“Most definitely,” Heath told him.
“Good because it looks really cool,” Derek said.
“It does,” I agreed. “I’ll bet the others will want one when they see it.”
Heath frowned. “The others?”
“Our other brothers,” Derek replied, and the confusion cleared from Heath’s eyes.
For as long as I could remember, we had referred to our quintet as the others. It was easier than saying, ‘one of my quints’ but more significant than just saying ‘one of my brothers’.
“How soon will I be able to get this done?”
“How soon were you thinking of?”
“I’m returning to full duty on Monday so I was hoping it could be done before then.”
“I can do it by then if you’re able to come in the early afternoon.”
“How early?”
“We open at two, and we’re usually slowest between then and five. Things start getting busier around six and stay steady until we close.”
“My shifts end at four the rest of the week. I could come any day after that.”
“That’ll work,” Heath said. “What about we do it Friday afternoon? That will give me the rest of the week to work on drawing it up.”
Derek gave him a big smile. “That’s great.”
“How big are you looking to make it?”
“The same size as my badge.”
“Okay, I can do that. Do you mind if I take some pictures of your badge and your scar so I can have a frame of reference for my drawing?”
I was impressed by the question. It never would have occurred to me to do something like that, but I guess that was why he was the artist.
“Sure, go ahead.”
Heath laid Derek’s badge on the counter and then pulled his phone from the front pocket of his jeans. After taking several pictures of Derek’s badge from multiple angles, he returned it to Derek.
Derek slid his badge into his back pocket and then let Heath take some pictures of the scar on his shoulder.
Once he was finished, Heath scrolled through the pictures on his phone. “These should be enough.”
Derek pulled his shirt back on and got to his feet. Holding out his hand, he said, “Thanks, man. I can’t wait to see it.”
“I’ll do you up right.” Heath shook Derek’s hand. “I’ll see you guys on Friday.”
“Not me, I have to work,” I said, and I would have sworn there was a flicker of disappointment in his eyes.
“It was nice meeting you, Derek,” Heath said, his eyes boring into mine. “You too, Ned.”
I shivered at the sound of my name on his lips as well as his voice that had dropped at least one octave.
“See you Friday afternoon,” Derek said.
The knowing smile on my brother’s face made me nervous. Hopefully, he waited until we were out of the shop before he let loose with whatever he was thinking.
“Let me walk you guys out,” Heath offered.
I wanted to say we could find our way out on our own, but they probably had a policy about not letting customers wander around the back unattended. Besides, at least it gave me another chance to ogle the best ass on the planet.
When we reached the front, Heath turned toward us, and I wasn’t fast enough to move my eyes. From the way he smirked at me, I knew I had been caught staring, and my face heated.
There was a tray of business cards on the front counter. Heath plucked one from its holder and handed it to Derek.
“How’s my Friday afternoon look, Damian?” Heath asked Counter Guy.
Damian reached for the ledger and flipped to a different page. “You’re open until six.”
“I’ll have Damian put you down for four thirty on Friday, but you can always call me if something comes up and you need to change the day or time,” Heath told Derek. “Thanks for coming in.”
“I can’t wait to see what you come up with,” Derek said.
Heath gave another of his heart stopping smiles. “I’ll see you Friday, Derek.”
“See you then,” Derek said.
“And, Ned, if you ever decide you want some ink on that virgin skin, I hope you’ll let me be the one to do it,” Heath said and winked at me.
Derek cracked up while my face grew so warm I would not have been surprised if I burst into flames.
I didn’t dare look over my shoulder as Derek and I made our way out of the shop, but I didn’t have to. Even without the second look, I knew Heath’s eyes were trained on my ass. Considering I had just subjected him to the same treatment, I couldn’t be mad.
Derek did me the favor of waiting until we were in his early mid-life crisis 2018 Dodge Challenger before he spoke. “So, he was hot.”
“Yeah, I guess,” I said, and Derek’s laugh let me know he wasn’t buying it.
“You know he wanted you.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Dude’s eyes were practically eating you for dinner.”
“Even if that were true, I’m not interested.”
“Yeah, you are. You’re just scared, and I get it after what happened, but—”
“Don’t go there, Derek.”
My voice was harsher than I intended, but I did not want to talk about that. Not with him. Not with anyone.
Talking about it wasn’t going to change it. The only thing it would do was stir up shit that was best left in the past.
Derek put a hand on my arm. “I’m sorry. I just hate seeing you alone.”
“I’m not alone. I have you and the others.”
“You know it’s not the same.”
It wasn’t, but it would have to be enough. And if I was a little sad by the fact that I would never know how it felt to be surrounded by Heath’s strong arms, I would get over it and Derek would never even know.
Chapter Three
Heath
The pretty boys weren’t even in their car before Damian started laughing.
“And, Ned, if you ever want some ink on that virgin skin, I hope you’ll let me be the one to do it,” Damian mimicked, his voice pitching to a falsetto before he laughed again. “Seriously, Heath, you might as well have told the guy you wanted to bend him over the counter and plow his ass right here.”
Yeah, I wanted him, but it wasn’t as crude as Damian made it sound. Not that I would be able to say that and keep my man card.
“The Health Department wouldn’t go for that,” I said, and Damian shook his head.
I hadn’t been kidding when I told Derek and Ned they were gorgeous. They were. Both had dark hair and dark, soulful eyes you could easily get lost in. And those sweet blushes Ned had given me? I wanted to wrap him in my arms and hold him there until he felt safe enough to be his real self with me; the sassy thing that might blush but not because he was embarrassed but because he knew how much it turned me on. Again, not something I would let any of the guys hear me admit.
Derek had a compact, muscular build that made sense after hearing he was a cop. Ned, on the other hand, was leaner, almost like a swimmer, and man did I like swimmers. I sure as shit didn’t watch the summer Olympics every four years because I was a hard core swimming and diving fan.
I doubted Ned was a swimmer though. Made me wonder what he did for a living. I couldn’t picture him as a cop like his brother. Something told me Ned was a little more sedate, at least in his career. Those blushes might give the impression the same was true in his personal life, but I hoped not.
Both guys were shorter than me, but that was nothing new. Being that I was six four, most guys were shorter than me. X was the only guy I knew that was taller and he only had an inch on me.
If I had to guess, I would say Ned and his brother were around five ten; the perfect size for tucking him into my chest. I could already imagine his warmth against me as I kept him safe.
It sounded weird, but I had a thing about guys smaller than me. Some guys my size liked to use it to intimidate, but not me. I loved playing the protector and keeping my guy safe. Also not something
I would admit to the boys. If they knew just what a romantic sap I was, there would be no end to the amount of shit they would sling in my direction.
Thankfully, none of the guys I dated in the past had ever ratted me out to my brothers in ink. If they had, I never would have been able to live it down.
As Ned and Derek had left the shop, I had made sure to repay the favor and check out their asses. Even before I turned and caught Ned’s gaze glued to my ass, I had known he was looking, but I wasn’t mad. I would have done the same thing.
While Derek’s ass looked meaty, it didn’t do it for me. Ned’s ass was a thing of beauty though. What I wouldn’t give to get my hands on that perfect bubble butt.
And if his good looks and hot body weren’t enough to convince me of how much I wanted him, there was the shyness. With the way he had honest to God blushed when I complimented him, I swear I had almost popped wood in response.
My comment about his virgin skin had been my way of feeling him out, and I had not been disappointed. Ned was interested, but I got the impression he was skittish. Hopefully, it was just his natural shyness and not because something bad had happened to put him on high alert. Just the thought of someone hurting that sexy little man had me seeing red. It was that whole protector thing at work again.
X wandered to the front counter with his client in tow. The girl did not look old enough to be getting a tattoo, but I knew she was. There was no way Damian would have let her book an appointment if she hadn’t provided him with a valid ID. I don’t know how he did it, but Damian could spot a fake ID a mile away.
After paying Damian for the work X had done, the girl handed X a twenty. “Thank you so much. I love my new tattoo.”
“It was my pleasure, sweetheart.”
When he winked at her, the girl sighed, and I didn’t bother holding back my grin. Either she had forgotten the earlier announcement of all of us liking dick, or she just did not care. The latter would not have surprised me in the least.
As cliché as it sounded, there were a handful of women on this planet who were convinced being gay was something that could be changed with the right woman. It was definitely not true, but it didn’t stop them from trying to work their magic.
Thankfully, women like that were in the minority. Women flirted with me every day in this job. Most of them were harmless, and like X had just done, I would flirt back, especially when I knew it meant a bigger tip. If a woman got too pushy though, all I had to do was tell her I liked dick. Most would back off after that.
“So, what was with the big gay announcement?” X asked once his client had flounced out the door.
“The dude wanted to make sure I was okay with tattooing a gay man.”
“Huh, that’s different.”
It was. Most of the time, it never even came up and if it did, it was the other way around. We were the ones making sure our customers knew we were gay, and if they wanted us to ink them, they had better not be homophobic.
“And what better way to make sure he knew the score than introducing him to the family,” Damian said.
I nodded. “You got it in one.”
“You gotta give the guy credit for having the balls to bring that up in a shop full of dudes twice his size,” X said.
“Nah, he was smart,” I said. “He made sure I knew he was a cop before he even brought it up.”
X frowned. “How exactly did that work?”
“I don’t know the details, but he was shot in the line of duty a while back, and he wants a tattoo of his badge with a bullet hole through it,” I explained. “Even wants it right over the scar.”
“That’s pretty cool,” Damian said. “I never would have pegged him for a cop though.”
“Me either, but it’s gonna look bad ass when you’re done,” X agreed.
I had no doubt. I hadn’t even started yet, and I couldn’t wait to see it on Derek’s skin or see his reaction to it.
It was just too bad Ned wouldn’t be there. I wouldn’t mind seeing him again, and I wondered if there was a subtle way to ask Derek about his brother. Probably not, but I had never let something like that stop me.
It was nearly one in the morning by the time I got home from the shop.
The excited greeting from my dog put a smile on my face. It didn’t matter if I was gone for an hour or a day, Daisy was always happy to see me, and the feeling was mutual. I loved that little dog. Of course, the guys gave me all kinds of shit about it, but it didn’t make a difference.
Cooper and I had always wanted a dog when we were kids, but our fucked up childhood meant that wasn’t possible. Even without asking, we had both known it was not going to happen. Our parents were too selfish to pay attention to us, let alone a dog. Getting a dog would have meant taking money from their booze and drug fund, and Heaven forbid we let that happen.
Tossing my keys on the table in my entryway, I leaned over and petted my dog who was so excited to see me she actually peed a little. Thank God for the tiled entryway.
“Hey, Daisy, girl, did you miss me? I missed you. Who’s my good girl? That’s right. You are.”
Yeah, I was one of those guys who turned into a total pussy around his dog, but it’s not like anyone else knew so fuck it. Besides, I was pretty sure Cooper was the same way with his Chihuahua, Prince Harry William. That was actually the dog’s name, and the little shit was every bit the five pound prince he was named.
Despite how long I had wanted a dog, it had taken me a while to commit to it. With as much time as I had to spend at the shop, I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough to give to a dog.
A holiday special run by the animal shelter got me seriously thinking about it. For the entire month of December, the shelter offered a twenty-five dollar adoption fee that also included the cost of a microchip, first shots and spay or neuter.
After giving it a little thought, I decided I wanted to do it. When I told Cooper, he was so excited that he wanted to do it too. The two of us had gone to the shelter together a few days before the end of the month and had both walked away with our furry soul mates. Well, we had to wait a few days for them to get fixed before we could take them home, but we adopted them that day.
The fact that I was gone so much was one of the reasons I decided to get a small dog, and my Daisy girl was just perfect. She was a true pound puppy, a honey colored mix of Chihuahua and dachshund that made for an interesting look. The guys sometimes gave me shit about her looking like that elf from Harry Potter, but fuck them. To me, she was the most beautiful girl in the world, especially when she looked at me with so much love in those big, brown eyes.
Once the two of us had soaked up enough affection from each other, I rose to my feet and groaned as I made my way to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. Daisy was right on my heels, giving me an expectant look when I opened the fridge.
Smiling, I shook my head as I pressed the button for the ice maker and let a couple of cubes fall to the ground. “Here you go.”
I don’t know what it was about ice, but my dog was crazy about it. Every time I went anywhere near the kitchen, she would follow. If I didn’t react fast enough, she would do this little growling bark that was too cute to resist.
Closing the fridge, I took my water to the living room and dropped down on my favorite chair. I don’t care if it was a cliché or not. I loved that damn oversized recliner. It made it bearable to come home from a long day of work.
Once she finished her ice, Daisy came into the room and immediately jumped into my lap. After turning a few circles, she settled down. Holding the bottle in one hand, I used the other to pet her.
My hands were aching, and my body was worn out, but I wasn’t ready to sleep.
That last tattoo had wiped me out and it wasn’t even done. It would be a few more sittings before it reached that point. The client was a guy named Jason who was getting a full back piece. As a professional skateboarder, the tattoo was a celebration of his emerging career. Not that I knew much about i
t.
I didn’t follow extreme sports like skateboarding or dirt biking or snow boarding. I was more of a traditional guy.
Growing up, I played football. With my size, it was a no brainer. X had played too. Although we kicked ass on the field, it wasn’t something either of us took too seriously. It was more about the escape from our shitty home lives.
From the moment we both realized we liked art, we knew we wanted to do something with it. Something that wasn’t stuffy and didn’t include having to sell out to sell. It was Cooper that said we should tattoo.
X and I had been maybe fourteen and Cooper eleven. As soon as he said it, X and I had looked at each other and grinned and it had clicked. That was what we were going to do, come hell or high water.
As soon as we turned eighteen, the first thing X and I did was start hitting up the shops so we could find somewhere to do an apprenticeship. It had taken a few months before we found Black Cloud Ink, but we could not have picked a better place. Otto Roark was the best in the business for a reason.
The only problem with being an apprentice was that you didn’t make jack shit. Roark took a big chunk of what customers paid for the ink we did. Rightfully so, but it still sucked for two guys trying to save up for our own shop.
We weren’t naïve. We had known it would take a lot of work, not to mention money, to make it a reality. What we hadn’t counted on was just how much money we would need.
It wasn’t as easy as picking a place and setting up shop. Yes, we had to pick the place. Paying for it was only a small piece of the puzzle. There was licensing and insurance and health inspections and so much equipment.
So many times we had wanted to give up, figuring it was never going to happen.
Again, Cooper had come up with a solution. Granted, X and I hadn’t been crazy about it, me less so than X, but our brief stint in the porn industry had been a legal way to make a lot of money fast.
My only condition was that Cooper didn’t make any porn. I wasn’t stupid enough to think my brother was a virgin at eighteen and he sure as hell wasn’t innocent.
Considering it had been his idea, Cooper had been pretty pissed when I had thrown down that gauntlet, but I was adamant. Our childhood had given him enough scars without throwing in teenage porn star. No matter that he was a legal adult by then.
Going Inksane (Nice Ink Book 1) Page 4