his deliberate goading.

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