by Nikki Ashton
As she stared at me expectantly, I scrubbed a hand over my face.
“Like I said on the phone, I’ve met someone I think I want to make a go of things with.”
I hadn’t told her that someone was Katie, the woman who we’d rescued in the car on the night we should have gone to dinner, as that might have stung a little. Debbie did ask who it was, but I told her it wasn’t anyone she knew. She even asked if I’d been going to tell her, that night because she knew something was off – we never went out to dinner, just screwed usually. l lied and said it was, because I really didn’t want her to know it was Katie.
“That was your rule, Deb,” I said trying to placate her. “Which is why I ended things.”
“I’ll change the rule,” she retorted. “Just see us both.”
She was starting to sound desperate and it wasn’t like her. She’d always been so cool and independent.
“Why the sudden change?” I asked.
“Because you hadn’t met anyone before.” She hitched her bag higher up her shoulder and it killed me to see tears in her eyes.
“Fuck,” I muttered, moving around the desk and placing my arm around her shoulder. “Don’t get upset. You know me and you were never going to go anywhere. It was what it was, darlin’.”
“We could try,” she said, her voice hitching on a sharp breath.
I pulled her closer and kissed her temple. I hated seeing her that way, but I wanted to do things right by both her and Katie, especially Katie after our date.
“I’m sorry,” Debbie finally said on a sigh. “I suppose it was hearing you say you had feelings for someone else. It hurt. A lot.”
I laughed quietly and hugged her.
“I care about you too, Debbie. It’s just this woman…” I paused to think what it was about that woman. “This woman is like no one I’ve ever met before. She’s funny and cute, has no fucking filter on how to be around a man she’s attracted to, and she’s sexy without even realizing it.”
“Way to make a girl feel good, Dex,” Debbie said with a hint of a smile.
“I can tell you because you’re my friend. And this, what you’re feeling, well I reckon you’re just scared because this means you might have to actually put some work in to look for a guy. Because, let’s face it, I did all the fucking work to get us to that place.”
“Huh,” she snorted, slapping at my chest. “You just didn’t recognize my best flirting moves. It took a session and a half before you even cracked a smile.”
“That was me playing mean to get you keen,” I said, leaning back and looking at her. “So, you okay now?”
Debbie nodded and reached up to kiss my cheek. “Thanks Dex. And, you’re right, I’m just being stupid.”
Flinging her arms around my neck, Debbie hugged me tightly and kissed my cheek again. As I hugged her back, the shop door opened and in walked Isaac. Our eyes locked before his gaze swept over Debbie in my arms.
“Sorry,” he said, his voice hard. “I thought I’d come in and see you, but I can come back another time.”
As he rushed out of the door, I pulled away from Debbie and chased after him, hoping I hadn’t fucked things up with Katie before they’d even began.
Dex
“Isaac, wait up buddy,” I called, jogging up behind him. “I need to explain.”
Isaac stopped and turned to face me, shaking his head. “Nothing to explain, Dex,” he said. “You’re busy, I’ll come back later.”
“I was saying goodbye to her, is all.”
“Seriously Dex, it’s none of my business. You really don’t need to explain yourself to me.”
He said the words, but I could sense he thought I was being disrespectful to his mom. The grin of the kid I’d met a few nights ago wasn’t there. He was stiff and was not giving off any vibe that he actually wanted to talk to me.
“Your mom knows who Debbie is, she’s kind of an ex and she just came in to see if I’d changed my mind, about ending things with her.”
“Why are you telling me this, Dex?”
I pushed my hands into my pockets and looked down at the sidewalk. “I’m telling you this because I like your mom, Isaac.” I looked up at him and gave him a tight-lipped smile. “I want to keep seeing her and maybe see how things progress. That’s why I ended things with Debbie, because I want to do things right with your mom.”
“So you were seeing that other lady when you asked Mum out?”
“Nope. I ended things before I even asked your mom out on a date.”
“You finished with your girlfriend before even knowing Mum would go out with you?” he asked incredulously, his eyes going wide.
“She wasn’t exactly my girlfriend,” I replied, cocking a brow.
Isaac looked at me and frowned, eventually a smile enveloped his face as realization dawned.
“Ah okay,” he said. “But it’s definitely over now?”
I nodded. “Like I said, she wanted to know if I’d changed my mind and when I said I hadn’t, she got a little upset. I gave her a hug and that’s what you saw.”
Isaac’s mouth formed a tight smile. “Okay.”
I breathed out a long sigh of relief and nodded towards the shop.
“So, you want to come back and have that tour?”
“Is that okay?” he asked, excitement lacing his tone.
“Sure is.” I indicated for him to follow me and walked back to the shop, hoping that Debbie had already left.
“And that’s it,” I said to Isaac as we came out of the break room. “So, what do you think?”
“It’s really impressive,” he replied looking around. “I bet it’s sick watching someone walk out of here with a design you created.”
“Yeah, it is.”
God, this kid was born to be a tattoo artist, or at least design. He’d listened to every single word I’d said, asked everyone questions – even Nate about piercing – and watched in awe as Megan inked a guy’s shoulder. The only time his attention had faltered was when Scarlett tottered in on her damn tower block heels, with her newly brightened scarlet colored hair. I could see her appraising him too, and the shit storm that little attraction might cause almost had me changing my mind about asking him to work with us and I really wanted to ask him today, while he was here. Spending a few hours on reception, doing the lunch run, and helping Nate with a fainter had been enough to make my mind up that we needed some help. The fainter had clinched it to be honest. I’ve tattooed many guys in lots of weird places, but being faced with a six foot, two hundred pound guy passed out with his dick hanging out was not my idea of fun. You see, why the fuck would you get the thing pierced, unless you were crazy?
“How do you fancy sitting in with Topper on his consultation?” I asked Isaac. “I just need to catch up with Jethro.”
“Really? Would that be okay?”
“Yep. Hey Topper,” I called down the corridor.
“Yeah,” he said, appearing in the doorway of his room.
“Okay if Isaac sits in on your consultation?”
“No problem. Come on through, she’ll be here in five.”
Topper disappeared, as did Isaac, practically running to Topper’s room. With a grin, I knocked on Jethro’s door; I needed to talk to him about my plan for Isaac. Yes, it was my business, but I trusted his judgement and knew he wouldn’t steer me wrong if he thought it was a bad idea.
“Come in,” he called.
I went in and saw he was finishing up, wrapping a guy’s forearm where he’d had work done on his sleeve.
“Be two minutes,” he said, without looking up.
“No worries.” I smiled at the guy who had a huge grin. “You happy with it?” I asked.
“God yeah. Couple more sessions and it’ll be finished eh, Jethro?”
“I reckon.” Jethro finished the wrapping and patted the guy’s shoulder. “Okay, you’re good to go. You know the drill, but here’s your care instructions anyway. You okay for Tattoo Goo?” The guy nodded as Jethro handed
him a sheet of paper. “Just tell Scarlett to give me a few minutes to put your bill on the computer.”
“Will do. Thanks Jethro, and see you in a couple of months.”
The client left and I sat down as Jethro put his bill through. Finally, he swung his chair around to face me.
“Okay, I’m all yours.”
“I want to run something past you,” I said, hoping that he agreed it was a good idea.
When I finished telling Jethro my plan, he nodded, steepling his finger under his chin.
“Sounds like a good idea to me. We’re run off our arses most days with the number of consultations we have alongside the actual inking. Makes sense to get the kid doing those as well as all the other odd jobs around here. He’ll need some training regarding how long a design will take to ink and how to work out the pricing, or whether color or mono will work best, that sort of thing, but it shouldn’t take long to get him up to speed. It’ll help a lot, ‘cause its detailing the design that takes up most of our time.”
“That’s what I thought. It sure would help us out.”
“It’s either that or you come out of semi-retirement, old man.”
“What, and have my personal clients go ape shit that they’ve paid a premium all these years to have me ink them and now I’m doing anyone who asks.”
As embarrassing as it was, I did have a group of clients who liked the kudos of being inked by the famous Dex Michaels. They were happy to pay extra bucks for that privilege, and to be able to get last minute appointments, so who was I to argue.
“I suppose you’re right,” Jethro replied.
As we carried on talking it through, there was a short rap on the door and Topper popped his top hatted head around it.
“Sorry guys, but I need one of you. This chick wants something ethereal and can’t find anything she likes in the design book.”
Jethro and I looked at each other.
“May as well,” Jethro said, with a shoulder shrug.
I turned to Topper. “Get Isaac to do something,” I said. “Let’s see what he can come up with.”
“He any good?” Topper asked. “’Cause this chick is a little bit picky, I’ve gotta say.”
“Yeah, he’s good,” I replied with a grin. “That skull that Melissa’s client picked, you see it?”
Topper nodded. “It was epic, you telling me that one was one of his?” He leaned forward and raised his brows.
“Yep. I bought a series of four off him, and that was only a fraction of his stuff, so yeah, get him to do ethereal.”
Topper doffed his hat and disappeared.
“Let’s hope he can pull it off,” Jethro said.
“How so?” I asked, pushing up from the chair.
“Because,” he replied with a shit-eating grin. “Giving him a job may just get you into his mum’s knickers quicker than you thought.”
“I thought you should see it before I go into reception and call her back in.” Topper looked at me expectantly, hanging a hand off the back of his neck.
I looked down at the drawing and placed it on my desk.
“If it’s crap, just say,” Isaac added, tentatively. “I know you’re only supposed to have an hour slot, but I could quickly do something else.”
I looked up at his worried brown eyes, the same shape as his mom’s, and blew out a breath.
“This is amazing, Isaac,” I said, shaking my head in disbelief.
“It is?” he asked, linking his hands on the top of his head and grinning.
“Yep.” I reached for an eraser. “A little too much detail in a couple of places, but otherwise, it’s damn good.”
The drawing of a woman’s profile and her flowing hair, made up of dragon flies, bluebells, tree branches and all manner of nature, was one of the best designs I’d seen in a long time.
“I would never have thought of this,” I said, erasing a fox’s head and replacing it with a butterfly. “That would be too small to give it the detail it needs, so a butterfly works better. You see?”
I turned the drawing to Isaac, who leaned his hands on my desk and studied his work.
“Yeah, shit, that’s much better.” He tapped on the drawing. “You see the squirrel’s tale, well that could be bigger. Get rid of the bird and bring the tail around in a sweep. What do you think?”
Taking the drawing back, I did as he suggested and looked at it. Yep, he was a fast learner, it improved the design more than I thought possible.
I passed it to Isaac. “Here, sign it as yours and Topper, you get your client back in.”
Topper grinned and held out his hand for the drawing, as Isaac quickly signed it.
“Good job, Isaac,” he said when he handed him the paper.
“Thanks Topper, and thanks for letting me sit in. It was awesome.”
“Yeah well, when a chick wants to be inked on her rib cage and whips her top off, not caring one shit that she’s not wearing a bra, it’s always pretty awesome.
He gave Isaac a wink and holding the drawing carefully in both hands, left the room.
“Thanks Dex,” Isaac said as he watched him go. “It was really interesting. Topper was epic how he got out of her what she wanted. He made her close her eyes and describe heaven to him.”
I chuckled. “We all have different methods and Topper’s are more of the spiritual kind.”
“I had no idea tattoo studios worked like this,” Isaac said, his eyes full of awe.
“Not all do,” I replied. “But it’s how I trained and it’s something I believe in. A tattoo is for life and even though we can change them, ink over them, if we have to, I want to be sure our clients go away feeling amazing. They need to leave here with exactly what they want, even if it isn’t what they were going to ask for when they walked into the consultation.”
Isaac wiped his hands on his black, skinny jeans. “I was so nervous in case you thought it was crap.”
“No way. It was good, just those couple of changes, but that’ll come with experience.”
Isaac nodded. “Yeah, I suppose so.”
“Take a seat,” I said, nodding at the sofa against the wall of my office.
Isaac did and ran a hand through his dark blond hair, which was fashioned not unlike my own. He looked thoughtful, and I hoped he was considering that a career in tattooing might be a good step for him.
“So,” I said, sitting on the edge of my desk. “I have a proposition for you.”
A half hour later, on a handshake, I had a new employee and I couldn’t have been happier.
Katie
“They definitely had sex. You could tell by the way the duvet was going up and down.”
I rolled my eyes as Amy and Ellie, the two girls on my bank of desks, continued to talk about ‘Love Island’, their favourite TV show of the moment.
“Do these people really have sex on TV?” I asked, knowing full well what the answer was.
I did actually watch the show, but denied that I’d ever seen a minute of it. When it started, the girls were all excitable about it and never stopped talking about it. I grumbled about them watching trash, but was quite curious, so thought I’d watch a few minutes of it that night. Three episodes on catch up later, and I was hooked. I then had the dilemma of whether I told the girls, and Brad, our token man in the office, about me succumbing. I decided that it was much better if they considered me an old fart who listened to The Archers and watched nature programs – not that there was anything wrong in that, both kept my mother quiet for many an hour. I had to say though, it was hard trying not to pitch in with my thoughts on the latest recoupling and subsequent break ups.
The men were pretty nice to look at, too. Generally young enough to be my sons, which made it weird, but I was forty-five and hadn’t had my castle breached in four years; Piers Morgan was beginning to look attractive at this point. Obviously, my view on things had changed since meeting Dex. Now the boys on ‘Love Island’ weren’t so appealing, because they were exactly that – boys. The
re were a few with muscles, a few with tattoos, and a couple with both muscles and tattoos, but none had sexily styled silver hair and bluebell coloured eyes that twinkled with possibility.
“When you were younger, would you have gone on a reality show?” Ellie asked.
“Did they have TV in the olden days?” Amy flicked the page over of the magazine that she was looking at. Her question wasn’t asked with cruel intention, at twenty-years-old she truly believed that there had been no TV, telephones, or even electricity prior to her birth.
“Yes, Amy,” I responded, glancing at my screen, thinking I’d seen a call come in. When I realised I hadn’t, I turned back to Ellie. “To answer your question, no I wouldn’t have. I can’t think of anything worse than parading your dirty washing in front of the whole nation.”
“I think they have someone to do their laundry,” Amy offered, entirely sincere.
Ellie rolled her eyes. At twenty-five-years-old, it surprised me that she had less tolerance of Amy than I did. “I know what you mean,” Ellie continued. “But, they come out of there with all sorts of deals and sponsorships.”
“Which would be great for you, love,” I said. “But I’m not sure I’d be the ambassador that some of these companies would be looking for. I mean, can you really imagine me putting a picture on Snapchat or Instagram with the comment, ‘Use the code, ‘I look a tit’, to get ten percent off this amazing orange, animal print cat suit, with hearts cut out of the arse, that I’m wearing to go to Tesco in today.”
Ellie leaned back in her chair and started to laugh, while Amy looked up from her magazine, staring at me expectantly.
“That sounds amazing. Where did you get it from?”
I let out a sigh and frowned, worried about how Amy got through the day without a responsible adult with her.
“Ooh I’ve got a call,” Ellie said, turning to her screen and saving herself from having to look witheringly at Amy.
As Ellie chatted away, taking details of the message, Amy sighed heavily.