Page 121 of Midnight Ink

My brows spring to my hairline. “Ribs?” Is he crazy? “For a first tattoo?”

“I think it would look good.”

“Oh, it’ll look fucking incredible, but that’s going to suck, dude.”

He shrugs. “Then all the others I get will be easy in comparison.”

“Okay, well.” I shake my head. “We can do that if you want. You know what, I have an idea. Here.” I grab my tablet to show him my drawings. I sit down beside him on the waiting-room sofa and hand him the tablet.

“Easy. I want that.”

“What?”

“It’s sick.”

I look down at the lion roaring into the void that I was just drawing. A better version of the one I drew when Maddox and I first met in that diner booth years ago. “It’s just a sketch I was doing. I mean⁠—”

“It’s awesome. I want that.”

“Oh, um.” A possessive little tug hits my heart. I don’t know where it comes from. It’s just a drawing, right? It’s not like I can tattoo it on him anymore. I want to let go. Just a little. It’s just a drawing. It’s just a tattoo. “Okay. Yeah, this works.”

“I love it.” His knee is bouncing, making me smile. He’s all nerves. It’s kind of cute. “How much?”

I think for a moment then turn to him. “Your portfolio.”

“What?”

“I want to see what you can do. I’m um, looking for an apprentice. It’s just me and my friend here right now, and she usually just pretends to work at the desk and is really mean to me.”

He laughs. “Are you fucking with me?”

I shake my head. “Do you have some pictures in your phone?”

“Uh, yeah.” He reaches into his pocket, pulling out his phone and bringing up his artwork. “Like I said, I’m new to this but . . .” I flip through the folder on his phone. Julian has a distinct style. He seems to favor bold lines in a comic style more than realism. That is until I flip to a tattoo on fake skin of a knight on the back of a horse. The shine and detail in the armor are incredible. It looks like metal. “Wow. Holy fuck, Julian.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s incredible.” I look at him. “Come by this week. If you want, I’d like to talk about an apprenticeship. Eventually I want this tattoo.”

“Are you serious?”

I nod. If this is how his tattoos look now, I can’t imagine how good he’ll be once he gets better. “I’m sure Anna won’t mind volunteering either.”

“I haven’t been doing it that long.”

“Then I can’t wait to watch you grow.” I stand and lead him over to my station, and try my fucking best not to look at Maddox’s chair. I still don’t know what I’ll do with it. Some days I want to smash it into oblivion and curse at him. Other days I sit in his chair and cry until I literally can’t anymore, missing him so bad I throw up. The only people who understand my pain are Anna—who thinks emotions are an airborne illness—and his mother who hates me.

I guess there’s Jamie, but he’s in worse shape than I am. I talked to Hunter weeks ago, and I guess he just got home from the hospital officially. He’s in bad shape, and I want to reach out to him, I just . . . I can’t. Not yet.

I don’t blame him. I only blame one person, and he’s dead along with them all.

“I have an appointment in a couple of hours, but this won’t take that long. Why don’t you take your shirt off and I’ll place the stencil?” Julian takes his shirt off. His abs are prominent. “Oh, shit.”

“What?” he laughs.

“Did not see those coming?”

“No guy ever does.” He winks. Okay, then. I smile wider. “That was corny.”