Page 16 of Painless
"Are you...sure?" I was so confused.
"Yeah, I'm just nervous," she laughed lightly. "It's my first tattoo. And it needs to be pretty big, from what I understand."
"Oh, right. The pain." I hadn't felt physical pain in so long, I had forgotten it was part of the tattooing process.
"Yeah." Her smile was nervous, but her gaze remained on me. "Just go easy on me in case I'm a total wuss, okay?"
"We can do it over multiple sessions if it becomes too much." I reached down to pick up Freyja, worried about trampling her. The kitten squirmed, her whole body fitting into the palm of my hand as I placed her back on the counter. She just ran back down to weave her little body between my boots again.
"Thanks, that makes me feel better." Mariposa laughed, watching the kitten's antics.
"You've taken good care of me in your field of expertise. I'll make sure to do the same."
Shit. Was that too much or okay to say? Fuck, how do I know? She's smiling, but looking away. What does that mean?
"That's sweet, Shadow. Thank you." Her voice grew soft, almost taking on the same breathy quality as when she was riding me.
Fuck! No, don't think about that. I was doing so well...
"I'll let you know what my schedule's like one of these days when I'm over with Jandro."
"Okay. Sure, yes. That sounds good."
“Hey, before you go.” She pressed a cap down on a bottle of pills and held it out to me. “Don’t forget these.”
“Oh, right.” Careful to step over Freyja and not on top of her, I crossed the room to take my medication from Mariposa. I forgot all about being careful not to touch her however, and her fingers brushed mine with a gentle heat. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Shadow.” She smiled with a small head tilt toward her shoulder. It made my chest squeeze with that odd, non-painful sensation again. “Are you coming to Stephan—I mean Slick’s, patching-in party tonight?”
“Yes, I’ll be tattooing him during the event.”
“Great. I’ll get to see you in action then.”
Something about the words she used heated my body up a few degrees. “Yes,” I agreed. “You’ll see it’s actually not a bad experience.”
Truthfully, that depended on where Slick chose to have his tattoo done, but I wasn’t about to spook her with those details.
“Sounds good.” She gave a small wave, her eyes never wavering from me. “I’ll see you there.”
I suddenly didn’t want to leave, but forced myself to turn toward the office door.
“See you then, Mariposa.”
Seven
GUNNER
Ibroke the surface of the water, taking a deep breath as I slicked my hair back. The calm silence of being underwater shifted to the din of the party in full swing. Some EDM music from the mid-2000s played on an ancient set of speakers as people drank, laughed, and jumped into the pool.
In the background, I heard the buzz of Shadow’s tattoo gun as he permanently sealed the Demon into Slick’s body forever. It had been a good day, and I was never one to drag down a party, so I couldn’t place why I preferred the quiet solitude of being underwater over celebrating with everyone else.
Maybe I just wasn’t drunk enough yet.
Hoisting my upper body onto the pool deck, I fished a beer out of a nearby ice bucket, then slid back into the water as I opened it with my teeth.
I hadn’t heard a peep from my uncle yet and that worried me. It had been weeks, nearly a month, since I hightailed it out of Colorado. Or Jerriton, rather. General Tash was not one to sit around idly. If he was gonna make a move to fuck over Uncle Jerry, he would’ve done it by now.
Could the shifty general have actually given my uncle a part of his territory? Anything was possible, of course, but I could not wrap my head around that logic. Why steamroll entire towns all over the Southwest? Why snatch up territories so ruthlessly, only to give them up to your competitors? I couldn’t see Tash doing it, not for any reason that would benefit him. For all the lies he told us, I knew for certain that he’d protect his own interests at all costs.
