Page 63 of Tattoo My Heart
I turn my gun off and wipe at his skin before finally straightening myself up. I move my shoulders around, then twist my torso from side to side, applying a bit of pressure and waiting to hear it crack.
“Fuck, that’s good,” I mumble when it finally happens.
I walk to the small refrigerator I keep in my space away from my office, grabbing a couple of ice cold waters.
“Here you go.” I hand one over to my client who is still lying on his stomach.
I take a minute to assess my work. It looks damn good, if I say so myself.
“Are we stopping?” I ask him again since he never told me. He takes his time checking the clock on the wall, then his phone, then he thinks for a bit.
“Yeah, let’s cut it short for today. This hurt a bit more than I expected.”
“Ribs are always tricky,” I agree. “Let me take some progress pictures before I wrap it up.”
I grab my phone and snap pictures showing what we did today. Micki is putting a collection together for our portfolio, like a flip book of sorts, and also to give to our client upon finalizing the piece. It was her idea and I loved it, so I let her run with it.
After I take all the pictures I need, I text them to Micki, then get to wrapping the dude’s back as I give him very brief aftercare instructions.
“You know the drill.” We both chuckle at that. His body is full of tattoos.
I wait for him to finish his water, then walk him to the front counter.
“Micki will cash you out, man. I’ll see you next time.”
With that, I give Micki a wink and a smile, and turn to head to my office. I have a shitload of paperwork to take care of, and I am not looking forward to it. It cuts into my time with Evie. I’ve been going to her house every day for the past two weeks, only to have to leave before she went to bed. Micki needed some time off work, and I picked up some of the slack while she was out. The extra work got divided between the other artists I employ. I did not take very many, but enough where I couldn’t afford to no be at the shop in the evenings. The guy who just left is an exception. As a long standing customer from the time I opened the doors for the first time, he requested that I’d work on his back piece, and I couldn’t say no.
My phone dings in the back pocket of my jeans as soon as I enter my office. With a sigh, I pull it out, eager to get my work here done. Tonight I will finally sleep at Evie’s house. Actually, now that her naked body has entered my mind, I’m not sure how much sleep will happen, but I will be there all night long, that’s a fact.
“What the fuck,” I grumble when I realize what the ding on my phone is. A notification from theHolidatesapp, and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t show like I have a message from none other than one Evelyn Moore.
I tap on my inbox within the app, and there it is.
Dear Khail, I trust that my email finds you well. It’s been a couple of weeks since I sent you my previous email in which I was outlining the nature of our relationship. Please get back to me at your earliest convenience. We need to discuss details and quite a few things that I know my mother will be interested in hearing. It is very important that you get back to me as soon as possible. Sincerely, Evelyn.
I stare at the message until my eyes are crossing, and then I laugh. The sound booms around the room. I can’t fathom what could’ve caused for her to send me the message. Except for the fact that…
Suddenly, I stop laughing. Evie didn’t send this message to me, not knowingly. She sent it to some random dude named Khail off a fake dating app.
My admin work now forgotten, I jump out of my seat and head for the door.
“Lock up for me, Mick,” I call out just as I am about to exit the building.
I rush to my newly repaired Jeep and take off like a bat out of hell. The drive is pretty long despite the fact that it’s not rush hour.
“Why so much traffic?” I yell inside the cabin of my car.
It’s about forty minutes later when I get an incoming call from James.
“What’s up, dude?” I greet him, eyes on the cars ahead of me, and thumbs tapping against the steering wheel.
“I was just checking in.” He sounds amused, something is up.
“What do you know?” I get straight to the point, and now he is downright laughing.
“Carrie just got home after dinner with your girlfriend.” I grin from ear to ear at the way he calls Evie my girlfriend. Because she is, and I love every second of it.
“Yeah? They had a good time?”
