Page 44 of Spreading Her Wings

When Grayson peeled the paper off of my wrist, leaving behind a purple tracing of a butterfly, I grinned. I looked in the mirror, turning my body side to side as if it changed the way the wings looked on my wrist. Sudden excitement filled me, and I almost skipped back to the chair.

“That’s perfect. Let’s do this!”

They both chuckled when I climbed into the chair, flipping my arm over and dropping it on the small saddle-like rest. He pulled up his chair, dipping the machine in the well of black ink and hitting the button, causing the machine to roar to life. The buzzing sound made me jump, and Auston reached out to place his hand on my back.

“I’ll be right here,” he whispered.

I glared at him. “I’m perfectly fine, thank you.”

“You ready?” Grayson chuckled, holding the prepared machine over my wrist.

When I nodded, the machine purred back to life and my chest fluttered. It had been my twenty-first birthday when I got the rose, and to be honest, I wasn’t completely sober. I didn’t remember how badly it’d hurt until Grayson touched the needle to my skin. It held the same sting a sunburn did when your bra strap snapped against it, much worse than a cat scratch. I hissed.

“Good?” Grayson grunted from his spot hunched over my arm, but he didn’t stop the movement. He tightened his grip, making sure I didn’t move when he was tracing a long line.

As he continued to drag the needle along my arm, the warm burning sensation changed. It was like a mix of numbness and fire, almost like your arm felt when you held it in ice for too long. The nerves in my elbow twitched and my arm tried to jump against his grip.

It didn’t take long for me to relax in the seat, and when I did, I looked over at Auston. “How do you feel?” he asked.

“Good,” I said with a satisfied hum. “It’s not nearly as scary as I thought.”

“We should do things you think scare you more often, then.” When he said it, he held my gaze, and I stared at him until I remembered the need to breathe.

The longer Grayson attacked my skin with the needle, the more it burned, but the less it felt like pain. It stung when he wiped it between marks, and my skin was warm. I looked between the mess of ink he was cleaning off my arm and Auston’s stare, a heat building in my core. When I pressed my thighs together, his eyes darkened, and he looked at my legs.

Grayson seemed oblivious to my discomfort, patting the back of the chair when the ink was cleaned off my arm. “You’re all done. Go ahead and check it out in the mirror and then I’ll throw a bandage on it.”

I jumped up from the chair, stumbling on my feet and catching my balance. My face lit up when I looked in the mirror. It wasn’t too large of a tattoo, but the butterfly on my arm stuck out and was beautiful. Tears pricked my eyes, and Auston stepped up behind me.

“What do you think, kitten?” He ran his hand down my arm, tracing just the edge of the tattoo with his fingertips.

“Iloveit!”

He grinned. “I do too. I’ll get the same one.”

My jaw dropped, and I whipped around to face him. “What do you mean, you’ll get the same one?”

“I mean exactly what it sounds like. I’m going to get one too. You know what’s scarier than a tattoo? A matching tattoo with the husband you’re nervous to start dating.” When he said it, Grayson looked up, raising his eyebrow but quietly holding the stencil in his hand.

“I have another stencil. I could make it happen,” he offered.

Auston looked at me, the question in his eyes. Would it bother me if he got the same tattoo? When my chest fluttered at the idea of seeing the same tattoo on my arm and his body, I smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, let’s make it happen. Right here.” He clapped the empty space on the left side of his neck, and I gasped. Auston turned to me and winked while Grayson applied the stencil and cleaned up his workstation.

When Auston sat down in the chair for the tattoo, he pulled me into his lap. I glared at him, reminding him we weren’t alone in the room, but when Grayson just chuckled, Auston tightened his grasp.

It was like I could feel the buzzing in his neck in the spots of my back that rested against his chest. Did it hurt really badly on his neck? He didn’t look like he was in any pain. I imagined he was used to the feeling of the tattoos, but the fact he didn’t even wince was impressive.

When Grayson finished his tattoo and added the bandage to his neck, Auston hooked his arm around me. “You know what the next scary thing is?” His voice against my ear was deep, almost like a growl.

“What?” I gulped.

“Falling in love with me.”

Ihissed when Auston rubbed his hand over my wrist. “Ouch! This thingstings!”

“Did you think it stopped hurting instantly?” He rounded the island, framing me between the countertop and his arms and nuzzling his nose against my neck. “Tell me, kitten, why the blue butterfly?”

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