by Piper Frost
“Glad you stopped in, Kin.” I walk around the bar and hug her, sighing because I miss her friendship, but we've drifted so far apart, it's like we live in two different worlds. We don't though; we live in this small town where it seems like the ranch continues to keep us all tied together somehow.
“Don't be a stranger, Chase.” She walks out the door and I can't help but smile.
She's right, and I fucking know it. Brandt's just looking out for his family. But it doesn't make me any less angry at the way he's trying to handle things.
Willie comes in at about six and takes over for me so I can open the shop. I'd much rather call Kaydence and see what she's up to, but I've got an appointment this evening with a new client and I can't miss it. I don't even fucking know who it is. This new online appointment setter saves me from having to keep someone at the front desk at all times, but it sucks when I'm trying to prepare for someone. I have no clue what this person wants, what to prepare. I got nothin' to go off of.
The front door bells jingle when I'm in the back checking stock, and when I round the corner a smile immediately come to my lips.
“Hey there, beautiful.” Kaydence smiles back at me and I walk over to her, immediately pulling her into my arms. Seeing her in person again makes me feel so much different than texting with her. I was starting to think she didn't want another date. “What're you doin' here?”
“Hi, handsome. Miss me?” She pecks my cheek then lowers off her toes.
“Of course.” I take a step back and glance out the door. “I'm supposed to have a client soon. So if they come in you can chill with us. Or head upstairs and wait till I'm finished?”
“I'm the appointment. I booked the time online.” She grins and glances around, waving at Grant when he walks in the back door.
“Hey, Kaydence.”
I'm staring at her like she's lost her mind. “You booked online? Why didn't you text me?”
“You're gettin' inked!” Grant boasts. “Can I do it?” His eyes travel her body and I throw an elbow to his gut. “Fuck, it's a fuckin' joke,” he mutters, walking away.
“Chase, he was kidding.” She frowns, watching Grant walk across the room. “I'm your appointment though. Are you excited?” A smile fills her face again.
“What're you getting?” I ask, shoving aside the jealousy that she didn't just call or text me personally.
“Remember I told you I drew something up?” She reaches into her purse and pulls out the piece of paper. “This is what I want.” When she hands it over, I glance at her then study the picture.
“You design this?” I furrow my brows.
I've seen this a few times on other people. I've never actually put it on someone though, and the fact that it's Kaydence I'm about to tattoo this on saddens me. There's swirls and filigree, but in one direction, the script and design spells out the words 'I'm Fine'...but upside down it's designed in a way that spells out the words 'Save Me'. I meet her gaze and she's staring at me.
“Um, sorta. Not entirely. The designs I did.” She swirls her finger along the twists and turns of the filigree. “But some of it I took from a tattoo that...well.” She starts to chuckle. “Me, my sister, and my brother all went to get tattoos when he turned eighteen and I chickened out. We were all getting the same thing, but I didn't. So now...” Her eyes stay focused on the paper and she nods. “Now I'm ready.” She smiles so innocently up at me, I'm not sure if this is a tribute or a cry for help.
“Cool,” I whisper, my stomach turning. This isn't a design a happy person like her gets. “Come on back, let's get started.” I take her back to the chair and she pulls her shirt over her head.
Immediately, my eyes fly over to Grant who's staring with a smirk that I want to knock off his head. I yank the curtain closed, almost ripping it down I move it so fast, then make a mental note to kick his ass later. She slides her bra strap down and looks at me over her shoulder. My breath hitches while I stare at her because she's goddamned stunning. The sexy as sin body, the innocent expression and big green eyes, the long red hair falling down her pale back. I've inked a fuck ton of chicks, but never someone that makes my stomach flop every time I look at her. What the fuck's wrong with me?
“Okay,” I breathe. “I've never tried tattooing someone while I was sporting a chub before,” I say, smirking at her and trying to ease the awkwardness. “This should be interesting.”
She giggles and darts her eyes to my cock briefly before turning her back to the mirror. “Where ever you think it should go. I just want it kind of close to the other. Ya know? Maybe one day I'll cover my back.”
“I got ya, doll. That'd be smokin' if you did.” Her eyes hit mine and I wink before getting the rest of my station set up.
After getting her situated, she lies on the table and I get to work. The design looks amazing on her back and I tie it in with her other script by expanding the filigree to surround the other tattoo that I touch up since I'm already working there. It didn't really need a touch up but I'm a selfish prick and want the work on her body to be from only me. I can't get my mind off the meaning of this tattoo, and I hate that because typically I don't ask details about what I'm working on. They're paying me for it, I'm doing my job, and I don't really care to get to know my clients on a personal level.
But this is Kaydence.
“How ya doin'?” I ask, almost done.
“I'm fine.” She gives me a smile over her shoulder. “Thank you.”
“Plans after this is done?” I'm trying to keep my mind off this tattoo and failing miserably, so maybe small talk will help.
“No. You?”
“Shop doesn't close till midnight. Maybe you can stick around and make it not so boring around here tonight.” I smirk at her when she turns her head to look at me.
“I won't be distracting?” The excitement in her voice always catches me off guard. Who can be that excited and positive all the damn time over the smallest of things?
“Not at all. As long as you can put up with Grant.”
“I love Grant.” She chuckles. “He's funny. Reminds me of a friend I used to have back at home.” Her finger starts to twirl in her hair and I blink a few times.
Grant's not funny. Grant's a tool. A pig headed fuck. And jealousy's a fucking bitch.
“Right,” I murmur. “Well, he's one of my closest friends but I won't be offended if you don't want to hang with him. I know how annoying he can get, but he means well. I think, at least.”
“I can fucking hear you!” Grant yells from the other side of the curtain and I laugh.
“He's fuckin' nosey, too.”
“I enjoy your company, Grant,” she calls out.
“You can enjoy my company tonight if you want to,” he yells back and I let out a growl.
“Enough!” I shake my head, hating I'm jealous over my friends. “Kaydence, you,” I say, wiping her finished tattoo off. “Are all finished.” I scoot my stool back and help her to stand. “Take a look.”
I give her a hand mirror so she can see it in the standup and she stares enamored for a few minutes, like she didn't expect it to turn out so well.
“I love it,” she whispers and looks at me. “I love it. Thank you.” She throws her arms around me and hugs me tight.
I have to bite back the questions. Like why do you need this? What the fuck does it mean? Should I be worried about you?
“Hey, have you had dinner? I can have Grant go grab us something. I'm starved.” I clean up my station while she slowly puts her shirt back on.
“I could eat. You want me to go out and grab us all something?” She straightens her shirt before looking at me.
“You have a car to go get it?” I ask, smirking because if I know Kaydence she didn't drive herself here.
“Well, no. But town's not that big. And.” She points to her feet, looking down. “I've got these.”
I laugh, unable to stop thinking she's adorable. I haven't thought anything was adorable since my nieces and nephews were ba
bies. She's a different kind of adorable though. Adorable is a feeling you get toward something that gets you in the feels just by looking at it. I'm so fucked with this girl.
“Doll, you're not walking to get us dinner. It's dark out and the town may be small, but that doesn't guarantee you're safe.” I pull the curtain open and Grant's leaning against the front counter, grinning at us.
“Burgers?” he asks, holding his hand out for money. “I paid last time.”
“Burgers good?” I ask her and she's grinning through her nod, making me chuckle. I grab my wallet and shove a few bills in his hand. When he leaves, I smirk at her. “He's a better assistant than tattoo artist,” I joke and she chuckles, lightly hitting my arm before digging in her purse.
With her wallet in her hand, she asks, “What do I owe you?”
I wrap my arms around her and press my lips to her forehead. “You gotta stop. You're hurting my feelings. Put that shit away.” I pull her closer to me, snaking my arms down her back and gripping her ass in my palms.
“Chase, I'm paying for this tattoo. I'll let go of you buying dinner this time, but what do I owe you for the work?” She starts pulling twenties from her wallet and I walk away.
I sigh and groan. I fucking hate the idea of taking money from this girl. “Kay, you don't have to. Can't we just call it the perks of being my girlfriend?” I shove my hands in my pockets and give her the best, cutest smile I can muster.
Her eyebrows are arched high on her forehead and her lips are parted while she wordlessly stares at me for at least a minute. I like the cute, stunned look on her face, so I don't take it back. “That's a nice perk...of being your... Being...” She blinks away from me. “You want me to be your girlfriend?” Either I shouldn't have said it, or she's fuckin' crazy for thinking I wouldn't want her to be. She's looking at me like I'm insane for saying she's my girlfriend when all I want is to make sure she's mine. Only mine.
“Is that so hard to believe? That I don't want to share you with anyone else?” My eyebrows dip and I walk over to her, resting my hands on her hips.
“No!” she blurts and starts to stammer. “No. No, it's fine. It's great actually. No. That's...that's great.” She starts to laugh and drops her heated face to my shoulder. “Oh god, I'm acting so weird,” she mutters before lifting her head, wearing that big smile I love seeing on her. “I'd love to be your girlfriend.”
“You sure about that?” I laugh at her. She's being weird as shit and I'm feeling like maybe she just doesn't want to hurt my feelings by telling me no. “I mean, you can tell me if you don't want to do this exclusively.”
“No,” she says quietly and her fingers slide up the back of my head as she moves closer. “I want to be with you and only you.” Her lips softly press to mine and when the front door dings, she jumps and pulls back.
My eyes fly to the door and when Sarah walks in I groan inwardly. Fuck my life, this isn't going to end well. Sarah's a town whore, and yeah, I've had a go at her. The worst part is she's a clingy whore and has some stupid ideas in that head of hers.
“Hey, give me a minute,” I mutter while she struts her ass over to the jewelry counter. Looking at Kaydence again, I just want to protect her from Sarah's cattiness which is inevitable with this girl. “You wanna hang out in my place till the food gets here?”
“Oh, um.” She glances toward Sarah. “Yeah, no, you know what? Actually, um, Tyler's across the street.” She points toward the door. “I could...just go?”
“No,” I blurt too loud, then laugh off the nerves and glance up at Sarah. “Nah, no. Stay with me. Please.” I push my lips to hers, not wanting her to leave. I want to spend the night with her again. “I gotta get to her before she gets pissed.” I smirk at Kaydence and turn to walk to the front of the shop. “What can I do for ya?”
“I need a fill in.” She lifts her arm I've been working on for a few months now, then her eyes go to Kaydence. “It's early. I was kinda hoping I'd beat the other booty calls for the night.” Her gum pops at the same time I see Kaydence look up from her phone.
My stomach plummets. Sarah's going to fuck shit up before it even gets started.
I glance out the door, hoping to see Grant so he can take this job but he's not coming back for awhile. “I can do a quick fill in.” I clear my throat and glance back at Kaydence. “Got another appointment soon.”
“Whatever. Let's get done what we can. This shit should have been finished by now.” She walks to my station like she owns the shop.
The entire time I prep Sarah I can feel Kaydence's eyes on me, she's watching us from a stool by the front counter.
“You keep changing your mind on this part, Sarah. It would be finished if we didn't have to keep tweaking things,” I murmur, getting to work.
“Who's she.” She nods toward Kaydence. “Never seen her in here before.”
Looking up at Kay sitting quietly across the room, I clear my through. “Kay, this is Sarah,” I say loud enough she can hear me over the tattoo machine and she smiles with a wave, acting like her phone's keeping her busy. “Kaydence is my girlfriend.” The words feel foreign on my tongue. I haven't had a girlfriend in fucking years.
“Hi,” Kaydence says and I smile over at that sweet girl.
“Sarah's a long time client,” I explain, putting my eyes back on Sarah's arm.
“Client,” Sarah snorts and rolls her eyes. “What he doesn't want to tell you is we usually fuck—” She gasps and jerks when I press a little too hard with the machine. “Ow! Fuck, Chase!”
“Sorry,” I mutter, my eyes flicking to Kaydence. She's got a smile on her face, but it's not her real smile. It's that passive aggressive smile that she usually wears and as much as I love looking at her, I hate this smile right now. Sarah's putting thoughts in Kay's head that don't need to be there.
“You okay?” Kaydence asks, now standing in the doorway of my room.
“I don't fuckin' know,” Sarah bitches. “Where you from? I haven't seen you around.”
“I moved to town a few months ago. You have beautiful work.” She points to the sleeve I've been working on for too long.
“Chase's been at it for a while. I know Chase pretty well and I've never seen you around, so you two must have just met.” Sarah looks from me to Kaydence.
“We've known each other a little over a month, but our relationship's new.” I look at Kaydence and that fake smile still persists.
“I was gonna say.” Sarah grins evilly at Kaydence. “I was just fucking him like a week ago.” She laughs that bitchy laugh I can't stand. Fuck.
“Sarah, can you knock that shit off? Fuck.” I huff, trying to work the fastest I safely can to get this girl out of here before she scares Kaydence off.
“It's okay,” Kaydence speaks up. “He was a free man a week ago. No ties to me.” Kaydence turns to walk away and Sarah snickers, not happy that Kay is letting it go.
“And he'll probably be a free man a week from now. Or he'll just do it behind your back. Does she even know you, Chase?” She cackles.
“Fucking Christ, Sarah. You can't walk in here and start shit like that. You want your ink done, shut the fuck up and let me do my j—”
“It's okay, Chase.” I look over at Kaydence and she smiles at me. “I'm going to run across the street. Just text me when...you're free.” She glances at Sarah. “Nice meeting you.” She's already on her way to the front door and I need to let her walk away before Sarah fucks up more than my attitude.
I watch the door close behind her and squeeze my eyes closed. Sarah tries saying something but I hold my hand up, silencing her. “Don't fucking talk to me right now,” I growl, unbelievably pissed.
I try to refocus on the tattoo, but I can't. All I can think about is what's going through Kaydence's head right now.
“Food!” Grant bellows, walking through the front door ten minutes later. “Hey, Sarah.” He leans on the doorframe of my station. “I didn't know what to get so I just ordered the gamut from the burger joint across t
own. Where's Kay?”
“Ms. Goodie Two Shoes left his ass.” Sarah laughs.
“I said no fucking talking, Sarah.” I set my machine down and stand, walking out of my room before I explode.
Grant follows on my tail. “What happened?” he blurts as I walk to the front of the shop.
“Sarah went royal bitch on Kay. Kay left, all smiles, and went across the street, probably hanging out with her brother. Can you go make sure she's okay and tell her I'm almost done?”
Grant blinks a few times before belting out a laugh. “The booty call and the girlfriend not get along?”
“Fuck off,” I grumble, then storm back to my room to finish this tattoo and get her the hell out of here.
It feels like Grant's gone a fucking year but when I glance at the clock it's only been five minutes. Sarah's been smacking her gum the entire time and each time she pops a bubble I want to shove the fucking gum down her throat.
I'm usually not this violent.
Okay, that's a lie.
“We can eat!” Grant announce, waltzing through the front door again. My eyes fly to him, noticing Kaydence right behind him and a genuine smile creeps on my face.
“I'm almost done,” I call out.
“I'm starving,” Kaydence says to Grant. “Thanks for picking this up.” A second later, her voice is closer. “Hey, you want me to eat upstairs?”
“Uh, no. We've got a small break room you can eat in. Grant will probably eat in there too. And I'm almost finished.”
“Okay. Looks good,” she says about Sarah's arm.
“Looks good,” Sarah mocks her and rolls her eyes. “You're a fucking idiot. Your fake nice bullshit will only get you so far. Two-faced bitch,” she mumbles.
Before I can say anything, Kaydence blurts, “Chase, I have to go. I'll—you call me tomorrow.”
“Fuck,” I growl, pushing back my chair, pulling off my gloves as I run after her. “Kaydence, stop,” I blurt right as she has the front door open.
“I just need to get home. I'm sorry.” She turns back and tries to smile but there's an expression I haven't seen on her face yet and I don't fucking like it. She's…hurt. Why that bitch's words actually cut that deep, I don't know, but I bet it's because Kay was being genuine. She doesn't really say what she doesn't mean. Looking down, she clears her throat and when she lifts her head, she pushes a smile on her face. “I'm just going to go home. I think I'd be more comfortable.” Pecking my cheek, she says, “Night,” then darts across the street and into the bar.