“You can have me, but how about for your tattoo?” he asked without losing a beat.
“I was thinking of getting a teddy bear,” she said out of the blue.
“What happened to the star?” I asked.
“I changed my mind,” Anna said as she continued to flirt with the tattoo artist.
I followed the two of them into the back, and we continued to talk while he drew up a sample for her before he got to work. It was a quick process, and within fifteen minutes, Anna had agreed to the design and had her shirt pulled up so he could put it on her upper hip.
“I don’t think I’m going to go out this weekend. Last weekend was a bit much for me.”
“I gotcha, are you going to stay home?”
“I have no idea, but I just don’t want to be that girl who is just wild and partying all the time. That’s not me. I mean it is me because I’ve been doing it since I got home. But I’m getting a little tired of it all.”
“Then do something different,” Anna said in a matter of fact tone. “You can be whoever you want to be. Be wild. Be tame. Be a nerd, it doesn’t matter. Just be happy.”
For such a wild and crazy girl, Anna hit the nail on the head with that comment. All I wanted was to be happy, and my partying wasn’t making me happy any longer. I still had no real idea what I wanted to do with myself, but staying up all night and getting sick from drinking didn’t seem to hit the spot for me any longer.
“Do you know what you want for your tattoo?” the artist asked as he continued to work on Anna.
“Yeah, just a red rose with some small stars around it. Like this,” I said as I pulled out a picture of exactly what I wanted.
“A woman who comes prepared, perfect.”
“Can you do this?”
“Honey, I could do that with my eyes closed. Where do you want it? Your tit? Lower back? Inner thigh?” he asked in a creepy way as his eyes veered toward my inner thigh.
“Um, no, I was thinking of my ankle.”
“That area hurts pretty badly. Might not be a good place for a newbie to start out with.”
“What about your arm?” Anna offered.
“I don’t know. I kind of had my heart set on my ankle.”
I’d imagined getting a tattoo for a few years and just never got around to it. So when Anna suggested going to get her tattoo, I was excited for the opportunity to finally get mine. I was tired of thinking about stuff and not doing it.
“If you can handle the pain, I’m fine with doing the work,” the tattoo artist said.
“I’ll make it work,” I said without having any confidence in my ability to actually handle the pain.
I was able to work through pulled muscles and other aches and pains from working out, but I couldn’t think of a single time when I’d been in real pain. I’d never broken a bone, so this was going to be a new and interesting experience for me.
When it came time for my turn in the tattoo chair, my hands were sweating and shaking as I climbed into the leather torture spot. Anna held onto my hand tight as the man prepped the area and showed me a drawing of what he was going to do. Despite my dislike of the man and his crude way of looking at me earlier, he did do very good work, and that put my mind at ease as I leaned back and covered my eyes to prepare for the pain.
The first touch of the needle against my skin didn’t seem as painful as I thought it was going to be. It wasn’t until about a minute into the process that my brain seemed to register the extent of the pain, and I squeezed Anna’s hand tightly as the tears rolled down my face.
“What was the meaning of your tattoo?”
“It’s my favorite flower, and my father told me a story about it once that stuck with me.”
“Are you okay,” Anna asked as she stayed close to me.
“Yep,” I lied.
The pain was radiating throughout my leg, and I swore I could feel it all the way up to my kneecap. It took everything I had inside of me not to move my leg while he was working, but I knew that would make things worse and would ruin the work he was doing.
For a full hour, I held onto Anna and tried not to sob from the pain. I was clearly crying, but my tears were silent, and that was about as good as I could do considering the situation. Some spots on my ankle were downright excruciating as the needle glided over them, while other areas were just painful and not quite as bad.
“I’m almost done,” the man said as he grabbed some more color and went back to work. “It’s turning out very nicely. You’re doing a great job.”
“Thanks,” I managed to mumble.
When it was over, I had a beautiful three-inch red rose with a dozen small gold stars around it. Exactly what I wanted. The relief flooded my emotions, and I handed the man his money and quickly made my way out to Anna’s vehicle.
“I think we need a delicious smoothie as a reward. I mean if you’re not drinking yet.” Anna laughed.
“Considering it’s noon, no I’m not drinking yet. Let’s go to The Juice Bar on Williams Street. They do this amazing smoothie with fresh strawberries and lemonade, it’s to die for.”
“Deal,” Anna said as we climbed into her Range Rover.
“Didn’t that hurt you at all? It was so painful for me,” I continued to complain as she drove us for our drinks.
“No, it wasn’t so bad for me. But I could tell yours was really painful. You did great, though.”
There was a familiar car in the parking lot as we pulled into the juice bar. I was pretty sure it was Devin’s but didn’t want to say anything in case I was imagining it. There were a lot of black Infinities in Chicago so I couldn’t be sure this was his.
My eyes darted back and forth throughout the juice bar the second we walked in. I was looking for Devin but didn’t see him. Relief washed over me as we made our way to the ordering area and put in our desired drink orders.
“Can we have two shots of wheat grass too,” Anna added as we waited for our drinks.
“Eww, Anna, I’m not drinking that.”
“You should try it,” I heard Devin’s sexy voice say as he walked up behind me. “It’s invigorating.”
“Wow, hi hot neighbor dude,” Anna said as she thrust her hand out to shake Devin’s hand.
“Hi, I’m Devin,” he added.
There was no avoiding the introductions now. I reluctantly gave in and introduced the two of them properly.
“Devin, this is my friend Anna. I’m sure you remember her from all the nights she’s screamed from the driveway and woken you up.”
“Yes, very nice to meet you, young lady,” Devin said as he shook her hand again. “This is my friend Jacob; he loves to be woken up in the middle of the night by young girls causing chaos. Jacob this is Lilli,” he added as he motioned toward me.
“I do,” Jacob said as he shook hands with Anna. “It’s nice to finally meet you,” Jacob said to me.
Anna and I both looked at each other as we processed what Jacob had said. The word ‘finally’ stuck out to me. It implied that Devin had talked about me before. Perhaps he had mentioned me, and Jacob was interested in meeting this person that Devin had mentioned many times before. Or I could have been imagining the whole thing.
“Would you girls like to join us?” Devin asked as he pointed to his table.
“No, we …” I started to say before Anna interrupted me.
“Of course, we’d love to.”
I rolled my eyes at the way she instantly started to fawn over Devin’s friend. She grabbed her drink and followed the two men straight to their table, leaving me to grab the two wheat grass shots and my own drink.
“We got tattoos today,” Anna offered right away. “Mine’s in a spot that I can’t really show you here,” she teased Jacob.
I smiled at Devin as we both eyed the two of them and how flirty they already were. There was no stopping Anna once she got started flirting with a guy; I knew better than to try. Instead, I just leaned
toward Devin so I could hear him over the busy store.
“You got one too?” he asked with a little look of surprise in his eyes.
“Yep, but it’s just on my ankle, not anywhere exotic like Anna.”
“It’s covered up.”
“Yeah, it’s supposed to stay covered to heal. I didn’t get anything crazy. Just a rose.”
“I’ve got a couple tattoos.”
“Really? I don’t remember seeing them.”
“I don’t remember showing them to you.” He winked. “They are in exotic locations.”
I laughed an uncomfortable laugh at the thought of where his tattoos could possibly be. He seemed like he was teasing me, but I wasn’t sure yet. I didn’t know Devin well enough to know if he was teasing or being serious.
“What are you two lovely ladies up to this weekend?” Jacob asked.
“Nothing much. Lilli says she’s staying home, but I’m probably going out dancing. How about you guys?”
“Devin is going to Jacksonville and needs some company. Maybe you’d like to join him, Lilli,” Jacob said.
The question threw me off, and it seemed to have caught Devin off guard too. I didn’t think Devin would have invited me for a weekend getaway anytime soon. We hardly knew each other, although I was very interested in getting to know him more.
“Jacksonville?” I asked as I tried to figure out what was going on.
“No, don’t worry about it. I just got myself into a little bit of a pickle, and big mouth over there was trying to help out.”
“A pickle?” I laughed. “Explain yourself.”
“No, don’t worry. It’s nothing,” Devin said, but his friend Jacob quickly butted in and added to the conversation.
“He needs you to be his wife. Not in the bedroom or anything kinky like that, unless you want to,” he said with a wink. “But could you go with him and just pretend to be his wife so he can visit his daughter without causing a bunch of trouble.”
Ah, the whole story was definitely not out yet, but at least I got a better picture of what was going on and why Devin needed a date. I looked over at Devin, and he hid his head in his hands, and I couldn’t help laughing, the whole thing seemed pretty outrageous.
“So why do you need a wife?” I asked genuinely trying to figure out what was going on.
“I’m sorry. My big mouth friend shouldn’t have said anything. Let’s get going Jacob.”
Devin grabbed Jacob by the shirt and practically dragged him out of the juice bar. They were nearly at the door when Anna grabbed me so hard that I cried out in pain.
“Ouch, stop that hurts.”
“You said you wanted to do something different. Help the poor guy out! Go tell him you’ll do it.”
“Be his wife?” I laughed. “No thank you.”
“Oh, come on; it’s pretending, and he must be desperate if it involves his daughter.”
I sat there for a minute as I watched Devin and his friend get into Devin’s car. The two men were arguing for a minute, and suddenly I decided that I did want to do something different. I got up and ran outside the restaurant and stood in front of his car. Jacob saw me first and shoved Devin to come and talk to me.
My heart pounded as the cool breeze of the afternoon blew my hair all over the place. Devin slowly got out of his car, and he didn’t seem to have the high level of confidence I’d seen him with the last time we had talked.
“I’ll be your wife,” I said as a smile pulled my lips up.
“It’s just for a weekend. You don’t have to do anything naughty. I’ll even pay you for your time.”
“You don’t have to pay me, and I might want to do something naughty,” I teased in a sudden burst of confidence.
His eyes widened, and a look of relief crossed his face. He appeared genuinely happy that I’d said yes to his offer, although I still had no idea why he needed to bring a wife in order to visit with his daughter.
“I’ll pick you up in the morning. We will take a private jet down and be back by Sunday evening. Does that work for you?”
“Sure,” I said. “Do you want to tell me why you need a wife?”
“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you all the details on the plane ride, and I am going to pay you. Not because you want me to, but this is a business deal. I can’t have romantic drama this weekend, and I genuinely need someone to come with me. Is that alright?”
I did need money so I could get my own car and move out of my parents’ house. It was a weird situation, that was for sure, but turning down his money wasn’t going to make it less weird.
“How much money are we talking?”
“Is ten thousand dollars enough?”
“What!” I yelled. “That’s crazy. This isn’t Indecent Proposal. Geesh. How about five thousand?”
“You’re really bad at negotiating.” Devin laughed.
“Five or I’m not doing it.”
“So if I pay you less than what I proposed, only then will you agree to do it?” He seemed to see a lot of humor in my offer.
“Yes, I need five thousand for a decent car. That’s all I’ll take. I really don’t want any money though it’s kind of weird. I’ll do it as your friend.”
Devin ran his fingers through his hair and let out a big sign as if I was driving him crazy. He might have a lot of money, but I wasn’t interested in him because of his money, and I’d do the whole thing for free just to be nice. The money actually made me not want to do it at all.
“What if I buy you a car, and we don’t have any money involved.”
“A used car, with dents and lots of miles,” I said firmly as I held my hand out to shake his hand.
He laughed and looked at Anna as she joined me on the sidewalk. He shook his head in frustration before he finally extended his hand and agreed to my terms.
“You drive a hard bargain Miss Lilli. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“What’s your last name?” I said as he started to climb back into his car.
“Graham.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. Graham,” I teased.
“See you tomorrow Mrs. Graham,” he teased me back.
Anna didn’t wait until Devin was gone before she started jumping up and down and grabbing me. She was clearly excited about the whole ordeal. I was terrified.
Chapter 8
Devin
After loading some luggage into my car, I went over to Lilli’s house and knocked on her door. I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting, but when Lilli opened the door, my mouth literally dropped open.
“That bad?” she asked as she twirled around in her floral floor length dress.
“Um, not bad. You look beautiful.”
Her hair was curled into lovely loose curls, and her makeup was done much softer than I was used to seeing her. She didn’t have her bright lipstick on, and instead, just a glossy sheen covered her lips. Suddenly she’d transformed herself from a club hopping wild child into a high-class soccer mom.
“My mom bought me this dress for Easter a few years ago; I’ve never worn it,” she said with a giggle.
“You look perfect,” I managed to say as I finally closed my mouth. “Are you ready to go?”
“As ready as I can get.”
“Do you have a bag?”
“Oh, crap. I didn’t pack anything else,” she said as she looked terrified at me. “I’m sorry. I was so busy trying to look more like a wife.”
“I appreciate the effort. Don’t worry; we can pick you up another outfit in Jacksonville.”
“I’ll pay you back,” she insisted.
“Of course you will.”
I’d already learned that arguing with Lilli took a lot of time and didn’t lead me anywhere. It was nice that she made such a clear point of not wanting to take things from me, which was unusual for the women I typically brought on trips. Paying for trips, clothes and everything else wasn’t a big deal to me, but I
did appreciate a woman who wanted to be independent.
It was a gorgeous day out and nearly eighty degrees as I drove us to the airport for our flight to Florida. Lilli fidgeted in her seat the whole drive and couldn’t seem to get comfortable. Occasionally I caught her gaze, but mostly she kept looking out the window and avoiding interacting with me. There was a distinct awkwardness between us that I knew had to be fixed by the time we landed in Jacksonville; I just didn’t know how I was going to fix it.
We seemed more like co-workers who hardly knew each other than a couple that was in love. This whole plan was ridiculous, and I was mentally kicking myself for saying something as stupid as I had to Ashley’s parents. I wasn’t the marrying type, and there was a reason her family thought of me as irresponsible, and one of the biggest reasons was that I hadn’t married Ashley while we were together. My news must have been shocking to her mother, especially considering Ashley and I hadn’t gotten married even after we had a child together.
“Are you nervous?” I asked as we pulled into the private jet area of the airport.
“I think I might puke.”
“Ha, I’m sorry. Don’t be nervous. We are just going to be happy and have a nice conversation with my ex’s family. Nothing too exciting.”
“Should I kiss you?” Lilli asked.
“Do you want to kiss me?”
I was teasing but certainly not opposed to the idea of kissing Lilli. She was a beautiful girl and even more beautiful with her little transformation she had made for this trip. I really appreciated the effort she had put in.
The plane turned on, and the loud noise made it impossible for me to hear what Lilli was saying when she answered my question. Her eyes turned to the ground, and she pulled away from me a little, though, so I thought she had said she did not want to kiss me. We both leaned against the car as we waited for the staff to say it was clear to head over to the jet. Once the jet engines had been tested and everything cleared, it should only be a few more minutes before we could take off.
I reached out and held onto her hand as it vibrated with nerves. Lilli was clearly uneasy over what was going on with this trip. A little panic washed over me as I hoped I could calm her down over the couple of hours we would be in the air.
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