Page 7 of Midnight Ink

“Usually just makes me want to jump on one.” I wink.

She slaps my arm. “Gross.”

I laugh as she gets settled. I choose a small spot on her thigh, right above her knee. It’s basically all I could find. She’s got thin black bicycle shorts on underneath the black denim ripped shorts she’s wearing. “You know I wouldn’t embarrass you.” And I wouldn’t. However, I will get my revenge. “Eyes closed, darlin’.”

Trusting me way too fucking much, she closes her eyes and I get to work. I let the buzz of the machine center my brain. I don’t like disappointing people, but there was no way I was doing that tattoo, and I need to be more confident in my decisions. I just second-guess shit and I hate it. “I shouldn’t have done it, right?” I ask quietly over the buzz of the tattoo gun.

“You weren’t wrong, Jules. You did the right thing.”

I know I did, but hearing her say that eases the pressure lingering in my lungs.

Anna sits like a rock, as expected. “Almost done, sweetheart.”

“You’re the devil.”

I chuckle at the tiny smirk on her pretty black lips. Finishing up, I wipe her down a little nervously. We’re no strangers to pranks. One time I had a date and she switched out the condom I had in my wallet with a tiny fun-sized glow-in-the-dark one. The look on that man’s face was priceless. I was pissed at the time, but now looking back . . . okay, that shit was funny.

We’ve just never done pranks this . . . permanent.

“Okay, baby doll.”

“I’m going to kill you, aren’t I?”

“You love me too much.” She gags.

Opening her eyes, it takes her a moment to find it in the sea of tattoos. Then she finds the tiny rubber duck tattoo wearing a shell bra on her thigh. When she does her eyes darken on it before her glare locks with mine. “Oh you motherfu⁠—”

“Hey, guys.” Ian comes through the door and Anna is forgotten.

To put it in simple terms.

Ian is fucking hot.

Auburn hair, tattoos covering most of his body. He’s got one on his throat that spreads down to his chest. I’ve seen him without his shirt on, and it looks like his entire chest disappears with the midnight black and punch of stars in the galaxy. Maddox did it, Anna told me.

“Ian, sweetie pie, you’re going to need a new artist.”

He sighs, going to his station. My eyes don’t leave the loose red tank top he’s wearing. His toned arms are decorated with more tattoos. One arm has a theme—woods, forest animals. They pop against his pale skin in crisp dark black-and-gray ink. His other arm is a patchwork of different designs, some that belong to me from when I first started out. “Why’s that, Grems?”

“Because I’m going to kill Julian.” She smiles wide. It somehow makes her look more feral. I don’t think she’s had her incisors surgically sharpened, but they look like vampire teeth nonetheless.

“What did Julian do now?” He quirks his brow like we’re fighting children. She stares at the fresh tattoo, and it takes him a minute to see it before the yellow duck sticks out to him. “Oh, you’re evil.” He laughs at me.

I smile, then remember why I had to tattoo her to begin with. “We may have a problem.”

“Oh yeah?” He turns to me, giving me his full attention.

“That client I had this morning. She wanted me to tattoo a song she translated on an app. I refused. She got really pissed. Went full-on ‘I want to speak to your manager.’ I just couldn’t do it. If it was wrong and my name’s attached to it . . . I can’t do that. She said she’s leaving a review.”

“Oh no, whatever will we do?” Ian snorts. “Don’t worry about it, you did the right thing. People need to have more care about what they’re putting on their body.”

“I wasn’t rude. I promise.”

Ian’s eyes swing to mine with a bit of confusion then sympathy. “I don’t think you have a rude bone in your body.”

Heat spreads across my chest.

“Pathetic,” Anna whispers.