Page 2 of Mating of Convenience
2
Raphael
“There, we’re all done.” Satisfied with my work, I eyed the design I’d inked into my young customer’s upper arm. A heart with an arrow through it and the name of her lover underneath. It wasn’t a terribly original design, but I never got to work on the really cool stuff in this studio anyway. Jared insisted I didn’t have the necessary experience, even after a year of busting my ass.
“Oh, that’s great.” The woman fawned over her new tattoo while I carefully applied a layer of ointment since we didn’t want any bacteria to get into it.
“It suits you,” I told her as I worked. In all honesty, I wasn’t a fan of heart tattoos, but the customer was always king and I was the last person to deny someone a tattoo they really wanted--so long as they weren’t drunk when they asked for it. “I’m bandaging your tattoo now,” I informed her, reaching for the gauze. “Keep this on for the rest of the day and then wash with warm water. Don’t rub it dry, though. Just kinda dab at it with the towel and then you can put some of our lotion on it to help it heal. Jared will set you up with that at the counter. He’ll also give you a pamphlet with everything I just told you and some other helpful tips to make sure your tattoo’s gonna look badass when it’s done healing.” By the time I was done talking, I was ready to tape up the bandage and secure it. “That looks good,” I said, checking the hold of it one more time.
I might not have loved doing heart tattoos, but I loved my job in the center of Boston, and I wanted to keep it.
“Thank you so much, Raphael, I’m going to recommend this studio to all my friends.”
“Just Raph is fine,” I reminded her, although I couldn’t complain because I’d totally forgottenhername.
She gave me a smile. “No one’s ever gonna believe me I got a tattoo from an omega. I should send all my alpha friends here. Some of them are single.” She winked at me.
“Great, I’m already taken, though,” I lied with a grin as fake as the peel off tattoos you find in kid’s magazines.
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh,” she uttered again, then she turned on her chair to look at Jared who was restocking our shelves with various aftercare products. It was getting late in the day and the lady I’d just tattooed was our last customer before we would be closing up. “Are you with him?” she asked, nodding at my boss. “You’d make a cute couple.”
Really? There wasn’t anything cute at all about the idea of me and Jared together and I had the hardest time keeping those thoughts from showing on my face. “No, it’s not Jared.” Not to say that the alpha hadn’t tried two or three or ten times. And not to say that I hadn’t maybe slept with the guy one or two or maybe three times.
But that was only because I thought fucking him could help me forget the alpha I’d left behind when I came to this city.
The reason I hated doing heart tattoos.
“That’s really too bad.” Oblivious to my thoughts, my customer finally got off the tattooing chair. “Thanks again for your work. I’m sure I’ll be back.”
“Looking forward to it.” I watched her stride over to Jared to handle the payment and get some products for her tattoo and then I set to cleaning my workspace.
I was just about done when Jared approached. By now, we were the only people left inside the studio. “Wanna close up and go clubbing?” he asked.
“Nah,” I said without looking up from the chair I was wiping down. “I’m skyping my family tonight.”
“Seriously? It’s Saturday night. You should use every chance you can get to show off your new sleeve.”
At his words, I glanced down my left arm. My ‘sleeve’ was a tattoo of a dragon with its tail going down all the way to my wrist while its head curled around my shoulder, mouth open and about to bite into my heart, although that part was hidden under my shirt right now. “I don’t feel like partying tonight.”
“You never feel like partying anymore. What did you come to the city for, country boy?”
“To do tattoos, which I’m doing! Even though you’re never letting me do anything fun.” No cool custom designs.
Oh, the things I could do if I had myownstudio.
Someday.
“C’mon, Raph. How are you gonna meet the alpha of your dreams if you stay home and Skype with your family?”
I gave him a shrug. “Not really interested in that anyway.” I’d tried, when I first got here. I never turned down an invitation to party, I went to all the clubs and had drinks with all the alphas. In the end, I’d had to accept that nothing was clicking, because I wasn’t looking for ‘an alpha.’ I was always looking for a very specific person, and I already knew wherehewas so I could stop searching.
My silly alpha was still back home.
And I had no idea how long it would take me to get over him, but until I did, there was no fun in playing the field.
