Punctured, Bruised, and Barely Tattooed

by Jamison, Jade C.

  “Yeah. That chick in there is a sixteen year old boy’s wet dream. I don’t want that. I’ve had that. And they don’t stop coming just ‘cause I’m out of the band.” She looked down at his lips, then his Adam’s apple as he continued talking. “They’re constantly coming in here to gawk at Mal, and I’d be an idiot if I didn’t realize that. In fact, I know that’s why I get a lot of the business I do. It’s not that I’m a renowned tattoo artist.”

  “Don’t be so down on yourself, Stone. You’re amazing.”

  He chuckled. “I didn’t say I wasn’t good, but I know a lot of people are coming in like tourists. They want to see the guy who used to be in J.C. Gibson’s band. And that’s fine. I can accommodate…especially if they get a tattoo along with their gawking.”

  Kory nodded and took a deep breath. “I still don’t get why you’d pick me over them.”

  He grinned. “You really don’t see it, do you?” She shook her head. “You know, when you kept coming in the shop, I thought you were one of them.” Kory started laughing. “No, not that you looked like them, but I thought you were a tourist. I thought you just wanted to be around Malevolent Disorder. A couple of times I think I even asked you, but you didn’t know who I was. That’s why I agreed to go out with you the first time. You weren’t just sneaking a date with my alter ego. You liked me for me, not someone you thought I was. Those women back there? They’re in love with the idea of a rock star. They don’t know a thing about me. Nothing.

  “And then…we got to know each other. You’re a real person, Kory. And I know for sure you’ve had a shittier life than I have, but we have similar back stories. I feel like I know you, not just now, but like I kind of get the way you were…and I want to make you feel safe…and loved. I don’t want you to ever feel vulnerable like that again.” She kept looking at him. His words were good…but not enough. Not enough for her to be able to deal with all that shit. There was only one thing…

  “I love you, Kory. I don’t know how it happened, but it did…and I don’t want to lose you.”

  Oh. So he really did feel the same way about her that she did him. She couldn’t catch her breath, because she almost couldn’t believe it.

  No. A teardrop fell then, and Kory found that so strange, because she hadn’t cried over anything that didn’t have to do with her childhood—Art or her mother—since she had been a little kid. Why was she shedding a tear now?

  Well, she was, and there was no getting around it. If anyone deserved emotion from her, it was Stone. She just found it odd that she was feeling things so deeply…she hadn’t felt anything like this in what seemed like forever. She forced the words through her lips. “I love you too, Stone.”

  And then he kissed her…and the rest of the world melted away.

  * * *

  The young woman hopped up on the table and sat down. Kory wiped the small pad around her eyebrow area but the girl—eager and excited—kept her eyes wide open. “Why don’t you close your eye just for a second?”

  While the area dried, Kory told her she could open her eye up again while she sprayed the piece of jewelry with sanitizer. No way was Kory going to tell the woman, but this was to be her first piercing. Kory’s first piercing on someone else.

  She grabbed the tiny felt pen and touched above and below the girl’s right eyebrow near the outside corner of her eye. Then she peeked out of the doorless room. “Stone, I’m ready.”

  “One sec.” Kory continued to eyeball the dots, just to make sure they looked okay to her. The girl smiled, and that was when Kory realized she probably needed to say something. “I’m still kind of new at this, so I want him to make sure I’ve got everything right.”

  The girl grinned and nodded. “Cool.”

  “Is this your first piercing?”

  “Yeah.” She chewed on the piece of pink gum in her mouth for a few seconds and then asked, “How bad does it hurt?”

  Kory knew she herself was probably considered an expert, considering she’d been pierced so many times. “It’s not too bad. It feels kind of like a sting, but then that’s it.”

  “Seriously? That’s all?”

  Kory nodded. “Yeah. My eyebrow piercings brought kind of a tear to my eye but then it was all over. I mean, yeah, it hurt for a while if you pushed on them or something, but that was it. You won’t go around feeling like you’re in pain a lot or anything. The main thing is to keep them clean and try not to get makeup in the pierced area.”

  She felt Stone’s presence before she saw him. He nodded at the girl. “Hi. I’m Stone.” He scrutinized the dots and said, “Looks good.” He looked at Kory. “You ready?”

  “Yeah, I think so.” She took the forceps and needle into her gloved hands and then looked in his eyes before turning her attention to the girl. Her mind wandered back over the past year, marveling at how things had changed. With Stone’s encouragement, she’d finished the fall semester but then quit school, not because she didn’t think education was important, but because she wanted to do something that would make her happy. She and Stone had talked about her future for hours and hours, and she admitted that she would love working in a shop like Stone. She wasn’t an artist but she wouldn’t mind running the cash register or…Stone suggested piercing. That way she would have a viable skill that she could take anywhere.

  He asked her to move in with him right after that. She did so with the blessing of Tina and Lacey, because the three girls still had their Wednesday lunches together. Stone even asked to meet her foster parents. She hadn’t seen them since moving out and thought maybe they didn’t care, but they were thrilled to see her and the guy who was turning out to be the love of her life.

  Stone continued to amaze her on a daily basis with the thoughtful things he said, the way he looked at her, and how he made her feel more and more like a beautiful woman every waking moment. She felt like she’d never be able to return the favor, but she hoped she could try. One way was by helping out with his business.

  She let her eyes drink him in before getting down to the work of piercing the girl’s eyebrow, but she let the warmth of Stone’s visage settle in her mind, calming her as she began the work of her new career. She couldn’t think of anywhere else she’d rather be than with Stone, and she didn’t care what they were doing. Having him behind her, supporting her like he always did was the best feeling of all, and with him there, she could do damn near anything.

  Other books by Jade C. Jamison:

  The Bullet Series

  Jade loves her rock star series, and the Bullet series has been her most popular thus far. It all started with a little book called

  Bullet:

  An Epic Rock Star Novel

  What if you discover the man you want is toxic?

  She’d tasted a little bit of heaven with him, and now they’ve gone through hell and back, but can their relationship take anymore?

  Valerie Quinn is a naïve college freshman when she meets on-the-rise rock star Ethan Richards. He’s an idealistic, handsome, reckless young man, but he’s captured her heart. She doesn’t give up on him and eventually his walls crumble down. By the time Valerie has given herself to him completely, she discovers he’s damaged and may be beyond help. Can she save Ethan and their relationship before he implodes, or will he self-destruct and take her with him?

  Then Kiss Me

  Casey Williams has left a loveless marriage and is trying to rebuild her life. She finds that, even though you can never go home again, you can find lust again, and she finds a love interest in Scott, her coworker. She also discovers his secret, that he’s a drummer for a heavy metal band, and falls hard for him…just in time to find that, between his questionable friends and psychotic maybe-ex-girlfriend, he might not be the right guy for her. But her heart beats like a drum for him, and she finds herself willing to play with fire to get closer.

  Quickies

  Sexy Short Stories and Other Stuff

  Quickies is a collection of miscellaneous words that really don�
�t fit elsewhere and certainly can't stand alone. A mixture of poetry, short stories, and bite-sized nuggets, Quickies is full of small stuff that won't consume an entire day of your life but that you'll enjoy just the same. Stories like “Drawn to Him” and “Dancing on Air” are hot and sexy...and fun. And there’s also a bonus for fans of Jade's book Bullet—all the stories she wrote for fun for blogs (as well as one deleted scene) are also collected in Quickies. So enjoy Quickies...because sometimes you want it slow and steamy, but other times you want it super-hot, nasty...and quick!

  The Nicki Sosebee Series

  The character Nicki developed out of Jade’s need to read a strong heroine, and do we mean strong! Nicki has a sailor mouth and can keep up in that department with her rough-and-tough best friend, Sean Ramsey. And don’t get her started talking about sexual freedom. She’s all about it. Granted, it stemmed from a lost opportunity at love (with said best friend), but she appreciates sex as much as any man ever thought of. She’s still finding her way through life too, but she’s figuring it out.

  Got the Life (Nicki Sosebee #1)

  Nicki Sosebee wants her first headline, but she doesn’t want it to read “Reporter found dead.”

  Nicki Sosebee has been working low-paying jobs ever since she finished school, but now that she’s older, she wants more. She’s a novice reporter trying to learn the ropes. Just as she’s getting her career goals on track, though, her love life gets worse and worse. Sure, she has no problems picking up good-looking guys for brief flings, but relationships? Out of the question. Maybe it’s because Sean, her gorgeous best friend, just can’t see her as more than a buddy. So when Sean encourages her as she pursues her first headline-producing story, Nicki realizes that her life’s pretty sweet…if only she can live long enough to see tomorrow’s front page.

  Finger Bang

  Orgasmic Meditation? Therapeutic?! Kaylee Baker is horrified when her girlfriends suggest a trip to artsy Boulder, Colorado, to check out the latest craze. What her friends don’t know about Kaylee is that she is a little repressed, bordering on frigid, and the idea of a complete stranger bringing her to orgasm—therapeutic or not—is horrifying.

  Blaze Donahue has admired Kaylee from afar for quite some time, and part of the reason he’s kept his distance is because he’s had no indication that she might even be interested. But when he’s given the opportunity to offer her his own version of OM with no strings attached, he makes an offer she has a hard time refusing.

  When there are undeniable sparks between the two, Kaylee runs, afraid of the overwhelming feelings she has for this gorgeous, sensitive guy. Blaze feels compelled to convince her otherwise but wonders if he’ll be able to crack through the ice surrounding this sweet girl. Can they find true love or will it just be a one-time O?

  And more! Jade just won’t shut up!

  BOOKS BY JADE C. JAMISON

  Punctured, Bruised, and Barely Tattooed

  Substitute Boyfriend

  Finger Bang

  Quickies: Sexy Short Stories and Other Stuff

  Old House

  Then Kiss Me

  MADversary

  Worst Mother

  Fabric of Night

  Stating His Case

  TANGLED WEB SERIES

  1 Tangled Web: A Steamy Heavy Metal Novella

  2 Everything But

  BULLET SERIES

  1 Bullet: An Epic Rock Star Novel

  2 Rock Bottom

  3 Feverish

  4 Fully Automatic

  NICKI SOSEBEE SERIES

  1 Got the Life

  2 Dead

  3 No Place to Hide

  4 Right Now

  5 One More Time

  6 Lost

  7 Innocent Bystander

  8 Blind

  9 Fake

  WISHES SERIES

  1 Be Careful What You Wish For

  COMING LATER IN 2014 AND 2015:

  Boiling Point (Feverish #1.5)

  Seal All Exits (Tangled Web #3)

  Christmas Stalkings (Bullet #4.5)

  Slash and Burn (Bullet #5)

  Savage

  Stalk me! I don’t bite (well, not too hard anyway)!

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  http://www.jadecjamison.com

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