We stood and walked over to him, and he extended his hand for us each of us to shake.
“My name’s Lucas. What can I do for you pretty ladies today?”
“We are wanting some ink,” Jessi stated the obvious. “I was thinking I would get some music notes going along the outside of my foot. Nothing too crazy.”
He nodded in acknowledgement to Jessi, and then looked at me. “And what is it you have in mind?”
I cleared my throat, “I want a dandelion on the back of my right shoulder and I want the seeds blowing off it, flying to the left and traveling toward my neck. But I also want the seeds to turn into birds as they reach the base of my neck.”
He stared at me for a minute as he absorbed what I had just told him. “Nice. I think I can do that for you.” He stepped back and glanced at the both of us. “If you want to have a seat for a few more minutes, I can draw this up real quick, and then we can get started.”
We walked back over to the sofas and waited for Lucas to come get us. It had only been about thirty minutes or so when he came walking back through the doorway.
“All right, girls, take a look at what I have for you.” He held out what he had drawn up from our requests.
Jessi’s was just beautiful, and fit her well.
When it came time for him to see mine, I was full of nervous excitement. I wasn’t sure how he would interpret what I had told him, but my hand flew straight to my heart when he laid that paper out in front of me. It was perfect. Exactly how I had imagined it.
“I love it,” my voice cracked on the last word. I was so happy Jessi talked me into doing this now. I couldn’t wait to have this beautiful piece on my body in remembrance of my mom.
“All right then, follow me this way. We will throw some stencils on ya and get to work.”
We followed Lucas down the hall to a room with dark blue walls covered in gorgeous, vibrant paintings. Each one in a thick black frame. I walked up to the nearest painting and took it all in. It was beautiful. The girl in the painting was crouched on the ground, hugging her knees to her chest. She was surround by a room full of faceless, blurred people. And even though they encircled her, the emotion on her face, in her eyes, let you know she was alone.
Like me.
It was beautiful, and my chest tightened when I looked back at her sad eyes. She stared at me like she knew what sorrow was in my heart—and for some ridiculous reason—I knew she felt the same pain as me … like she understood me.
“You like?” Lucas’ voice drew my attention away from painting.
“Yes, very much so. Who is the artist? They are beautiful.”
He laughed softly, “I am.”
Oh, that was right. Landon had told Jessi that his brother started out drawing and painting. I should have known he would have some of his own work displayed in his shop.
“They are really beautiful,” I told him again as I turned to take one last glimpse at the painting.
He thanked me, and then started getting everything set up for the first tattoo. I had decided Jessi would go first since this was all her idea; but after Lucas had prepped and the stencil was on her foot, she began nervously tapping that foot against the table. She quickly scooped my hand up in hers and squeezed.
“Jess, I love you, but you’re kind of hurting me.” I glanced down at our locked hands—mine was turning a deep shade of red from the death grip she had on me.
She immediately let go. “Oh, sorry! I’m a little nervous.”
“Obviously”—I smiled at her—“It’s going to be fine, Jess. Remember?”
She nodded her head profusely before taking a deep breath and looking at Lucas.
“You ready?” he asked as he wheeled his chair over to where Jessi was sitting on the table.
“Let’s do this!” she exclaimed as she flung one hand over her eyes, the other reaching out for me again.
The second the needle touched her I felt her tense up. She was taking it well though; at least there was no screaming or moaning on her part. Just the occasional squeeze to my hand that was strong enough to make me flinch.
We were about halfway through Jessi’s tattoo when we heard loud voices coming from the front of the shop. A few moments later, Landon and Kane appeared in the doorway to the room we were in.
“How’s she doing?” Landon looked at me and smiled.
I gave Kane a small smile when he followed Landon silently into the room, before turning to look at Landon. “Ready to switch? I don’t know how much more my hand can take,” I joked and pried my hand from Jessi’s, earning me a glare, as Landon made his way around the table to take my spot.
“Damn you weren’t kidding. She has one mean grip.” Landon cringed at the force of Jessi’s hold making everyone in the room laugh.
I walked over to Kane and leaned against the wall like he was. He looked down at me and absentmindedly flicked his lip ring. I loved and hated when he did that. Loved it because it was so hot, and hated it because it was so damn hot. Kane messing with that lip ring made my body tingle in places I never knew it could.
“So you still getting one?” he asked and raised an eyebrow at me as he waited for my response.
“Yup.” I dug my hands in my pockets.
“Really now. What did you decide to get?”
“Can’t tell you. It’s a secret. You will just have to wait and see.” I playfully bit my lip. I noticed his eyes zero in on my mouth, and that also for some reason made me tingle all over.
Oh my.
“You’re going to get my name tattooed on your ass aren’t you?” he said, and gave a sly smile.
“HA! Keep dreaming big boy,” I laughed.
At least he seemed to be in a better mood than when I’d seen him earlier. This was the Kane I had come to know.
“All done,” Lucas’ voice filled the room.
He wiped the excess ink from Jessi’s tattoo, and we all gathered around the table to take a look.
“It’s beautiful, Jess. And it’s so you.”
“Yeah, I guess it was worth the pain,” she said as she twisted her foot back and forth to get a better look at her new tattoo.
“Let me go over the care instructions with Jessi for a quick second, and then we will get your stencil on you, Kelsey.”
I nodded and began to gather my long hair into a messy bun on the top of my head. It was a good thing it’d been a warm day and I’d happened to wear a halter-top. This way I wouldn’t have to take my shirt off.