Going Inksane (Nice Ink Book 1)

by Trish Edmisten

  Damian nodded. When he headed toward the front of the shop, Cooper followed. While Cooper stayed up front to talk to his customer, Damian was back moments later with Flynn’s appointment.

  I shook my head at the way the girl’s eyes lit up when she saw him. Poor thing didn’t stand a chance, and soon enough she was going to figure it out.

  My phone chimed and I pulled it from my pocket. Thumbing it open, I broke into a shit eating grin when I saw that Ned had gotten back to me.

  Do you like Farmer’s Markets?

  Moving to my station, I dropped down on one of the chairs and replied: I haven’t been to one in a while. Why?

  Farmer’s Markets weren’t really my thing. The shit was always too expensive. If I wanted to get good produce cheap, the swap meet was the way to go. Growing up, the swap meet had saved my ass more than once. With as much food as I could get, I could stretch it pretty far so Cooper and I didn’t have to go hungry.

  When I grew up, and finally started making money, I hadn’t gone back to the swap meet for food. While I was grateful it had given me a way to provide for us, I didn’t like going back there and being reminded of how bad things had been for us.

  Ned being into Farmer’s Markets didn’t surprise me. Even with all those kids, I doubted his family had known a day of hunger in his life. Ned’s dad was a doctor. Not just any doctor, a fucking heart surgeon. Well, he had been until he retired, which dude had been able to do at the age of sixty.

  With his dad being a doctor, Ned’s mom had been able to stay home and raise him and his brothers. Apparently, she hadn’t lacked for help either. Quintuplets were enough of a draw that their friends, family and neighbors had turned out en masse to help.

  Even though I didn’t hold it against Ned, nor would I wish anything bad on him, I was still a little jealous of how good he’d had it growing up. It was the kind of life I dreamed of for me and Cooper when we were kids.

  The chime of my phone reminded me I was still texting with Ned.

  Ned: There’s one downtown tomorrow. I thought we could go together.

  What time?

  Ned: Well, it starts at 8, but we can go anytime.

  Not a fan of being up that early. What about we go at 10 and maybe do lunch afterward?

  Ned: That sounds fun.

  Did you want me to pick you up?

  Ned: I’ll send you the address and we can meet there.

  Sounds good, gorgeous.

  Ned immediately sent the address along with a message that he couldn’t wait to see me again.

  I couldn’t wait either.

  It didn’t escape my notice that he was being cautious about giving me his address, but I wasn’t going to push. If that was what he needed to feel safe, I could roll with it, as long as I got to spend time with him.

  Chapter Eight

  Ned

  Tuesday morning, I woke to four text messages, one from each of my brothers. I was disappointed I hadn’t heard from Heath.

  Last night had been amazing. I had forgotten what it was like to spend time with a decent man, and that’s what Heath was. Instead of dominating the conversation with talk of himself, he’d been interested in hearing what I had to say.

  At the end of the night, he walked me to my car and hadn’t even tried to kiss me. As much as I wanted to kiss him one day, I appreciated that he’d been a gentleman. I wasn’t ready for things to get physical yet, even if it was just a kiss.

  With as big as he was, it would have been easy for him to use his size to bully me into getting what he wanted, but he just smiled and thanked me for coming and said that he hoped he would see me again. Then he had stepped back and given me room to get into my car and stood there watching as I had driven off.

  After another minute of debating with myself, I decided to send Heath a message. I kept it short; just a thank you for a good time. Now the ball was in his court.

  With that out of the way, I climbed out of bed and headed for the kitchen. I was going to need some seriously strong coffee before I tackled the messages from my brothers.

  Opening one of my drawers, I searched for the K-cup flavor I wanted. Once I found it, I popped it into the Keurig. I had a serious love affair with that machine. It was one of the greatest inventions of mankind, ranking right up there with the internet.

  A machine that let you make a one cup serving of coffee, tea, or even hot chocolate? Best idea ever. I’m sure single coffee lovers everywhere rejoiced when it came out. I know I did, even with the hefty price tag. And when Starbucks got in on the action and released a line of K-cups? Talk about dying and going to coffee loving heaven.

  As soon as my coffee was ready, I snagged it from the machine and headed into the living room. Settling on my couch, I thumbed open Derek’s message first.

  How was your date? Do I need to kick someone’s ass?

  Smiling, I replied: No ass-kicking needed.

  I knew that answer would drive him crazy. Derek was probably alternating between being worried he’d pissed me off and afraid he’d made a mistake and misjudged Heath’s character.

  Just because he was right about Heath and I having a good time didn’t mean I was going to let him off the hook yet. Leaving Derek to squirm a little longer, I moved on to Oliver’s message.

  Please tell me you and the tattoo god had a good time. And when I say tell me, I mean tell me every single detail.

  That made me laugh. Are those details going to end up in one of your books?

  Oliver: They might, especially if they’re juicy enough.

  I laughed again. At least Oliver was honest.

  Instead of answering Oliver with any details, I read Roger’s text. Heard Ricky set you up on a blind date. Do you need me to kick his ass for you?

  Ricky or my blind date?

  Roger: Either one.

  No, I’ll handle Ricky, and my date was a perfect gentleman.

  Roger: Did you want him to be?

  Yeah, for now.

  Roger: Glad you had a good time then.

  I was about to read Kiel’s text when my phone rang. It was Derek, which made me smirk. That hadn’t taken long.

  “I know you’re gonna tell me more than that,” Derek said when I answered.

  “I shouldn’t after you sent me on a blind date without my permission.”

  “I don’t think you’re as mad as you’re pretending to be.”

  I sighed. “That’s because you know me so well.”

  “Comes with being womb mates and all,” Derek said, and I could practically hear his grin carrying over the line. “Seriously though, you guys had a good time and he treated you right?”

  “Yes, to both questions, but promise me you won’t do anything like this again. You got lucky this time, but I don’t want to be ambushed again.”

  “I won’t have to ambush you. This is your forever guy, little brother.”

  I snorted. “I’m not sure how you can tell that after meeting him once.”

  “Actually, I’ve met the guy twice, but you don’t have to tell me I’m right. Time is going to tell.”

  I rolled my eyes. Oliver may have been the gay romance writer, but Derek was just as much of a romantic.

  “I’m glad you had a good time, Neddie.”

  “Thanks, Ricky.”

  “You’re welcome. Talk to you later, little brother.”

  “Later.”

  When we disconnected the call, I opened Kiel’s text: Heard Ricky was dumb enough to set you up on a blind date. Does he still have his balls?

  Ricky or my blind date?

  Kiel: Both.

  Ricky is not a eunuch yet, but he might be if he pulls this shit again.

  Kiel: Don’t blame you. And your date?

  My date is a good guy.

  Kiel: Yeah? Not gonna lie. I figured you were gonna eat the guy for dinner.

  No, we had LaManzo’s. Heath had never been there before.

  Kiel: Dude’s name is Heath?

  Yes, and don’t you da
re make fun of it, Ezekiel.

  Kiel: Wouldn’t dream of it, Neddie, but you’d think a guy named Heath was cultured enough to have been to LaManzo’s before.

  Because LaManzo’s is a Mecca of culture?

  Kiel: Good point. You had a good time though?

  Yes, I did. I might even see him again.

  Kiel: Good for you. I think you should.

  I think so too.

  Kiel: Mom will be happy. She’s shitting a brick that you went on a date.

  My heart stuttered. You told Mom I went on a date?

  Kiel: Wasn’t me, dude. It was probably Ollie. You know what a mama’s boy he is.

  I’m going to find out, but whoever it is had better run.

  Kiel: Good luck. Glad it’s not me.

  Thanks, and you’d better not be lying about it not being you.

  Kiel: I’m smarter than that.

  Kiel had better hope he was smarter than that. As soon as I figured out who’d ratted me out, the culprit would pay dearly. Blood and testicles might even be involved.

  Derek had better hope it wasn’t him either. Considering he’d set me up on a blind date without telling me, I would like to think he wasn’t that stupid, but stranger things had happened.

  I decided to take Kiel’s suggestion and start with Oliver. It took a few rings before he picked up.

  “It wasn’t me, I swear,” Oliver said.

  “How do you even know why I’m calling?”

  “Kiel just texted and told me I’d better come up with a good excuse for telling Mom about your date because you were on the warpath.”

  “And you’re sure it wasn’t you?”

  “I swear it wasn’t.”

  “Maybe it was Derek.”

  “I don’t think he would be that stupid.”

  “We are talking about the same guy who set me up on a blind date and didn’t tell me until it was too late for me to back out.”

  “Does that mean you had a bad time?”

  “No, it was good. You know I love LaManzo’s, and Heath had never been there before.”

  “What? How can he live in this town and have never been to LaManzo’s?”

  “I don’t know, but if that’s his only flaw, I can live with that.”

  “Is it his only flaw?”

  “The only one I’ve found so far.”

  “Does that mean you’re going to see him again?”

  “Yeah, I am. He’s a nice guy, and we had a good time.”

  “Wow, I guess that means Derek was right about you two.”

  “Not quite, Derek is convinced we’re going to live happily ever after.”

  “You might.”

  “I’m not going to think that far ahead.”

  It was a miracle I was even thinking about seeing him again. I wasn’t the kind of guy who went on one date with someone, let alone actually dated him steadily. I used to be, but I hadn’t been that guy in a long time.

  “I’m glad you had a good time, and I’m really glad you’re going to see him again.”

  “Me too, but I need to let you go. I still have to figure out which one of you is the snitch.”

  Oliver laughed. “Good luck.”

  “Yeah, thanks, talk to you later.”

  My bad mood was momentarily forgotten when my phone chimed in my hand and I saw the message from Heath.

  It was fun for me too. Thanks for showing me the error of my pizza ways.

  I was all ready to reply, but my phone rang. The picture of my mother’s smiling face made me groan. I loved my mom, I did. There was no better mother on earth than mine, but I knew she was only calling to grill me about my date.

  While my brothers had asked to make sure nothing had gone wrong, I had no doubt my mom was already hearing wedding bells. Even without having met the man.

  Letting the call go to voicemail would have been delaying the inevitable. Heaving a sigh, I thumbed the call open.

  “Hi, Mom. How are you?”

  “Oh, Neddie, I’m good, so good. Roger told me you had a date last night. How did it go?”

  I sat up straighter. “Roger told you?”

  “Yes.”

  That traitor! He could have warned me.

  “So, how did it go? Who is he? What does he do? Where did you go? Tell your nosy mother everything.”

  I laughed. My mom really was the best.

  “His name is Heath and—”

  “Heath, oh that’s a handsome sounding name. What else?”

  Grinning, I shook my head. “He owns a tattoo shop with his brother and his best friend. It’s the place where Derek got his tattoo done.”

  “Well, that’s interesting. Your brother gets a tattoo and you get a man.”

  “He’s not my man.”

  “I’m sure he will be, but you need to hurry up and lock that down, Neddie, or some opportunistic little twink is going to swoop in on your territory.”

  “You can’t let that happen, son,” my father called out in the background.

  I didn’t know whether to laugh or bang my head on the coffee table. Connie and Grant Nice were nothing if not supportive, sometimes to a fault.

  In junior high school when Derek got the bright idea that we should start a rock band, my parents bought us instruments. They were used but had still been expensive. When it became clear that none of us could sing, my mom offered to pay for singing lessons for all of us. The trouble was, none of us wanted to go, which didn’t bother her at all. She just donated the instruments to our school that was happy to have the additions to their struggling music program.

  When Ezekiel announced he no longer wanted to be known as Zeke and we should call him Kiel, my parents went with it. They didn’t care what we wanted to be called and assured all of us we should feel free to change our names whenever we wanted.

  The big gay announcement had been the hardest for them but not because all five us were gay. They were just afraid that after Derek’s declaration that he was into boys that the rest of us were playing the homosexual rats to his flaming Pied Piper.

  Once my parents realized we were all truly gay, they accepted it.

  And it wasn’t just that they were supportive. They were in your face supportive. Like this thing with my mom telling me not to let ‘some opportunistic little twink’ move in on Heath.

  My dad was just as bad. Though he wasn’t always the first to speak up, leaving that to my mom, he made sure to add his two-cents, which was often as outrageous as my mom’s.

  I wasn’t complaining; much. I knew better than anyone how lucky we were to have the parents we did. Our lives would have been hell if they hadn’t been so accepting. Sometimes, though, it was a bit much.

  “Now, then, when are we going to meet your handsome new boyfriend?” Mom asked.

  What was I just saying about her and Dad being a bit much? Clearly, I had been too conservative in my assessment.

  “One date does not a boyfriend make.”

  “Oh, pooh. I knew your father was the one as soon as I saw him at that fraternity party, even through my slightly drunken haze.”

  “Not even those rousing rounds of beer pong she’d played before she spotted me were enough to cloud her judgment,” my dad added, and I realized I’d been put on speaker phone at some point.

  They were kidding of course. My brothers and I had heard the story of their meeting and subsequent relationship often enough that we could recite every detail. Yet, it didn’t stop them from telling it every chance they got.

  Both of my parents had come from good families with high expectations and lots of money. Neither of them would have done anything as outrageous as they always claimed they had done for fear it would get back to their parents.

  According to my mom, her parents made it clear they were sending her to college to find a rich husband, which was why they hadn’t fussed when she wanted an English degree. My dad’s parents had outlined his path for him, which included college and then medical school and finding a nice wife. Dad always
said he’d never even considered doing anything else. Even though he had been a great doctor, he’d admitted that later he resented being told what he would do.

  You didn’t need a psychology degree to see this was why our parents were so outrageous in their support. They were determined to give us what they’d never had.

  Neither set of my grandparents were still alive. With my mom’s difficulty getting pregnant, we hadn’t come along until she was in her thirties. While my parents were now in their sixties, my grandparents would have been in their eighties if they were still alive.

  “As I was saying, Heath isn’t my boyfriend.” I paused to see if either of them would interrupt again. When they were silent, I continued. “Second, even if he was my boyfriend, which again, he is not, I wouldn’t bring him home to meet the parents this early in our relationship, especially if I wanted him to stick around.”

  “Well, that’s just rude,” Mom said, but there wasn’t any heat in the words.

  “I have to agree, son,” Dad added. “I don’t understand why you’re worried. Your mother and I are delightful, your mother especially.”

  My mother giggled. “Ah, thank you, honey.”

  “And on that note, I think I’m going to end this call now before I get sick,” I said.

  No matter how much I loved my parents, I did not want to hear them getting all sickly sweet with each other.

  “Oh, please, how do you think you got here?” Mom asked.

  “IVF,” I retorted, and my dad laughed.

  “Yes, but we sure had fun trying before that,” Mom said.

  “Oh my God! I’m hanging up now.”

  “Okay, but we love you, Neddie. You know that.”

  “I know. I love you too.”

  I ended the call before either of them could think of some more vomit inducing things to say. The fact that I’d even had that conversation with them was Roger’s fault, which I still needed to deal with.

  Opening the favorites of my contacts list, I scrolled to Roger’s name and hit the call button. I had no idea if my brother was on duty today or not, but my inner bitch hoped he was and that he was trying to catch up on some sleep before his next call so I could wake his Benedict Arnold ass up.

  When my call went to voicemail, I figured he was on a call or had gone to sleep after our text exchange earlier because I knew he wasn’t dumb enough to avoid me when I was in bitch mode.